S4E37: Chuck Holmes/The Other Side of Aspen/Al Parker

[00:00:00] Chuck Holmes was a gay adult film pioneer and gay rights activist who founded Falcon

[00:00:05] Studios in 1970 and reshaped the golden age of gay porn into the industry it is today.

[00:00:11] Widely acknowledged as the best erotic gay video of all time, The Other Side of Aspen,

[00:00:17] Falcon's 1978 hit became an instant classic and spawned several sequels and remains a bestseller.

[00:00:24] Yeah, move your eyes to the left. That's right. Now put your arm up like a victor.

[00:00:40] If there ever was a superstar that is well known, much loved, and remembered today from the golden age of gay erotica,

[00:00:48] that superstar is Al Parker, the epitome of the everyman who can fit into any scenario. Al Parker

[00:00:55] became an instant eye-catching success after posing for the very magazine company that years earlier

[00:01:01] had begun his own sexual awakening. On this episode, we're going to celebrate Chuck Holmes,

[00:01:07] an innovative businessman and filmmaker who through his studio and philanthropic efforts recreated gay

[00:01:13] identities and got involved politically to raise awareness to issues in the gay community. We're

[00:01:19] going to take a look at The Other Side of Aspen, a successful gay erotic film considered above the rest

[00:01:24] that was actually inspired by a ski trip. We're going to celebrate Al Parker, a once-in-a-generation model,

[00:01:30] a successful erotic film star, director, and activist who, during a horrific time in our history,

[00:01:37] advocated for safer sex practices before his own sudden supernova.

[00:01:42] This is Demystifying Gay Porn. My name is Aike Grande, and if you watch gay porn, I've definitely

[00:01:47] helped dig it off. Chuck Holmes was born Charles M. Holmes in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 5th, 1945.

[00:02:06] He graduated with a degree in business administration from Indiana State University and began working in

[00:02:12] sales for a local construction firm that manufactured prefabricated homes. That position would eventually

[00:02:18] land him in San Francisco, California. While directing the West Coast office of this company's sales

[00:02:23] operation, Holmes began moonlighting for a friend who needed his business skills to keep an adult film

[00:02:29] company afloat. The country would soon be hit with a recession, and Holmes would lose his job after a

[00:02:35] drop-off of Holmes being purchased or built. John Travis, a pioneer and veteran of the adult

[00:02:40] entertainment industry, had met Holmes through director and erotic filmmaker Jay Bryan. Travis suggested that

[00:02:46] Holmes start a mail-order business selling gay hardcore films. Holmes opted in and thought he can do this

[00:02:53] for a couple of years and then return to the corporate world. He borrowed some money, purchased

[00:02:58] a mailing list and loops made by John Travis and his company Telstar, and from there, Holmes would

[00:03:04] launch Falcon Studios in April of 1970 with Travis as his co-founder. Relying on other filmmakers' loops,

[00:03:15] Falcon was off to a slow start. But that all changed when Holmes began producing 8mm shorts.

[00:03:21] Falcon's first film was Muscle, Sweat and Brawn. Thanks to a loyal customer base,

[00:03:28] Falcon would quickly become an industry leader with their elaborate marketing and well-packaged product

[00:03:34] featuring some of the most beautiful men handpicked to be on film. Holmes' business strategy was focused

[00:03:41] on aggressive pricing, marketing and operating predominantly as a mail-order business for fear

[00:03:47] of losing film prints. When the market shifted to home video, Holmes was able to capitalize on the

[00:03:54] fact that many smaller companies were unable to meet the customer demand that surfaced in the early

[00:04:00] 1980s. Where Holmes and Falcon Studios succeeded, many smaller companies went out of business. Falcon

[00:04:12] movies relied on pure sex and followed a formula developed by Jay Bryan, John Travis and Matt Sterling,

[00:04:18] who had his own company, Brentwood Studios, which I'll touch on in another video. Falcon movies were

[00:04:25] pretty much run-of-the-mill in the beginning, but featured good lighting, personal sexual themes,

[00:04:30] a music soundtrack and of course incredibly hot men that became an industry template and something

[00:04:35] customers came to expect from a Falcon production. The models for Falcon were predominantly white,

[00:04:41] all-American young men. They adopted a hyper-masculine look featuring models with mustaches,

[00:04:46] flannels and jeans and then shifted in the 1980s to clean-cut, shaved bodies, tans and slim builds.

