The XCritic Interview: Paul Johnson Part I

Today, we stream high def videos on huge flatscreens and handheld devices. VHS tapes, way back in the early 1980s, complete with gorgeous box covers adorning store shelves, paved the way for today’s Adult Industry video explosion. Yet, before any of that, Porn was a world captured in beautifully crafted magazines, telling erotic storylines in print, accompanied by expert photography.  Paul was at the forefront of that endeavor. Paul Johnson was the first to place Hardcore pornography on bookstore shelves in America, helping to make everything else that followed possible.

Through innovations in lighting and shooting techniques, Paul developed Point of View (POV), which is still a modern-day phenomenon and one of the most highly searched genres.  It’s odd the way things work out, but Paul Johnson is someone who you might know about, without ever having known who he was. With the help of a select few, Paul took an ancient world of photography, transfixed in black and white stills and added in color, storylines, and character… effectively laying the foundation for what we know today as XXX… ‘The Industry’.

Yeah, Paul did that.

Paul’s work is easily recognized, it’s distinct. His photos hold an artistic expression of the condition of human sexuality. Paul’s models loved working with him because he saw them as people and not objects. Paul had a quality to the shoot, a depth embedded in the photo, that many others missed. He has said it is because of his demeanor, that of the “shy photographer” … the “nice guy” in the room. Keith and Iris Bancroft, long-time Editors, business partners, and friends who paralleled Paul's career, put it a different way, saying “The difference between Paul’s work and that of everyone else’s is that Paul’s models always look like they are having fun.”

Paul agrees… Fun was always part of the deal.

Paul has made it his mission in life to bring the best pornographic experience to himself and his audience. Please, enjoy the following interview. Consider it a lesson in how we got to where we are today and know that Paul Johnson is one of those visionaries responsible for it. Thank Paul by visiting his website, which says far more than we can here today. In this Interview, we celebrate Paul Johnson for who he is, what he has given us, and for everything he’s done. Oh… and trust me, the dude has done just about everything at least twice.

Jim Steele– Hey Paul, thanks for your time, I appreciate what you’ve done, what you’ve contributed. Let’s get to it.  Your time in the business has spanned so many years. You started in 1966 and left around 1985. That's a good stretch of time. I thought about several different ways to get the conversation rolling. In the end, I suppose it’s best to just lay it out there, start at the beginning of it all. You had a college degree, a good-looking young man, from all appearances, you had everything going your way…  Not that there’s anything wrong with it, cuz there’s not, but what steered you towards porn?

Paul Johnson– Although I fell in love with porn at age 11 nothing steered me that way and I never had a fantasy of shooting sex, my fantasy was to shoot nudes and hopefully get laid along the way. Porn grew up around me. There was no hardcore porn business, except what sold from overcoats and under the counter, As far as I knew all underground porn came from Tijuana.

Jim– So, what do you mean by Tijuana?

Paul– Oh, anything that was hardcore. Back then, you know, when I was a kid, if it was full-on good stuff, we just assumed it must’ve come from someplace that we weren’t, like Tijuana. … It’s kind of a generic term we used for anything that we hadn’t seen before.

Jim– What year was it that you began to call yourself a professional, as in– when did you start making money with photography in the Industry. Before we get too far along, I’d like to take a moment to say that, everything we’re talking about here, including the photos, it’s all copyrighted material. Everything is over at Paul’s website. I would encourage everyone to follow up on this talk over at paulsfantasy.com.

Paul– That’s right Jim, I appreciate that. I’ve worked hard over my life and want to share, with you and others. But yes, it’s all here and then over my site. Thank you for that, let me get back to that question about working professionally.

