Pornology

A Timeline on Pornography in the United States (continued)

August 1977 - All charges against Harry Reems are dropped. This comes after he is granted a new trial.

Jan. 8, 1978 - The Devil in Miss Jones trial set to begin in Memphis, Tenn.

June 1978 - Women Against Pornography, a New York based group, moves into its Times Square office. The group argues that there are good, humanitarian reasons to be against pornography, and conducts tours of the local peep shows and porn stores. It also presents slide shows to visitors illustrating the brutal and violent nature of pornography

1979 - 800,000 US homes have  VCRs

April 1979 - The New York Times reports that 50 times the number of adult videos are sold than any other prerecorded tape. Deep Throat, The Devil in Miss Jones, and Behind the Green Door are top sellers. It is estimated that more than 100 titles are available.

June 1979 - In Minneapolis, a drive-in theater operator is convicted of exhibiting an obscene film.

July 18, 1979 - Susan Brownmiller, co-founder of Women Against Pornography, appears on the Phil Donahue Show.

Oct. 20, 1979 - Women Against Pornography lead march on Times Square. Thousands attend

Oct. 26, 1979 - Linda takes a polygraph test, which Lyle Stuart (publisher) demands she do prior to releasing her book, Ordeal

1980 - VCRs hit a million units sold in the United States. The number of adult film theaters estimated at 1,500, which will fall to 700 in 1985 and then to 250 in 1989.

Jan. 31, 1980 - Linda appears on the Phil Donahue Show to promote her book, Ordeal, where she claims that she was coerced into performing in the film Deep Throat

Feb. 14, 1980 - At noon, 400 FBI agents sweep into porno movie theaters, warehouses, retail stores, and offices in 13 major US cities, arresting many of the biggest names in porn on federal obscenity and racketeering charges. Known as the MIPORN (for Miami pornography) seizure. Among the 58 persons arrested (33 from California) are brothers Louis and Joseph C Peraino. They are charged with interstate shipment of obscenity in the form of hardcore videos titled Candy Stripers, Liquid Lips, His Master's Touch, and Hollywood Cowboy

April 1980 - Quincy House, a resident college at Harvard, shows the film Animal House at the Science Center.  During the screening someone throws a beer bottle at the screen, which damages it.  The film society decides to host a fundraiser to pay for the $400 screen repair

May 1980 - Quincy House members plan to show Deep Throat to raise money for the $400-worth of damage

May 9, 1980 - Deep Throat scheduled to play at 10 PM, but a meeting between film society officials and four women results in the cancelation of the screening on the grounds that it is "offensive to community standards"

May 11, 1980 - Quincy House Committee votes 35-14 to permit the showing, but also decide to poll House residents on whether the film should be shown

May 14 & 15, 1980 - The poll shows that three-quarters of House residents are in favor of the showing, but also that women in the house oppose the screening by 49 percent. It is decided they will show the film.  Feminists against the screening  meet to plan an organized opposition to the film

May 16, 1980 - Superior Court Judge Charles R Alverti responds to a complaint filed by two women in the Quincy House. He views the film and refuses to ban the showing. The film plays at 8 PM, after which two students, Carl Stork and Nathan Hagan (co-president's of the films society), are arrested for disseminating obscene literature

May 27, 1980 - Linda and Gloria Steinem appear on the Today show with Tom Snyder

May 31, 1980 - Women Against Pornography hold press conference with Linda in Times Square

July 4, 1980 - Linda gives birth to her second child, Lindsay
 
Aug. 7, 1980 - All charges dropped against Stork and Hagen for showing Deep Throat on Harvard's campus

April 4, 1981 - Linda appears on Saturday Night at the Mill

Dec. 6, 1981 - A federal jury finds five men guilty in the FBIs MIPORN investigation into the distribution of sexually explicit films in southern Florida

Joseph and Louis Peraino Sr., brothers from New York City and Michael Balsamo and Vince DiStephano of Los Angeles are found guilty on one count of conspiracy to transport obscene films across state lines and six counts of interstate shipments of pornography by common carrier

