The Other Hollywood (8 page)

“So we’ll give her a little test,” Damiano said. “We’ll see if she can talk.”

My test for the role struck me as a strange one. Damiano asked me to recite, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

That was my screen test for
Deep Throat
.

I stood there and recited “Mary Had a Little Lamb” two different ways—first a straight dramatic reading, then laughing all the way through, as though it was hilarious. I guess they were testing my dramatic range.

GERARD DAMIANO
:
I would walk Linda around crowded rooms, asking her to yell, so she would get over her shyness—to get her to project.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
When Butchie Peraino kept criticizing me, Chuck began to panic that all that money would fall through. One day Chuck came up with a brainstorm. “We could get Butchie to change his mind, if you’d just go in there and give him a blow job.”

I walked into his office. He was seated at his desk, going through piles of paper. He glanced up at me for just a second and then returned to his paperwork. “Lock the door,” he said, not looking at me.

“C’mon,” he said, “Let’s get this over with.”

I went over beside him and got down on my knees and started to work on him. As I was doing what I had to do, he went on fussing with the papers on his desk. Then he suddenly stopped, leaned back on his chair and looked up at the ceiling. His whole body stiffened, relaxed, then stiffened again. “All right,” he said, “Get out of here now.”

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
Butchie used to eat pizza while Linda was givin’ him head. He used to say, “Well, you’re doin’ a good job.” Yeah, there was no love lost between ’em.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
I didn’t really like Butchie because all he was interested in was “experiencing the product.” He wanted to see what it was like to have deep throat done to him. I had to become a “satisfier” for him, I guess you could say.

HARRY REEMS
:
I couldn’t wait to work with Linda again. When Gerard told me he had a script for
Deep Throat,
I read it with great eagerness. In the script, I saw a part I was dying to play—and my part was dying to play it, too.

“No, I can’t use you,” Damiano said. “We’re going to Florida to shoot, and it would be too expensive to take you.”

I was crushed.

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
I don’t know how I got to meet Butchie’s father, Anthony Peraino, Sr., but I always called him “Mr. Peraino.” I told him about locations in Florida because you gotta remember I was tryin’ to get back to Miami. So I bust ass and made some phone calls and got some places lined up.

LENNY CAMP
:
Chuck Traynor was nuthin’. He was less than nuthin’. He couldn’t get anybody, couldn’t get any locations. So they called me.

BUNNY YEAGER
:
Somebody called me wanting me to get them some girls for
Deep Throat,
but when they told me they had to do hard-core sex, I said, “Absolutely not. I can’t—I don’t know anyone like that, and I wouldn’t ask anyone to do that anyway.”

HARRY REEMS
:
I wanted to be a part of that production. It didn’t matter if I acted or not. In fact, I preferred
not
to act.

“Tell you what,” I said to Gerry. “If you put me on as crew, I’ll work for twenty bucks a day.”

Gerry’s eyes opened wide.

“Maybe we can work something out,” he said. “Maybe we can put you on as gaffer and grip.”

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
So Mr. Peraino, Anthony Sr., was driving down to Miami and, I asked, “Hey, can Linda and I ride with you?”

He said, “Sure.”

This came up later in the
Deep Throat
trial, that he transported us across state lines for illegal bullshit, but it wasn’t any illegal bullshit. I just asked him for a ride.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
When we were driving to Florida, Chuck was desperately trying to push me to do something sexual with Tony—Mr. Anthony Peraino, Sr. But he wasn’t the least bit into it, and of course I wasn’t either. He was too nice to embarrass me like that.

So I’d get yelled at every night for not doing it, you know—“Why don’t you grab his dick while he’s driving and give him a blow job?”

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
You remember them old leather sheepskin coats from the hippie days? Well, Linda had one of those, and it got rained on someplace in New Jersey, and it smelled terrible. When those coats got wet, they smelled real bad. So old Mr. Peraino stopped the car and said, “Chuck, if you do me a favor, I’ll do you a favor.”

I asked, “What’s that?”

“If you’ll throw that thing out, I’ll stop and buy her a good coat.”

