Eric Danville has been a pornographer for
almost two decades, toiling for such legends as Al Goldstein and Bob
Guccione. He's currently employed at the new Penthouse empire where
he presides over Penthouse
Forum and the recently revamped Girls of Penthouse. In
between all his porn video reviews and Pet interviews he found the
time to write the world's most encyclopedic book on Linda
Lovelace and turn it into a screenplay. He recently had a few
clever and writerly words with Eros Zine on herding cats, conspiring
with Pets and whether those letters are really real.
Eros Zine: You've worked in publishing for your entire career. Give us a brief resume.
Eric Danville: "Sex and drugs and rock and roll" is a battle
cry for some people, but for me it's all in a day's work. In the late
'80s I got my first real job as managing editor at High
Times. After about three years of enforcing deadlines and attending
pro-pot rallies, I worked on a classic rock magazine called Masters
of Rock, which dedicated an entire issue to one classic rock act at
a time -- John Lennon, the Doors, Led Zep. Then I got into porn. First
for the publishers of High Society for a start-up mag called
Hawk, then I left for a job at Screw. After putting
in my time there I went to Penthouse
to work on Penthouse Forum and Girls of Penthouse, where
I'm now managing editor.
Eros Zine: Was it like herding cats being managing editor of High Times?
Eric Danville: I wanted to work there since I was 14, but there were times when I'd rather have been herding cats. Despite its fantasy image of being a happy hippie environment because of the subject matter, HT was very cliquey and in its own way quite evil. All the people I worked with, many of whom I remain friends with, were incredibly talented and dedicated writers and artists -- sometimes more than the magazine deserved. But various personal and political relationships up there made things really difficult. Power struggles, political posturing and editorial in-fighting made what should have been a dream job more of a nightmare, and before I lost what was left of my mind after three years of pettiness and egos, I split.
Eros Zine: You've worked for some real characters. What was it like working for Al Goldstein?
Eric Danville: Exactly like you'd think it would be! Al can be an incredible scumbag sometimes -- most times, actually -- but if nothing else he's basically true to himself and what he says he stands for. But he also demanded honesty from his writers, which is the most liberating thing a writer can have given to him. Especially if someone else is picking up the lawyers' fees.
Eros Zine: Any hilarious stories about the Screw offices?
Eric Danville: Plenty. One was captured in the film Screwed, a documentary about Al. The office porter at the time was vacuuming under Al's desk when all of a sudden BOOM! He knocked over Al's shotgun, which of course was loaded, and blew a hole in the side of Al's desk the size of your fist. Luckily he didn't get hurt, and Al didn't charge him to have the desk fixed.
Another time when we were getting ready to cover the 1992 Democratic National Convention -- all the editorial staff had NYPD Press cards -- we realized that we needed an extra floor pass for our camera crew. Al had one of the art staff make a phony one, which frankly didn't look too good. Not surprisingly, the guy carrying it got caught at the door and was ejected from Madison Square Garden in what sounded like a hilarious scene. Al made it up to him by sending him out to dinner on the company. That was Al's favorite show of largesse -- rewarding people with food. What a shock, huh?
Eros Zine: Penthouse Forum is famous as the dirty letters magazine. Are the letters real?
Eric Danville: Yes, the letters are real. We don't have time to sit around making that shit up! Whether or not the stories really happened is another matter. I learned that after I was editing one letter that went kind of like, "My name is Cindy and I'm a cheerleader at a large Midwestern university…" We always change the names and home cities on the letters, and when I went back to the envelope to see where the letter came from, the return address was, like, San Quentin. We get lots of letters from prisoners.
Eros Zine: How is your Forum different from previous incarnations of the magazine?
Eric Danville: Before I became managing editor it was mostly just the letters, which is certainly what it's known for, but we'd been talking about getting back to its non-fiction roots. The reason the mag is called "Forum" is because it's traditionally been a place for people to voice their questions, opinions and experiences with matters sexual. I decided to put some more reader-friendly articles and such back in it, as well as the advice columns and informative pieces Forum had always been known for and which are really its strength.
Eros Zine: From the perspective of a porn movie reviewer, how has porn changed over the past decade?
Eric Danville: There's too fucking much of it. There was a great time in the early to mid-90s when the home video revolution meant that anyone with a video camera, a tripod and some balls could become a porn star! Those were the great days of the amateur porn revolution. The porn that came out of that may not have looked the prettiest, but the sex was raw and it was real and it was hot, created for the love of the act and only partly because of the monetary payoff-the real "money shot" for most producers.
