In 1979, Dennis Posa was on the verge of stardom. Against all odds, as Dennis Parker, he’d just released a disco record on a major recording label and was managed by the same team responsible for many of the biggest disco acts of the time. I say, against all odds, because less than 10 years earlier, he’d been a college dropout, the product of a difficult childhood on Long Island who struggled with his sexuality, who had moved to New York to unsuccessfully pursue a career as a theater actor. Denn...
Aug 03, 2025•38 min•Ep. 154
I’ve always loved movies, especially the films I grew up with in the 1970s. I was seduced by their gritty realism, social commentary, complex characters, and a more honest portrayal of the human condition. And I was fan of that generation of film stars too: always surprising, sometimes conflicted figures, artists more than the celebrities that we have today. Movie genres seemed less important to me, so when I first saw Wade Nichols in an adult film on the big screen, it had just as big effect on...
Jun 22, 2025•42 min•Ep. 153
This past week I phoned Paul Thomas , former adult performer and film director, also known as PT. I’m heading out to LA shortly and was calling to set up a date with him and his wife. Seeing the two of them when I’m out west is one of my favorite things. It starts sitting together in their backyard under the Los Angeles sun, catching up on what’s been happening since my last visit. Then strolling slowly through the Venice canals as PT pontificates on one thing or another and his wife and I roll ...
Jun 15, 2025•2 hr 49 min
Years ago, I first saw the 1970s adult film Barbara Broadcast (1977) on the big screen, and it made a big impression. In the film, there’s a scene which shows a man standing behind an industrial kitchen worktable, a shirtless, mustached piece of beefcake that was Wade Nichols . Rugged yet pretty. Lean, toned, and handsome. He looked like the Marlboro man from the distant plains, if that cowboy had inexplicably turned up in New York and started moonlighting as a Manhattan sous-chef. He had the ap...
Jun 08, 2025•50 min•Ep. 152
Who was the original actor cast in the lead role of the golden age blockbuster, The Devil in Miss Jones (1973)? Not Georgina Spelvin , the talented doyenne of adult films who starred in many pre-video era features, first in New York then in California, and who was the eventual star of the film as ‘Miss Jones.’ No, Gerard Damiano first chose another actress, Sue Flaken , to fill the role, only to change his mind at the last minute. The movie went on to become one of the biggest hits of the era, m...
Apr 27, 2025•35 min•Ep. 151
In the first part of our interview with Susan Hart , we heard about Sue’s early years in 1970s Los Angeles, growing up in a strict Catholic family, running away from home when she was 15, and becoming involved in a bad relationship. She escaped – into the army of all places, before finding a different kind of home, of sorts, as a prolific performer in the early adult video industry. But what is unusual and remarkable about her story is that Susan is willing to tell it at all. As you will hear in...
Mar 16, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 150
Perhaps one of the less obvious aspects of The Rialto Report is that it may lead to the impression that people involved in the adult industry forty or fifty years ago are all pretty comfortable talking about their pasts and have led serene lives, free of incident, since they stopped making sex films. After all, our podcasts and interviews are filled with people talking pretty openly about their experiences. In fact, quite the opposite is normally the case. You see, the truth is that the majority...
Mar 09, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 149
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida: After Dolores Carlos ’ retirement from acting in South Florida nudie films in the late 1960s, she still remained close to her circle of Cuban filmmaker friends, and none more so than José Prieto , Greg Sandor , and Rafael Remy . They would still meet regularly, and all three took an active interest in her daughter Marcy ’s well-being. From time to time, they would joke about the fortune teller that the three men h...
Nov 10, 2024•45 min•Ep. 148
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida: You may remember Marcy Bichette ’s start in life from our earlier episodes: she was born Marcelle Denise Bichette in St Petersburg, Florida in August 1950 to a young married couple who had distinctly different ambitions in life. Her father, Maurice Bichette, had married looking for a settled, quiet existence, but her mother, Dolores, wanted to live her life moving in the opposite direction. Dolores had come from a...
Nov 03, 2024•39 min•Ep. 147
Previously on Chasing Butterflies – Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida: Manuel Conde had lived several lives even before he moved to Miami, Florida. He’d been born José Conde Samaniego in 1917 in Galicia, in northern Spain, though his family fled to Cuba after General Franco’s fascist coup d’état in the 1930s. And then, in 1959, Castro overthrew the government and enforced Communist rule over Cuba. Manuel, having already fled one dictatorship in Spain a few years earlier, took his fam...