[00:04:55] This change made people see the adult entertainment industry as a bit more polished than its golden era.

[00:05:06] Scientists at the National Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta today released the results of a

[00:05:11] study which shows that the lifestyle of some male homosexuals has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer.

[00:05:20] By the early 1980s, AIDS had reared its presence into the psyche of gay men and their community.

[00:05:26] By the mid-1980s, broader communities began to feel the effects and we were now in the cultural epicenter of the

[00:05:32] AIDS epidemic. It would change every single thing about the adult entertainment industry.

[00:05:37] Moreover, it would decimate the gay adult entertainment industry.

[00:05:42] Some studios shut their doors due to societal and financial pressure.

[00:05:49] Porn. Gay porn in particular during the AIDS epidemic was just about the only sex many

[00:05:55] people who were afraid to go out and have sex with somebody else were having.

[00:05:59] Porn was now again going to be a reflection of society. One that now had safe sex or risked losing

[00:06:06] their life. Holmes and Falcon Studios were one of the last studios to adopt safer sex practices on their

[00:06:14] shoots. The studio took what they believed were preventative measures, only to finally join the

[00:06:19] rest of the industry and feature condoms in their videos and becoming a leader in safe sex portrayals.

[00:06:25] Business grew and Falcon added new production lines nationally and internationally.

[00:06:33] I'm Chuck Holmes. I'm from San Francisco and I'm glad to be here in Washington. This is the first time I've

[00:06:38] ever marched for a cause in my life. I waited a long time, 48 years almost, and I'm here and I'm glad to be here.

[00:06:44] The spirit's very high. Everyone's very motivated and yet very civilized. I know there's people that are not

[00:06:50] rowdy. It's very safe. We're just glad to be here. I hope America wakes up and gets our message.

[00:06:56] Later in his life, Holmes became very active in funding AIDS foundations and research,

[00:07:01] the human rights campaign, and a major contributor to the Democratic Party.

[00:07:05] Something that became a problem when people found out what he did for work,

[00:07:09] with some candidates and organizations refusing to take his donations because they knew where it came from.

[00:07:31] Holmes contracted HIV-AIDS early on during the epidemic. Later in life, he would develop liver issues.

[00:07:38] On September 9th, 2000, Charles M. Holmes, Chuck Holmes, passed away of liver failure surrounded by

[00:07:48] friends and family. In his will, Holmes established the Charles M. Holmes Foundation to promote gay

[00:07:58] civil rights and gave the foundation complete ownership and control of Falcon Studios and all of

[00:08:04] its subsidiary businesses, including the website, streaming videos, and accessories. At the time of

[00:08:11] Holmes' passing, Falcon Studios was one of the largest companies in the gay adult entertainment industry.

[00:08:18] Chuck Holmes, who had begun his career in the industry after being laid off, would go on to turn Falcon

[00:08:25] Studios into the most recognizable name in gay porn history and provided countless gay men so much support

[00:08:32] and many memories. Chuck Holmes had launched Falcon Studios in 1970. By 1977, it was a success,

[00:08:54] and he and the rest of the team at Falcon were planning to bring together the biggest stars of the gay

[00:08:59] erotic world and pack them into their next release. They wanted Casey Donovan, who shot at gay porn

[00:09:05] stardom thanks to Wakefield Poole's Boys in the Sand, Al Parker, a popular cult studios model, and a new but

