Capt’n Max. Photo: Jux Lii

It is with deep love, sadness, reverence – and a dash of irreverence – that we announce the passing of Pr. Maximillian Rudolph Leblovic Lobkowicz di Filangieri, aka Captain Max, aka Mickey, aka David Rossi, aka Vivienne Hammer, aka Xam Paris, aka Max. Max was a truly great man, though never one to be impressed with greatness – his own or anyone else’s. So, irreverence is as vital as reverence for memorializing Capt’n Max.

On Monday 6/9/2025, Max will be cremated, as was his wish, by Pierce Brothers Mortuary, starting with a private visitation at the Westwood Village Cemetery at 8 AM, followed by a procession around the grounds and cremation at Valhalla Crematorium. Many Hollywood stars are entombed on these grounds, and Max was a star of Underground Hollywood. One of Max’s favorites has a crypt there: Marilyn Monroe. For Max, Marilyn was the personification of fun, as well as the epitome of tragedy. Max also loved “The Dark Marilyn” and “Queen of Pin-Up” Bettie Page, who is buried there. In 1996, Max and his wife, Dr. Susan Marilyn Block, interviewed Bettie Page on their radio show.

It hurts so deeply to say farewell to Capt’n Max, but it helps to know he’s in good company.

The Goal is the Journey

Max’s motto – drawn from Gurdjieff, Confucius and the vivid landscapes of his own extraordinary travels – was “the goal is the journey.”

And what a journey it has been! Max led a remarkable life – over 81 years of romance, revolution, art, theater, publishing, radio, TV and internet broadcasting, erotica, pro-bonobo activism, international intrigue, fearless freedom-fighting, loads of fun and endless love. Max had many names and wore many hats – all with panache and a quirky originality that defied expectation.

As a producer, Max created thousands of fantastic, iconoclastic shows, salons, “speakeasies” and other events. As a publisher, Max pioneered the concept and practice of “reader-written magazines” long before social media existed. This was no easy task and led to many legal battles. But Max was a freedom fighter, as proud of his free speech arrests and prosecutions – most of which he won in court – as he was of his more conventional honors.

Max was married to Susan Marilyn Block, Ph.D. – also known as Dr. Suzy – for over 33 years. Their partnership spanned more than four decades as friends, lovers and creative collaborators, as well as husband and wife. Together, they produced legendary shows, best-selling books, bacchanalian gatherings, antiwar activism, sex-education and peace initiatives rooted in their Bonobo Way philosophy. Their art galleries, bonobo conservation, sex therapy system and endless love affair spearheaded the pro-bonobo movement of peace through pleasure, mutual respect, enthusiastic consent, alternative lifestyles, communal ecstasy, equality, compassion and free expression, helping to shape Underground Hollywood, the Underground Los Angeles Art Scene and the international conversation about peace and sexuality from the early 1990s through the 2020s..

Born in the “Pope’s Hospital”

Max was born on November 8, 1943 in Rome at Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, aka ‘Child Jesus Pediatric Hospital,’ aka “The Vatican Hospital” or “The Pope’s Hospital,” right next to the Vatican and under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, during World War II as Allied bombs were dropping, even hitting the Vatican itself (despite its neutral status). Fortunately, the infant Maximillian, aka Massimiliano, nicknamed Massimo, emerged safely and was soon whisked out of the war zone to Brescia in the Italian Alpine countryside, with his mother, Princess Giovanella Filangieri. When he was two, a Franciscan nun captured his angelic features in an oil painting.  After the War, he and Giovanella moved to Naples where they lived with his Grandmother Pia Rossi Filangieri and other relatives who doted on little Massimo, pinched his cherubic cheeks and encouraged his artistic and equestrian talents.

Max never knew his biological father, though he seems to have been a German officer. As a boy, he was inspired by his Great Uncle Rodolpho, a Polish Jewish painter who had escaped from a Nazi concentration camp, married to his grandmother’s sister (their father was Carlo Rossi Filangieri), his Great Aunt Anna Filangieri who was a ceramicist in a beach house filled with art. Many Filangieris were involved in the arts, including putting on plays and other events at the Filangieri castle in Naples.

At about age six, little Massimo’s life changed dramatically when his mother took him to a Neopolitan cafe to meet his stepfather, Prince Peter Francis Lobkowicz of Prague, Czechoslovakia. According to his recollection, this first meeting of father and son was punctuated with a hail of gunfire.

Max’s ancestors on both his stepfather’s and mother’s sides of the family can be traced to the Middle Ages, both with aristocratic traditions. The House of Lobkowicz is a Bohemian noble family that dates back to the 14^th century, including the titles Prince of Prague, Duke of Melnick. Sponsors of great art, architecture and music, Lobkowicz nobility built several tremendous palaces that were confiscated by the Nazis and then the U.S.S.R., forcing them into exile. Nowadays you can visit Lobkowicz Palace, the only privately owned building in the Prague Castle Complex, and immerse yourself in Bohemian history while sipping a Lobkowicz Beer, produced by Pivovary Lobkowicz brewery, dating back to 1466.

On his mother’s Filangieri side, Max’s Italo-Norman noble ancestors date back to the Crusades, held many high military posts and built several fairytale-like castles and palaces. Max was most proud of being directly descended from the great progressive philosopher Gaetano Filangieri (22 August 1753 – 21 July 1788), 5^th Prince of Satriano, whose works influenced the American Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and who counted among his admirers the American statesmen, Benjamin Franklin.

Coming to America

At the age of seven, Max, his mother, stepfather and his six-month-old infant brother, Charles Leblovic Lobkowicz, aka Charlie, set sail for America – in part to escape the gunfire, in part to continue the American/Filangieri connection – on The Italia. Crouched under its gigantic hull, sprayed by the briny sea, young Maximillian fantasized about being the captain of a big ship like the one holding his family and other deposed royal “refugees,” leaving the Old World for the New. He never got that job (or even tried), but he did get the hat.