I'd say it was around 1966 when I graduated and took my 1st job working the night shift in the color lab of a defense plant. In many ways, one of the worst years of my life, except it was made tolerable by shooting some fashion and nudes in my free time. My interest was piqued, and I was getting better, in my spare time. My first few sales were to ELYSIUM, a publisher of nudist mags. Soon, I found JAYBIRD and sold my freelance stuff there too. At this time, I had straight jobs to pay the bills. It was the day after I got fired from my second job, running a commercial studio for shooting nudes when I went to JAYBIRD and said, tongue in cheek, to the chief editor, Bob Rietman, "I just got fired for taking dirty pictures for you." Bob smiles at me and says, "I had a photographer quit yesterday" and I fell into being a JAYBIRD staff photographer. The pay at JAYBIRD was considerably more than what I was making and raises came along regularly. This was late 1967.

Jim– So, that was a lucky break… for real. Alright, so your first real deal was Jaybird Magazine, in 1967… When you came on board, what was it like? Was it what many might call softcore, hardcore…? How would you define porn and what was going on back then? What kept you on task; pay, play, doing what you loved, or all three? 

Paul– In my personal definition of porn the line is crossed when the genitals and mouths intermingle; up to then it is simulated, softcore or something else.  JAYBIRD is the mag that pushed the barriers, the first mag to show beaver shots, and that led to the first real hardcore porn. JAYBIRD faded out and became ACADEMY PRESS. That was the very first hardcore publication to sit on the shelves of America's adult bookstores was ACADEMY’s publication of SEX in MARRIAGE, Volumes 1 and 2. Bob Rietman gave me the assignment to find a married couple and shoot. Legally speaking, it was designed to go to the Supreme Court and remain standing, but I don't think it did. But it did light the fire that became the porn explosion we have now. I have laid claim to being the guy there holding the match.

Why did I do it? (Paul chuckles softly) … I didn't do it for the money although it was necessary.

I did it for my love of porn and to get laid.

Jim– If that’s what you were shooting, what kept your interest? Was it that you had some grand vision, that things would get better production and quality someday, or was it just the best game in town?

Paul– It was all interesting, but I knew we could get better quality. I illustrated magazines and paperback books and for years we shot about 20% color to B&W. I didn't like the changing of cameras that required because of the extra bother and the chance I would miss a great shot while I'm changing cameras. That's what led me to develop the all color, one story format.

In porn, color is so important, makes it so much more vivid and real. With ACADEMY, it was B&W/Color. I didn’t go all color till the CONNOISSEUR SERIES years later.

I didn't own any mags, I created them for various publishers. Before I just sold the photo sets to publishers and they put them in their mags. Now I was creating the whole mag and selling what's called a camera-ready package meaning that it's ready to give to the printer. It was a little different. The mags I created such as the CONNOISSEUR SERIES, BON VIVANT, LET'S PRETEND and a few others were the only hardcore mags created by one man that I am aware of. Other mags are created by editors using the work of several photographers who have nothing to do with the creation of that mag other than shooting some photos. I know, my work is in a multitude of those mags. That, I believe, is why mine sold best, I had total control.

My all color, one story and sometimes two-story format that many said was "Too expensive" soon became the norm, and more publishers were doing mags that were a lot like mine. I was even competing with myself! I was doing these kinds of mags for various publishers. Several come to mind: RUBY COLLECTION, PU - Publications Unlimited, TONGUE IN CHIC, SENSUA/VOLUPTUA. I did four mags before I quit him because of his attitude. I also did mags for GOURMET AND EROTOSEX… that’s what ACADEMY PRESS evolved into. They were the first to tell me "Forget it, it would cost too much."

My favorite line of mags I did was LET'S PRETEND (LP) because the only male in them is me. This goes back to when I was 11 and someone gave me some 4X5 B&W photos. I had seen cartoon mags that we called Tijuana Bibles, but I had never seen photos of real people doing it, so this was a real turn on. I hurried home, found a private spot, and while jacking off to them… the fantasy I had was "I want to be that guy in the pictures.” As it happened, LET'S PRETEND is that fantasy come true. I had done the Point of View (POV) shoot that was published in this biz, and several times after that. POV's are fun but a lot of work with stills. I used Hasselblad’s. They were fitted with what I called the "lens that got me laid," a huge 40mm wide angle lens on top of a heavy camera. Then, you’d have to change lenses, film backs, and all that stuff. I created LET'S PRETEND after I started working with assistants who could shoot. I call these shoots POV/LP and what these mags consist of are POV shots. They are augmented by the angles I can't shoot, which are done by my assistant. My most prominent assistants were porn actresses Christine Kelly and Juliet Anderson who both had good camera eyes.

