Pornology

A Timeline on Pornography in the United States (continued)

June 28, 1972 - Variety reruns Deep Throat review

July 11, 1972 - Damiano signs agreement to end his connection with Gerard Damiano Film Productions.  The agreement says he will sell his one-third stock in Damiano Film Productions to Louis Peraino Sr. for $15,000. The payment plan is for Damiano to be paid $800 (and change) per month until paid in full. While the agreement includes that Peraino can keep the name Gerard Damiano Film Productions, it is changed to Beaumont Productions Inc

August 1972 - Deep Throat plays at the Strand Theatre for three weeks in Binghamton

August 1972 - Deep Throat seized from the Plaza Theater in New Orleans

August 1972 - NYC Mayor Lindsay looks for ways to boost tourism and income.  Discouraged by the rundown condition of Times Square and the type of people/business it attracts, he encourages the Theatre Development Fund to sell same day theater tickets at a discount (Tkts)

Aug. 11, 1972 - New World Mature Theater's manager and cashier are arrested while Deep Throat continues to roll.  The arrest warrants are dated incorrectly and as a result don't stick

Aug. 16, 1972 - Variety reviews Behind the Green Door

Aug. 17, 1972 - NYC Patrolman of the Public Morals Division, Mike Sullivan, seizes a print of Deep Throat from the World Theatre. The print is returned the next day when a judge discovers that a Federal Court of Appeals ruling requires an adversary hearing before any seizure can be made

Aug. 21, 1972 - Matthew Vitanza issues a warrant ordering Deep Throat seized from Cinecom's Strand Theatre in Binghamton, where it had been playing for three weeks. Police charge Michael Sabal, the theater's manager, and Binghamton Theaters Co. with second degree obscenity

Aug. 23, 1972  - The Strand Theatre obtains a second copy of Deep Throat and shows it again. Police seize it before it ends

Aug. 26, 1972 - Eleven Israeli athletes and coaches murdered by Arab terrorists at the Summer Olympics in Germany

Aug. 29, 1972 - Over a period of three hours, beginning just after 1pm, police in plainclothes and uniform raid three theaters in Times Square:  the World Theatre, the San Francisco Theater, and the Paree.  While they pull down signs, make arrests, and in one case seize equipment, they don't seize a film, because films cannot be seized without a prior hearing.  The police seize the signs to use as evidence in court that the venues are promoting obscenity

The next day all three theaters are in business, the signs mostly replaced.  According to the NY Times, this raid is the latest phase of Mayor Linsday's campaign to clear the theater district of "undesirable persons and enterprises"

Sept. 1, 1972 - Women's Wear Daily  article, "Linda and her Magic Larynx" by Rosemary Kent, hits newsstands.  The magazine's review of the film is favorable and notes the set design and costumes

Sept. 6, 1972 - ACLU's Ira Glasser denounces Mayor Lindsay's campaign against Time Square movie houses that show allegedly obscene films as a "flagrant violation" of the Constitution and an "outrageous waste of police and judicial resources"

Sept. 28, 1972  - Deep Throat opens at the Prince Theater, a first run theater in Princeton, NJ.  Mercer County prosecutor Bruce Schragger goes on record saying he does not contemplate any legal action against the theater.  He's a "firm believer" in freedom of speech and says that his office has more serious problems to handle

Oct. 19, 1972 - Hollywood Reporter reports Bryanston Distributors, Inc is formed.  Louis Peraino Sr. is the president and Philip Parisi is vice president 

Nov. 13, 1972 - Box Office reports Bryanston has branches in LA & Dallas

Nov. 14, 1972 - Dow-Jones Industrial Average reaches 1,000 for the first time

Nov. 17, 1972 - Despite arrests across the country, Deep Throat opens at the Pussycat Theater at 7734 Santa Monica Blvd

Nov. 22, 1972 - The New Jersey governor calls Mercer County prosecutor, Bruce Schragger, asking him to close down the theater. Schragger refuses, saying that irrespective of how bad or disgusting the film may be, people should have a right to choose to see what they wish. Schragger is one of few prosecutors to not shut down the film

December 1972 - Art Sommer approaches Phil Parisi and Lou Peraino Sr. seeking permission to obtain a copy of Deep Throat for exhibition at the Sheraton Theater in Miami Beach, Fla.

Dec. 7, 1972 - Variety reports "Bryanston topper Lou Peraino Sr. travels to Rome"

Dec. 11, 1972 - Obscenity trial involving Deep Throat starts in Binghamton, NY

Dec. 11, 1972 - Apollo 17 lands on the moon

Dec. 13, 1972 - As part of the trial, Binghamton jurors, judge, and attorneys go to Strand Theater to watch Deep Throat

Dec. 14, 1972 - Variety reports,"In a blow to midtown's sexploitation exhibitors, NY Criminal Court Judge Joel J. Tyler ruled today that a summons to a corporation did not constitute an 'arrest' and thus rejected a motion to dismiss 25 cases against nine theatre owners alleged to have shown obscene films"

Dec. 16, 1972 - On Saturday night, after three hours of deliberation, the six-man jury finds the operators of Binghamton Theatre the Strand not guilty of exhibiting obscene material for showing the film Deep Throat 

