Book Ad of the Week: THE BLACK GESTAPO (1975)

The Black Gestapo
by Joseph Nazel
Holloway House, 1975

Novelization of the Lee Frost-Wes Bishop production, containing eight pages of black-and-white photos

Book Ad of the Week: COCAINE FEVER (1982)

Cocaine Fever

by Mark Windsor

Based on a screenplay by
Roland S. Jefferson

from a story by
Roland S. Jefferson,
John Poole IV,
and
Demetris Johnson

Published by Holloway House in 1982
Reprinted with a different cover in 1990

The "major motion picture" was never made.

(Players, July 1983, Vol. 10, No. 2, p.76-77)

Book Ad of the Week: Cinemabooks Go Wild!

Here's an advertisement for the four "Cinemabook" paperbacks that Holloway House issued in 1969 and '70. Similar to the Olympic Foto-Readers and Greenleaf Classics titles from the same time, these were "adults only" novelizations heavily illustrated with b&w photos from the films. We have all four in the Temple library, and plan to review each one individually in the near future.

All the Loving Couples (1969) was written by tough guy character actor Leo V. Gordon, based on his own screenplay. Mining a similar suburban sexual revolution storyline as BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE -- released the same year -- ALL THE LOVING COUPLES was a highly profitable independent release that is all but forgotten today. Originally rated X by the MPAA in 1969, it was edited to earn an R rating in 1972.

Leo Guild, a Holloway House author who wrote everything from Confidential Sex Survey and Street of Ho's to biographies of Josephine Baker and Darryl Zanuck for the publisher, novelized David Friedman's STARLET (1969), a softcore "behind the scenes" story about the making of skin flicks that Friedman remade years later as the hardcore MATINEE IDOL (1984).

How to Succeed with (The Opposite) Sex (1970) was penned by writer-director Bert I. Gordon. A soft sex comedy originally released by Billy Fine's Medford Films, the movie was rated X by the MPAA in '70 but edited for an R when reissued by Media Cinema in 1974.

Satyricon (1970) is a FELLINI'S SATYRICON tie-in edition of Paul Gillette's Satyricon: Memoirs of a Lusty Roman, first published by Holloway House in 1965.

The Adam Adult Cinemastrip: PINOCCHIO (1970)

Chris Warfield and Corey Allen's "adults only" version of Pinocchio was rated X by the MPAA in 1970 and originally released by Russ Meyer's company, Eve Productions, under the title THE VOLUPTUARY. By the time Adam Film World magazine issued this 66-page photo comic (or "adult cinemastrip") in October 1971, the onscreen title had been changed to PINOCCHIO, with all advertising materials hyping it as THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO, presumably so it wouldn't be confused with the Disney classic or Ron Merk's kiddie matinees like PINOCCHIO'S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

(Above: Note the new title pasted over THE VOLUPTUARY on this one-sheet)

Despite the title change, Warfield continued to secure bookings for the film as THE VOLUPTUARY as late as November of 1976 (His company, Lima Productions, ran the advertisement below in Boxoffice in advance of the 1974 drive-in season).

Riding the coattails of Bill Osco's X-rated musical ALICE IN WONDERLAND, which hit theaters in April of 1976 and was an immediate box-office success, Warfield created a new ad campaign for PINOCCHIO that was pure exploitation genius ("See the surprise when he lies! It's not his nose that grows!") and got it booked into drive-ins all over the country for the next eight years as well as cable TV and video exposure for years after that. After some re-editing, the MPAA gave it an R rating in 1977.

William Rotsler, the director of MANTIS IN LACE and a regular contributor to Adam Film World magazine, was the still photographer on the PINOCCHIO set and his photos were used for this first -- and only? -- "Adam Adult Cinemastrip." Liberties were taken with the story, and those familiar with the movie will notice a few major deviations in the first couple of pages included here.


Monica Gayle's character, Gepetta, is named "Cindy" for some reason.




The "friendly wizard" pictured below is nowhere to be found in the movie.


Dyanne Thorne plays a traditional (albeit frequently nude) Fairy Godmother in the movie, concerned only with Pinocchio and Gepetta's well-being. However, in the magazine she's a troublemaker who constantly puts Pinocchio in awkward situations.


Most important difference: in the movie the Fairy Godmother causes Pinocchio's penis to expand grotesquely every time he misbehaves, and this is considered punishment, but in the magazine the enormous appendage seems to be a positive rather than negative attribute (There are no shots of Pinocchio knocking over lamps and getting snagged in the drapes).

If Warfield's catalog ever gets a decent DVD release, this magazine would make an entertaining supplement on the PINOCCHIO special edition. A completely uncut and restored version of this movie is long overdue.