Oct 27, 2024•41 min•Ep. 146
Manuel was a Cuban from Spain via New York.. working in Florida. The post Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Part 1, Manuel Conde’s story – Podcast 145 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Oct 20, 2024•40 min•Ep. 145
Dolores Carlos untold story, behind-the-scenes in Florida's adult films. The post Chasing Butterflies: Stories of Cubans in Exploitation-Era Florida – Prologue, Dolores Carlos’ story – Podcast 144 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Oct 13, 2024•41 min•Ep. 144
What happened when Iris de la Cruz, sex worker and activist, interviewed her 10-year-old daughter? The post Iris De La Cruz – And Her Daughter Melissa: Street Walking Blues – Podcast 143 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Sep 22, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 143
We remember Howard Ziehm, one of the pioneers of adult films with the groundbreaking ‘Mona' (1970). The post R.I.P. Howard Ziehm: Mona… (and marijuana, music, and M.I.T.) – Podcast Reprise appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Sep 01, 2024•1 hr 42 min
What happened to Dian's career after the rise of the internet crippled the magazine business? The post Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 4: The Taschen Years – Podcast 142 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Aug 18, 2024•52 min•Ep. 142
Dian's career continues in the ever-expanding and competitive world of New York sex publications into the 1980s/90s. The post Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 3: Going Solo – Podcast 141 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Aug 11, 2024•51 min•Ep. 141
Part 2 of our interview with Dian Hanson - in which she embarks on a career in men's magazines. The post Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 2: The Peter Wolff Years – Podcast 140 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Aug 04, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 140
Dian Hanson was a legendary figure in the world of men's magazines in New York in the 70s that overlapped heavily with the adult film scene. The post Dian Hanson – Chronicles, Part 1: The Early Years – Podcast 139 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Jul 28, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 139
Whatever happened to Geri Miller? The post NYC Starlets – Part 3: An Afternoon with Geri Miller, Warhol Super-Groupie and Sexploitation Actress – Podcast 138 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Apr 07, 2024•43 min•Ep. 138
Rare and unpublished on-set photographs of Pat Barrington. The post Pat Barrington in ‘Orgy of the Dead’ (1965) – Unpublished Photographs and Podcast (reprise) appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Mar 31, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 94
David Cronenberg's 'Rabid', Linda Lovelace and Marilyn Chambers, the Nicaraguan Contra rebels and more.. The post Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 7, Endgame, Podcast 137 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Mar 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 137
How Chuck Traynor, ex-husband of 'Deep Throat's Linda Lovelace moved on to Marilyn Chambers. The post Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 6, The Marilyn Chambers Years, Podcast 136 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Mar 03, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 136
F.M Bradley died last month just a few weeks shy of his 70th birthday. We remember our 2021 interview with the pioneering 1980s adult star. The post F.M. Bradley: Hiding in Plain Sight – Podcast 113 – Reprise appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Dec 10, 2023•1 hr 30 min
Michael Findlay's films were so single-minded - so how much did his own life influence his work? The post Flesh! The Untold Origin of the Findlays and the ‘Flesh Trilogy’, Part 2 – Michael’s story appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Dec 03, 2023•36 min•Ep. 135
Michael and Roberta Findlay's film's were more shocking that their peers. So who were they? The post Flesh! The Untold Origin of the Findlays and the ‘Flesh Trilogy’, Part 1 – Roberta’s story appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Nov 19, 2023•36 min•Ep. 134
The dramatic second part of Lisa Cintrice's life story, covering her time in the adult film business and reveals what happens next. The post Lisa Cintrice: Not Being Afraid, Part 2 – Podcast 133 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Nov 05, 2023•56 min•Ep. 133
Lisa Cintrice talks about her life inside and out of the adult film business in this candid and personal interview. The post Lisa Cintrice: Not Being Afraid, Part 1 – Podcast 132 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Oct 29, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 132
Herschel Savage passed away this week: Ashley West remembers him and revisits the 2013 interview with him. The post R.I.P. Herschel Savage (1952 – 2023) appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Oct 15, 2023•1 hr 38 min
The NYPD break with code - and make an X-rated in an attempt to break into the adult film business. The post Cop Porn: When the NYPD made a Porn Film – Part 2 – Podcast 131 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Aug 06, 2023•50 min
In 1977, the Public Morals Squad in New York set up an undercover porn production company. The post Cop Porn: When the NYPD made a Porn Film – Part 1 – Podcast 130 appeared first on The Rialto Report .
Jul 30, 2023•51 min•Ep. 129