“Capt’n Max” was never an official “captain” in the military (he’d been vehemently antiwar since throwing down his own rifle during bootcamp when he realized he “could kill somebody”), and he wasn’t even licensed to steer a canoe. He did like the captain’s hat (with “scrambled eggs” on the brim), as well as the big ships, bikinis and the endless ocean. Beyond all that, Max simply exuded the air of an authentic, strong but compassionate Man in Charge, a true Captain, so people called him that. He may not have piloted yachts, but he was the Captain of the Good Ship Bonoboville, aka the Ship of Fools for Love, and it’s inscribed inside his wife’s wedding ring, “Captain of My Heart.”

But it all started on October 4, 1951, when the Italia set sail from Naples, Italy to the Statue of Liberty, when Max discovered his love for the sea. Upon arrival, Massimo became Mickey, moving deep into the suburbs of Montclair, New Jersey, where his noble parents soon hired a housekeeper and butler to care for their two sons so they could go out almost every night.

One day, when Mickey was a young teen looking at pin-ups of Marilyn Monroe or Bettie Page, just beginning to explore his sexuality – amid the typical 1950’s lack of sex education – the housekeeper confronted him with a bunch of sticky, crumpled up papers she’d found in the bushes under his window. Mortified, he braced for a lecture. But instead, she just smiled and said, “Next time, use tissues – and throw them in the trash.”

As befitting a young Prince, Mickey was a great equestrian, winning several prizes. Tragically, a girlfriend of his was killed when she fell off her horse, and he never felt quite the same about horseback-riding again.

On June 10, 1955, 11-year-old Mickey had a mystical experience that would ripple through the rest of his life. As he sat under a large pine tree, toying with a pinecone, he found himself wondering who the love of his life might be, and he felt he received a “sign” in the pines: The name of his future Great Love would be hidden within his own. Later, when he connected with Dr. Susan Block (born June 10, 1955), they both realized that the letters of her name, “Block,” appeared within his own, “Lobkowicz.” Thus, the Pine Tree Prophecy had been fulfilled.

Peyton Place, New Jersey

The Lobkowicz family of four all became naturalized American citizens in 1956, when Mickey was 12. Adjusting to American culture wasn’t easy, especially with limited English skills, but that wasn’t Mickey’s only problem. His deposed Czech Prince stepdad engaged in arms deals – sometimes supplying both sides of a conflict, and inevitably trouble followed. One day, when Prince Peter was out of town, a gang of gunmen came looking for him, then stormed the house, holding the butler, housekeeper, Mickey and baby Charlie at gunpoint until wily Mickey could get a message to his school friends who rushed to the rescue, surrounding the house and pelting the intruders with rocks until they fled… at least, according to the tale that Mickey – then Max – liked to tell it.

Fascinated by the secret lives of spouse-swapping Montclair adults – it all felt like something out of “Peyton Place” (the #1 bestseller at the time) – young Mickey found inspiration for his first publishing venture.  He snuck into the Montclair Junior High School office after hours to mimeograph copies of his friend Bonnie Kelner’s localized “Peyton Place” parody, “Montclair Place,” which turned into the talk of the school – and got Mickey suspended. At least, he wasn’t deported. More importantly, it was then that he realized that publishing was his calling.

He also realized he liked Jewish girls, and he eventually married three (Dr. Susan Block was his third wife). He converted to Judaism – guided by renowned “Renaissance Rabbi” (to Elizabeth Taylor and Sammy Davis, Jr., among others) Bill Kramer – before marrying wife #1, Susan Spilka, whom he met in 1963 on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and with whom he had three children (Michael in 1968, Daniele in 1972 and Keri in 1982) before they divorced.

Speaking of divorce, Mickey learned that from his own parents whose divorce upended his own young life. At the age of 15, he moved with his mother to Genoa, Italy, where he worked as an actor in the State Theater Eleonora Duce of Italy and Teatro Arlecchino of Genoa. He also road-managed English rock star Colin Hicks and performed Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley tributes while in Europe.

At 17 or so, he moved in with his father, along with his new wife Bibi, a Brigitte Bardot lookalike with whom he engaged in pillow fights, in New York. Sometime earlier (it’s not clear when), Papa Peter sent him to a prostitute to lose his virginity. Poor over-excited Mickey climaxed before he even climbed the stairs to her apartment door, and she was so kind and understanding, he became a lifelong, unashamed advocate for sex workers.

In the early 1960s, Mickey joined the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey, but quit in bootcamp when he realized this new job involved killing people. He was put in a mental ward (or so he told the tale) and managed to avoid a dishonorable discharge by threatening to blow the whistle on the Peyton Place-like, spouse-swapping society of his fellow patients and their doctors.

L.A. Star Publisher

After leaving the military, Mickey hitchhiked through the U.S.A. – waiting tables, digging ditches and taking other odd jobs along the way – until he eventually settled in Los Angeles. There he found work as a bill collector, the most thankless job in the world, but Mickey was good at it, good enough to start a family with his first wife. During this time, he also pursued his education at UCLA and Santa Monica City College and became increasingly active in politics. One pivotal moment was attending a rally at the Ambassador Hotel for Robert Kennedy, Jr. – a night marked by shock and horror, as RFK was assassinated there, a tragedy that Mickey never forgot.

Then the old publishing bug bit him again. He met LA Star Publisher and Editor Paul Eberle and together they wrote the popular book, “Playing to Win: How to Deal with Bill Collectors.” Then in 1973, Max quit bill-collecting and started publishing The LA Star.

One of Mickey’s first acts as publisher was to put a black and white photo of a topless woman on the cover of The LA Star. The model was a member of the Elysium nudist community in Topanga Canyon, written up in the paper’s lead article, an interview with Elysium founder and director Ed Lange. Nevertheless, this was unprecedented, and copies of The LA Star – which also featured the early works of Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski and many esteemed writers – flew off the racks, easily beating the competition (mainly The LA Free Press). A series of arrests and lawsuits ensued, and Mickey, Paul and his wife and partner Shirley Eberle, won or settled all of them, usually represented by famed Free Speech attorney Stanley Fleischmann and eventually his office colleague, Barry Fisher. They changed the “rack laws,” paving the way for cable TV. Among their other legal wins was the landmark “Angie Dickenson Case” that overturned American Criminal Libel statutes in favor of Freedom of Speech. So, you might still be sued for putting Angie’s face on a naked body, as Mickey did on The LA Star, but you can’t go to jail for it.

