S4E34: Shan Sayles / Song of the Loon / Roger

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Described as the gay Louis B. Mayer, the big producer during the golden age of Hollywood,

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Shan Sayles was a big, boisterous man who owned movie theaters, produced films,

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and cemented his mark on the early days of all erotic film. A legendary exhibitor,

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and one of the first entrepreneurs to comprehensively hire gay men to perform in,

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: direct, write, and edit erotic gay films.

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_04]: How do you like my partner? Partner?

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_04]: Well, lover if you like.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_04]: Your lover?

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a legendary production at the time of its release, both for its subject matter and

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_00]: the various rumors and circumstances that surrounded the production. One of the first

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: feature-length all-male films that premiered during the beginning of the gay liberation era

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: is about an interracial gay relationship set during the American frontier in the 1800s.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: A beautifully chiseled body, gorgeous face, and that damn mustache.

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: A one-named wonder of gay erotica that, with the help of industry players,

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: an aggressive manager and rumored lover who devoted their energies and talents,

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: created a legend. That legend was Roger, whose meteoric rise made him one of the most popular

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: centerfolds and live performers to come out of the golden age of gay erotic cinema.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Demystifying Gay Porn, my name is Ike Grande, and if you watch gay porn,

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I've definitely helped you get off.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Shan Vincent Sales was born on December 22nd, 1934 in Michigan.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Not much is publicly known about his childhood and life before he became who he was.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales' entrance into the film exhibition industry, his pioneering work in pornographic

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: film exhibition and distribution, was a result of his earlier innovations in art house exhibition.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Art house theaters were known for screening European imports to an educated elite,

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: but gained notoriety in the 1950s when some theaters began to promote these films

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: as more sexually liberal than domestic productions.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: After working his way up the theater industry ladder in Michigan and California,

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales became the manager of the Apollo, an art house theater on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: In 1959, Sales became manager of the Lido Theater in West Pico and quickly moved on

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: to shift the general release theater to an art house policy.

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales scheduled the film Lamente de Lady Chatelet, Lady Chatelet's Lover,

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: a French adaption of the D. H. Lawrence novel and a film that was the subject of controversy for years

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: when New York's censor board had effectively banned the film for presenting adultery as being right

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and desirable for certain people under certain circumstances.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Before adding the film to his program, the New York ban

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: was struck down by the Supreme Court in Kingsley International Pictures Corporation

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: versus Regents 360 U.S. 684.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Opened since 1923, the Continental Theater was already historic by 1959 when Variety reported

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: it was bought by a Detroit exhibitor and a group of private investors.

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: In December 1959, the theater was renamed the Vista Continental and transitioned to an art house policy.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: From this point forward, Sales and his partner Violet Sawyer co-operated the Vista Continental

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and programmed European art films while also continuing to screen Soviet imports

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: for the already established Russian immigrant community.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, in mid-1960, Alex Cooperman, a foreign film distributor who was previously employed

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: for distributors in the Eastern states, acquired the Apollo Theater that Sales had formerly managed

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: for the Fox West Coast chain.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Under Cooperman, the theater became the Apollo Arts and was transitioned to an art house policy.

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Similar to Sales' strategy for the Lido and the Vista Continental.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: By the end of 1960, Cooper and Sales joined forces with local lawyer entrepreneur Eugene

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Burchin to acquire the Carmel Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: The three reopened the theater as an art house and incorporated their venue as the Paris Theater.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: It was around this time that the trio would employ a young, ambitious Monroe Beeler,

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: who began his career at a competing theater.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: By the early 1960s, sexual subject matter and nudity in motion pictures were increasingly

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: permissible due to high court decisions.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: To quench the audience's thirst for these films and to save money, American art house

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: cinemas began to program independently produced American softcore films, and the Continental

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: was at the forefront of this strategy.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Then, in the late 1960s, Continental began to curate programming for the area's gay audiences

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: that had been theatergoers for several years, which was a bold thing to do since during

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: this time, same-sex intimacy, especially on film, was usually censured.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: In 1966, the Continental began screening physique films.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Then, the Continental purchased the Alvarado Theater in MacArthur Park and reopened the

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: theater as the new luxurious park with a double feature of the Hollywood studio films Flight

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_00]: of the Phoenix and What a Way to Go.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: The theater quickly shifted to playing exploitation films, and also in a legendary event in the

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: history of gay cinema, sales shifted the park theater to a gay film policy in 1968 and held

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: the first gay film festival advertised with a spread in the Los Angeles Advocate.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: The first gay program featured underground films by Kenneth Anger, the Mekis Brothers,

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, and Shirley Clark, alongside erotic shorts by Pat Rocco and

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Andy Milligan.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: In the coming months, the theater continued to exhibit gay shorts from local studios,

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: including those of Pat Rocco and Bob Miser, and would eventually commission feature-length

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: films.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: By the end of the 1960s, Continental had formed its own production and distribution arm,

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Signature Films.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Monroe Beeler and Chan Sales were responsible for the early production of Signature Films.