Jim– So, when was the break from what we’d call softcore to hardcore? Or, in today’s terminology… the XXX porn we know and love?

Paul– I was shooting softcore right up until the SEX in MARRIAGE book, and hardcore full time afterward. At first, I was the only staff photog doing hardcore full time, but soon we were all doing it. I shot ACADEMY's first three or four editions, 2 Vol. each; it was all paperback at first.

Jim– Alright, we’ll get to ACADEMY and Sex In Marriage in a minute. Haha. Tell me something, these mags… they were all what you’d call bookstore type publications, right? What’s the difference between a mag like Jaybird or the CONNOISSEUR SERIES and something like Penthouse, or Hustler?

Paul– It was the way they were marketed, the places they were sold. Take Penthouse or Playboy… they were on newsstands. The stuff I was doing was what you would find inside Adult Bookstores. I think the difference, at least early on, was that the people going into the bookstores had a certain expectation. They wanted good, high-quality porn, along with a story line. That’s what you’d get back then when you bought off the shelf at a bookstore. It was kind of the same, with some different nuances. One of the major differences was that the newsstand mags also were loaded with ads.

Jim– To follow that up, in those early days, back at Jaybird, how busy were you? Were there other magazines that you worked on?

Paul– I'll answer this one backward. I started freelancing in L.A. then went on staff at JayBird, which is in L.A.

After quitting Jaybird, I went back to freelancing, still selling to Academy Press, Elysium, and other publishers. I also sold some stuff through an agent.

I fell in love with a model and followed her to San Francisco where we lived together for about 3 years. Even though I moved there for love, the Bay Area turned out to be a great business move. I had a different pool of models and locations than the L.A. photographers but had the same buyers. Then a photographer friend, Johnny Castano, turned me on to San Diego publisher Greenleaf Classics and I illustrated a fair number of paperbacks for them.

Jim– What was the process for getting models to shoot?

Paul– That’s a good one because when I first started this biz finding models was my biggest problem. I didn't know anyone, and no one knew me. JayBird didn't pay agents fees, which, at that time ran around $40.00. They only allowed us to pay a $25.00 finder's fee. I ran ads which didn't produce much except an offer to come over and fuck me now; I was home with my wife and kids so that one didn't work. I picked up hitchhikers where I found a few. Other company photographers turned me on to a few models as did Johnny Castano.

What I had going is that models liked working with me, I showed them respect and rarely hit on them so they would turn their friends onto me because I was a safe and easy place to start; that and the finder's fee.

Jim– Did they know it was going to be nude? Or, did some or most of the shoots start off clothed? I’m curious as to the timeline of how it went down. I know that you were working in the Bay area, which is often a pretty liberal place. Still, I’m curious how open guys and girls were back then to the idea of being captured by your lens with nothing much in the way of clothes.

Paul– First of all, I never asked a model to do anything they didn't want to do. They were completely informed of what was expected before they agreed to the job. On interviews I would show prospective models some of my mags, so they knew what I was talking about. If there is something unusual… there is always someone who wants to do it.

Jim– Was it more of a case of just finding the right girl, who was down for whatever; or, did you have to throw some money at the situation to convince those early models to go against the grain? I mean, I would imagine it was like it is today, so many think that a ‘modeling’ gig is gonna lead to a star on the walk of fame, maybe even more so back in the day. Did you find it difficult to find willing subjects?