“Reader-Written” Media Pioneer

During this time, Mickey entered into a lifelong friendship and artistic collaboration with Dutch multi-media artist Willem de Ridder, chairman of the FLUXUS art movement in Northern Europe and founder/publisher of SUCK, the first European erotic magazine, featuring luminaries such as Germaine Greer, baring all in sex-positive prose and very explicit pictures. Together, Mickey and Willem published some of the most innovative sex magazines and journals ever seen before – or since – including Love, Hate, Finger, God (called “G” on the cover because the religious printer refused to print it as “GOD”), Annie Sprinkle’s Hot Shit, The Sprinkle Report, Charles Gatewood’s “Forbidden Photographs,” The Ladies Room, the LA Star, and Sound Finger (the first talking magazine), featuring the works of Marco Vassi, Annie Sprinkle, Veronica Vera, Alien creator Dan O’Bannon and many more, representing the most extensive documentation of human sexuality and erotic art during the 1970s. Certain issues cannot legally be possessed in the United States, and many are now sold as collector’s items for thousands of dollars each.

Mickey and Willem also “plundered” the European airwaves, producing “pirate” radio shows in San Felice, Italy, early audio experiments whose echoes can be still be heard in contemporary productions, including Max and Dr. Suzy’s own FDR radio shows. Together, accompanied by their families, lovers, hippie *groupies* and Mickey’s big black poodle Robear, they trailblazed free speech as they traveled through Europe and America, making art, getting busted and publishing “reader-written” magazines that changed the world.

Yes, changed the world. Now, with social media, 90% of what most of us read is “reader-written,” but back in the Swinging ‘70s, it was unusual (if not blasphemous) to publish the prose, photos and art of readers – not professionals – with virtually no editing or censorship. This was a significant, if unheralded accomplishment for Mickey, Willem, Paul, Shirle, Susan, Annie, the Star Family and surrounding hippie groupies, as they were hounded from all sides – from Manson Family death threats (immortalized in the hit movie “Beverly Hills Cop”) to a string of LAPD busts and an Elmira, N.Y. home invasion.

Mickey’s work also delved into some of the most mysterious yet widespread subjects in human sexuality behavior and fantasy. For this, he was prosecuted 23 times, possibly making him the most prosecuted publisher in U.S. history. He usually won, but he served 18 months in Rhode Island’s Adult Correctional Institute where he ran for attorney general, and where his second daughter, Kari, was born while her mother, Mickey’s first wife Susan Leblovic, was shackled to her prison hospital bed. In 1982, so that Susan could be released to care for Kari and their other children, Mickey made a “deal” to plead guilty for the first time.

After being paroled in 1984, Mickey returned to LA and soon began publishing again. He also started calling himself “Michael.”  His new publishing ventures were much tamer, but also ground-breaking as “reader-written” media. Along with Ellen Dreksler (his second wife, with whom he had his fourth child, Jonathan Dreksler in 1989), Brad Bucklin, Rudy Marinacci, Robert “The Bear” Wachtel, Kelly Bushinski and others, Mickey published “Meetings with Remarkable People” in 1986, “Beverly Hills the Magazine” and, most famously, “The Brentwood Bla Bla” in 1987. In 1989, Mickey sold both magazines to Eli Broad of Kaufman and Broad, and then in 1990 to Robert Page of the Chicago Sun-Times who spoiled the “reader-written media” concept (after which, Max quit), and soon completely destroyed both entire magazines, by inviting advertisers to write the articles.

Captain of Her Heart

In late 1984, “Michael” (formerly Mickey, soon to become Max), was working as a dating service consultant, when he met Susan Marilyn Block – soon to be Dr. Suzy. She came to his office to close a sale for a commercial spot on the weekly “Susan Block Show” on KIEV and later KFOX radio. He advised the dating service to buy the commercial, and they began corresponding. She also started calling him “Max” – when she found out his real first name was “Maximillian,” and the name stuck. After all, it was his original princely name.

Thus, Pr. Max’s and Dr. Suzy’s great 40-year friendship and creative collaboration began with their “Soap Salons” on her radio shows and her columns in his magazines. In 1990, Max’s second marriage ended, and he began living in The Brentwood Bla Bla’s executive suite on the 11^th floor of the Brentwood Plaza. At this point, Max and Susan, now “Dr. Susan Block” (having obtained her first Ph.D. in philosophy with a major in psychology), began to see each other romantically.

The duo also collaborated on more audio artworks. In late 1990, they produced “Desert Susan,” crystalizing their mutual opposition to war in general and “Gulf War I” in particular, which was very popular at the time. A lyrical, hypnotic program featuring soulful music, antiwar poetry, “ethical hedonism” and excerpts from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War,” cassettes of “Desert Susan” were sent free in 1990-1991 to thousands of troops and officers in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Over the years, Max and Dr. Suzy heard back from many troops who had received these cassettes, turning them from war to peace. They also created the best-selling audio series, “Bedtime Stories for Adults,” including “The Great Erotic Train Ride,” “Office Fantasies” and “Passions of the Plaza,” reflecting their own rising passions for each other.  In 1991, Max moved out of The Brentwood Bla Bla executive apartment and into Dr. Suzy’s West Hollywood condominium.

In 1992, Max started producing The Dr. Susan Block Show. He also served as campaign manager for Dr. Suzy’s antiwar, pro-free speech U.S. Presidential run. She didn’t win, but she did marry her Prince (Max) that same year.

