X is for Avon

By Selwyn Harris

Oriental Techniques of Pain and Pleasure.

Dominatrix without Mercy.

Daughters of Discipline.

The Taming of Rebecca.

Pornocopia Sexualis.

Dr. Bizarro.

As a singularly obsessed child in Brooklyn, New York, between the late 1970s and mid-1980s, the entire point of opening a newspaper, for me, would be to stare at ads for films like those listed above and just ... stare at them.

Like, for hours.

Like, forever.

This scholarly rapture took place during the storied time that is completely intangible to today's youth, when explicit sexual entertainment was showcased in public auditoriums and when X-rated amusements as relatively limp as a softcore centerfold could only be accessed via magazines that were most definitely not for sale to meandering minors.

Unless, of course, you knew the right candy store to go to.

And I, fortunately or unfortunately, did not.

But I did know the precise location of every porno theater in my home borough that I could access by bicycle. There was the Cinema Kings Highway on the corner of East 9th Street, which opened in the early '60s (!) when it screened nudist-colony fare and which still festers as an up-and-running concern today. Then there was the Court Street Cinema downtown, one in Bensonhurst that I'd look really, really hard at as we drove by, and, briefly, the Avenue U Theater.

Pornography was my great obsession from the moment, at age seven, when I discovered an ad for naked-lady golf tees in a Helen Gallagher Gifts catalogue right up until ... well, haven't exactly yet come upon an expiration date regarding my interest in this field.

But for all the X-rated movie ads I studied, I was most entranced by those layouts touting the rough-and-tumble fare produced by Avon Films and shown (seemingly exclusively) at their very own theaters scattered throughout Manhattan, which also promised--be still, my throbbing prepubescent hard-on--Live Sex Shows.

These concepts kept me up at night. And I do mean "up".

As the years passed, and adult movies became adult tapes, those Avon titles remained elusive. The video stores that allowed me to slip past their back-room curtain trafficked mostly in mainstream, California-produced product.

Make no mistake, I loved that stuff, but where-oh-where had those stark, Satanic-looking atrocities featuring hard-banging New York starlets on the order of Sharon Mitchell, Vanessa Del Rio, C.J. Laing, and Joey Carson gone?

It turned out that there was more to the story of Avon Films than I could have possibly imagined.

On Eighth Avenue, at the northwestern end of NYC's Times Square district, a handful of shit-pit smut houses splattered filth onto their sticky screens from the porn chic heyday of the early '70s to the disease-infested dying moments of mid-town vice in the 1990s. They were named for mythological gods--Venus, Eros, Adonis--and owned by a female Greek immigrant named Chelly Wilson.

Chelly's partner, simply known as Murray, expanded her empire to include eight theaters in various corners of the city: The Doll, Avon 7, Paris, Bryant, Avon 42nd, Avon Love, Park Miller, and Avon Hudson. It was the Avon chain that introduced live sex performances to Times Square in 1972, igniting an explosion of perversion unlike anything the world had witnessed since Caligula demanded not to be bored.

Avon's signature stock-in-trade--films that mix extreme sex with extreme violence--however, didn't arrive until 1975, when porn stud Jason Russell (separated from wife and frequent co-star Tina Russell) suggested to Chelly Wilson that sadomasochistic movies were the future. Chelly agreed, and they hired Shaun Costello to create the instant classic Dominatrix without Mercy.

Thus, a dynasty was born.

The celluloid shock machines created under the auspices of Avon expanded, with berserk abandon, way beyond the sort of down-and-dirty exploitation films previously known as "the roughies".

Roughies were old-school grindhouse flicks filled with nudity and some bondage, maybe a scene or two of some broads getting smacked around a bit. Famous examples include the black-and-white 1960s scandal makers The Defilers and Olga's House of Shame, and more daring '70s softcore excursions would include the Ilsa movies.

The full-penetration Avon movies were shot in full color, on harshly immediate 16mm film. Their plots typically focused on slave trading, occult rituals, punishment, medical atrocities, and all manner of submission.

The starlets who both administered and accepted psychotic mishandling on camera were a mixture of well-known NYC porn veterans--including

