Patrick J. Knight with his “Roman Ruler,” Amber Chase with her painting “Portland Series One: Grand Odalisque,” Dr. Susan Block holding HINDSIGHT and Howie Gordon, aka Richard Pacheco. Photo: L’Erotique

Length 1:30:56     Date: Dec. 07, 2013

Porn & Marriage, Porn & Marriage, (Don’t Usually) Go Together like a Horse & Carriage… but some couples manage to make it work, at least for a while. This show features a few that do, including a brilliant, funny, retired Hall of Fame porn star, married-with-children for over four decades (to the same spouse!), who has just published a powerhouse memoir and an adorable, artistic, newlywed porn star couple who just donated a lovely new painting to our erotic art gallery—plus more surprises and XXX clips from some of our guests’ sexiest XXX films—all playing now on DrSuzy.Tv! Listen free above or join to watch.

The memoirist is Howie Gordon whose new book, HINDSIGHT: True Love & Mischief in the Golden Age of Porn is the best-written, funniest, most soul-searching and insightful porn star memoir out there, as far as I can see. It’s also a primer on how—and how not—to balance the porno life with married-with-children bliss. In fact, when I perused parts of the first draft last year, I was so impressed, I gave it this gushing endorsement:

“Howie Gordon is a model citizen, loving father, devoted husband, trusted neighbor, thoughtful friend and a very funny guy who just happens to have once earned a living with his penis. Then again, maybe it was Gordon’s brief but intense career as ‘Golden Age’ porn star Richard Pacheco that prepared him to be the ultimate Family Guy. Written with passion, warmth and wonderful self-deprecating wit, Hindsight is a rear view mirror of the soulful side of pornography from a very special time, the late 70s-early 80s, that could well be considered the climax of the Sexual Revolution.”

Now that I’ve read the entire 684-page published tome, I’m even more impressed—and ready to squirt (in a literary sense). Howie, aka Richard, aka Dewey Alexander, aka McKinley Howard, aka Mack Howard, aka Mark Howard, aka Marcus Howard (Howie went through a lot of stage names in an effort to save his mainstream acting career until “Richard Pacheco” made it so big in porn, he took on a life of his own) uses his considerable wit, wisdom, existential angst, puppydog charm, intense insecurities, Woody Allenesque humor and infectious, over-flowing enthusiasm to take us on a rollicking, Rabelaisian journey through his very special life, deeply illuminating the world of porn as well as the bonds of marriage. The book also details you how a fat kid in high school can turn himself into Playgirl’s “Man of the Year” (the first and last Playgirl centerfold sporting a hard-on) and an X-rated Adonis, bedding some of the world’s hottest porn stars and living happily ever after in the bosom of his beloved family, parents, children and grandchildren, all accepting him for the great dad, husband—and former porn star—that he is.

The forward to Howie’s HINDSIGHT is written by none other than Whoopi Goldberg, Howie’s longtime friend and former neighbor whom he met when she was performing with the Blake Street Hawkeyes, the superlative and whacky theater troupe that I will never forget seeing (and loving!) in San Francisco. Howie was an aspiring actor studying and working with the Hawkeyes (which also spawned another mutual old friend, the theatrical wizard of odds, John O’Keefe), in the fall of 1977, when he got his first job on a porn film.

As it was for Harry Reems and so many others, porn was just supposed to be a side path to make a few quick bucks until he broke into mainstream acting. It was also a great way for this happily married horndog to get his rocks off with a variety of gorgeous women, and all with his beloved wife Carly’s permission. At least, that’s how it started. Then, Howie’s secret porn jobs started taking off and flying higher than the stars, while his mainstream acting career never rose above the tarmac. Go figure.

All this, despite not having the giant, always rock-hard-and-ever-ready monster cock required of so many male porn stars. Keep in mind that the Golden Age of Porn was years before the magic of Viagra made erections easy even for a gay guy in the ladies room. Back in the day, when male porn star’s tool was stiff, viewers knew he was aroused. Howie’s chronic “issues” with getting erections on set—though he loved the sex, the pay, the acting and the glory, he was not an “exhibitionist”—make HINDSIGHT a fascinating look inside the male mind, constantly struggling with his unpredictable manhood and usually coping pretty well with it, at least enough to make a living and a lot of friends, mostly girlfriends.

Which brings us to another reason that Howie/Richard stood out in the porn crowd. In those days when casually sadistic, hair-pulling misogyny flowed through the veins of every porn film—and there was no “alt” porn film industry as there is now—Howie played and really was a sensitive, thoughtful, caring, gently funny and very feminist male. In other words, he was a very bonobo guy amongst a bunch of big dickhead baboons. Howie also helped to make “nerdy” sexy. Not surprisingly, his female co-stars adored him, even as they (mostly) respected the limits his marriage required. From Annette Haven to Veronica Hart, Seka to Kay Parker, Georgina Spelvin to Nina Hartley, Howie’s girls all testify to his boundless charm and heart throughout the many pages of HINDSIGHT.