On April 12, 1992, Max and Susan were married at Har Zion Temple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a ceremony officiated by Rabbi Gerald Wolpe and Rabbi Ivan Caine. Guests flew in from around the world, including Mickey’s brother Charlie and Charlie’s daughter Giovanella from Milan, to witness the friendship that blossomed into passionate love and was now a lifelong commitment. Inside his wedding ring was inscribed “Master of My Soul,” and inside hers, “Captain of My Heart.”

MaxCam on DrSuzy.Tv and HBO

Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy’s long-term love affair sparked a theatrical media partnership that produced the legendary Dr. Susan Block Show, Dr. Susan Block’s Journal (both in print and online), The Dr. Susan Block Video Encyclopedia of Sex & Fetishes, The 10 Commandments of Pleasure, The Bonobo Way, Bonoboville, Dr. Suzy’s Speakeasy, four “Real Sex” segments and “Radio Sex TV with Dr. Susan Block” on HBO. Their HBO shows were directed by Emmy-award-winner Shari Cookson and executive-produced by acclaimed Emmy and Oscar winner Sheila Nevins.

Max is the creator of the unique, critically acclaimed style of filming The Dr. Susan Block Show known as “MaxCam,” also featured on HBO’s “Radio Sex TV.”  Sheila Nevins was so enamored with it, she ordered HBO’s camera quality to be “degraded” to look as close to MaxCam as possible when shooting “Radio Sex TV.”

Max also assumed the position of “Max the Butler” to Dr. Suzy’s “Mistress of the Airwaves,” a beloved character that is well-remembered by fans of The Dr. Susan Block Show, in its early days on live radio and public access TV, for his distinctive garb of Captain’s hat, dress shirt and ultra-short shorts, plus his deeply soothing yet intense baritone radio voice that announced the show and delivered his liberating and provocative commentary. Both Max and Dr. Suzy used their Commedia dell’Arte experience to create memorable characters based on their real personalities, but theatricalized. They called their performance style “Commedia Erotica.”

After KFOX radio switched formats, Dr. Suzy and Max the Butler expanded The Dr. Susan Block Show to over 150 stations nationwide through the Independent Broadcasters Network – while also airing a video version of the show on several public access TV stations in California and New York – broadcasting live from Dr. Suzy’s West Hollywood condo. From there, they moved into a penthouse in Westwood overlooking Holmby Hills where they first interviewed Nina Hartley, Lasse Braun and Willem de Ridder, and filmed HBO’s “Real Sex 11.”

Then they expanded into several suites at the old Century Wilshire Hotel, right down the street from Westwood Village Cemetery, where they visited Marilyn Monroe’s crypt for inspiration, as they continued to broadcast live on IBN nationwide and KMAX radio in LA. They also filmed two iconic, half-hour, #1 Nielsen-rated “Radio Sex TV” specials on HBO, “Radio Sex TV with Dr. Susan Block” and “Radio Sex TV 2: Off the Dial,” both featuring the inimitable MaxCam style.

A Police Raid, a Stabbing, Dozens of Great Shows and the Bonobo Way

During and after these ground-breaking shows, Max and Dr. Suzy experienced many wild adventures, almost all of which were peaceful. However, one night in 1994 at the Century Wilshire Hotel, while bravely defending his wife against an intruder armed with a military-knife, Max was stabbed. The intruder was a jealous “cuckold” whose “hot wife” (with his expressed consent) had danced with renowned director Lasse Braun on the show. He had broken into their bedroom and tied up Dr. Suzy, when Max walked in. Then he lunged at Max as Dr. Suzy yelled, “He’s got a knife!” Before the blade could cut deep, and only using his bare hands, Max subdued the attacker and threw him against the wall – later joking that he was aiming for the window but missed. The assailant fled and was eventually apprehended by police. Though Max’s stab wound was superficial, the incision that the UCLA ER surgeon made to inspect the wound through his groin led to a hiatal hernia that bothered him the rest of his life.

Max and Dr. Suzy’s philosophy of love, peace and community is inspired by the bonobos, the “Make Love Not War” chimpanzees who are humanity’s closest genetic cousins and have never been seen killing each other in the wild or captivity. They first saw these amazing Great Apes in the last episode of the “Nature of Sex” series on PBS, and it soon became clear to them that bonobos practice the kind of sex-positivity, “peace through pleasure,” female empowerment, male nurturance, sharing, caring and ecosexuality that they believed essential to keeping their own love alive – and even a key to world peace. “The Bonobo Way” became the foundation of their love and work together for the rest of Max’s life. “Bonobo Liberation Therapy” was also integrated into Dr. Suzy’s sex therapy system, in private practice at The Dr. Susan Block Institute for the Erotic Arts & Sciences since 1991.

In 1995, Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy posted their first internet website on AOL, and it was promptly censored for the use of clinical words and showing a photo of “copulating bonobos.” So, they started their own sites, DrSusanBlock.com and BlockBonoboFoundation.org.

In 1996, Max produced Dr. Suzy’s live in-depth radio and public access TV interview with Harvard Anthropologist Dr. Richard Wrangham about bonobo culture, the first in a series of interviews with over a dozen bonobo ape experts that continued over the following three decades.

That same year, Max produced, filmed and participated in Dr. Suzy’s interview with Pin-Up Queen Bettie Page, “the dark Marilyn,” one of Max’s youthful crushes. It was the first live interview with the legendary Bettie Page and the longest, also featuring a beautiful Bettie Page lookalike, an 18-year-old protégé of Max’s friend Mistress Antoinette, named Dita Von Teese. Dita would make several more appearances on the show and soon became an international fetish and burlesque sensation.

Also in 1996, St. Martin’s Press published the first edition of “The 10 Commandments of Pleasure: Erotic Keys to a Healthy Sexual Life,” Dr. Suzy’s third book, based on the philosophy of love, pleasure and the Bonobo Way she was developing with Max. Published in over seven languages in more than a dozen countries, the book was a springboard to more Travels with Max, including their first trip to the San Diego Zoo to see the real bonobos, through the East and West Coasts of the U.S., and though England, France, Italy, Germany and Holland. While in Amsterdam, they met with Max’s old partner Willem de Ridder, artist Cora Emmons, “The Happy Hooker” author Xaviera Hollander and many other members of the European erotic arts and sex-therapeutic wellness communities.