[00:09:13] incredibly popular model, Dick Fisk. They would round out the rest of the cast with Jeff Turk, Chad

[00:09:20] Benson and Mike Flynn. Holmes had friends who owned a cabin in Lake Tahoe. He reached out to them and

[00:09:27] they agreed to let the studio use their cabin. So the film was shot in Lake Tahoe. However, the title

[00:09:32] alludes to Aspen, Colorado, since Aspen had become a popular LGBT destination. And it was the first

[00:09:39] municipality to pass a non-discrimination ordinance. Aside from the location and the models, they didn't have a

[00:09:45] script, just scenarios. But they would take everyone to the cabin and start production on the other side

[00:09:51] of Aspen. Production took about five days, with every scene taking a day to shoot. And each scene,

[00:09:58] shot as a loop, brought its own serving of intense sexual energy, causing the small crew to try and keep

[00:10:05] up with all of the action. After production had wrapped, Holmes and Sterling decided to weave the

[00:10:11] scenes together by shooting additional footage in San Francisco, giving the film a loose plot.

[00:10:25] So the other side of Aspen is a Falcon Studios film directed by Matt Sterling, produced by Chuck

[00:10:30] Holmes and stars Casey Donovan, Al Parker and Dick Fisk. And shot in Lake Tahoe with supporting shots taken

[00:10:36] in San Francisco. The film opens with Jeff Turk leaving a note on his door for his friend Mike Flynn.

[00:10:43] Turk is going out for a jog through the city to clear his mind. When he returns to

[00:10:48] his apartment, Turk tells Flynn about his time in Aspen and that time he had five guys. No,

[00:10:54] not those five guys. Turk serves as the narrator for the rest of the film, which immediately cuts

[00:11:01] to the infamous Al Parker and Casey Donovan scene shot on location in a cabin in Lake Tahoe. Parker

[00:11:07] and Donovan play two ski clients to Turk's ski instructor, who happens on them while they're... well,

[00:11:14] you'll see for yourself. Dick Fisk is introduced and I'm assuming Turk is just standing outside watching

[00:11:19] this entire time. Anyway, Turk continues to tell Flynn the story while he showers. Then we cut to

[00:11:26] Dick Fisk, Casey Donovan and Al Parker being joined by another guest, who I assume is Chad Benson.

[00:11:31] I just slid the door open, walked in, closed the door behind me. Turk walks in and joins everyone.

[00:11:40] After the scene ends, we cut back to Turk lying on a bed with Flynn, only to fade out and leave us to

[00:11:46] assume they have some business to get to. The other side of Aspen was shot in the winter, early spring of

[00:11:59] 1978. Around this time, Holmes had begun to hear the murmuring of home video. And that's when Holmes had an idea.

[00:12:06] The film would be one of the first in the industry released on videocassette. The other side of Aspen was

[00:12:12] strictly a mail order product. More significantly, the other side of Aspen was Falcon's first pre-mailing order ever.

[00:12:20] If you were one of their best customers, you were sent a reservation card. Then Falcon's brochure came out

[00:12:27] and they had their biggest day in the history of their company at the time. The other side of Aspen

[00:12:40] was a critical and commercial success, becoming the largest selling gay video in history at the time.

[00:12:46] Its release helped usher in a significant turning point in the industry. In an interview with Jerry

[00:12:52] Douglas, Holmes would go on to say this was his favorite of all Falcon films, containing a lot of

[00:12:58] Holmes' personal fantasies. From the perspective of John R. Berger, author of One-Handed Stories,

[00:13:05] the other side of Aspen can be seen as an important document to not only the all-gay environment,

[00:13:11] but the gay male psyche, which so desperately envisions such spaces where they can be free from

[00:13:17] the social oppressions encountered daily. The success of the other side of Aspen on VHS led to Falcon

[00:13:24] releasing most of their back catalog of films to video and make them one of the first studios to do

[00:13:30] so. The other side of Aspen was released on DVD in 2001 and remastered in 2014.

