Stiff Upper Lip

Who wants a deep throat? No, I'm not offering to blow you, but thought you'd be interested to know that the Deep Throat energy drink was officially launched today in (where else) the Las Vegas area, rolling out to Northern California and Los Angeles this spring. Named after the 1972 classic porn film, which World of Wonder documented the surrounding furor and making of in Inside Deep Throat, the can comes with a handy tape measure on the side and the obligatory warning that "deep throating the can may be a choking hazard."

Two Lips

There's a huge row going on in The Netherlands about what one article calls "a stale old porn movie." BNN – the PBS of the Netherlands – is planning to air Deep Throat and everyone's freaking out. The fabulously named Arie Slob has denounced the film for ruining the life of a human being (um, don't most movies ruin the lives of those who appear in them?). Dutch public television has fought back saying the whole experience will be contextualized by showing Inside Deep Throat. The article observes "Dutch public television – government-funded, but editorially independent – is trying desperately to win back younger viewers who generally prefer the commercial channels." Maybe PBS here should try showing some stale old porn movies.

– Fenton Bailey

True Dat

If you've been into the comments section of Moye Ishimoto's "Pie Day" post on the WOW Report lately, you'll have this song stuck in your head and will be happy to get some closure by hearing it sung by its originator, Andrea True, who coincidentally happens to be one of the stars of World of Wonder's theatrical documentary Inside Deep Throat.

What's in Your Wallet?

Harry Reems, star of the films Deep Throat and Inside Deep Throat, sent these photos to us from the condom fashion show at the 4th China Reproductive Health New Technologies & Products Expo held in Beijing, China, in July. Models wore wearing wedding gowns, evening dresses, bikinis, and even some accessories made entirely of new, unused prophylactics. Watching the models prance down the runway in a flurry of soap bubbles wearing protection gives a fella ideas. The show was organized by Guilin Latex Factory, China's largest condom manufacturer, to promote the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In that case, shouldn't the rubber-wearing models have been male?

A Role She Can Sink Her Teeth Into

Ouch! Make that A Role With More Depth. Anna Faris, the actor known mostly for her comedic roles, has set her sights on something a little deeper, currently putting together a film called Inferno, about porn legend Linda Lovelace and the infamous Deep Throat that made her a temporary mainstream star. Faris would play Lovelace, of course, in what she calls "a really deep, dark drama." The film, which the 30-year-old Faris hopes to get started in the next few months, looks to be a dramatic version of WOW's 2005 feature documentary Inside Deep Throat. "It's a pretty tragic story," she said. "It's going to be a challenge, definitely." (MTV)

Stiff Upper Lip

Inside Deep Throat, World of Wonder's (ahem) in-depth documentary on the making of and furor surrounding the 1972 porn classic Deep Throat, will be making its full, uncut TV debut tonight at 11PM on HBO. We've already stocked up on plenty of Deep Throat, the energy drink that helps keep you up all night.

Rockin' Robbins

Lindsay Lohan might be considered decadent with her coke pants and vodka water, but she and her ilk are only a spit in the ocean compared to the late best-selling author Harold Robbins, of The Carpetbaggers fame. During the '60s and '70s, his Fucking Room Only parties for the "beautiful, handsome, well-endowed, or famous" at his Beverly Hills house were full-blown orgies with "copious amounts" of marijuana, Quaaludes, and cocaine, usually ending in "a mass of writhing bodies." One party featured a sex therapist showing the female guests how to "engage in oral sex in the manner of Linda Lovelace," says Hustler's Larry Flynt in Andrew Wilson's Robbins bio, The Man Who Invented Sex. "We used to all get naked and lay in a pile." Sounds flaccid. (Page Six)

Speaking of Linda Lovelace, Inside Deep Throat, World of Wonder's (ahem) in-depth documentary on the making of and furor surrounding the 1972 porn classic Deep Throat, will be making its TV debut next Friday, September 6 at 11PM on HBO.

Stiff Drink

Deep Throat, the energy drink that helps you "keep it up all night," is the perfect beverage to stock when HBO premieres World of Wonder's documentary Inside Deep Throat at 11PM on Friday, September 6. Mark your calendar.