The Villa, Yale, a Real Speakeasy and another Police Raid

In 1997, Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy moved into a big house in the Hollywood Hills. They called it the Villa Piacere or just the Villa. Continuing to film HBO specials and other sex educational documentaries, as well as broadcast their live weekly call-in shows, their work grew in artistry, popularity and therapeutic value. Max mentored emerging filmmakers in his distinctive MaxCam style while cultivating a vibrant space for his wife and the artists around them to thrive.  Together, the crafted “Dr. Suzy’s Speakeasy” – a singular blend of talk show, revival, history lesson, fetish forum, bacchanal and bar – where guests could “speak easy,” exploring topics that mainstream shows dared not broach. The vibe was almost always peaceful – except for the one night when the LAPD raided the place. Ironically, it was during a big show featuring the artist Frank Moore, Heilman-C, KLOS personality Frank Naste, Free Speech Coalition lawyer Jeffrey Douglas, and even a UPN-TV news crew – very excited to be covering a police raid when they had come to film a talk show. Nothing illegal was happening and no neighbors complained, so no charges were filed.

In 1999, Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy transported their merry band into a real Speakeasy; at least it was a speakeasy in the 1920s and still had the original bar. The high ceilings were perfect to showcase their growing collection of great artworks by Doug Johns, Karin Swildens, Dennis Dutzi, Annie Sprinkle, Betty Dodson, Yossi Vardan, John Evans, Robert Mapplethorpe, Scott Siedman, Jirayr H. Zorthian and many more. They opened Dr. Suzy’s Speakeasy Gallery of Erotic Art, enthusiastically reviewed by Stephen Lemons in LA New Times and filmed for “Real Sex 25” on HBO.

On January 22, 2000, they launched Eros Day – a holiday idea introduced to them by award-winning filmmaker Lasse Braun – to honor the Greek god of love, sex and life itself, coinciding with the planetoid Eros’ closest approach to Earth. It all came together with divine erotic artistry – featuring Murrill Maglio as Eros and his wife Teri Weigel as Venus – the two of them making love on the artist Mario Saucedo’s giant wooden bondage cross in this great historic Speakeasy across from the Morrison Hotel, as Dr. Suzy and Capt’n Max conducted the first of about a dozen classical and astronomical Eros Day celebrations, covered by many media outlets and personalities, including rocket scientist Stan Kent, the LA Weekly and Citizen LA.

Attending “Stage Blue,” a Yale Dramat event, in 1999, Max and Dr. Suzy (Yale Class of 1977) met iconic Altadena artist Colonel Jirayr H. Zorthian (Yale Class of 1936) and his wife Dabney Zorthian, and a great collaborative four-way friendship in which Max and Dr. Suzy produced several exhibitions of Jirayr’s masterpiece erotic artworks, with Dabney’s help, and made a film about him, “Zorthian: Art & Times,” which they premiered at their Zorthian art memorial in 2005.

In 2000, the LAPD raided The Dr. Susan Block Show for a second time (when actress Ginger Lynn was the main guest) and again, no charges were filed. This time, Max and Dr. Suzy sued the LAPD and eventually won a large settlement (the amount of which cannot be legally disclosed) on appeal that allowed them to rebuild Bonoboville and “Dr. Suzy’s Speakeasy in the Soul of Downtown LA.”

That same year, they moved to Flower Street near the new Staples Center where they continued to broadcast live on the Internet and public access TV. During the Democratic Convention, they mounted a popular erotic art show called “Democratic Sex,” surreptitiously attended by many convention delegates.

David Rossi & Xam Paris

Max and Dr. Suzy’s life was quirky but in many ways ideal, though as Max often said, “The ideal is the enemy of the real.” In early 2001, the morning after an exuberant Eros Day, Max was arrested by the LAPD based on false charges, taken to Twin Towers jail and held there for two months before Dr. Suzy could gather bail for his release. After several court appearances, Max disappeared, and then appeared in August, 2001, making the first of a series of calls to his befuddled prosecutor from various locations in France.

In October, 2001, Dr. Suzy reunited with Max – now going by the name “David Rossi” – as she ran from a taxi straight into his arms on a street corner in Nice, France. From there, the two headed to Cannes where they showed their film, “Weimar Love” at MipCom 2001. Eerily prescient, their film forecast a “Reichstag-like incident” triggering a crackdown on civil liberties – echoing the aftermath of 9/11. This was the first of several trips Dr. Suzy took to France to see “David,” combining their work (including her Max-inspired new Counterpunch columns), with great pleasure, deepening love and a dash of danger, as always, but now with a French accent, celebrating their 10^th wedding anniversary on April 12, 2002 in Paris.

In March 2003, in response to George W. Bush’s bombing of Baghdad, “David” and Dr. Suzy produced “Art Bombs: American Libertines for Peace” at Il Teatro Restaurant, an art exhibit of photographs, paintings, drawings and digital artworks by American artists that counteracted and commented on “Smart Bombs” and the eroticization of explosive, massively endowed, corporate-sponsored violence. They also founded the Cannes Press Club hosting a series of press gatherings and a screening party of journalists and friends for the 2002 premiere of Tom Wontner’s “My Yacht,” an independent film made at Cannes 2001, parasailed, swam on nude beaches and sailed around Cannes harbor on the Adria sailing ship.

While Dr. Suzy was in LA, David continued to perform as “Max the Butler” on her weekly shows, handling his announcer duties remotely from France, sometimes with new friends he made there, such as Imanne Sterning with whom he broadcast shows on NSEO radio in Paris, and who helped promote “The 10 Commandments of Pleasure” French edition, “Les Dix Commandements du Plaisir” (Presse Grancher).