Annie Sprinkle, Sharon Mitchell, and Vanessa Del Rio--and New England nubiles imported by a biker named Billy out of Maine. Among the made-by-Avon starlets are massive-mammaried soft-body Joey Carson, ultra-petite Ambrosia Fox, and Velvet Summers, plus hardball players Cheri Champagne and Nico. The men--Shaun Costello himself, George Payne, David Christopher, Allan Adrian, and others--clearly seem to be working out their own agendas. And the audience's too. After early and immediate success with their ferocious formula, Israeli pornographer Joe Davian joined the Avon fold. Along with Shaun Costello, Davian pumped out an astonishing amount of heavy-duty S&M hardcore. Other directors followed, notably Carter Stevens and someone called "Mr. Mustard". But the king of Avon kink would turn out to be a Prince. Peep-show performer Phil Prince rocketed to previously un-scaled heights of perversion by firing off such clas-sicks as The Taming of Rebecca (1982), The Story of Prunella (1982), Angel in Distress (1982), Oriental Techniques of Pain and Pleasure (1983), Kneel Before Me (1983), and Dr. Bizarro (1983). Prince was also notorious in having been a suspect in the murder of his wife. He was cleared, but there would be criminal violence in Phil's future. Following a vice raid on the Avon theaters in 1983, Phil hit the road until he and a partner attempted to stick up a Greenwich Village ice-cream shop. The clerk didn't understand the robbers' drug-induced blathering, so they shot him in the chest and tried to run, but cops nailed the gunmen nearby. Prince served six years in prison and then shot and killed an old crony from the Bryant porn theater in 1990. He currently rots behind bars. The true tragedy was that Prince's movies--along with almost all the other Avon titles--were simply rotting in unknown basements and back rooms until recently. Alpha Blue Archives [AlphaBlueArchives.com] has issued an astonishing amount of Avon Product on massively packed box sets. For the vintage pain-infused porn freak, it's like Christmas in the middle of 42nd Street with a dominatrix Santa. It's hard to believe the sheer volume of material in each of these Alpha Blue boxes, but here they are and here's where to order them: AVON DYNASTY BOX SET--THE 1980s Angels in Distress (1982) Joey Carson, Mistress Candice, Marlene Willoughby, George Payne, Dave Ruby, Ron Jeremy Bizarre Styles (1980) Vanessa Del Rio, Annie Sprinkle, Honey Stevens Daughters of Discipline 2 (1980) Sable Cruz, Vicki Long, Mistress Blondie, Dave Ruby, David Christopher Den of Dominance (1977) 60min. Martin Patton, David Christopher Dr. Bizarro (1983) R. Bolla, Tigr, Mistress Candice, David Christopher, Cheri Champagne, Ambrosia Fox, Velvet Summers, George Payne, Phil Prince, Alan Adrian Forgive Me, I Have Sinned (1981) George Payne, Cheri Champagne, Martin Patton, Ambrosia Fox House of Sin (1980) R. Bolla, Tigr, Mistress Candice, David Christopher Kneel Before Me (1983) Annie Sprinkle, Nico, George Payne My Mistress Electra (1981) Mistress Electra, Marlene Willoughby, George Payne, Dave Ruby, Carter Stevens Oriental Techniques of Pain and Pleasure (1982) Annie Sprinkle, Debbie Cole, Mistress Candice, Nico, Ambrosia Fox, George Payne, David Christopher Pain Mania (1981) David Christopher, Dave Ruby, Mistress Candice, Victoria Sands Prisoner of Pleasure (1981) Long Jeanne Silver, George Payne, Dave Ruby, Carter Stevens Savage Sadists (1980) Nicole Bernard, Danny Stevens, Martin Patton, David Christopher The Story of Prunella (1983) George Payne, Ambrosia Fox, Joey Carson, David Christopher, Cheri Champagne, Niko, Ron Jeremy, Dixie Dew Tales of the Bizarre (1982) 1982. 72min. Director: Phil Prince. Cast: Velvet Summers, Cheri Champagne, George Payne, Ambrosia Fox The Taming of Rebecca (1982) Sharon Mitchell, Ambrosia Fox, Velvet Summers, Nico, David Christopher, George Payne Wicked Schoolgirls (1980) 90min. Velvet Summers, Dave Ruby Plus original trailers! * THE AVON DYNASTY: THE SHAUN COSTELLO COLLECTION Betrayed Teens (1975) Marlene Willoughby, Shaun Costello Cherry Hustlers (1977) Jennifer Jordan, Vanessa Del Rio, Annie Sprinkle, Bobby Astyr, Shaun Costello The Dark Side of Danielle (1977) Marlene Willoughby Daughters of Discipline C.J. Laing Dirty Susan (1977) The Fire in Francesca (1977) Entry (1971) Harry Reems, Laura Cannon Girl Scout Cookies (1977) She's No Angel (1977) Sharon Mitchell, Marlene Willoughby Slave of Pleasure (1981) C.J. Laing, Ashley Moore, Roseanne Farrow. Summer of Suzanne (1976) A Taste of Bette (1978) Sharon Mitchell Travails of June (1976) Two Lives of Jennifer (1979) Venture Into the Bizarre (1975) John Leslie, Marlene Willoughby * THE AVON DYNASTY: THE JOE DAVIAN COLLECTION House of DeSade (1975) Vanessa Del Rio Revenge and Punishment (1976) Tara Chung, Al Levitsky, Clea Carson Fetishes of Monique (1977) Nicole Bernard, Danny Stevens, Martin Patton, David Christopher Blow Some My Way (1977) Annie Sprinkle, Mark Stevens Pornocopia Sexualis (1977) Terri Hall, Annie Sprinkle, Ras Kean, Red Baron Pitfalls of Bunny (1977) Marlene Willoughby, Bobby Astyr Domination Blue (1977) Vanessa Del Rio, Sharon Mitchell, Holly Bush Night of Submission (1976) Annie Sprinkle. Vanessa Del Rio. C.J. Laing Manhattan Mistress (1979) Erica Boyer: Erica Boyer, George Payne, Dave Ruby, Jerry Butler, R. Bolla Fury in Alice (1976) Vanessa Del Rio, John Leslie Voluptuous Predators (1976) Suzanne McBain, Ashley Moore Linda Can't Stop aka The Big Things (1973) Tina Russell, Andrea True, Jamie Gillis, Marc Stevens Appointment With Agony (1976) Vanessa Del Rio Girls U.S.A. (1980) Marlene Willoughby, Vanessa Del Rio, Samantha Fox, George Payne, Ron Jeremy Prey of a Call Girl (1975) * THE AVON DYNASTY: THE SICK 70s Payoff (1976) Terry Ruggiero Rip-Off of Millie (1978) Roger Cain, Dave Ruby Assault of Innocence (1975) Tortured Women (1979) Cheryl Surrenders (1975) Fanny (1977) The Final Test (1978) Dr. Teen Dilemma a.k.a. Doctor's Teenage Dilemma (1973) Suzie's Take Out Service (1975) Forbidden Ways (1976)