Paul– There were a few times I had to ask around but always found willing models. On rare occasions, I would sense that the model is coming from a victim place I never hired her. Never paid extra money except in the early days we paid $25.00 for shaved pussies. I never had a problem finding willing models since making that agreement with Reb all those years ago.
As far as the superstar mentality, I don't identify with “Star On The Walk” of fame thing; I never ran into it. There were women that I recognized at first; and you knew they would become stars. Two examples were my good friend and assistant, Juliet Anderson and Nina Hartley.

Jim– Shit man, you never told me you worked with Nina. I knew about Juliet. Gotta Love both of them!  Hmmm…., Nina Hartley… Alright, please continue Sir!

Paul– I had met Reb before he started his agency, Sunset International, yet I couldn't afford to hire models from him. Reb noticed what was happening with models turning friends on to me so he made me an offer I couldn't say no to.

Jim– Wait a minute… Slow down. Who was Reb?

Paul– Reb was a biker type and had connections with some 1% clubs. Anyway, he was down in L.A., and what can I say, he had a way with people. He was a very different kind of guy than you’d expect from someone who could round up talent. He had a rough appearance. The kind of guy that would intimidate most people. But, with the girls, and even the guys? He had a calming effect on them. From what I know, he never came onto any of them, he was always very ethical. But yeah, Reb became my partner in a lot of that business of rounding up models. He was a great guy.

Jim– O.k, so… now you’re down in L.A., and working with Reb… and he’s helping to find models. An ex-outlaw looking biker dude and Paul, making it happen. Interesting…

Paul– Interesting is a good way to put it. Anyway, Reb made me a deal that if I would turn on these new models to him to agent then I could use any model any time from his agency, Sunset International, without paying an agency fee. This agreement worked well for both of us and all the models involved. For me, I never had to scratch for models again and I paid myself the finder’s fee on all the models I got from Reb, seeing that padding the expense account was the name of the game at American Art Agency. Eventually, Reb booked most of my shootings, often including the location which I paid myself a location finder’s fee. All I had to do was go to Reb's studio and pick up my models and the address of the location. By this time, I only actually worked 15 to 20 hours a week and just playing the rest of the time. I was required to do only two shootings a week but now I usually did three because it was so easy. I liked doing it and I made out real good on the expense account doing that extra shooting.

This deal was good for Reb too. He got some new models from me but more importantly, he had me as a photog who had a job for all his models, they didn't know I wasn't paying Reb a fee, and I was the best in the business when it came to breaking in new models so Reb sent all his neophytes to work with me first, during my time in the biz I broke in more new models than anyone. That's why maintaining a good reputation is important. The fact that I didn't hassle models for sex helped although I know I would have been laid many times more if I was a little more aggressive. Reb also fixed me up with all his experienced models too. During that time, I worked with almost every model, male and female who came through Pretty Girl International (PGI). All through my career, I broke in more new models than anyone I'm aware of.

During that time, I had become friends with Clair Dia and her boyfriend, Lee who often came to LA from their home in SF. They were good contacts for what was going on in the Bay Area so I made a couple trips to do mass shootings in SF where I would set up a bedroom do one shooting after the other with a living room full of models of both sexes waiting their turns. In some cases, boyfriends waited for their ladies who were modeling with another guy. In the bedroom, I would change the bedspreads and pin different bedspreads on the walls for background.

Christine, the model I became involved with came with me on one of these trips and somewhere around Big Sur we fell in love. She later moved to SF and I soon followed. With Clair and Lee here I soon met Jerry Heath, Jon Martin, John Seeman, Ray Wells and many others. I operated like I originally did by offering finder's fees and being good to work with only this time I knew people and they knew me so I was able to find all the models I needed.

Sometimes a publisher wanted something special with models from Reb, and they’d fly them up here for the shoot. One example was when Greenleaf flew Rene Bond and Rick Lutz up here for their paperback Housewives Who Invite Rape.

