Inside Deep Throat Page #6

was because I went out

and looked for 'em.

I knew it was a gamble

because of New York

having problems with the city,

that it was on trial.

(Arthur Sommer)

I opened the picture

and the next thing I knew

we had lines

around the corner.

There must have been,

I'm guessing 100 or 150 people

in line when they opened.

Every f***ing FBl agent

in the country

was sitting in the audience.

Kelly was there

and everything else.

(Kelly)

You walked into the theater.

There's just a,

sort of a bent-nosed,

middle-aged guy

with a very rough voice.

He says, "$5. "

So I gave him $5 and said:

"Where is the ticket?"

He said,

"No tickets, just go on in."

The movie started

and about 50 of them

got up and said:

"It's a sex picture,

get me out! Get me out!

It's a sex picture,

I can't stand it."

(Kelly)

Not only was it a violation

of the obscenity law

of the United States,

it was also

a highly organized

crime enterprise.

(Kelly)

I didn't know

who the Peraino gang was

at that time.

But I soon found out

when I started investigating

that they were heavyweights

out of New York.

They were part of

the Colombo family operation

who had moved

to Fort Lauderdale area.

I haven't seen them

since l--I left.

And I want to make sure

l--I don't get a phone call

or get a knock on the door

that they want to talk to me.

Because I've been

away from them for 30 years.

And l--l--I'd like it

to be that way.

(Terry)

This is-- this is sh*t

as far as I'm concerned.

Excuse my language

but I can't stand it.

He can tell you things,

your hair would

stand up on your heads.

I didn't mention

any of those things,

Terry.

What?

I didn't mention any of them.

I don't-- I don't

want you to.

I didn't.

We haven't heard

in 32 years.

Thank God.

So, how do you know?

I don't know

if they're living.

They could be dead,

Terry.

(Hopper)

In its second year of release,

Deep Throat was still

number 11 on the charts.

It's a dirty movie.

Look, try to look at it

as a satire of

contemporary sexual mores

with lots of

redeeming social values.

(Hopper)

Porn chic was all the rage.

Films like Damiano's

The Devil in Miss Jones

and Behind the Green Door

followed on the heels

of Deep Throat's

unprecedented success,

giving Hollywood films

a run for their money.

(Peter Bart)

The studios were in shambles

in the early '70s.

There's this movie out there,

everyone's going to see it.

How does that affect you

and the pictures

you should be making?

(Lovelace)

I've been the first one

to go down the path.

I'd like to see, uh,

legitimate films

and so-called

pornographic films

merge together.

I think the two industries

have got to merge together.

(Lovelace)

Thank you for making me

the first woman president

to go down in history.

(Bart)

They were shooting porn films

on the lot at Paramount.

This is a little known fact.

So Paramount became sort of

confiscated by

the porn industry.

(reporter)

Do you see yourself

as a pioneer?

(Damiano)

No.

If it's left alone,

within a year,

sex will just blend itself

into film.

It's inevitable.

The only thing

that's uncertain

is--is the time it will take.

(Hopper)

But the merger of hardcore

and movies never happened.

Instead, the Supreme Court,

packed with

made a radical change

to the obscenity law

in June 1973.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court

authorized wider restrictions

on the exhibition

and sale of obscenity.

(male announcer)

The recent Supreme Court

decision

gave local officials the right

to decide for themselves

what is pornographic

without having to be guided

by a national standard.

[police siren wailing]

(Mudd)

Here in New York City today,

vice squad police

began cracking down

on pornography.

[police sirens

continue wailing]

(reporter)

Linda, as you may know,

the Supreme Court recently,

uh, handed down

a, uh,

decision on pornography.

I don't think

anybody should

regulate anything.

I think it should be, uh,

I don't believe in censorship.

I don't believe in

anything that they are doing.

But how far can you extend

individual rights

before you hit, uh,

the state of anarchy?

Uh, I really... I don't know.

Have you ever

thought about that?

No. I don't know what's

the state of ana-anarchy.

Well, it's...

That's when everyone does

precisely what he pleases

and, uh,

society has no rules.

At that point,

you've reached anarchy.

Uh, I don't know

about that,

to be honest with you.

I just don't believe

in censorship.

I don't...

That's taking away

your freedom.

That's taking away

your individual right

to make up your own mind

for things.

The last person

that started censorship

was Adolf Hitler.

And look

what happened there.

(Hopper)

Meanwhile,

the FBI was closing in

on Deep Throat

and its distribution.

They pinpointed

the Perainos' headquarters

in Fort Lauderdale

and placed them

under surveillance.

(Kelly)

One day,

I get a telephone call

from a confidential source

who will remain anonymous.

And he says to me, uh;

"We've got so much cash

that we are having trouble

"physically moving about

the office

because the money

is gettin' in the way. "

I said, "How much you got?"

He said, "l don't know.

We don't even

count it anymore."

I said, "You don't count it?"

He said, "No."

I said, "What do you do?"

He said, "We weigh it."

(Hopper)

To get around the law

the mob set up

its own distribution system

of checkers and sweepers

who traveled the country

delivering prints

and collecting the money

from theaters.

At a certain time every day,

the checker or the sweeper

would go to the manager

of the particular theater,

and he would say,

"Our take is 50 percent.

"And we want it now, in cash.

Give us the money now,

or else."

(Peter Manouse)

I was on my way

down to Nashville.

And the reason

I went to Nashville

was I wanted to buy

these Goo Goo candy bars.

# Goo Goo, chew it,

taste it, sweet milk #

(Manouse)

I was gonna buy

a bunch of them

and just, you know,

market them

and see if

I could get it going.

Well, on Saturday night,

I decided I'd just go out.

And I met a couple of guys

from New Jersey.

They were a couple of

ltalian guys.

I happen to be a Greek,

so ltalians and Greeks

are like cousins.

# I gotta have a Goo Goo,

how 'bout you?

Goo Goo ##

They wanted me

to go to work for 'em

uh, baby-sitting

Deep Throat.

And they sent me over to

the Lamar Theater in Memphis.

And that's where it all began.

And as people walked in,

I would count 'em in.

Then I would go down

through the theater crowd

and I would count the number

of people in the theater

with a little clicker.

You know,

those little things.

A checker. That's what I was.

(Manouse)

I--I was just a

simple checker. I had no power

I had no rank, nothing.

I was just an employee.

Nobody was hurt.

And, uh,

the only ones that got hurt

was, uh, one of our checkers

in New Orleans.

Uh, he had $60,000

and he disappeared.

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