Deep Praise

As we posted yesterday, Deep Throat has been included on Radio Times' list of 100 landmark films. Ever. Now, today, we learn that someone at Xfanz has got in touch with our Fenton Bailey to ask if the film, which was the subject of WOW's Inside Deep Throat, really is as worthy as, say, Citizen Kane and Vertigo?

But despite the gobs of money it made, does it really belong on the same list as Citizen Kane and Vertigo?

Bailey said yes.

"Deep Throat is a far more important movie than Citizen Kane or Pulp Fiction," Bailey said. "Those movies were great artistic statements, but they had no impact on the culture. We live in the porn age, and it's seeping into every aspect of our lives."

Deep Honor

The Guide to Films 2007, compiled by the UK's Radio Times, has put the hourlong porn movie Deep Throat on its list of 100 landmark films, a list that includes Citizen Kane and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Justifying the choice, Radio Times' film editor Andrew Collins said: "Deep Throat is not necessarily recommended for everyone – it's a quite badly made film – but to deny its influence would be pure snobbery."

(Source)

Getting Blade

Director Wakefield Poole explains in the clip from Inside Deep Throat we posted below that before Linda Lovelace and Deep Throat came along and changed everything, giving a blowjob used to be called "hilting" – as in taking it to the hilt. In honor of that charming old-school expression, we give you this website to explore: Sword Swallowing, a comprehensive history of the art of taking it to the hilt. And check this out.

The Best Job in the World

Head. Fellacio. Souffler. Christopher Hitchens explores the history of the blowjob, in a breezy, deliciously informative (and personally researched?) piece in this month's Vanity Fair. Yes, he gives props to Inside Deep Throat, which we appreciate, and there are also lots of mots that are very bon sprinkled throughout. We're particularly fond of this one:

My friend David Aaronovitch, a columnist in London, wrote of his embarrassment at being in the same room as his young daughter when the TV blared the news that the president of the United States had received oral sex in an Oval Office vestibule. He felt crucially better, but still shy, when the little girl asked him, "Daddy, what's a vestibule?"

And of Inside Deep Throat, he writes:

The recent and highly amusing documentary Inside Deep Throat shows – by re-creating the paradoxically Nixonian times that re-baptized Deep Throat to mean source rather than donor – how America grabbed the Olympic scepter of the blowjob and held on tight. In the film, there is the preserved figure of Helen Gurley Brown, den mother of Cosmo-style journalism for young ladies and author of Sex and the Single Girl, demonstrating her application technique as she tells us how she evolved from knowing nothing about oral sex to the realization that semen could be a terrific facial cream. ("It's full of babies," she squeals, unclear on the concept to the very last.) In closing, Dick Cavett declares that we have gone from looking at a marquee that read DEEP THROAT, and hoping it didn't mean what we thought it did, to "kids who don't even consider it sex." This would leave us with only one problem. Why do we still say, of something boring or obnoxious, that "it sucks"? Ought that not be a compliment?

From Monica In Black and White to Inside Deep Throat we have spent a long time thinking about blowjobs. Christopher's piece inspired us to pull some exclusive out-takes of director Wakefield Poole (Boys in the Sand), author Gore Vidal (Myra Breckinridge), and editor Helen Gurley Brown (Cosmo) from Inside Deep Throat. (Watch here)

Kitlers

Back in the 1970s, porn star Linda Lovelace had a cat that looked so much like Hitler that she named him Hitler. After being featured in the WOW Inside Deep Throat doc, Hitler the kitty (see above), rest his soul, became a posthumous star. In some circles, anyway. Now, 30 years after Lovelace started the trend, cats with Hitler mustaches are everywhere. We call them Kitlers. See lots more Nazi pussy here and here.

Censored Again

And speaking of Inside Deep Throat, it has come to our attention – via the MySpace of Devyn, a 29-year-old married hipster chick – that the WOW documentary has been removed from the shelves of video stores in British Columbia. Oh Canada! But it's in good company: Included in the purge (in BC only, due to provincial law) are Requiem for a Dream, Spun, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and the John Waters box set.