HARRY REEMS
:
On January 11, 1972, I left for Florida. And
Deep Throat
. And I did indeed drive Gerard Damiano’s blue and white Cadillac to Florida—that flashy Caddy you see in the movie. I’ll always think of it as the pimpmobile.

FRED LINCOLN
:
The reason I wasn’t in
Throat
was that, as I said, Gerry Damiano tried to rip me off for twenty-five bucks on
SEX U.S.A.

ERIC EDWARDS
:
The only reason I wasn’t in
Deep Throat
was that I was doing summer stock at the time. I probably could have had Harry Reems’s role if I had been in New York because there was only like a handful of people doing porn. But I was still a so-called “legit” actor, so I was doing summer stock shows around Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia, performing in
Man of La Mancha,
stuff like that.

MIAMI
1972

LENNY CAMP
:
Originally, the
Deep Throat
script was on three-by-five cards. Then all of a sudden it was mimeographed, and somehow I got a copy. To me it was just another piece of shit.

GERARD DAMIANO
:
In Miami, Chuck made Linda wear these cutoff jeans that were so short and so tight that the lips of her pussy would hang out the sides. She did have nice long legs, and anyone passing by would have to notice.

But in Chuck’s mind, anybody who did look at her was grounds for taking Linda back to the hotel and beating the shit out of her.

Obviously she was supposed to do it but not
enjoy
it.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
After the first night of shooting, we were in a hotel room. And the whole crew was in an adjoining room. Music was blasting, everybody was laughing having a grand old time.

And then Chuck started in about how I smiled too much on the set that day and that I didn’t do anything freaky to anyone, and I didn’t expose myself to anyone, and all these different things. And then all of a sudden he started punching me and kicking me and threw me against the wall. And then he picked me up and threw me on the bed. And I started screaming. Everyone became very quiet. The music was shut down. The laughing stopped.

“I’m thinking, wow, what soulless people. No one’s going to help me.” And not one person came.

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
Did I beat her up? Well, yeah, I wouldn’t bullshit anybody. You know, I’m not Goody Two-shoes or “Joe Innocent.” I’ve always tried to deal with people two ways: I talk to them as long as I think I can talk to them and then I hit them. With Linda, if she and I got into a hassle, it wouldn’t be beneath me to backhand her or bend her over my knee and beat her ass. She dug it, you know?

GERARD DAMIANO
:
I’ve often tried to pinpoint the psychology of Linda. She seemed to have a distinct sadomasochistic relationship with Chuck, to the point where he constantly dominated her. They were never anywhere where she wasn’t holding him or touching him. There was always a physical closeness or contact. There was this strange need all the time. And she was never out of Chuck’s sight. They were always a little apart from the group.

But as close as they were in the daytime, I knew Chuck would bang Linda off the wall all night. The next day she’d appear on the set black-and-blue.

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
When Gerry used to have trouble with Linda, I’d say, “You tell her you’ll beat her ass or something if she don’t do so-and-so.”

GERARD DAMIANO
:
I had brought Harry Reems down with me to Florida as production assistant. I thought Harry had already been overexposed in X-rated films. But he was looking to break out of performing and learn the technical end of the business.

I really dug Harry. He’s a professional, he’s a romantic, and he’s an exhibitionist. You have to be one if you’re going to look good in an X-rated film. Harry knew where his own particular head was, and he could get it up anytime you wanted. Even so, I hadn’t written a part for him in
Deep Throat
. But I couldn’t find anybody in Florida to play the doctor, so I finally asked Harry.

He loved it! He was completely turned on by Linda. He couldn’t wait to ball her. I wrote the part pretty close to his own personality—he’s zany, he’s crazy, he gets excited, and he jumps up and down. Harry’s always turned on,
and
he’s got talent.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
One reason Harry Reems became a porn superstar—I suppose
the
male superstar of pornographic movies—is that he appears to be fairly intelligent, and he has a good sense of humor.

Harry’s strongest appeal to me, however, was the fact that Chuck constantly referred to him as “that asshole,” and Harry pretended that Chuck did not exist.