In 2004, David returned to LA. Off the LAPD radar, he lived, loved and worked happily for several years under the names David Rossi and Xam Paris, producing bigger and more bacchanalian shows and events with Dr. Suzy in their biggest Speakeasy ever, a sprawling, 17,000 square foot universe of art and exploration on Pico near the DTLA Fashion District. He also helped Dr. Suzy to conduct seminars at Sex Week at Yale (her alma mater) in 2004 and 2006. At Sex Week at Yale 2006, David spoke to a packed auditorium at the Yale Law School on the importance of Free Speech.

In 2005, award-winning filmmaker Canaan Brumley started making a film called “Speakeasy,” featuring David, Dr. Suzy and all the wild and colorful characters in attendance as well as fictional characters played by actors Wallace Stevens and Sara Sioux Robertson. Many have hope that one day, “Speakeasy: The Movie” will be released. In the meantime, “the goal is the journey,” and the journey of making “Speakeasy” was and is always extraordinary.

During this time, David and Dr. Suzy expanded their celebrations of conventional holidays in their own way – with a little parody, history, spectacle, sensuality, art, music and a lot of fun – reenacting the story of Lupercalia, the original Valentine’s Day, putting on erotic Purimshpiels, Hot-Wax Hanukkah, Saturnalian Xmas, Dionysian Sprng, Kinky Krampus, Easter Resurrections of Persephone, Masked Balls for Halloween, turning Labor Day into Labia Day and great birthdays and wedding anniversaries that celebrated married romantic love and longevity with communal ecstasy.

Also, in 2005, David executive-produced “Dr. Suzy’s Squirt Salon: The Art & Science of Female Ejaculation” which held its world premiere at the Cinekink Film Festival, went viral and won several awards. In 2006, their erotic antiwar music video “Blonde Island” held its world premiere at the Barcelona film festival, and its American premiere at Cinekink, which David and Dr. Suzy attended in New York on their way to New Haven for another Sex Week at Yale.

In Sickness & In Health… & Back in the Tank

In May, 2006, the night after a major Speakeasy show featuring Yale’s Whim ‘n’ Rhythm, Dr. Suzy collapsed from septic shock. Her organs failed, she was in a coma for almost two weeks, and she came perilously close to death. David – Max – Mickey was by her side in USC hospital every day. As she woke up, there he was in his khaki vest and straw fedora, helping the nurses and doctors to help her come back to life. Two months later, when he took her home in a wheelchair, he was her primary caregiver all day and night, every day and night.

As Dr. Suzy recovered, the duo retuned to hosting shows – bigger and more bacchanalian than ever before. Canaan continue filming “Speakeasy” through Dr. Suzy’s recovery and far beyond. Director Scott Webb also produced a series of Dr. Susan Block Shows, and many documentaries were made. Around this time, Dr. Suzy expanded her telephone sex therapy practice to include therapists all over the world with different areas of expertise, all under David’s management.

Calls for therapy, counseling, information and guidance rang in from near and far. Occasionally, there would also be unwanted calls and scams, and for those, David would often assume the identity of “Vivienne Hammer,” answering the phone in his usual deep baritone voice with “This is Vivienne Hammer, how may I help you?” confounding whatever scammer or bill collector was on the other end of the line.

Then one day in May, 2008, David answered the door, and a gang of police piled on top of him and took him back to Twin Towers, this time with no bail. Though the original accusations had long ago been debunked and thrown out, now Max was on the hook for “failure to appear.” At least, he was back to being “Max” again, his original name.

From May, 2008 through February, 2009, Dr. Suzy spoke with Max every day by phone and visited him twice a week in Twin Towers, sometimes accompanied by Sara Sioux. During that time, he continued to “produce” Dr. Suzy’s shows by phone and through long visits, such as when he reviewed Dr. Suzy and Sara’s promotional banners for her Eros Day X Orgy for Obama in January 2009 through the Twin Towers visitor glass, sparking lively conversations among the guards and other prisoners, many of whom protected Max because they were his fans.

Capt’n Max Back at the Helm

In late February, 2009, Dr. Suzy, Canaan and Sara Sioux picked up Max in an emotional reunion at Delaney Prison and took him back to the Speakeasy. With Capt’n Max back in Dr. Suzy’s arms and at the helm of the Good Ship Bonoboville once again, The Dr. Susan Block Show took off – with great guests like Dave Bautista, Too $hort, Striperella artist Anthony Winn, Expedition Wild’s Casey Anderson, bestselling author Robert Greene, artist Soma Snakeoil, NoFX lead singer Fat Mike, actor John Barrymore, musician Elvis Schoenberg, comedian Chris Gore and so many more – plus more Eros Days, wedding anniversaries, bondage balls, musical concerts, stripper pole performances, erotic art exhibits, holiday bacchanals and the filming of Canaan’s “Speakeasy” movie took off again like a rocket, solidifying the position of Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy as the most exciting and yet down-to-earth “power couple” in the Downtown LA erotic art scene.

One inadvertent silver lining of Max’s incarceration was that, after smoking cigarettes since age 15, he quit cold-turkey and never resumed the habit. Nevertheless, he encountered health setbacks, but nothing Capt’n Max couldn’t overcome – for a while – with Dr. Suzy by his side. He was the Captain, she was the Admiral, and their ship was sailing along. In 2009, Max underwent a quadruple bypass (that turned into a triple bypass when one vein didn’t take), and in 2012, upon learning he had bladder cancer, he underwent chemotherapy and neo-bladder surgery, and though the results weren’t perfect, he was cancer-free the rest of his life.

In June, 2012, Max attended Dr. Suzy’s 35^th Yale University Reunion (Class of 1977), proud to exchange his captain’s hat for a “Yale Husband” cap, at least for the weekend, and continued to participate in her 2017 and 2022 Yale reunions, as well as other Yale events. Between reunions, several Yale college students spent their summers working as interns on The Dr. Susan Block Show. What a unique education they received!