Ozzie Does It

Awardswise, when it rains it pours. Every year the Australian magazine, Filmink, gives out an eclectic array of awards, from Best Movie That Critics Hate to Best Blue Rinse Movie. Now you might think that the latter one's the award that Inside Deep Throat scooped at the prestigious ceremony, but in fact IDT beat out stiff competition from Tarnation, Enron:The Smartest Guys in the Room, Mad Hot Ballroom, and Dig! to win Best Documentary. Hooray for Ozzywood!

Our taped acceptance speech (watch it here) was a bit of a shambles, so now is the time to properly thank the peeps at Dendy Films for doing such a bang-up job promoting and marketting the film: Richard Payton, Andrew Mackie, Nicki Martin, Matthew Soulos and, in particular, the adorable Chris Chamberlin, who manhandled all the press down under. Ooh er.

– Fenton Bailey

Springtime for Hiltzik

Seems that Michael Hiltzik who fought a dirty fight to discredit the box office numbers of Deep Throat [see here and here] has been doing some deep throating of his own. The New York Times reports that his blog in the Los Angeles Times has been suspended after it was revealed he had been "using the names Mikekoshi and Nofanofcablecos not only in posts to his own blog, but on other Web sites as well."

Doesn't seem such a big deal. But wait, there's more. "Mr. Hiltzik's reputation at The Times is mixed," the report continues. "In 1993, while serving as a correspondent in Moscow, he was recalled to Los Angeles after it was discovered he had been reading his colleagues' e-mail messages." But hey, Comrade Mikeski was surely only doing what the KGB do. When in Rome....

Could Hiltzik be up for induction into the Fakers Hall of Fame, joining such luminaries as Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and James Frey? Nah. He won a Pulitzer. For writing about corruption in the entertainment industry.

– Fenton Bailey

Shelf-Promotion

Just when we thought Awards Season was over, we get another trophy. We've won an Angel Award for the Philadelphia episode of our AMC series Movies That Shook the World. So we'll be displaying that right next to the AVN award we received this year for Best Mainstream Adult Release for Inside Deep Throat.. Btw, the Angel award weighs as much as an Oscar and means just as much to us.

Porn 101

So, OK, Inside Deep Throat didn't make it to the recent Oscars, but it's got legs nevertheless, as a part of the study courses in the growing porn curriculum on many university campi. In the current Time magazine's "Sex in the Syllabus" article (p.80), a professor teaching sex and law at UCLA says that seeing Inside Deep Throat is optional for his students because porn is "so pervasive in our culture, most students have already seen it." And we can only hope that each and every one of them bought the DVD.

The Devil You Say

The winners at the 23rd annual AVN Awards Show, which occurred Saturday at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, have been announced and we have the complete list here, thanks to AVN's website. The New Devil in Miss Jones won big with Best awards for art direction, editing, and cinematography. We have a clip right here of the making of that winning film, with Jenna Jameson (above) from WOW's Vivid Valley series.

We're happy and want to thank the Supreme Being and the spirit of Linda Lovelace for our winning the Best Mainstream Adult Release award for Inside Deep Throat. But the specialty awards are what really excite us, wondering what the acceptance speeches must have been like.

Best Specialty Release - Squirting
Flower's Squirt Shower 2, Elegant Angel Productions

Best Specialty Release - MILF
MILF Seeker, Pink Visual Productions

Best Specialty Release - Fem-Dom Strap-On
His Ass is Mine, LeWood Productions/Juicy Entertainment

X Marks the Box

Turns out Deep Throat cleans up real good. The fine people at Arrow Productions were polishing a well-worn print of the infamous '7Os porno when they happened upon the original master. So they started over with the pristine copy, and made it available in high definition for the XBox360, finally making sense of that X. This will be the first new version of Deep Throat in many years. Meanwhile, take a look at this ASCII version. Grab a seat, it's the full length. And crank up the funk, it's silent. Of course, faithful WR readers will remember it from last January.