Every time Harry had a chance to speak with me alone, he’d tell me he could make me a star, that I should join him in making bigger and better
porno movies. The implication was always there: Harry would take care of everything—once I got myself away from you-know-who.

HARRY REEMS
:
Linda had nice legs, small tits, but then, you know…I can get turned on by a picture of Minnie Mouse. So I got into a sexual thing with her, but Linda and I never had a chance to have sex off the set. But I kept eyeing her, and she kept eyeing me.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
Chuck didn’t like Harry Reems at all. I assumed this was because Harry was young and good-looking. When I saw how upset Chuck was, I decided I would pretend to enjoy it with Harry. When Damiano was through filming, Chuck could hardly wait to get me alone.

“What the fuck do you call that?” he snapped.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t try and tell me you weren’t really into that,” he said. “You were
too
fucking into it, if you ask me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Chuck.” All innocence. “You’re always going around telling me I’m not freaky enough, that I should get into it more. What do you want from me?”

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
Linda enjoyed the sex in
Deep Throat
. Oh, yeah, sure—she said she did. She told Harry she did—and everybody else. Linda was not a prude, and I didn’t change her. And Harry Reems was an okay guy. I never had any real problems with him.

BILL KELLY
:
Harry Reems was a very likable sort of a guy for being completely amoral or immoral. He’d joke with you. And I think he was a pretty good comedic actor. He was the only redeeming thing in the entire movie, as opposed to Linda Lovelace, who’s got as much acting ability as a lamp.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
The big scene in the movie is when Harry playing a doctor, discovers that my clitoris has been misplaced and is located in my throat. Although we tried this scene several times, we could never get it quite right. We never had any trouble with the action, only with the lines. We’d do the sex scenes just once, and then we’d hear Damiano say, “That’s a take!” But when we so-called actors had a simple line or two to deliver, we’d be there for hours trying to get it right. Harry and I took turns messing up our lines in one big scene until Damiano finally lost his patience. Then the director took the unprecedented step of calling for a rehearsal. Harry and I were told to keep going over the lines until we got them right.

“It’s not so bad,” Harry was supposed to say, “You should be thankful you have a clitoris at all.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” I replied through teardrops. “How would you feel if your balls were in your ear?”

“Why, then I could hear myself coming!” Harry said.

Well, it was hard not to laugh.

GERARD DAMIANO
:
When Linda would start to relax and enjoy her work, Chuck was a nuisance. If she enjoyed it
too
much, she knew she was in for a bad time later on. She constantly kept looking over her shoulder, worrying.

So the way I overcame that was to employ Chuck as a production assistant. When we came to a crucial scene, the production manager would send him on an errand of some sort, and Linda could relax.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
Chuck became Damiano’s gofer—he’d go for coffee, beer, lunch, cigarettes, anything that would keep him out of the way. Then Damiano would close the set so that he couldn’t return until we completed shooting the scene.

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
I was the production manager on a legitimate film with directors and grips, so I took my job real serious. I was a marine and a pilot—you do things by the numbers, you know?

Of course, Linda didn’t understand my position. I was in an odd situation because I’m the production manager—but I’m also representing the star.

GERARD DAMIANO
:
Chuck mystifies me. He’s innocuous, he’s not a continental lover, and he couldn’t get it up on the
Deep Throat
set, but you have to admit the man must have something. It mystified me then, and it still does.

There are very few relationships that I have seen in the porn industry that rival Linda and Chuck’s. Most of the girls work on their own. They are their own bosses. They do what they want—because they want to do it. It’s very seldom that I see relationships like Linda’s.

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
My business was creating a superstar. And you don’t create a superstar by namby-pambyin’, kiss-assin’ around, and givin’ her roses—it just don’t work, you know? You’re fightin’ a real strong, uphill battle.

So did Linda and I have fights on the set? Yeah, we did have a disagreement, a pretty strong disagreement. She was telling me she didn’t wanna do scenes that day, that she had a headache or a backache or ass-ache or somethin’.