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Signature used an old theater on Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles for staging and offices and

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: shot 16mm softcore features, both gay and straight there.

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Signature Films would go on to release such films as a collection, an all-male adaption

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: of William Wyler's The Collector, Pledge Masters, an exposé of Fraternity Hazing,

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and Highway Hustler, a rough trade narrative that is probably best known as the film that

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: made Wakefield Pool develop Boys in the Sand.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: The most significant Signature release was the adaption of the popular gay pulp novel

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Song of the Loon, a film that was inevitably finished by Monroe Beeler.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Beeler worked his way up to the advertising director before exiting Sales' firm to farm

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: his own company, Jaguar.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales has been described as an amazing businessman, great for capitalizing on anything.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: During the 70s, at the height of the Juan Corona killings, a labor contractor in Texas

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: raped and murdered 25 men and buried their machete-hacked bodies in the orchards owned

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: by local farmers, director Tom Disimoni mentioned in an interview that Sales immediately called

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: him and told him he wanted to re-release the collection.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Disimoni, turned off by the idea of cashing in on an atrocious event, declined.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: During all this time, Sales probably made the most money from gay porn.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Other models, producers, and contemporaries have commented on Sales' business style,

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and they all range from very sharp or crafty to someone who has fucked over a lot of people

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and always will.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it or not, Sales was one of the best advertisers seen at the time.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: If he was on your side, you were in luck.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_00]: But you always had to keep in mind, Sales was a pure businessman who was out for himself.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_00]: If there was something in it for him, he would do it.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: If not, he wouldn't.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Shan Vincent Sales died one day before his 82nd birthday, on December 21st, 2016, at

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_00]: his home in Carmel, California.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Shan Sales was extremely successful, and his endeavors proved that gay audiences were a

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: viable market, hungry for positive films that expressed their experiences.

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Yet more than the films he produced, Sales would be remembered for how his businesses

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: provided space for local gay community formations.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_00]: You can safely say that Shan Sales, and even Monroe Beeler, who I highlighted in the last

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: episode, were pioneers of the heterosexual sex market, and then the gay sex market.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: The birth of all sex films was because of two gay men.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: The birth of Gay Erotica was because of two gay men.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Director Scott Hansen and Joe Tiffenbach had just shot a short experimental film called

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: The Closet.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_00]: The Closet caught the eye of Shan Sales, who played it in his theaters and in 1969 approached

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Hansen with a copy of the book Song of the Loon.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Song of the Loon was a massive hit and popular with gay audiences.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, this is pre-Stonewall, and the novel positively portrayed same-gender sexuality

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_00]: as natural, contrary to medical belief.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales had purchased the rights to the novel, and Song of the Loon was to have a budget

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: of $50,000.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Hansen and Tiffenbach read the book and almost immediately thought the book had one note

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: and was campy, but gay readers loved it.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: They began translating the book for the screen.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: That would involve removing some of the overt homoerotic themes and replacing them with

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_00]: a more exploitative fantasy of masculinity and relationships between men.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: It would be shot beautifully to represent the redeeming qualities an erotic film needed

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: at the time to be culturally significant without breaking any laws.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales was happy with the synopsis, but when the directors told him they couldn't reproduce

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: the book because of its shoddy dialogue, Sales was insistent that they didn't change it

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_00]: too much.

[00:11:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Hansen and Tiffenbach were now the directors of what Sales would call a spectacle.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: They were also to receive 10% of the film's gross.

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: The Song of the Loon follows Ephraim McIver on his journey through the wilderness of

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Ephraim has recently left an alcoholic, homophobic lover Montgomery when he encounters several

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Native Americans and settlers, occasionally having sexual encounters and discussing affirmative

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: homosexual free love with them.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Ephraim, you suffer from a white man's disease.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_02]: It is called jealousy or sometimes selfishness.

