Dirty Poole
SKU:
9781590212295
$20.00
$18.00
$18.00
On Sale
per item
A Sensual Memoir
by Wakefield Poole
Filmmaker Poole wrote the rules for living on the edge with no safety net and no apologies. How he, as a respected Broadway dancer, choreographer, and director became the infamous creator of beautiful, wildly successful gay porn is just part of the gripping story of life in the worlds of theater and porn, the perils and joys of success, the horrors of drug addiction, and the resilient spirit of a man who continually re-invented himself and survived it all. This new edition of Dirty Poole contains over 20 photographs and a new afterward by Poole that brings the book up to date.
Paperback, 290 pages
|
Wakefield Poole was best known for his classy, visionary hardcore gay erotic films Boys in the Sand (1971) and Bijou (1972), which started the "porno chic" trend a year before Deep Throat was released. Few people know that Poole was a member of the corps de ballet in the waning years of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and then went on to a career as a dancer, choreographer, and director on TV, Broadway, and the West End, working with theater legends Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Noel Coward, Jerome Robbins, Ethel Merman, Gwen Verdon, and many more.
In 1971, after seeing a typical example of gay porn, Poole asked himself why someone couldn't make one that wasn't sleazy and depressing. Then he set out to do just that. With a wind-up 16mm camera and the barely known actor Cal Culver (who took the name Casey Donovan), Poole and a small group of friends shot Boys in the Sand over several weekends in the Fire Island Pines. He released the film as if it were a legitimate mainstream movie, putting his own name above the title, doing press screenings, and advertising in the New York Times. Overnight, Boys in the Sand became an enormous financial success and Poole's theater career ended. He followed Boys in the Sand with the ambitious film Bijou, which was also a hit with audiences and critics. Giddy with success, Poole put all his money into a project that he hoped would be his mainstream calling card, a nudity-filled straight version of Bible stories re-imagined from the woman's point of view. Visually sumptuous and unlike anything else film goers in the early 1970s had ever seen, Wakefield Poole's Bible was a flop—rejected by both gay and straight audiences. In 1974, Poole left New York for the burgeoning gay mecca of San Francisco. He co-owned and operated the influential retail store/gallery/hair salon Hot Flash of America, was friends with Harvey Milk, and continued to make unique and successful erotic films, until he began a downward spiral into drug addiction. After a cocaine-fueled attempt at a Broadway comeback, Poole bottomed out, went cold turkey, and cleaned himself up. He eventually graduated from the French Culinary Institute at age 50 and became a successful corporate chef. |