HARRY REEMS
:
When the old mafioso who was putting up the money, Anthony Peraino, Sr., dropped down to Miami to see how things were going, he asked, “Where’s da broads?”

Mr. Peraino was accustomed to going first class. He required a change of broads every night. Along with the sheets.

LINDA LOVELACE
:
Anthony Peraino, Sr. had given his son Butchie the twenty-five thousand dollar bankroll for the movie. That’s why it was so important to Butchie that the movie be a success. And it also explains why Butchie was so critical of me. It wasn’t just that I might ruin his first film or cost him his twenty-five thousand. I might make him look bad in front of Daddy.

HARRY REEMS
:
I contacted a local filmmaker who had hookers working for him. They “sunlighted” in loops and stills and cheesecake photography. So we had all the women we needed.

LENNY CAMP
:
This guy that I used to do stills for called me for
Deep Throat,
and said, “Lenny, you gotta help them.”

So I met with the director, Gerry Damiano, and we started badly, right off. I said, “You know, I want five hundred bucks for what you want me to do, and I want two hundred and fifty bucks now.”

He said, “Fat chance.”

I said, “Yeah, okay. I’ll see ya round.”

So I get home and there’s this phone call, and the guy says, “Hey, come back here; we’ve got the money for ya.”

So I go back and he hands me the money right off the bat. Most of these guys were liars and creeps and tried to get away without paying anybody.

BILL KELLY
:
Lenny Camp was the still photographer on
Deep Throat
. His name’s in the credits. He was a sex maniac. Never met a nastier guy. He used to go around conning people left and right. He rented a big mansion over in Golden Beach. And he had no intention of ever paying any rent—rented it under the name Leonard Shut-eye or something like that. I mean, this guy is notorious. Never been anybody like Lenny.

LENNY CAMP
:
Carol Conners’s muscleman boyfriend called me up and said he had a model for me. They came to my house, and I was gonna shoot Carol in the nude, and she’s posing, and she said, “I hate this shit.”

She said, “I’d rather fuck ya than take these pictures.”

I said, “Well, lock the door.”

Was she a good fuck? The greatest.

Within days I got her the role in
Deep Throat
.

CAROL CONNERS (PORN STAR
/
GONG SHOW
HOSTESS)
:
It was basically a fluke getting the part playing the nurse in
Deep Throat
. I met a guy in Miami Beach, and he more or less talked me into meeting this director, Gerry Damiano, who asked me to read some lines from the movie. Then somebody asked me to recite “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in the funniest way I could.

GERARD DAMIANO
:
Was I nervous about using Linda, a girl with small tits? Well, in writing the script I dealt with it by never showing her completely nude. Remember, I had to hide her abdominal scar as well. Sometimes she wore a white slip. I tried to maintain a mystery about her by keeping some part of her anatomy clothed during the film.

LENNY CAMP
:
Carol Conners was in my car, and we drove over to the Voyager Hotel where they were shooting, and I said, “You got a girl with tits? Linda Lovelace has got no tits!”

CAROL CONNERS
:
The girl who had been originally cast as the nurse had a run-in with the director, and it just so happened I was the same size and the uniform fit me. They were ready to shoot, and there I was.

CHUCK TRAYNOR
:
Carol Conners—great boobs. But I don’t think they were gonna find a blond with big tits that could do deep throat.

CAROL CONNERS
:
I didn’t even know I was going to be fucking in the film until they had already started filming. I really didn’t know what I was supposed to do. At first, I was led to believe I would be an extra, lying in a bikini by the poolside as Linda and one of her girlfriends were talking.

At that time in Miami, not that many people were trying to break into porn films. It was more or less hard to get people to be in an X-rated film.

BUNNY YEAGER
:
Carol Conners—Chuck Traynor told me about her. I think she was in one of our nudie-cutie movies. I can visualize her sitting on this guy’s lap.

She had a bodybuilder boyfriend. He used to come into my studio with her, and he had full control of her. I could never really get to work with Carol because he was always hanging on her, always trying to get the best deal for her.