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_02]: If I know one man, can't I know another at the same time?

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_02]: If I am with you, it doesn't mean I want him less.

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to own a man as I would an animal.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_03]: I...

[00:12:28] [SPEAKER_03]: I still don't understand.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't seem right.

[00:12:34] [SPEAKER_00]: In the end, Ephraim settles with his new lover, a Euro-American settler, Cyrus Wheelwright.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_00]: However, Ephraim struggles with the issue of monogamy and decides to go on a drug-induced

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: vision quest informed by what he learned about free love from Native Americans during his

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: journey.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_00]: The film works to fuse aspects of the newly found gay liberation movement with countercultural

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: sympathy for Native Americans, principles of free love, and enlightenment through drug

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: use.

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of blatant stereotypical references when the main protagonist is interacting with

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: the would-be natives in the film, but I think this one takes the cake.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: At 54 minutes into the film, the medicine man and his people offer a prayer for the

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: spiritual journey Ephraim is about to take.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: The medicine man begins to chant and here goes.

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_04]: I am telling the earth to send you forth into the world.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_04]: Nam-yo-ho-ri-en-ge-ki-yo

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Nam-yo-ho-ri-en-ge-ki-yo is an essential Nichiren Buddhist lotus sutra originating

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_00]: as a Japanese reading of a Sanskrit and Chinese phrase with various meanings but mainly serves

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_00]: as an expression of determination, endurance, embrace, and manifestation of our Buddha nature.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to sound like a dick, but while it was nice to hear it in Song of the Loon,

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_00]: its inclusion, let alone being chanted by a Native American medicine man,

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: makes absolutely no sense.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00]: But I don't think the producers of the film were worried about details.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: When the production began to go over budget, that's when Shand Sales began to question Hansen

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and demand reshoots of certain scenes.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Then the crew stopped receiving their pay.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: This was followed by letters from lawyers that said production was shutting down.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Hansen and Tiffenbach pleaded for sales to reconsider, but he followed it all up with a

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Hansen was in the belief Sales wanted the 10% back that he had promised him and Tiffenbach.

[00:14:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales took Hansen and Tiffenbach to court with made-up records unaware that Hansen and Tiffenbach

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_00]: had kept detailed records as well.

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_00]: The judge threw the case out almost immediately.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales had intended to finish the movie without Hansen and Tiffenbach, and had one actor on board.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: The other actor, Morgan, was loyal and staying with Hansen at his apartment.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: When Sales found out about this, he was livid, more importantly, outmaneuvered.

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_00]: With a double standing in for Morgan and Monroe Beeler,

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Sales eventually finished Song of the Loon and it was edited to make it look finished.

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a clunky film that would receive a theatrical release and was eventually put on VHS.

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Song of the Loon, which after a dual premiere at the Avon in Hollywood and the park in Los

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Angeles on March 11, 1970, would show at the grand opening of Sales' newly acquired

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Knob Hill Theater in San Francisco, which was set to open on May 20.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Press ads promoted the theater as the new Knob Hill and billed the film as the famous

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: homosexual classic, a daring tagline at the time due to the previously mentioned

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: newspaper's advertising censorship that up until that point had outlawed the term homosexual.

[00:16:02] [SPEAKER_00]: The screening at San Francisco's Knob Hill garnered notice in the industry's press

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and was promoted as a premiere event, prompting long admission lines.

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Richard Emery, the author of the book, wrote the first film review and he was not pleased.

[00:16:24] [SPEAKER_00]: In his review, Song of the Loon becomes a looney tune. He disassociated himself from the film.

[00:16:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Upon recent reviewing, a problem of note that Song of the Loon displays,

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_00]: the men playing the natives in Song of the Loon were all white, a common practice known as

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00]: red-facing at the time, although the filmmakers should be applauded for even trying to present a

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: gay interracial love story in the 1970s. Another issue scholars have recently found with Song of

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_00]: the Loon is the film's practice of gay for pay, as both leads were heterosexual playing gay men.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll get into that more later. Song of the Loon has been called a cult film. To the original

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: director, it was a disaster. Regardless of the backstory and the way the film has been opened

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_00]: to scrutiny under review, Song of the Loon was a landmark film and helped usher in

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_00]: the coming erotic film industry.