In August, 2012, Max produced “Big Win in Vegas,” a film centered around an RV trip to see Dr. Suzy being awarded her second Ph.D., an honorary Doctorate of the Arts in Sexology from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHA) in a ceremony at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas, officiated by Dr. Ted McIlvenna and attended by friends and fans of Max and Dr. Suzy from around the world, followed by a party in the motorhome. Max was also the driver of that motorhome – their Bonoboville-On-Wheels.

They broadcast live on location from many other places, such as Hollywood’s Zephyr Theater and several years at Mistress’s Cyan’s DomCon LA where they developed an enthusiastic following for their talks on Bonobo BDSM and Female Empowerment. But their incomparable, sensational and yet intimate, meaningful, inspirational shows at Dr. Suzy’s Speakeasy in the Soul of Downtown LA, all set in breathtaking bohemian environments designed by Max as Xam Paris, were the glittering jewels in their crowns as King and Queen of the DTLA Underground Erotic Art and Theater scene for over a decade.

From DTLA to Inglewood

Nothing lasts forever, certainly not glittering crowns. In 2013, as DTLA prices soared, and the quality of life for artists declined – causing many of their friends and allies to disperse from the Downtown area – Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy relocated Bonoboville to vibrant Inglewood, California. There, they flourished for five years of fantastic shows, seminars, bacchanals, media and love – plus only one visit from the Inglewood police that resulted in giving the officer-in-charge (who confided that he and his wife were interested in swinging) an autographed copy of “The 10 Commandments of Pleasure.”

In 2014, Max published “The Bonobo Way: The Evolution of Peace through Pleasure” by Dr. Susan Block. Auspiciously, the publication date was November 8, 2014, Max’s birthday, and a great book launch birthday was held with fire jugglers, dancers, Bonobo Way book-spankings, readings and other festivities. Max and Dr. Suzy’s Bonobo Way book tour took them through UC Berkeley, UC Puerto Rico, UCLA, USC, Cal Tech, Yale University, DomCon LA, AASECT (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists) and more.

In 2015, Max “discovered” powerful progressive newscaster/activist Abby Martin, and invited her to visit Bonoboville as the only guest on a special edition of The Dr. Susan Block Show, and thus began a great friendship and media collaboration between Max, Dr. Suzy, Abby and her husband Mike Prysner, as well as Abby’s brother Robbie Martin, that among other things, encouraged Max and Dr. Suzy to open up and speak more freely about their support for Palestine.

They continued to mix the discussion of politics, sex and culture with performance in their Inglewood shows, featuring hundreds of artists, therapists, professors and porn stars, including award-winning actor Luzer Twersky, Dominatrix and 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidate Tara Indiana, bestselling author Dr. Christopher Ryan, Ecosexuality author Dr. Serena Anderlini, actress Daniele Watts and gourmet vegan Chef Belive, rapper Ikkor the Wolf, Taboo actress Kay Parker, author Moushumi Ghose, comedienne Sally Mullins, artist Jeffrey Vallance and many more. The sex made the politics more fun, and the politics made the sex more meaningful. Altogether, it made life feel good.

In 2018, when their Inglewood building’s new owner doubled the rent, Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy moved Bonoboville to Arcadia, California in 2019. They set up their studios in a great building that had been a Home for the Deaf, and their love and work flourished once again. However, from the beginning, they were harassed by inspectors and other officials with the City of Arcadia, despite their landlady’s continual support. This harassment seemed to coincide with more censorship, including the deactivation of Dr. Suzy’s Meta accounts, and less free speech in general, as the 20-teens turned to the 2020s, with various types of repression coming down the proverbial pike from both the Right and the Left.

During the 2020 Covid pandemic, Dr. Suzy and Max held a series of “Bedside Chats,” inspired by FDR’s “Fireside Chats” – except in bed, with guests on Zoom like Hypatia Lee, Goddess Phoenix, author David Steinberg and fellow Counterpunch writer JoAnn Wypijewski.

Towards the end of 2020, Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy started co-hosting FDR Radio, broadcasting live on several internet platforms, talking about sex, politics and culture, with the theme of a train traveling through time into the great unknown, picking up guests and callers along the way. Max loved trains almost as much as ships. They also continued to give interviews to many other media outlets.

In July, 2021, Bonoboville was raided by the Arcadia Police, just as Max, Dr. Suzy and the crew were preparing for a podcast interview with Counterpunch founder and American Babylon host Ken Silverstein about Free Speech and the City of Arcadia’s unconstitutional harassment. The police forced everyone out of the building, frisked them and made them wait as they searched Bonoboville and found many interesting things, but nothing illegal. During this time, Max – who explained to the police that he had a neo-bladder he could not always control – was not allowed to go to the restroom.

Their warrant was based on false information, and no charges were filed, but the City’s harassment escalated. Max spoke out strongly against their personal harassment and the fascism in general that was creeping into American politics and everyday life on The Dr. Susan Block Show and in an interview he and Dr. Suzy did with The LA Daily News. Meanwhile, the FDR radio shows continued.

In 2022, Vice TV produced a special in-person revival of The Dr. Susan Block Show and “day in the life” of Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy. One of the funniest, most authentic moments ends the piece, with Max in front of the Bonoboville washing machine explaining how just before the show, we always wash the dildos, and then he showed each soapy rubber schlong to the camera with great glee, as if to say, “Relax, we’re just having fun.”

That April, Dr. Suzy and Capt’n Max celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary, and that June, they moderated a “Peace, Love and Bonobos” roundtable discussion at their Yale reunion. In 2023 and early 2024, they continued to broadcast live on FDR (almost) every Saturday night, celebrating Max’s 80^th birthday (which included his son Jonathan) and their 32^nd wedding anniversary… though the great Capt’n Max was in a wheelchair, had various debilitating health ailments, and a hint of wistful nostalgia was already in the air.

