So, I started thinking about something last night
 

While watching an old movie. Actually one I have never seen but always wanted to, (Citizen Kane). I started wondering...how did pornographers make their money back in the 20s - 40s. We have all seen the vintage pictures from the era but, were they just for personal use? Or, were people making money from them? And if they were making money, how?

"underground market"

Just like the bootleggers in the '20's - 30's, you make $ by word of mouth.

I have nothing to contribute to this except I watched Citizen Kane myself a couple weeks ago & I forgot how good it was.

I never watched it until last night. I always wanted to but never saw it listed on the guide. So, I stuck it on my netflix list and finally got to see it. I had to see it after seeing RKO(some number) on HBO. The movie about making Citizen Kane. Just had to laugh everytime they mentioned Rosebud during the actual movie after knowing what it was.

One of my favorite films :)

Yeah, I am loving this netflix deal. Should have started using it long ago. I would have never been able to see the movie without it.

I've been with NeFlix for about a year and have no complaints |bananna|

We love netflix.. been using it just over a year.. have Gamefly too, same premise only with Video Games.


Da Vinci Code Decoded

The Name of the Rose

Troy

are my next 3 up...

What's in your Queue??? |cool|

damnn you are old and thinking to much back in time.........i am 21 yaers old for already 16 years i dont think about those times, i thinkabout the time now:D

Jim I just remembered, the History channel has done a few shows on the history of porn, as well as "Wild West Tech" has a show on the whore house and porn in the 1800's, very interesting show.

The Name of the Rose was an interesting movie... which is more then can be said on Troy.

I just read the davinci code in 2 days.. so now i want to see the documentry on it, and the name of the rose which is on the same subject matter.. with yummy Sean Connery.

Troy was just next on my list.

any sample of old school porn movies? (20's-40's)

Even though it was looked down on at the time , many photos were sent to our GI's during WWI and WWII .
and pornos were called smokers because they were usually shown in smoke filled rooms , usually in the basements and back rooms of local businesses , hardware stores , butcher shops, barber shops etc etc .....
I have a DVD called history of the blue film it was interesting .
but yes it was mostly word of mouth .
most of the models were ethnic , italian , jewish , irish ,german.
because it was easier and cheaper to take photos of imigrants , because back then those groups were the new to usa groups, and there was no welfare back then .

The videos (ok 8mm films back then) were used in little video arcades in the wrong parts of town and were sold through the "blue" magazines back then - I have a whole collection of them I found back in the 60s. They even made a little hand held projector that could run the film clips and project it on a nearby wall - for home use :)

Fuck, I can't figure out how modern pornographers make money. Do you really want me to hypothosize over perverts from the 20's?

Yeah, that does kinda put a damper on things - lol

OK,

here is my list of old "classic" must see movies that stand right up their with citizen kane

Seven Samurai
The Hidden Fortress
8 1/2
La Dolce Vita

The movie hidden fortress was a big influence on Lucas for star wars :)


woohoo

|peace|

The Seven Samurai (Shichi-nin no samurai) was an amazing movie. But just about everything that Akira Kurosawa ever directed was amazing. A few of my favourites are Kagemusha, Ikiru and Ran. Most of his movies had their Hollywood remakes, such as The Magnificent Seven. I have a great collection of Kurosawa movies on ... video tape!! Need to replace them soon with updated media.

We just got our latest netflix delivery. I sent the old movies back Monday and received the new ones today...very nice operation they have running :)

Linkster you are talking about the 50's and 60's, 8mm was not around in the 20's.

There were porn films back then, but mostly it was still photos that were sold ("under the counter"). The most popular way of showing moving porn pictures was in coin operated machines such as Mutoscope ("what the butler saw", like a giant circular "flick book" (imagine a giant roladex with one frame of the film on each page), you inserted a coin and turned a handle that moved the pages on the flick book round) and kinetoscope (film loop, like the kids toys you still see nowadays, where you look through a lens onto a frame of film and move the film on by turning a handle).

If you are really interested in the process Google "Mutoscope" and "kinetoscope".

And porn goes back a lot earlier than that. In my collection I have a few pages of a Japanese "porn mag" that is nearly 200 years old.

Thanks guys...
I know I get funny looks from some people around here since they think they know what I do. Some think I have a studio in my basement and have orgies every weekend. It sometimes makes me feel like a Pariah.

But, think of what people thought of porn-mongers back in the early part of the last century.

RE: "Some think I .....have orgies every weekend" - You mean you don't? Well the rest of us do, remind us to invite you sometime. :)

|headbang|