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_03]: You need any help? Just frozen, thanks.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger was born Darrell Roger Hanson in Dearborn, Michigan on New Year's Eve in 1954.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: He was the youngest of three brothers. In 1971 at the age of 16, he quit school and persuaded

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: his mother to sign him up as a U.S. Navy recruit. However, due to his involvement with drugs,

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: within a year, the Navy issued a discharge due to his status as a minor.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Now on his own, Roger made his way to Daytona Beach, Florida,

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_00]: where he began dancing in seedy bars and clubs. He would also pose nude for art classes in local

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_00]: colleges. At 17, Roger caught the eye of an ambitious marketing man named Jim Bacon while

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_00]: performing at a bar show. Bacon followed Roger into the men's room and the rest is history.

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Bacon and Roger hit it off after talking business and Bacon took over 2,000 Polaroid photos of Roger

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and took them to Don M. Binder, the porn kingpin publisher of Blue Boy magazine.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_00]: M. Binder ordered a photo shoot and put Roger on the cover of Blue Boy

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and the issue garnered international attention and again, the rest is history.

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Lou Thomas, one of the co-founders of Luger and Cult Studios, who after his split with

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_00]: partner Jim French, started his own Target Studio, was a staple at the frequent parties

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_00]: that Bacon and Roger would throw. Upon meeting Roger, Thomas wanted in on the Roger business.

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Thomas would bring his equipment and shoot his loops at the couple's home,

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_00]: of which Roger would be listed as Tom Garrett.

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger would go on to do photo shoots with Target and Falcon Studios

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_00]: that was an incredibly popular centerfold model.

[00:20:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger appeared in many film loops during the pre-condom era, co-starring with other notable

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: porn stars of the time like Al Parker, Jack Wrangler, Chuck Sampson and Bruno.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger worked with top directors like Jack DeVoe and Wakefield Pool.

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger also shot for Cult under the detailed eye of Jim French. However, since Roger would not sign

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_00]: as an exclusive, the images and videos were never released.

[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger and Bacon left Los Angeles for San Francisco and Bacon had one thing in mind,

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: getting Roger a live show. During this time, the place for a live show was San Francisco.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Bacon convinced Cliff Newman, who at the time was the owner of the Knob Hill Theater,

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_00]: to book Roger sight unseen. With the help of director Wakefield Pool,

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger's stage act was perfected. The live show became a hit and resulted in various other

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_00]: bookings including the Jewel Theater in New York and the Park Miller and Eros Theaters in Manhattan.

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: It was during this time that Roger would star in director Jack DeVoe's Night at the Adonis.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you ever wanted to see what one of Roger's live shows was like, this is the film to watch.

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Roger was also busy working as an escort through ads and gay magazines,

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_00]: eventually becoming the star attraction at an exclusive male brothel. After all the sudden

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_00]: stardom, Roger made a few life changes. He became a health nut, focused primarily on bodybuilding

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and refraining from drinking and smoking. During Roger's entire time in the limelight,

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_00]: his manager and lover Jim Bacon was at his side. They spent seven years traveling the world and

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_00]: performing. All of this effort, drive and activity to promote and create Roger eventually

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_00]: took its toll on the couple's relationship and they went their separate ways in 1980.

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Now single, Roger moved to Las Vegas and was said to be done with the porn industry.

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_00]: He would explore his sexuality with men and women and would end up married to a young woman who

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_00]: would leave him six months after their ceremony. Alone and left to his own devices, Roger once

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_00]: again turned to a drug habit. In 1982, Roger, Darryl Roger Hansen, was killed in a car accident

[00:22:44] [SPEAKER_00]: outside of Las Vegas city limits. He was 27 years old at the time of his death.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Your boss called me, you're saying you told me the book was in.

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I got it right here. Good. I saved it for you.

[00:23:07] [SPEAKER_03]: That's good. How much is it?

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, $3.95. I got four here for you.

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. I've waited a long time for this.

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Can I ask you a favor? What kind?

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I collect physique photos and I was wondering if

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_03]: you wouldn't mind being added to my collection. I sure can. We'll go ahead and shoot.

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_03]: Ready? One more. Another one. Yeah.

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_03]: Is that enough? Yeah, I think that's more than I need.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_03]: Good. Thanks.

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. Roger could be described sort of like the man who fell to earth. One day he was all of

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_00]: a sudden everywhere. Then just as soon as he arrived, he was gone. Roger has been one of

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