Well, just like big record companies swallowed up the "college rock" movement of the '80s, Big Porn swallowed up the amateur scene in the '90s. That meant that any idiot with a video camera could be a director, and most of them suck. In terms of the product itself, several things have happened. Since there's so much being produced, the law of averages says that most of it will be of low-quality, and it is. Also, porn companies now cater to all different types of fans, from those with bad attitudes towards women who negatively refer to their stars as "sluts" and "whores" to those who like to see beautifully crafted examples of people having sex.
Eros Zine: How many videos do you think you've reviewed?
Eric Danville: I'm probably hovering around the 500 to 600 mark -- not including those I watch in a more amateur capacity, for my own enjoyment.
Eros Zine: You've revamped The Girls of Penthouse. Tell us how the magazine has changed.
Eric Danville: GOP used to be mainly a picture mag, with six or seven photo layouts from our archives. A few years ago I did an all-Jenna Jameson issue with an interview and filmography and that sold pretty well, so this past year I've made it into more like a fan mag about the Pets. We have a great asset in our Pets, and GOP is now the best way for their fans to get even closer to them. Even Playboy doesn't have a magazine like that.
Eros Zine: You get to chat with all the current Pets and feature past Pets as well. Who have you featured recently?
Eric Danville: We have the group of current Pets who have appeared in Penthouse over the past year or so and who do personal appearances for us. I love Jamie Lynn, a real sweet and smart gal who's the 2006 Pet of the Year. The current issue has a cover article on Cassia Riley, who I always say is like Mary-Kate to Jamie's Ashley. We also profile Elizabeth Hilden in the new issue; she's the 1997 Pet of the Year and is one of the most popular Pets we've had. Last issue we had a new photo layout featuring Aria Giovanni that was shot by another Pet, Taylor Wane. The next issue has a story about Julie Strain and also Cheyenne Silver, who's just getting over a near-fatal auto accident.
Eros Zine: What sort of articles and features do you have?
Eric Danville: There are still five hardcore photo layouts in every issue, but we also do feature articles and profiles catching readers up with Pets they haven't seen in a while. There are also shorter pieces, like "Pets' Sounds," which is a list of what songs a particular Pet is listening to; "Chatroom," where Pets answer questions that fans email to them. One of the funnier things we do once in a while is "Pets' Pets," which has Pets posing with their dogs or cats or whatever.
Eros Zine: You also wrote and self-published a book about Linda Lovelace. Tell us about the book.
Eric Danville: The Complete Linda Lovelace is everything you've always wanted to know about the Deep Throat star and more. I looked at the LL myth from a couple of different perspectives, and with a little bit of research, some healthy skepticism and some good old-fashioned conjecture, tried to get her story straight. I tracked down all her 8mm films, reviewed about three dozen books she's in, lots of movies and even a bunch of songs about her. I also got the first interview she gave to a porn writer since she was in the business, almost 25 years earlier.
Eros Zine: You brought her out of "retirement" and got her to pose for Leg Show, essentially getting her "back into porn." How'd you pull that off?
Eric Danville: I just asked her. Linda was pretty open to the idea, surprisingly. She realized that people actually get into the porn business because they want to, and that if it was a person's choice, it didn't have to be a bad thing. When I told her she'd only have to wear lingerie, she said yes almost immediately. The amount of money they offered her didn't hurt either. Shit, I'd have posed myself for that money.
Eros Zine: What was Linda like?
Eric Danville: She was a bundle of contradictions. She was media savvy but very innocent; trusting but suspicious; self-determined but completely malleable. I could have fucked her over royally if I'd wanted to, and it would have been really easy. All in all she was a very nice lady who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or vice versa, depending on your opinion of her. Plus she smelled nice.
Eros Zine: Any book projects in the works?
Eric Danville: A couple. I did the as-yet-unreleased The Complete Patty Hearst, which is the same kind of analysis of America's favorite '70s kidnap victim as the Linda book. I've been making notes on updating The Complete Linda Lovelace, from which I've also written a screenplay. I'm outlining a set of memoirs which will be my various adventures written as a novel. Plus I'm also planning a children's book about my dog, Noodle the Poodle. That's turning out to be the hardest thing yet!
Eros Zine: Thanks, Eric! Readers can visit the Penthouse Forum website at www.penthouseforum.com. Danville's Girls of Penthouse is available on a newsstand near you.
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