Dec. 12, 1981 - Deep Throat closes after its 10th year of playing at the Pussycat Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The picture is taking in $11,000 a week during peak season and $7,000 weekly on average. Variety says that for longevity it was impossible to come up with a film to match it

March 22, 1982 - Lou Peraino Sr. enters the Allenwood Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Pa, to begin serving a six-month sentence for his conviction in the Memphis Deep Throat trial

Aug. 2, 1982 - Time magazine does a cover story on herpes, titled "The New Scarlet Letter"

Sept. 30, 1982 - Harry Reems puts his handprints in cement at the TomKat Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard

Dec. 12, 1983 - Linda appears before the Minneapolis City Council in support of a proposed ordinance that would provide civil remedies for pornography, which would hold distributors, producers, and consumers of sexually explicit material liable for prosecution in regard to any crime committed by someone under the influence. The legislation is drafted by Catherine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin

1984 - Ronald Reagan announces his intention to set up a commission to study pornography. The goal is said to obtain results more acceptable than those produced by the 1968 Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography

1985 - Number of adult theaters falls to 700

Spring 1985 - Attorney General Edwin Meese appointed to a panel comprised of 11 individuals to study pornography

1986 - 13 million VCRs sold in the United States. The sale and rental of X-rated videos is said to consume 20 to 25 percent of home video business

March 13, 1987 - Linda has a liver transplant
    
July 9, 1986 - The Meese Commission releases its findings. In news reports, Meese is shown holding the Commission's two-volume, 1,960-page report standing in front of the Spirit of Justice statue, a half-clothed female figure

1987 - Harry Reems moves to Park City, Utah

1987 - For their conviction in the MIPORN case, Lou and Joey Peraino receive five years probation and are ordered to not be involved with any hardcore pornography

1988 - 52 percent of U.S. homes have a VCR. By the spring of 1988, it is estimated that 65 percent own them. 1,250 new adult titles released on video, compared to 510 theatrical releases

June 13, 1989 - Arrow spokesperson Leonard Weinstein tells the Los Angeles Times that at least 75 foreign countries had paid as much as $20,000 for seven-  to nine-year contracts.

July 1, 1989 - Harry Reems' sobriety date

1989 - The number of adult film theaters falls to just 250

1990 - Linda moves to Denver after husband Larry's drywall business collapses

Nov. 10, 1990 - Harry Reems marries Jeannie.  The Peraino's company, Arrow Film and Video, began shipping porn films to a Nevada company that was a front for an undercover FBI agent.

1992 - Lou Peraino Sr. arrested in Los Angeles. Joseph Peraino arrested in New York for violating their probation set as a result of their conviction in the MIPORN case. A year later, their probation is revoked and they surrender themselves  to serve prison sentences

Feb. 26, 1993 - Entertainment Weekly celebrates the 20th anniversary of the NY trial and Tyler's decision. When asked if he would do anything different after viewing the film today, he tells the magazine that given the same situation, he probably wouldn't have ruled that way

1994 - Rentals from Deep Throat  total $20 million

1994 - Damiano's last movie, Naked Goddess 2

1995 - Louis and Joseph are arrested as a result of shipping obscene material from California to Las Vegas

Aug. 1, 1996 - Lou Peraino Sr. sells Arrow Films to Raymond Pistol

August 1996 - Linda and Larry divorce after 22 years of marriage

September 1996 - Anthony Peraino dies in Los Angeles

Aug. 31, 1997 - Linda's daughter, Lindsay, gives birth to her first son, AJ

1999 - Lou Peraino Sr. dies in New York

Spring 2001 - Eric Danville publishes The Complete Linda Lovelace. He first approaches her about the book and she blows him off. Once he is nearing completion of the book, in 1999, he approaches her again. Linda requests that Eric and she meet face to face, after which he flies to Denver

April 22, 2002 - Linda dies at the Denver Health Medical Center after a car crash on April 3

- Ashley York