Under the Tree: Suggestive Gift Suggestion

Inside Deep Throat - The original motion picture soundtrack for Inside Deep Throat will FINALLY be released this Tuesday on KOCH Records. Couldn't think of a better gift to give for the holidays, along with the DVD (Universal). The Inside Deep Throat soundtrack is a creative mix of vintage pop nuggets (including Melanie, Kool & The Gang, Tommy James, Supertramp, and the hard-to-find six-minute-plus version of Andrea True Connection's disco classic "More More More"), contemporary '70s-inspired throwbacks (by critic faves Danielle Luppi and Mocean Worker), original score (from David Benjamin Steinberg), film dialogue interludes, exclusive liner notes from directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and brand-new recordings of songs featured in the early '70s Deep Throat film release by producer Chris Joss.

– Peace Bisquit

Stuck Inside of Tokyo with the Tempe Blues Again

Randy Barbato writes:

INSIDE TOKYO – Inside Deep Throat is coming out soon in JAPAN, so Deep Throat director Gerard Damiano and his kids, Gerard Damiano Jr and Christa headed over to Tokyo to kick-start the promotions. Here are some photos of their trip, sent to us by Gerard Jr. They loved Japan so much that they have been eating Japanese food exclusively since their return and Gerard senior has decided to build a koi pond in their backyard. Presumably, construction won't begin for a few days, since Gerard senior and his kids live in Fort Meyers, Florida, where as of yesterday they were buckled down to brave the winds of Wilma.

(Photo: Gerard Damiano in Tokyo, by Gerard Damiano Jr. More after the jump.)

Groove Is in the Throat

Finally, after a long, arduous haul (don't even ask) the original motion picture soundtrack to Inside Deep Throat is complete! The album is a creative mix of vintage pop nuggets (including the hard-to-find 6-plus-minute version of the Andrea True Connection's "More More More"!), contemporary '70s-inspired throwbacks (by critic faves Danielle Luppi and Mocean Worker), original score (from maestro David Benjamin Steinberg), dialogue interludes, exclusive liner notes from directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and brand new recordings of songs featured in the initial Deep Throat film release (from French wunderkind Chris Joss). The album will be out on December 13 by KOCH Records.

– Bill Coleman

Complete track listing after the jump.

The Debasement Tapes

At Showgirl Video in Las Vegas, the Legends of Erotica Hall of Fame inducts Linda Lovelace, "the most important female of the first generation of the adult entertainment industry," according to emcee Bill Margold, "because it was Deep Throat that literally broke down the barriers and became the first sociologically acceptable adult entertainment product." That's quite a mouthful – but that's what Linda was being inducted for. Elsewhere in this outtake from Inside Deep Throat (available as an extra on the DVD), giant-breasted old porn star Lee Caroll, a self-described "fucking slut," presses her big ones into cement for future generations to marvel at, bless her. (Watch the clip)

Attack of the Gaffe Patrol

Some thoughtful, well-meaning (we're sure) person sent Fenton this from the Internet Movie Database:

Goofs for Inside Deep Throat (2005 )

Continuity: Early in the film, a person is shown transporting the film with Deep Throat painted one the film case. The case he carries holds only two reels or 40 minutes of film. When the case is opened in the projection room it has grown to a 3 reel case and when the police seize the film a few minutes later, the case is a 4 reel size, the correct size for this film.

Factual errors: Early in the film, an unseen projectionist starts the film and we can see the projected image through the projection room window. He carelessly allows the leader to show on the screen. A frame marked FOOT is shown. Unless he is running the film backwards, this is wrong. The beginning of a film is marked HEAD.

The Debasement Tapes

The NC-17 documentary Inside Deep Throat became available on DVD today, so you can watch it alone and won't have to feel obligated now to see it at the plex with the whole family just to prove there's nothing wrong with pornography, it's only human. Because porn is actually dirty. And this DVD's got over an hour of extra stuff, what we like to call "boner features," not including Randy and Fenton's running commentary. There are outtakes and deleted scenes with Bill Maher, Erica Jong, Wes Craven, Hugh Hefner, and others. One "other" we like a lot is Behind the Green Door's Marilyn Chambers giving pointers, so to speak, on how to give and enjoy giving a blowjob. The experience, she says, makes her feel "psychedelic." (Watch the clip)

Shelf Life: Female Chauvinist Pigs

Fenton Bailey writes: When Inside Deep Throat was released, some critics felt we had short changed Linda's oft-told story of victimhood and skated over the broader issues of female exploitation by male pornographers. Bra bla bla. That things have moved on from the bad old days is suggested by three new books.

Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future by male tween neo-con sprog Ben Shapiro.

Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families by Pamela Paul.

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by hyper sapiens Ariel Levy.

To be honest I haven't read any of them and I'm not likely too, because you can just tell from skimming the reviews that they all drip with disapproval. But no amount of tut-tutting can negate the fact they are all written from the vantage point of 2005 AP, After Pornofication. Everything porn is chic.

Porn Too Young?

If you were too young to see the NC-17 Inside Deep Throat when it was in theaters, now ironically you can see it over and over again on DVD, 'cause it's just been released, with an hour of extras, including a how-to tutorial. Entertainment Weekly gives the DVD a B+. It's the EW, aptly, that's stiff as a board, packed with double- and triple-weight advertising inserts and a CD that make it hard just to leaf through. Every time we so much as pick up the magazine or accidentally brush against it, fall's new sitcom hopeful Jason Lee starts ranting "My name is Earl. Do good things and good things happen to you. Blah blah blah...." The mag's ad for Lee's My Name Is Earl has one of those too-sensitive chips like the kind you sometimes find in Christmas cards that play "Away in a Manger" when you open them.

It Just Keeps On Keepin' On

Considered lost and gone for decades, the original negative for back-in-the-news porn film Deep Throat has been found, quite by accident, in a canister locked in a New York City film vault. The discovery was "a pretty great moment" for Paul Interlandi, head of production at Arrow Productions. He and everybody else thought the negative had been confiscated by the feds during a raid on Arrow over 30 years ago. The film, labeled "Lost Treasure" on the canister (so who knew?), is back in SoCal, ready to be cleaned and transferred to high definition. Also found was the trailer for the Deep Throat sequel, Deep Throat Part II. The restored version of Deep Throat and a short documentary on the film and its star, Linda Lovelace, will screen at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival in September. As will, of course, the Deep Throat deconstructor, Inside Deep Throat. (xbiz)

The Trophy's in the Mail

Well, smell us. Seems Inside Deep Throat has won the Best Documentary Jury Award at the VII FIC in Brasilia. "The film had a wonderful audience in Brasilia," says Damiana Rodrigues, coordinator of the festival. "All exhibitions were sold out. The film was a big hit." If you've ever been to Brazil, you'll know that's not surprising.

Vive la Throat!

Well, seems the French aren't all bad after all – at least when it comes to sex and films. Patrick, the guy who lined up Inside Deep Throat's international distribution, tells us that the documentary "got a 12-years-old certificate from the French censor board with no cuts." Hmm. Does that mean the certificate is 12 years old, or that 12-year-olds are permitted to see the film? The latter. It's the equivalent of getting a G rating in the States, without having to cut any of the naughtiest bits out.

What's New on IDT?

Says Fenton Bailey: I've just got back from deep throating Australia. Ba dum bum. I had a thorough oral workout giving about 50 interviews in five jam-packed days. The joy of being asked the same sorts of questions over and over again is that you end up with fresh insights about something you thought you'd exhausted. Like, for example, the idea that Deep Throat is a film about the closet, and that the closet is still the political issue of our times. (For the rest of Bailey's thoughts, go here.)

Snap!

Suckers with peel-off stickers promoting the June 10 premiere of Inside Deep Throat in London. Tasty.

What's New on IDT?

Fenton Bailey talks about sex and porno and Inside Deep Throat to the Telegraph as the WOW documentary about Deep Throat, the biggest-grossing film ever (pun intended), is about to open in London and other public places. (Visit the IDT site)

What's New on IDT?

Fenton Bailey gives good interview to the NY Times and a Basque publication. Also, Inside Deep Throat is soon to open in a number of romantic places, including Croatia and Norway. (Go to IDT)

What's New on IDT?