[00:13:53] Hi, I'm Al Parker.

[00:13:54] Hey, how you doing?

[00:13:55] Al Parker was born Andrew Robert Okun on June 25th, 1952, and grew up in a middle-class family

[00:14:02] in Natick, Massachusetts, 18 miles outside of Boston. His father was a salesman for a chemical

[00:14:09] company and his mother was in technology manufacturing computer components. Parker was a shy and playful

[00:14:16] child and by the time he got to high school, he blended into the background, except when it was

[00:14:22] time to hit the showers and many of his classmates noticed this shy and scrawny young man was packing,

[00:14:29] leading to the nickname Pony Boy. It was in high school that Parker developed an interest in attending medical school.

[00:14:37] On his way home from a medical study, Parker was followed off of the bus by an unknown assailant

[00:14:42] and was assaulted at knife point. Parker went home that night not knowing how to feel, yet not telling anybody

[00:14:50] what had happened. Parker's life would take a sudden turn when his mother lost her life to cancer

[00:14:59] after a short but aggressive battle. He enrolled in Boston University with a focus in medical studies

[00:15:06] and the hopes of being a doctor. When he got there, however, the campus, as many others during this time,

[00:15:13] were filled with anti-war protests and constant bomb threats due to the U.S.' involvement in Vietnam.

[00:15:20] Spending more time in drills and outside of the classroom helped Parker reevaluate his college career.

[00:15:26] Parker. He packed his bags and headed to California, finding an apartment in Elmosa Beach and a job at a

[00:15:35] mobile gas station. Parker's neighbors were young, gay, and butlers at the Playboy Mansion while Hugh Hefner,

[00:15:47] the publisher of Playboy Magazine, was at the height of fame and throwing legendary parties.

[00:15:52] Parker had an interview and quickly became a household fixture at the mansion. Hefner was known to hire gay

[00:15:59] men as butlers since he knew they wouldn't bother the bunnies. By the end of his time at the Playboy

[00:16:04] Mansion, Parker was operating a projector booth and communicating with Hefner on an average basis,

[00:16:11] a closeness he mistook and was eventually fired for. Parker eventually began to explore his sexuality

[00:16:22] and moved into his own place. Around this time, he met a man 13 years his senior with whom he had an open,

[00:16:29] long-term relationship with. He would become his lover, business partner, and mentor. Richard.

[00:16:37] I read a book by Michael Kearns called A Happy Hustler and it was just when I was just coming out. It was

[00:16:44] one of the first gay things I had ever read and it sounded to me to be quite interesting. I took the attitude

[00:16:52] that if you wanted to have an interesting life, then you had to take your hand into it and make it an

[00:17:00] interesting life. Parker decided he would like to try his hand at becoming a male hustler. Richard

[00:17:05] happened to know someone that Parker can speak with. While interviewing with this man, Parker was told

[00:17:11] that somebody may be interested in taking pictures of him. Soon after, Rip Colt would walk into their meeting

[00:17:18] and examine him and tell him he'd pay $50 for his time. On the day of his shoot, Parker arrived to

[00:17:25] Colt's house where he was greeted with the question, are you sure you want to do this? Because after you

[00:17:31] stand in front of this camera, your life will change and there's no turning back. And truer words could not

[00:17:38] be spoken to a Mr. Al Parker. After sitting for Rip Colt for many sessions, Parker knew he was going to need a

[00:17:50] name. Colt said Al Parker, to which Parker felt was so forgettable. But the magazine had already gone to

[00:17:58] print and it was soon a name everyone knew, more so than the 1950s magazine illustrator Colt named Parker

[00:18:05] after. Parker was now in high demand and posing for various magazines and photographers. And although Parker

[00:18:13] didn't fit the type of other Colt models, he surely made up for it with his big personality.

