14 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE December 1, 2000

eveningsout

Pornographer's bio is a look at hidden American history

Dirty Poole

The autobiography of a gay porn pioneer

by Wakefield Poole Alyson, $13.95

Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal

Porn is that $10 billion business that no one openly claims to be interested in, much less admits to watching. And yet porn is ubiquitous, particularly with the proliferation of the Internet. Porn is that dark secret of Americana that exists as much in the big cities as it does behind the pure white picket fences of suburbia and rural landscapes.

Porn has been much maligned, particularly in the post-puritanical era of modern America where odd bedfellows like feminists and the religious right come together on the deleterious impact of it. From the preacher's pulpits to political panderers, pornography has been blamed for everything from the loss of innocence to actual acts of violence perpetrated against women. And yet the First Amendment guarantees

pornographers vibrant, viable and valid ca-

reers.

Porn has actually made it mainstream. It is studied in college classrooms across America, its imagery is often simulated in advertising, and political fundraisers are hosted at the Playboy mansion. America continues to have its love-hate relationship with that crazy beast called porn.

Gay porn in particular has its roots in the world of straight porn, but like much else in gay culture, queer porn has grown far beyond its straight roots and become its own unique and immensely profitable entity.

The current state of gay porn owes a huge debt to one of its pioneers, the controversial and complex Wakefield Poole.

Born in 1936, Poole had many of the hallmarks of an all-American childhood. Born to middle-class working folk, he was a precocious child prodigy. He started his career as a dancer in the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and toured the Orient for an entire year in the State Department's "Dance Jubilee," which was a history of dance.

Poole eventually went on to have an

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Wakefield Poole, left, directs two actors.

illustrious career on Broadway and performed and worked on a hit parade of shows including Finian's Rainbow, West Side Story and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Poole also went on to work in television with luminaries like Perry Como, Garry Moore, Carol Burnett, and Phyllis Diller. He directed and choreographed shows for the Peppermint Lounge in its heyday, night club acts for Liza Minnelli and Peter Allen, and over twenty-five Broadway shows.

In 1970 he formed a production company producing over two dozen film and multi-media presentations, including the record breaking gay film Boys in the Sand.

This was the first gay porn film to hit the mainstream in a big way, radically altering the industry forever. Starring Casey Donovan, a lasting icon in gay men's minds (and the subject of another book), Boys in the Sand went on to make a lot of money for Poole and his partners.

From there Poole went on to produce many other films, some of them hugely successful and some of them flat out busts. Poole went from having lots of money and having a huge art collection (including some of Warhol's works) to having nothing because of some bad business decisions and the even more destructive decision to maintain a life habit of drugs.

Today, having attended and graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York, he now works for a major cosmetics firm managing their food service. His life has spanned an amazing era in the entertainment industry, both mainstream and alternative. And Poole has seen and done it all.

Poole's book is filled with fascinating anecdotes, amazing life's lessons and an individual's journey that is epic to say the least. If nothing else, Poole's life has been one that has been fully lived.

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It is a behind the scenes look at Hollywood, Broadway and the porn industry and yet it is a deeply personal tale. The book leaves out no detail from the puzzling personalities of celebrities to the torrid details of sex, lust and love in the world of Wakefield Poole.

This is as frank as an autobiography gets. Poole has a lot of passion in life and tells the story of those in his life with a lot of compassion and humanity. He embraces the highs and lows of his life with equal passion and honesty. He sugar-coats nothing.

Poole was one of the first generation to lose most of their loved ones to AIDS. The book is as much a chronicle of one individual as it is the document of several eras, from the excessive to the desperate. Poole's writing is quick paced and never does he over-sentimentalize anything, providing the reader with a bracing and fascinating read.

Poole is clearly a pioneer, albeit in an industry that still causes many to blush out of pure embarrassment or sheer rage. This is a worthwhile read even if you don't know his work or have little interest in porn, because it is the fascinating tale of an individual who has lived through some dazzling moments in contemporary American history.

Poole ends his autobiography by telling us that he has "always remembered the song 'Look to the Rainbow' from my first show, Finian's Rainbow. In the song, one of the lyrics proclaims, 'Follow the fellow who follows a dream.' I always have, and until I grow up, I always will!"

Many of Wakefield Poole's films are still available on video and can be found at TLA Video, at sale@tlavideo.com or 800333-8521.

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