I used finder's fees to find locations too. You would be surprised how many people think it's cool to have porn shot on their premises, especially in the Bay Area.  Had a few wild adventures and met some interesting people on location searches.

Jim– I would love to see the list of real estate you shot at. All the talk of Reb and new models breaking through, the publications you worked on… it all brings up a question that just eats at me. Your name, you didn’t work under your real name. We talked about this before this conversation, but how important was it to try and keep your identity under wraps when publishing magazines?

Paul– What we were doing was illegal. Nobody used their real names. Eric Johansen is the name I used when I wrote the text for my mags. I wrote the first dozen or so then hired others to do it. It became quite a thing among my friends to write one of my mags. I had several regular writers including my oldest daughter who used the pen name Penelope Farthingdale. Nobody on the publishing side put their real names on the product as far as I know and that's for legal reasons. Models did it both ways and as it was legal for them to sign releases with any name they chose I didn't care. Some let both their Nom de Porn and real names be known such as Jon Martin/Jerry Heath. Some models were in the biz for a very short time and often used their real names and I didn't always know so I make up a fake name when I write about them.

I eventually did show my face in some mags. It was late in my career and I sold outtakes of some of my POV/LP sets to the old company I originally worked for and they came out in some GOURMET mags. The law hadn't bothered me in years so why not? Nobody ever noticed that I know of.

Jim– Still, it was risky business, am I right? How much trouble did you ever really step into? Or, did you luck out and never get caught?

Paul– There was always that game of Cops and Pornographers in the old days, particularly in LA. I was busted twice but never spent more than a few hours in jail. Stanley Fleishman's Law Office had my back.

The 1st bust happened when a couple JAYBIRD editors asked if they could watch a shoot, this was before hardcore. So, I invited them on a shoot where I knew the models and the location hosts were OK with it.

Everything went well. Then, after the shoot, everyone– editors, models and hosts went skinny dipping in the back-yard pool. Everybody was having a good time when the two plainclothes cops came to cool things… turns out the neighbors had called them. At that time, the cops just took everyone's names. Later, they put out a warrant for me, the two editors, and the hosts who were also nude models I had worked with. Because we were with JAYBIRD, they thought they had a big catch. If we were just regular people, there wouldn’t have been any warrants. The editors and I turned ourselves in to the Burbank Police and were soon released. Our lawyers took good care of the hosts too.

I went to court, got stoned on the way, and found five lawyers waiting for me. They were waiting to see who the Judge was before deciding which one of them was going to handle the case. On hearing the Judge's name one lawyer says, "I'll take the case, I was his campaign manager last election!” That Lawyer had a private talk with the Judge, and the outcome was that we were found guilty of disturbing the peace. As for the hosts? They were fined $130.00, which JAYBIRD paid. I'm sure LA County spent many times that amount to bring us to trial.
The second bust was when I got in the way of a bust that was set up for Reb.

We had to be careful not to be followed by the cops in LA, but it happened. My avoidance technique was when my car was full of models, and I was heading to a location, I would get on the Freeway, drive a mile or two, and then have a breakdown and pull off on a shoulder. I’d get out and lift my hood, close it and drive off. By that time anyone following me would be way down the road or parked behind me…  which they never were.

Another time, I had driven to LA in Russell P. Rabbit, the name I gave to a Volkswagen Rabbit. It was a trip where I was calling on several people who I did business with. I had just met with Mike Colella, and as I was driving away, I noticed there was a Camaro with 2 guys wearing aviator glasses with a thermos cup on the dash right behind me. The Rabbit was quick, and I easily lost them by turning a corner quickly then swinging into a parking lot where I saw them buzz by. I came out of the lot heading for the Freeway as they were coming back looking for me. I waved at them in passing and saw them pull a quick U-Turn in my mirror. I lost them again getting on to the Freeway but let them catch up, I was having fun with this Cops & Pornographer game. I was leading them across Coldwater Canyon. It was fun for the moment but knew I had to lose them for good because my next stop was with Lilo Korenjak, my European agent. I was able to quickly pass a car with a curve coming up, which didn’t leave room for them to pass. After that, I pulled a quick right onto a side lane, waited a moment, then headed quickly down Coldwater Canyon and too Laurel Canyon to get to Lilo's.