[00:18:21] In 1976, Parker met Matt Sterling, a young director for Brentwood and made his film debut in Challenger.

[00:18:29] That experience was so bad, it was almost his last film. As he found out sometimes having sex for film

[00:18:36] is not fun. Parker was able to use his success posing for Colt to convince the photographer to put him in one of the

[00:18:43] his films. The film would be called Shoot, an instant classic. Parker followed that film with Timberwolves,

[00:18:52] again with Colt, and finally, Hand Tool. From there, Parker was approached by Falcon Studios,

[00:18:58] another growing erotic film company, where he starred in three loops, weekend lockup, rocks and hard places,

[00:19:06] and taxi. The fame was there and Parker was everywhere, but the money really wasn't.

[00:19:14] Parker and his partner had a side wallpaper removal business that would inevitably provide them the

[00:19:21] funding they needed to start their own studio. Before that, Parker would star in Heavy Equipment

[00:19:26] and a little film called The Other Side of Aspen. That film would solidify his star status and help him

[00:19:33] finally found Surge Studios.

[00:19:41] Parker and Parker, Jr.: Well after I had done this for a period of time, I said, well I can do this, you know. I mean I

[00:19:47] I know how many feet of this I need and how many feet of that I need, you know. I knew people who worked in the business and

[00:19:53] um I said to somebody who was using me in film that I would like a percentage of

[00:20:02] the money made from films that I was in and uh got an unequivocal no

[00:20:09] and said well I'm gonna go do this on my own then. And he said yeah sure go ahead, try.

[00:20:16] And uh Steve and I started Surge Studio.

[00:20:20] For Surge's first film, Parker and his partner met a man who said he was a producer and agreed to

[00:20:26] produce if Kip Knoll was in the film. Parker would star, produce and direct.

[00:20:32] Hi Kip, this is Al Parker. Oh you're busy? Oh you're fucking this early in the morning huh?

[00:20:39] Oh okay, don't uh call me back, I'll meet you on the beach at the lifeguard station in about

[00:20:45] 45 minutes. It's uh kind of important. Okay thanks a lot. Bye.

[00:20:51] When filming wrapped, Parker and his partner would spend every dime they had buying out their other

[00:20:56] producer. Now with everything riding on this film, flashback had to be a success.

[00:21:03] After editing and finishing the film, Al Parker's flashback premiered at the 55th street playhouse.

[00:21:11] Surge Studios was now a promising new studio. Surge's next release was Turned On, directed by Steve Scott.

[00:21:21] Turned On also had a theatrical release but times were changing and theater rentals were high.

[00:21:27] Parker and his business partner gave a studio called Le Salon the distribution rights to flashback and now turned on.

[00:21:35] They later agreed to have Le Salon fund their productions in exchange for video distribution

[00:21:40] with Surge maintaining the movie rights and magazine franchise.

[00:21:45] A deal Parker was quoted as saying,

[00:21:49] I've made 21 movies now and I've been fucked 21 times.

[00:21:54] I've made a movie now and I've made a movie now.

[00:21:54] Needless to say, they would never sell their video rights again.

[00:21:58] Surge, a small studio run by two partners, would end up making a string of great films

[00:22:02] as the beginning of the new decade began to take shape.

[00:22:11] It was 1983 and the threat of the AIDS epidemic was quickly becoming clear.

[00:22:16] Parker had already seen many models and friends wither away and became increasingly

[00:22:20] interested in safer sex practices. In 1986, during one of their road trips, Parker's partner had a terrible

[00:22:28] cough he couldn't shake. When they got back home, Richard went to bed and never got out of it.

[00:22:36] After four grueling months, the doctors diagnosed him with AIDS and gave him three or four days to live.

[00:22:42] Four days later, on September 9th, 1986, Richard, Steve Taylor would die in Parker's arms.

[00:22:55] Richard's death would almost unravel everything Parker knew.

