New York City is the scene, at the moment, of a major legal drama unfolding which will have far reaching implications into the way of doing business both on cable and the Internet. It is a battle of multi-million lawsuits, restraining orders, contempt of court citations and unauthorized licensing. More to come.
\n George Martin of GM Video has waded his way through three major legal actions in the last 2 1/2 years. Martin was the recipient of a voodoo doll 2 1/2 years ago. The doll had three pins stuck in it. Has Rod Serling returned from the grave? Martin was off on one of his particular Labor Day river jaunts and picked up several of his associates at 4am when he received his gift.
Martin: "One of the wives gave me a present. She said not to open it until the sun starts to rise. I opened up this little gift. It was a little claymation that looked just like me with a ballcap on it that said "GM". It had three pins stuck in the back. We continued on the river and laughed about it. In the mean time, I had a falling out with another guy who worked for me."
Martin and the employee had a falling out previously over camera equipment and tapes. Martin went to the Lake Havasu police department and filed a police report.
Martin: "Anyway, we end up in Lake Havasu, and I need my equipment back. We go to the Nautical Inn where this guy is staying. I had the police with me. We knock on the door to get my equipment. The cops tell him to give back my equipment or they'll issue a bench warrant on him in Colorado. We get back some of my equipment except for my Canon Es 5000 camera. I tell him I better not see him in Copper Canyon with my equipment. I knew he had that hi-8 camera. We take off to Copper Canyon, and, would you believe it, he's up on a cliff with my camera. I'm just out of my mind. The boat is still in the water. We're trying to dock on the rocks. I can't get to him. I had a paintball gun on board which we were going to use as a prop. I grabbed the thing and fired off a number of shots into the rocks. It ws kind of like pounding your fist on the table. Not at him, but near him. He goes down the other side and files a complaint that I'm firing a gun. I get arrested. I go to jail along with my two associates. While I was in jail, someone threw this guy, who filed the complaint, into the water, equipment and all. I don't know who did it, but the loyalty to GM is unbelievable. I got out of jail about 5pm and bought drinks for everybody at the bar. I heard this guy was looking for me that night to kick my ass. That never happened but this whole thing just got snowballed.
"They had fliers all over Lake Havasu advertising a big sex party in this guy's room at the Nautical Inn. The Nautical Inn management got wind of that. They kicked him out of there. The whole thing winds up with this guy suing me over the paintball gun and other things. After this was all over with, I'm starting to get sued now and have to appear in court. I was going to get 90 days in jail. My attorney at that time was a drunk. He didn't stand up for my rights. I just stood there and went down on 90 days in jail. I had to go to the jail every weekend for 35 or 40 weeks. Another attorney friend helped me out on this. One thing led to another and we got it transferred over to Arizona. Then I got Jeffrey Douglas who worked on this thing and got me out of it. [Other issues between Martin and Douglas, however, developed.]
"A couple of months after that, we're in a bar, Shugrues Restaurant, in Sedona, Arizona, and we've got the voodoo doll. We're all having cocktails, and I grabbed the doll, 'You goddamn sonofabitch!' I grabbed the doll, tore its head off and threw it in a trash can. Okay, why did this woman give me the doll in the first place? She has always been jealous because I take her husband away on these trips on holidays. She's always been studying witchcraft. We've always been pals, this guy and me. He's always been my best friend. I even put up my house, once, to bail him out of a jam. I've talked to her since about this doll and she laughs about it.
"So we go back to the bar about a week or so later. The doll was taken out of the trash can and its head was set back on the body. It was put on the bar shelf behind the liquor. A week later after that, Peter, our bartender, the one who took it out of the trash, was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was decapitated along with his girlfriend. This is the honest-to-god truth. Of course there were three of us who went to jail, and I had three lawsuits. [Remember, there were three pins stuck in the doll.]
"It's still going on. I haven't got rid of one of the cases yet. And I've spent about 180 grand to date. We have no idea where the doll is, and I'm not touching it. I never believed in any of this stuff, but I've thought about getting someone I know down in New Orleans to hex this whole thing."
\n Wildlife Productions, in business since January, has signed its first contract girl. Her name is Layla, and, according to Bobby Rinaldi, she "has the look and energy to be a big star in the industry." Ray Anderson, also of Wildlife, explains how Layla came to the company's attention. Layla who's Filipino with an exotic look, got her break into the business live streaming through the Internet, particularly with Homegown, makes her home in San Diego. She commutes via train.
Anderson: "This is our first contract girl and this has given us a great motivation and direction. I met Layla at Jim's office. She was basically fresh talent. The following day I had a shoot for Bobby Rinaldi, my business associate. Bobby and I run the productions. I was producing and he was directing this particular shoot in the Screw My Wife series. It was tape #9. We had a cancellation on one of the talent and were short one 'wife'. I called up Jim and said can I have the young lady that I met at your office. She showed up and we saw what she was capable of, as far as the energy. We were thrilled with her look and her acting skills. She was the right person for us to pursue. She has that look, that when an audience sees her, they see her as a nice, innocent personality. But when she gets into action, she takes that mask off and becomes a different personality. I can't describe it until someone's present on the set to see it. She gets extremely wild. We want people to know who Layla is. "In the future we'll create a joint Layla website tied into wildlifexxx.com."
[The public will find out at LA Erotica and the summer Expo in July.]
The Wildlife deal calls for Layla, signed exclusively, to make two pictures a month including magazines.
The Saturday edition of Torrance, California's The Daily Breeze ran an interesting story on film legend Russ Meyer. The headline ran : "Adult Film Producer Beat Up By Girlfriend." According to the story, Melissa Mounds, stripper extraordinaire and Meyer's girlfriend, had a disagreement with Meyer over money with Mound's allegedly hauling off and knocking Meyer's glasses off his face, giving him a black eye. Meyer called the police. Mounds is currently residing in the L.A. County Jail on $10,000 bail. Rob Schaffner of Mondo Video, and a longtime friend of Meyer's went to see him.
Schaffner: "Russ is fine. He's hanging out in his bun-huggers getting some sun. We took him out to dinner. He said they're making a big deal out of nothing. The thing is, Russ doesn't get at as much as he should, that's why, every chance I get, I get over there and take his ass out. The other night we were cruising down Santa Monica Blvd. and he's yelling, 'Look at all these faggots.' Kitten [Natividad] is going, 'What a good waste of meat.' Kitten was driving. I met Kitten first at a John Waters film festival in downtown L.A. in 1982. I told her I was a fan. She said call Russ and talk to him. The rest is history."
Schaffner's first adult feature, The Brides of Countess Recula [the one that prompted the big Mila controversy several months ago], is finished.
Schaffner: "Russ says he hates pornography, but he's going to watch this. He said he's going to go through the gratuitous sex scenes. He wants to see Donita in the blood orgies."