Dec. 18, 1972 - NYC trial begins in a screening room at Loew's offices at 666 Fifth Ave, where the judge and jury watch the film

In Beverly Hills, Deputy Sheriff Ralph Kenealy writes the Pussycat Theatre's owner and manger, Vincent Miranda and Stephen Hagen, a citation for showing Deep Throat in Beverly Hills

Dec. 19, 1972 - Variety reports "Deep Throat stays healthy with $20,070 in its 27th at the World."  NASA's Apollo mission ends with the splash-down of Apollo 17, its astronauts the last of that century to walk on the moon

Dec. 20, 1972 - In the NYC trial, Professor Arthur Knight of the University of Southern California testified that Deep Throat had redeeming social value because it might encourage people to expand their sexual horizons

Dec. 21, 1972 - In the NYC trial, Professor Dr. Ernest van den Haag testifies that Deep Throat is "obscene" and without redeeming social value

Dec. 22, 1972 - Deep Throat reopens at the Strand Theatre in Binghamton, NY

Dec. 29, 1972 - Dr Edward Hornick testifies in the NYC trial that Deep Throat is well within the bounds of normal behavior and that viewing it would lighten the load of guilt and shame often associated with sex

Top TV shows in 72-73 season were All in the Family,  Sandford and Son, Hawaii Five-0, Maude, Bridget Loves Bernie, and Sonny and Cher

Deep Throat II, directed by Joe Sarno, opens

Linda and Chuck get divorced

Criminal district judge in Ft Worth, Texas signs order to authorize officers to seize a print of the film

Jan. 2, 1973 - Dr John Money is the fifth and final expert witness for the defense in the NYC trial

Jan. 3, 1973 - Last day of the NYC trial. Judge Tyler requests a complete transcript of the expert testimony, which is reported to run more than 1,000 pages

Jan. 10, 1973 - Variety reports record-breaking grosses at the World Theater with diverse theatergoers

Jan. 11, 1973 -An American Family premieres onTV. The crew spend seven months studying the lives of the William C Loud family in Santa Barbara, and amass 300 hours of film

Jan. 15, 1973 - Time magazine reports that Deep Throat has grossed $3 million and has played in more than 60 US theaters

Jan. 15, 1973 - Deep Throat  banned at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis just 24 hours before the screening

Jan. 17, 1973 - Deep Throat opens at the Franklin Theater in Syracuse, NY

Jan. 20, 1973 - Nixon is inaugurated for second term

Last Tango in Paris stars Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider are indicted in Bologna, Italy, for obscenity (the sodomy scene is cited)

Jan. 21, 1973 - Ralph Blumenthal's article "Porno Chic" graces the NY Times

Jan. 22, 1973 - Supreme Court case Roe v Wade says that women must be allowed the choice of having a safe and legal abortion. All state laws preventing a woman's right to an abortion during the first three months are ruled unconstitutional

Jan. 23, 1973 - Cease-fire agreement between the US and Vietnam is announced in Paris

Variety reports "Deep Throat zowie $55,560 in World 32nd"

Variety reviews It Happened In Hollywood and lists the new release as a pornocomedy.  This is a Screw film release, produced by Jim Buckley and edited by Wes Craven.

Jan. 26, 1973 - Variety reports "Deep Throat wham $38,200 in first four of World 33nd."

Jan. 30, 1973 - U.S. Catholic Conference year-end report says the US public's preference for sex-slanted pix is ebbing but "receptivity to violence-laden films is rising sharply"

Variety headlines "Sex-Slanted Pix Continue Best Draws In New York First-runs," "Deep Throat goes through the roof at World," "Deep Throat zowie $77,695 in World 34th"

Deep Throat opens at the Sheridan Theater in Miami Beach

February 1973 - Deep Throat opens at the Cinema X Theater in Newport, Ky., the Studio E Theater in Denver, and in theaters in Detroit and Oklahoma City. In Boston, the district attorney warns that any attempts to show Deep Throat will be met with court action

February 1973 - The Playhouse Cinema in Southfield, Mich, is put on two-year probation for showing Deep Throat. In Detroit, police raid the Playhouse Cinema, arresting three people

February 1973 - Esquire magazine article by Nora Ephron hits the stands. In the article, Ephron interview Linda Lovelace

Feb. 1, 1973 - Last Tango in Paris opens in the United States

Feb. 2, 1973 - Variety reports "The biggest news on the first run front is the sensational 33nd week biz registered by the hardcore Deep ThroatŠ.the World Theatre hit an astounding $77695, more than $20K over any previous stanza and more than $45,000 over the opening frame for the pic last June"

Feb. 6, 1973 -  Variety reports "Deep Throat whammo $70, 915 in World 34th and ditto $22,990 in first four days of first at Trans-Lux 85th St"

Feb. 8, 1973 - Judge Jason Berkman orders Arthur Sommer arrested, but releases him on recognizance.  Deep Throat is later ruled obscene and Arthur Sommer fined

Feb. 9, 1973 - Variety reports "Deep Throat zowie $70,910 in World 34th and $36, 390 in initial at Trans-Lux 85th St"

Feb. 26, 1973 - Carl Bernstein, co-author of All The President's Men, goes to see Deep Throat

- Ashley York

(To be continued)