Dennis Potter narrates Inside Deep Throat, according to The Sun, which usually gets it right. Fenton Bailey writes an article on, um, porn and the "pornilization" of the mainstream for London's Arena magazine, which gives IDT three stars. And TimeOut London reviews the film along with the Patty Hearst documentary. (Go there)

What's New on IDT?

Because of the renewed interest in it due to Inside Deep Thoat, the super successful porn film Deep Throat will open in legitimate UK cinemas for the first time ever beginning June 10. Have your IDs ready because you have to be at least 18 and able to prove it 24 hours before ticket purchase. Also, Inside Deep Throat came up at #6 on Singapore's top-10 list last weekend. (Visit IDT)

Snap!

WOW post production supervisor Jason Bryan's mother, Syndey, on vacation somewhere, possibly New Jersey.

What's New on IDT?

David Keeps visits Deep Throat star Harry Reems at his house in Park City, Utah, for an article in The Observer. Reems recounts the horrifying nightmare his life became after he untangled Linda's tingle and how he has since found happiness and peace as a Christian Jew selling houses in Utah. (Go there)

What's New on IDT?

Inside Deep Throat is now on a course of international screenings. First stops are Moscow and Singapore, with openings scheduled soon for the UK and Australia. Sex happens.

What's New on IDT?

At last, Deep Throat can hold its, um, head high in the UK, now that it will play proudly in mainstream theaters, often on a double bill with its Inside Deep Throat smarter sister. London's Time Out mag is giving away free tickets to a preview of Deep Throat. Hurry. Students at the University of Maryland discussed the Throat films like adults, sitting up straight and keeping their hands folded in their laps until raising them to ask questions of the panel during a lively post-screening discussion. Plus, IDT about to touch down in Australia for the Sydney Film Festival.

What's New on IDT?

Time magazine's movie critic, Richard Corliss, comes to the realization that he'll get more response to his columns if he writes about pornography. Like he did when he wrote about Inside Deep Throat last month. (Read for yourself)

What's New on IDT?

Deep Throat plays in conjunction with Inside Deep Throat on the campus of the University of Maryland this weekend. “It’s degrading to women,” a female student who has already seen Deep Throat said. “It distorts people’s attitudes. It’s not what sex is like; it’s not what sex is about.” Students are expected to show up in droves, and cargo pants. (Go there)

What's New on IDT?

Check out the screens in your city that have started showing the popular documentary about Deep Throat and its repercussions. Is it as chic today to see Inside Deep Throat as it was to see Deep Throat then?

What's New on IDT?

A movie theater in Florida that shows Inside Deep Throat for dinner finds that audiences say the dardest things. We find that a movie website in Gemany says things about IDT in German, darn it. And producer Brian Grazer is switching topics, from blowjobs to rap tats. Plus, where the dickens is IDT playing now? (Go to IDT for more)

What's New on IDT?

A reviewer in Orlando, Florida, finds the documentary "deliriously entertaining." And somewhere in India a man visits a medical voice specialist and has things done to his throat that sound more sexual than any oral act by Miss Linda Lovelace. "I gag about till Dr Nayak finally retreats from my throat," he says, "having observed that I have 'posterior tongue tension.' " (Go there)

What's New on IDT?

Michael Fox, on The Pitch, says the documentary is snappily paced and ceaselessly entertaining, which, in a film, is enough to satisfy us even if it didn't have a scene of oral sex. And the Red Vic Movie House on Haight Street in San Francisco, wrote its own review.
(Go there)

What's New on IDT?

The Inside Deep Throat documentary opens wider and you can probably walk to a theater from your house now. Check the list. Also, read a very fine story about Deep Throat director Gerard Damiano, now a delightful old retiree who's more into golf than that gulp he's famous for. (Go there now)

What's New on IDT?

The Thighs Wide Shut blog gives a look at Inside Deep Throat and finds it an entertaining blend of Boogie Nights and I Love the '70s, with Time-Life's Ultimate '70s in the background. Wow, that makes us want to see it again! (Go to IDT)

What's New on IDT?

Joseph C Peraino writes to World of Wonder in defense of his uncle and father. "They, more than anyone else," he says, "are responsible for the creation of the adult video market, and have never really gotten the respect they both deserve, especially since our last name ends in a vowel." (Go there)