New Machine Publishing, best known for its various Randy West DVD releases, has purchased the whole of veteran hardcore magazine and video publisher Puritan International for an undisclosed amount.
"We acquired everything," announced sales manager David Gross, "their entire old [video] library and their entire new library as well; all their content, which includes their magazines, but at this point, we don't have any intentions to go forward with their magazines."
Pennsylvania-based Puritan has a long history going back nearly 30 years as a glossy, thick-stock, very hardcore print magazine, with various forays into video production before establishing the Puritan Video Magazine line in the mid-'90s. New Machine's purchase includes more than 100 video titles.
"We've got their Sexxx video series; the Puritan Video Magazine, which goes back several years; the line called Fresh Porn Babes, which of course is up for an AVN award, and Babes In Pornland, the Jewel De'Nyle series which has been nominated for several awards over the years," Gross detailed. "Right now, we're looking to meet with some very, very strong talent and directors to continue some of these lines."
It's unclear, however, if De'Nyle will be one of them.
"I called her up," Gross said. "She's living in New York, and she's still a partner at Platinum X. She was very gracious. We'll talk more at the show, but she's very happy with her life as it is."
One bonus of the purchase that many were probably unaware of is a collection of layouts by Jenna Jameson for the magazine.
"They have some terrific older Jenna Jameson material that we intend to exploit," Gross chuckled. "New Machine is a big fan of Jenna, as she has brought pleasure to many, many people in this world. She was not in a video; she was in a photo shoot. We're going to use it for promotional purposes and probably some boxcovers and all that good stuff; probably a photo gallery on a DVD somewhere."
The purchase was, in some ways, a case of good timing.
"The chemistry between Phil Krasner, who founded Puritan's video division, and Mark Brown, the president of New Machine – there's a strong synergy," Gross described. "Mark felt the company has strong potential, and Phil, who's not totally leaving the industry, decided he wanted his company to take a different direction, and we are looking to grow our library, which has a lot of Randy West material, and old Odyssey and Legend titles, and we are looking to market these titles to the Website distributors and stores and even the European markets. So this is another great library that fits well with the titles that we have currently. It's in the same price range; they're moderate to high-end titles that are in line with our current library."
New Machine will be featuring its new titles at the Adult Entertainment Expo.
"We actually have the entire library now under our roof, so at the show, we're going to make the official announcement, and give our shared customers the opportunity of buying through New Machine at the show," Gross said. "And we will be working with the other directors, with the exception of Jewel, who have helped put the library together for Puritan. One of them is Tommy Kaye; we're talking to him to see if we can come to an agreement and possibly have him continue the Puritan Video Magazine DVDs, and we'll be talking to other high-end directors at the show, and we will be continuing with the series."
Also at the show, Gross noted, will be Lily Thai, promoting New Machine's two-disk release, Lily Thai's Last Stand, the last work the busty Asian did before retiring from XXX.