Jim– So, you were fucking with these guys… Here you are in a V.W. Rabbit leading Starsky and Hutch on chases. Haha… please, continue.

Paul– It gets better. The biggest deal happened when I was living in SF, and Bay Area police never bothered me, which made the whole thing more bizarre. One night at about eight o’clock, the doorbell rang. It was a detective from L.A. Vice and a representative from Attorney General Evelle Younger serving me a summons. I was to be at the Attorney General's office at 8 AM with my phone book and all my records. They wanted me to sign a paper granting me transitional immunity. Their goal was to question me about my dealings with the publishers they wanted to bust using the Red Light Abatement Act, their latest ploy to bury the biz. I was immediately on the phone with the guys down at American Art, Milton Luros' company. They told me to wait and they would call back. When they did, I was told to show up at Younger's office without any records, and there would be a lawyer to meet me. In the morning, Michael Kennedy and Joseph Rhine were there waiting, the best First Amendment lawyers in the Bay Area. I didn't have to sign that paper, and there would be a Show Cause Hearing in front of Judge Ira Brown.
When the Hearing began, I was sitting with two cool, sharply dressed lawyers who knew their game. Meanwhile, the A.G.'s office was represented by a fat, dumpy lawyer dressed in a grey suit that fit like a potato sack; I don't remember his name, so I'll call him Potato Sack or P.S. for short.

Mr. Potato Sack was a comedy of errors. At one point he was telling Judge Brown that any photo of two people standing side by side, like that album cover with John and Yoko, was obscene. As he was describing this obscenity, he was playing pocket pool with himself as Rhine pointed out to Kennedy and me. Judge Brown asked him if he was sure of that, and P.S. replied in the affirmative. One of my lawyers said, "He is so dumb that he won’t concede a point that obviously bothers the Judge even though it has no bearing on his case." My lawyers told me that’s how it works at the A.G.'s office. When a porn case comes in, all the sharp lawyers hide because they know that they usually can't win, leaving the likes of pocket pool playing P.S. to take it. Judge Brown ended the hearing by saying he would take it under consideration, and hand down his decision later. He waited a year, and the decision was in my favor. I couldn’t be coerced into signing any paper, and by that time the A.G.'s ploy had run out of steam anyway.

Later, at the time I was living and working out of Oakland, my old friend and fellow photographer, Johnny Castano, told me about a family get-together he recently attended. Johnny said his brother in law, Charles Gates, was Oakland's Chief of Police, and this Chief had asked about me. That's the only time I was made aware that Oakland Police knew about me. To their credit, for whatever reason, they never bothered me.

Jim– Wow, different times indeed. And… all for some still photos! Sounds like the kind of thing you wouldn’t want to have to go through again. Glad you made it out in one piece! I’ll tell you, that’s a pretty good start. We’ve been through some of your beginnings, working with Reb, and getting chased by the Cops. How about let’s break, and pick it back up in a part II?

Paul– Sounds good. I think that will put us right up to about the time that I broke into full-on Hardcore work, with the Sex in Marriage book. It’ll also lead into when I really started doing POV in my shoots… You think that would be a good place to start back?

Jim– I absolutely do. For now, let’s end with that expectation. In the meantime, everyone… DO NOT PASS GO, AND DO NOT COLLECT $200, just head directly over to Paul’s Blog, take a look, buy some cool pics, and Follow along with Paul on Facebook!

Paul– Thank you Jim, I appreciate the conversation and I’m looking forward to the second part of our talk!

Follow Jim on Facebook & Twitter @TheJimSteele

XCritic wishes to thank Mr. Paul Johnson for granting this interview.

All rights are reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,without express written permission by XCritic and Paul Johnson.

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