But seeing is believing. So, in between our chats about porn and marriage, jealousy and ecstasy, love and centerfolds (Capt’n Max was a male centerfold for the LA Star even before Howie’s Playgirl spread), AIDS and condoms (thank you Condomania!), we take a few tasty minutes to enjoy Howie/Richard’s steamy XXX love scenes with Georgina Spelvin in Anthony Spinelli’s “The Dancers” and with Nina Hartley in Candida Royalle’s “Sensual Escape.” And yes, these are true love scenes, even if the love doesn’t last longer than the scene. Howie/Richard brought the love out of the lust on the porno screen.

Full Disclosure: Howie/Richard wrote a very nice review of my book The 10 Commandments of Pleasure for The Spectator, opening with one of my favorite two sentences ever: “This is a fucking good book! It’s also a good fucking book.” But I honestly believe I would love HINDSIGHT even if he hadn’t gushed first.

Wayback Machine Moment: This is Howie’s third time on DrSuzy.Tv, the second being in 2011 when he appeared in a supporting role to his talented son, Bobby Gordon, performing excerpts from his captivating one-man show Debbie Does My Dad. Howie’s virgin appearance on my show was way way back in the 20^th century, 1998 to be exact, on the weekend of the World Conference on Pornography. It was the Saturday after my own presentation at Annie Sprinkle’s “Pornocopia,” in which I gave the “Pornographer of the Year” award to Ken Starr (actually, it was my KMAX program director Keith James who looked a lot like Ken Starr, but everybody asked me how I got Ken Starr to show up). The award was for the Starr Report which, as you history buffs might recall, was a detailed, rather pornographic account of what was going on in the President’s underpants. Meanwhile, at the same conference, Howie/Richard had a meaningful/comical moment when he removed his own underpants discreetly onstage behind a table, gave a heartfelt speech and then sent those underpants flying through the crowd to a delighted Godmother of Masturbation and erotica pioneer, Dr. Betty Dodson.  You can read the rest of the story in HINDSIGHT, though Howie forgets to mention that the next night, Betty gave me those underpants when the two of them appeared on my show. From there, I’m not sure what happened to Howie’s magical briefs, but I think they fell through the cracks of my broadcast bed, and hopefully got picked up and cherished by a Richard Pacheco fan.

Eventually, “Richard Pacheco” was put to rest, though his ghost is constantly rising like the zombie of porn. In any case, fear of contracting AIDS, coupled with the mounting demands of his growing family and the dawning awareness that his sexual escapades were putting his long-suffering wife through emotional hell, made Howie leave porn. But porn never quite left Howie, or the loving members of his family who read and contributed to various drafts of this book, and the result is HINDSIGHT, a porno-memoir masterpiece and must-read and for anyone interested in breaking into porn and/or getting (and staying!) married… with a lot of love and laughter along the way.

Capt’n Max, Amber Chase, Dr. Suzy, Dave Bertolino, Wendy Richards. Photo: L’Erotique

While Howie fills us in on “Porn & Marriage” over the long haul, my next guests, artist/scholar/pornstar Amber Chase and her newlywed husband, pornstar/entrepreneur Patrick J. Knight, give us the “just married” point of view. Amber also gives us a painting! That is, she donates her evocative painting, “Portland Series One: Grand Odalisque,” to theSpeakeasy Gallery of Erotic Art which is still being renovated here in new Bonoboville. Once the gallery doors open, Amber’s art will command a place of honor.

Amber’s porn specialty is “kink,” and her kink specialty is “mind-fuckery,” exploiting her clients’ secret weaknesses that they can’t tell their wives. How does her new husband handle it? He doesn’t reply directly, though perhaps his answer lies in his new line of handcrafted BDSM equipment with a weighty wooden paddle he calls “The Roman Ruler.” All I can say is this Roman Ruler packs more persuasive oomph than Julius Caesar and Silvio Berlusconi combined. Mind-fuckery is one thing, but this could lead to butt-fuckery…

As a special treat for our viewers, we play a clip from Amber and Patrick’s wild passionate sex on the couch after the Cacophony Society show in June, climaxing with Patrick’s explosive, DNA-charged climax all over his then-fiancée’s chest. The secret to all that thick, creamy, pornstar spooge? “Oatmeal,” intones Patrick. And no, you don’t snort it or rub it on your dick. This explosive clip is now playing on DrSuzy.Tv.

Next up are “surprise” guests, the happily divorced and swinging Wendy Richards (whose books, Swing World and I’ve Got the World on a Swing, I have yet to read) accompanied by Dave Bertolino, playwright/producer of The Deep Throat Sex Scandal (soon to open in a casino!). David is now also one of the producers of the new Hollywood Show coming to the Loews Hollywood Hotel January 3-5, which will feature Howie, as well as many old mainstream stars, some even from as far back the Golden Age of Television. So one Golden Age will meet another as fans of vintage porn and mainstream entertainment converge in their adoration of celebrity, “pop culture” nostalgia… and hindsight.