Harrison Marks 1973 interview

GHM

inter

viewed by Verve magazine in October 1973, he tends to distance himself from pornography in the interview, yet there are a number of his h/c productions from this period that have since resurfaced so he clearly was making them and his official website mentions that he was filming more explicit material as early as 1967 “for a German businessman”. To put this interview into historical context though, it was hardly socially acceptable to be making blue films back in the 70s, and given Marks had been prosecuted for sending ‘obscene material’ through the post in 1971 and the same year this interview took place he would be kicked out of his studio after the landlord objected to 8mm sex films being made on the premises, it would have been inviting trouble to admit to shooting more explicit material.

Interestingly the magazine’s editorial claims that Marks had recently been approached by a ‘very large company’ (which he wouldn’t name) to shoot material on videotape, a format in its infancy in 73. Its quite funny to hear the magazine’s editor describe video like a hi-tech futuristic device “the system would work like this.. You buy an attachment that fits onto the back of your television, plug in a cassette and wham! Instant films of your choice.”