Pornology

A Timeline on Pornography in the United States (continued)

Feb. 26, 1973 - Carl Bernstein, co-author of All The President's Men, goes to see Deep Throat in an attempt to avoid a subpoena.

February 1973 - A special agent from Louisville, Ky, and a US Magistrate preside at an adversary hearing, deem Deep Throat to be obscene and issue a search warrant

Feb. 27, 1973 - Federal agents seize the film Deep Throat at the Cinema X Theater in Newport, Ky

March 1973 - Deep Throat opens in Toledo, Ohio, where a theater manager is charged with presenting an obscene film. Also opens in Chicago at the Towne Theater

March 1, 1973 - Deep Throat is found obscene in NYC by Judge Joel Tyler. Following the decision, handed down at 11 a.m., police enter the World Theater and seize a print of Deep Throat. Judge Tyler declares Deep Throat to be "indisputably obscene by any measure"

March 23, 1973 - Deep Throat opens in Tucson, Ariz, at the Cine Plaza Theater.  John A Jacobs is hired as projectionist and is promoted to manager four days later after the current manager quits

March 30, 1973 - Federal grand jury returns one indictment and hears testimony related to Deep Throat in Newport, Ky, trial

April 1973 - Dallas federal judge declares Deep Throat obscene. In Memphis, Variety reports that Deep Throat is playing to full houses daily at the PussyCat Theatre in midtown.

April 28, 1973 - In Newport, Ky, defendants Harry V Mohney, Stanley Marks, and Guy Weir are convicted by a federal court jury for showing Deep Throat and Swing High in addition to previews for five other films. All the films are judged to be obscene.

April 30, 1973 - Nixon henchmen H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Kleindienst resign while Nixon fires John Dean as White House counsel

May 1973 - Washington Post wins a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the Watergate coverup

May 11, 1973 - FBI Agents swarm into the Cine Plaza Theater in Tucson shortly after 5PM.  John Jacobs asks for his files and is told they are not going to confiscate the film or close the theater.  But is ordered not to alter the film or ship it anywhere. They confiscate pads of paper, shipping boxes, air freight tags, and Deep Throat posters

May 17, 1973 - Senator Sam Ervin's Watergate hearings begin

May 31, 1973 - John J Monaghan interviews Harry Reems at his apartment, located at 433 W 23rd St, in Greenwich Village

June 1973 - Deep Throat opens at the Capitol Theater in St. Paul, Minn

Summer 1973 - The Devil in Miss Jones, directed by Gerard Damiano, opens. The movie centers around a virgin who takes her own life, only to have the Devil send her back to live her life again, this time around consumed by lust

June 1, 1973 - Three-hour Tucson preliminary hearings before US Magistrate Raymond T Terlizzi. The defense calls Methodist minister Rev Robert T McIlvenna, chairman of the National Sex Forum and member of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, who defends Deep Throat as having "redeeming social value."  He says, "Nothing is wrong in being interested in sex.  When we decide sex is obscene, we're in trouble." The prosecution called FBI agent Robert McNeil, who viewed the film on April 4th and observed several explicit sex acts

June 4, 1973 - Newport, Ky, mayor announces plan to clean up area

June 21, 1973 - Supreme Court rules in Miller v California. The case provides the legal definition of obscenity (repudiates the standards set forth in Memoirs v Massachusetts) The new definition contains three parts: "Material is legally obscene only if (1) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (2) the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable law; and (3) the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

June 24, 1973 - Police dept plans to monitor Times Square area with videotape cameras and to disband stake-out squad.  NY ACLU executive director, Ira Glasser, sees cameras as concentrated attack on privacy

June 26, 1973 - Deep Throat has been running for 30 weeks at the Pussycat Theater on Santa Monica Blvd, passing the World Theatre in New York for the highest gross. It has made $1,483,975 to date

July 1973 - Deep Throat opens in San Francisco at the Presidio Theater. Grosses $9,500 in the first week

July 9, 1973 - Jury selected for Beverly Hills trial. Twelve jurors and two alternates are picked from a pool of 40

July 19, 1973 - Beverly Hills trial officially begins but is halted the next day because the constitutionality of California's obscenity law is in question

July 20, 1973 - John Jacobs arrested by FBI agents in Tucson for interstate transportation of obscene material

Aug. 8, 1973 - Detroit police receive a warrant and pick up Deep Throat from The Pussycat Theater on Telegraph Road

Aug. 28, 1973 - Salvatore Maiorino, a Beverly Hills resident, testifies that the showing of Deep Throat is a public nuisance to the neighborhood

Aug. 30, 1973 - Coca Cola considers suing Damiano Films for copyright infringement for the use of a jingle similar to Coke's in the movie Deep Throat

Sept. 1, 1973  - A judge in Little Rock, Ark, rules Deep Throat obscene. In Atlanta, the movie is seized three times, prompting tickets sales to reach $10 each

Sept. 7, 1973 - Linda introduces Elton John at a Hollywood Bowl performance where Elvis and the Beatles are in the audience

Sept. 17, 1973 - A jury in the Beverly Hills trial boards a red fire truck and travels to Hollywood's PussyCat Theatre. While the jurors are watching the film, Judge Leonard Wolf gives a press conference in the theater lobby

Sept. 20, 1973 - Larry G Spanger signs agreement with Bryanston Pictures to produce four features:  A Knife for the Ladies, a mystery set in 1880; Free Again; Gospel Singer; and Adios Amigos

Sept. 27, 1973 - Linda files for divorce in Santa Monica Superior Court, citing "irreconcilable differences."  Petition stipulates Chuck Traynor to stop "annoying, harassing, bothering, molesting, or striking" her.  She asks for no alimony.

Oct. 9, 1973 - Newport, Ky, federal trial begins

Oct. 10, 1973 - Spiro Agnew resigns as Vice President of the United States after pleading nolo contendere to a count of tax-evasion

In the Newport, Ky, trial, Linda testifies (as a government witness) that Deep Throat is educational

In the Beverly Hills trial, Zev Wanderer testifies for the defense saying that Deep Throat has educational value. He had used the movie as therapy for his patients. A week before, Phillip Swihart says that the movie has "no social value" and could be "destructive"

Oct. 15, 1973 - Jury deliberations begin in the Beverly Hills trial

- Ashley York

(To be continued)