A Life-Shattering Stroke

On the morning of May 19, 2024, shortly after broadcasting his last live FDR show, Max suffered a major ischemic stroke. With Dr. Suzy by his side, he was rushed to USC Hospital, intubated and put on life support. The prognosis was dire, especially when doctors couldn’t remove a blood clot in his brain. But Max fought for his life, and within about a week, he was cautiously taken off the respirator. Still, the stroke had rendered him almost immobile, virtually paralyzing the entire right side of his body, and splintering his mind. He couldn’t lift his head, eat or drink and had to be fed through a tube, first in his nose, then a G-tube and eventually a GJ-tube in his stomach.

Most frustrating, the stroke left Max afflicted with aphasia, so that most of his words came out garbled or just plain wrong. This would be devastating for anyone but was especially painful for a publisher and eloquent radio host like Max, so strong, right-handed, with such a powerful, creative mind – now broken like a jigsaw puzzle spilled all over a wet floor.

It was heart-wrenching to see Max wrestle with simple words that used to flow so easily from his silver tongue. Though sometimes the struggle exploded in a symphony of laughter, and every so often, he blurted out pithy phrases like “spoken word” poetry or delivered carefully pronounced but utterly scrambled instructions with the gravity of a Mafia don.  Dr. Suzy called it “Maxolalia” in the spirit of “Glossolalia,” speaking in tongues. Once, in a rush of babble, Max suddenly and very clearly declared, “We Are An Art.” Other Maxolalia: “I feel my brain,” “It’s not ending” and “We’re in the skin.”

One late September night in 2024, when he was rushed by ambulance from the nursing home to the ER just ahead of Dr. Suzy, he grinned through his oxygen tubes as he saw her come running in and exclaimed, “My Girl is here!” His favorite words were “Okay,” “No!” and “Smile,” and his more frequent question was “Why?” But most of his speech was incomprehensible, even with speech therapy.

A language Max and Dr. Suzy still understood – maybe better than ever – was the language of love. Pleasure was the most effective painkiller – and the oxytocin of love seemed to work better than the Oxycontin of drugs – at least for Max’s final spin around the sun. Though not a medical doctor, Dr. Suzy was Max’s primary caregiver, every day and into the night, helping Max navigate life on the edge of death at three different hospitals, four rehabs, over 10 ambulances and a nursing home in the course of just under a year.

For Max, this last year of life was marked by profound agony, but also moments of ecstasy. A long-time advocate for pleasure as a vital part of physical and mental well-being, he worked with Dr. Suzy to integrate pleasure therapy into his pain management. She massaged and stretched him while he gently touched her hair as if it had magical powers. He shared many moments of pleasure, joy, laughter and wonder with other friends, family, Bonoboville crew and Chico the Bonoboville dog who braved the hurdles of hospital or nursing facility visitations or just connected for a video call, as well as the dozens of doctors, nurses and therapists who monitored his care as best they could, limited as they always were by insurance constraints.

Music had always brought Max great joy throughout his life, but in his final months, it was a lifesaver. He especially loved singing his own little tunes. With aphasia, Max found singing could communicate more effectively than speaking sometimes. It also made him feel good. He sang to communicate, entertain, to ease his own pain and to give himself courage. He even sang sometimes during some of his most agonizingly painful procedures like “wound care.”

“No other patients ever sang during wound care besides Max,” confirmed Max’s nurses when Dr. Suzy inquired. For that alone, Max will never be forgotten in these halls of great sickness and healing.

Over this “year of living precariously,” Max’s health went up and down, and each time it went down, it dropped a little lower. After the stroke, he never really got “better.” Sometimes, he’d rally – such as Barry Fisher’s “Bella Ciao” accordion concert that got the nurses and other patients dancing around Max’s bed, or for special physicians that really went the extra mile for him like Kaiser’s Armen Aghabegian, and for his 33^rd wedding anniversary with Dr. Suzy on April 12, 2025. Some couples ride to their anniversary celebration in a limo; Capt’n Max and Dr. Suzy took an ambulance, laughing, singing and loving all the way to Max’s room at the South Pasadena Care Center, where they were soon surrounded by balloons and flowers.

Max loved flowers, especially roses – right up until the end. Their fragrance seemed to revive him, if only for a moment of what seemed – from the look in his big hazel eyes – like the purest pleasure in the world.

Farewell Capt’n Max

Max was an astoundingly strong, vibrant, creative, passionate, Zorba-like character, the most loving and romantic husband and a very peaceful bonobo sapien, but also a force of nature, always creating, publishing, producing, performing, pioneering and steering the ship, supporting and mentoring others, making you think or laugh or maybe making you mad – a larger-than-life lover of life.

But no matter how lively you are, a major ischemic stroke takes you – body, shattered brain and soul – to as deathly a place as you can go in life – short of death itself. In Max’s case, death came for him in May of 2025, just before the first anniversary of his stroke. He was rushed from South Pasadena Care Center to the ER and then ICU of Huntington Hospital (the Pasadena branch of Cedars Sinai) with extremely low blood pressure, kidney failure and low oxygenation. He rallied in the ICU, with Dr. Suzy by his side, but then his heart failed. In the last moments of his life, just before noon on May 13, 2025, Max squeezed Dr. Suzy’s hand hard several times – perhaps communicating his “good-bye” – and then he was gone. The whole ICU crew came in to try to revive him, but he would not return. Capt’n Max had set sail.

Max is survived by his wife of 33 years, Susan Marilyn Block; his brother Charles Lobkowicz; son Michael Leblovic; daughter Daniele Macdonald; daughter Kari Schiaman; son Jonathan Dreksler; grandchildren Anna Baer, Talia Amato, Paige Belmont, Madix Leblovic, Jacob Schiaman, Juliet Schiaman; great grandchildren Taylor Amato, Levon Baer; cousins Giovanni Rossi Filangieri and Anna Aliena Ciriello; and many beloved friends.

Prince Maximillian Rudolph Leblovic di Lobkowicz di Filangieri, aka Mickey, aka David Rossi, aka Vivienne Hammer, aka Xam Paris, aka Capt’n Max…you will be missed forevermore, but we wish you smooth sailing along your merry magical way and hope we meet again someday.

The Goal is the Journey, and the Journey continues…