[00:22:59] This wasn't only his business partner. This was his lover, his companion in life.

[00:23:07] Soon after, Parker would also come to find out he contracted HIV.

[00:23:13] Lost in his thoughts, Parker began to focus his attention on the adult entertainment industry.

[00:23:19] There, he was an icon, but the industry was ignoring the AIDS epidemic.

[00:23:25] So after a long stage of grieving and realization, Parker began to move forward.

[00:23:31] He sold the rights to 10 Surge films he exclusively owned for $10,000 each.

[00:23:37] And Parker would also make safe sex videos that would be attached in front of all participating gay porn films.

[00:23:45] All of his later films for Surge included and mandated safe sex practices, which nearly destroyed his business.

[00:23:53] People simply didn't want to think about AIDS.

[00:23:56] This all culminated with the release of Surge's next film, A Night Alone with Al Parker, a safe solo movie starring Al Parker.

[00:24:05] Distributors wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

[00:24:08] It was eventually re-edited to include older footage Parker had from the Surge vault.

[00:24:15] Parker would sell the home he owned with Richard and move to San Francisco, where he lived with his long-time friend and eventual domestic partner, Keith.

[00:24:24] Hi, how are you?

[00:24:27] How are you doing?

[00:24:28] Alright.

[00:24:29] Are you having a good time here at the festival?

[00:24:30] I'm having a great time.

[00:24:31] Now tell me something about your new haircut here.

[00:24:33] Oh.

[00:24:35] That I gave him.

[00:24:35] He gave it to me.

[00:24:37] It looks great.

[00:24:38] I think it looks great.

[00:24:39] Thank you.

[00:24:39] Clean cut, all-American guy.

[00:24:41] Back to the clean cut, all-American guy, Lord.

[00:24:43] Slowly, Parker began moving away from industry work to take more of an activist stance, helping raise money for AIDS-related causes.

[00:24:52] All the while, it was becoming evident to him that his health was beginning to decline.

[00:24:57] But he fought back forcefully with a rigorous health routine.

[00:25:01] He was asked by Falcon Studios to be in a film called Overload, released in 1992.

[00:25:24] On a summer Monday morning, Parker found it harder than ever to get out of bed.

[00:25:30] His partner Keith helped him out of the bed and ran a bath.

[00:25:34] Parker fell into the bathtub and was there for nearly an hour, too weak to pick up his own body.

[00:25:41] Keith rushed him to the hospital.

[00:25:43] Ten minutes later, he was gone.

[00:25:50] Andrew Robert Okun, Al Parker, passed away August 17, 1992, nearly two months after his 40th birthday.

[00:26:05] Everyone, from industry friends to acquaintances to family, remember Parker as one of the kindest and compassionate human beings that they've ever encountered.

[00:26:15] A generous man and a successful and innovative filmmaker.

[00:26:20] And to some, the greatest porn star of all time.

[00:26:23] For me in particular, I know that a lot of the people that do these films are exhibitionists.

[00:26:32] I felt that if I could do these films and not feel self-conscious in front of the camera,

[00:26:37] that I could, somebody could ask me to be Bozo the Clown and I shouldn't feel funny doing it after, you know, exposing yourself so completely to a camera.

[00:26:47] Al Parker is still very much with us.

[00:26:50] In an industry that turns out scene after scene, movie after movie, day in and day out,

[00:26:57] the films and scenes of Al Parker are still rated among the most legendary.

[00:27:02] You can still Google an image of Al Parker and immediately be met with his unique beauty.

[00:27:13] Weeks after he exited this life, his ashes were scattered on San Gregorio Beach, where he wanted to be.

[00:27:47] As always, don't forget to subscribe, give this video a like, leave a comment, and let me know what else you'd like me to cover.

[00:27:55] This is Demystifying Gay Porn.

[00:27:56] My name is Aike Grande, and if you watch gay porn, I've definitely helped you get off.