By The Book
By Tod Hunter
Monday, August 11, 2008
Book Soup is turning into the bookstore of choice for the porno-American community lately. Authors Jennifer Sugar and Jill C. Nelson signed their book,
John C. Holmes: A Life Measured in Inches, for fans at a reception at Book Soup on Friday, which would have been Holmes' 64th birthday.
The authors were introduced by longtime industry veteran Bill Margold, who gave the book its title. He pointed out that shooting adult films was illegal until 1988, claiming, "there is no good movie about this industry. 'Wonderland' was about drugs."
After reading his forward to the book, Margold introduced Cass Paley, who directed the documentary Wadd about Holmes. He said that he had met Sugar at a party given for Holmes's 60th birthday.
"She said she was writing a book about Holmes. I laughed, because I knew how hard it was to make the documentary."
Paley introduced director Bob Chinn, who directed Holmes in several films.
"Many years ago, I made a film called Johnny Wadd and it turned into a series and John C. Holmes became a star," Chinn said. "He became known as Johnny Wadd, unfortunately for him. I made a lot of films with him, but people remember his Johnny Wadd films."
Chinn said that the 60-minute Johnny Wadd features were shot in a week on $750 budgets, including $75 a day for Holmes. "The last one cost $1,000," he added.
He called the book "a comprehensive survey of a great tragedy," adding, "There is so much I've forgotten. I'm glad to be here tonight."
Chinn also announced that he has found his print of Johnny Wadd in storage, the first answer print which has only been projected once.
Author Sugar read a letter from Seka, talking about working with Holmes and advice he had given her on a set, before she and Nelson read excerpts from the book.
In a question-and-answer session after the reading, Sugar and Nelson said they were inspired to write the book after seeing the mainstream film Wonderland, which was packaged with the documentary Wadd as a supplemental disc. Both said they wanted to know more about Holmes after this initial exposure to him and his life.
"Wadd is the best documentary," Sugar said, "but we were able, with an unlimited number of pages, to delve deeper."
The book signing took place during a wine-and-cake reception, sponsored by XBIZ, which followed the reading. The evening was capped with a midnight screening of Eruption, starring Holmes, at the Silent Movie Theater.
Adult industry personalities attending the signing included Holmes' widow Laurie Holmes, veteran performers Ron Jeremy, Tricia Devereaux, Rhonda Jo Petty and Don Fernando, photographer Kenji, veteran adult industry writer Jared Rutter, director Alan Colburg, videographer Captain Bob and Plan 9 Media partners Wayne Hentai and Shari B.
This week, Book Soup will host writer/director Tristan Taormino, who will be signing her new book on non-polygamous relationships, and on the 20th, Georgina Spelvin will be signing her autobiography, The Devil Made Me Do It.
Check the Book Soup website for details.
