George Harrison Marks

[MarcMorris]

Is anybody here interested in the works of (George) Harrison Marks? I guess most will know him for his feature films (Naked - As Nature Intended / The Nine Ages of Nakedness / Come Play with Me etc) but before this he made dozens of 8mm glamour shorts, sold in newsagents and via the post to "specialist" customers.

He later turned his hand to spanking videos and set up "Kane" magazine. I was lucky enough to meet the man himself when I helped out David McGillivray at the Scala launch of his Doing Rude Things book back in 1992.

I've been considering paying the member's fee over at the Harrison Marks website just to see some of the old 8mm stuff. I have a few on 8mm myself, but haven't really considered getting them transferred to video due to the high costs. So, has anybody else been tempted to sign up?

You can browse the 8mm films available here.

wiki: Harrison Marks

[Timmy Lea]

Well, you know I'm a fan. If it's old, perverted, and British (like me on all 3 counts!!) then I'm interested in it.

[Dr.Starr]

Stashed away somewhere for a rainy day I have a few of the old pocket sized Solo/Kamera magazines Harrison Marks put out.

And here's one of the 8mm films that he released on his Kamera Cine Films label - No 5 "The Fabulous Betty Page".

Ahem, 'America's most famous nude model in a tantalising wiggle dance'

[gavcrimson]

The Wiki article I did is probably in danger of having things removed from it, if not completely deleted though, so I’ve done a “back-up” copy, which has more text and the odd rude pic as well.

gavcrimson blog: The Naked World of Harrison Marks

Heres also what prices his 8mm films have been going for on ebay recently as well.

gavcrimson blog: Harrison Marks 8mm films price guide

[MarcMorris]

Nice one gav.

I have a few of his 8mm films myself, but rater pay for them to be transfered i figure it might be cheaper to sign up with the website I mentioned above which was set up by Peter B. Fairbrass, one of his old business partners.

[Timmy Lea]

His daughter Josie, who appeared in COME PLAY WITH ME, used to frequent some of the same fetish/swingers' clubs as me, allegedly- although I can't remember ever speaking to her (or for that matter anything else!)

[gavcrimson]

Theres an interview with her from about 2007 on Youtube, (it kicks in about two minutes into the first video).

Bums on the Run part 11

Bums on the Run part 12

Bums on the Run part 13

[gavcrimson]

Some Scala ads for the Doing Rude Things book launch

[Mark Y]

Stashed away somewhere for a rainy day I have a few of the old pocket sized Solo/Kamera magazines Harrison Marks put out.

And here's one of the 8mm films that he released on his Kamera Cine Films label - No 5 "The Fabulous Betty Page"...

I have a couple of Kameras, though they usually go out of my price range on ebay. Also a Kamera magzine devoted to Betty Page. Marks was an awesome photographer, or perhaps it was just the women who were awesome...?

[gavcrimson]

I was lucky enough to meet the man himself when I helped out David McGillivray at the Scala launch of his Doing Rude Things book back in 1992.

Speaking of McGillivray I was watching a 1979 Arena documentary on the song “My Way”, a few days ago, and was surprised to see McG among the vox pop interviewees being asked their opinions of the song (he thought it was rubbish, BTW).

[gavcrimson]

I recently managed to get hold of a copy of “The Naked Truth About Harrison Marks”, Marks’ 1967 biography. Its a famous mixture of fact and fiction, so I’ve approached the book with a few more credible sources at hand to try and divide the two.

I’ve already been able to document Marks later career, but the book, at least when its being honest, does offer valuable insights into Marks background, music hall days and eventual success in the glamour industry. I’ve now worked allot of the bio details from the book into the “Naked World of Harrison Marks” article linked to above, but for anyone who doesn’t want to go through all of that again (it is becoming a bit of an epic) the newer information I’ve got from the book appears at the link below, along with some pictures from it.

“The Naked Truth About Harrison Marks”

[gavcrimson]

Anyone heard anything about this (soon to be released?) book. Amazon don’t seem to have much info on it..

Naked World of Harrison Marks: amazon.co.uk

[MarcMorris]

Oblique Books
32 Great Sutton Street
Clerkenwell
London
EC1V 0NB

[gavcrimson]

“The Reluctant Pornographer” interviewed in 1984

[MarcMorris]

Nice one Gav. It's time you wrote a book about all this stuff!

[Simon Sheridan]

I was once offered the opportunity to write a book on GHM..., but for one reason or another it didn't happen.... the fickle world of British sex!

[gavcrimson]

GHM interviewed 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.”

[gavcrimson]

Sad to discover that Harrison Marks’ regular Howard “Vanderhorn” Nelson was reported as a missing person to the police on Tuesday 3rd February 2009, Nelson was one of those quirky character types that popped up in a lot of GHM’s 8mm and feature films, as well as acting in other films like Zapper’s Blade of Vengeance and Carry on Emmanuelle, heres hoping “The Horn” turns up safe and sound.


http://www.missing-you.net/people/ho...son-115744.php

Howard with Mary Millington in Come Play With Me

[gavcrimson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjIIfm_FpEY
Two decades before A Nightmare on Elm Street there was “Nightmare at Elm Manor”, a Harrison Marks nudie/horror short from 1961 featuring June Palmer being menaced by Marks’ regular stooge Stuart Samuels. Can’t see this being up on youtube for long -bare breasts aren’t generally allowed there- so watch while you can.

[gavcrimson]

Harrison Marks’ 4 Gerrard Street Studio in the late 1950s…

And from Cheesecake Magazines to Chinese Hairdos, the building as it stands today, a hairdressers catering to London’s Chinese community (Gerrard Street now being the heart of London’s Chinatown district)




According to legend, in the fifties the building not only housed Marks and Pamela Green’s operation, but was home to a “near-beer” club in the basement which was a regular battleground between rival London gangs, and as a result fist and bottle fights were the order of the day, and blood was spilt on a nightly basis, while the attic was occupied by a veteran prostitute where bodily fluids of a different kind were no doubt spilt on a nightly basis as well.