1970's censorship laws in Detroit vs Strip clubs & XXX Porn theaters.

[CassTechGrad]

I remember when the censorship laws in Detroit were lifted back in the 1970’s. Topless bars and hard-core XXX adult movie theaters opened all over the city. It destroyed a lot of neighborhoods, nobody wanted to live anywhere near that stuff. I was curious and went to the Trans-Lux Krim, movies like Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones made a lot of money. Those hard-core porn movie houses didn’t last long after the VHS tape recorders came out. All of that had a big impact on the decline of the city in the 1970’s.

[Richard]

Decline was already deep rooted by the 70s,properties had little value so it was cheap to open up more not so spectacular business opening a Rolex store in any inner city in the country would not have been a good idea.

Not a cause of decline but a symbol of decline.

Checking out 1 would have given one a jist of it all,I am not sure checking out 5 or 6 to verify would not have been necessary.

The porn industry was already there,even when the silent films first came out,not sure who or how they did the sound effects for the audience.

The 60s was free love,swingers,wife swapping etc etc and it was no different in the 70s but it is a multi billion dollar industry.

The 70s was the dawn of the porno industry as it came out of the shadows,there are classic movies from back then that still draw millions in revenue.

In Minneapolis it was Hennepin Ave - block after block we used to cruise it as teenagers checking out the hookers and super fly pimps hanging out.

The was full blown nudity in films until 1934 then 1934 until 1968 it was censored,Marylyn Monro had nude scenes that were cut.

In European films,French,Italian etc had full blown sex scenes in them mainstream.

They were also good for laundering money,with the regression of the mob they faded away,VHS had a lot to do with it but films for private viewing were easy to get before that even - super 8

It was just one piece of the bigger picture of decline.

Actually what started it all and before Deep Throat,which is still the number money producing film to this day,and even before Behind the green door ?

Andy Warhol and a movie called Blue Movie ,It was promptly banned in the US so he made it into a book form with pictures.

That was the one movie that opened the door and lighted the fire of the porn industry going mainstream.

[401don]

"I thought it was a religious picture. Cardinal Knowledge." - Edith Bunker

[Richard]

"I thought it was a religious picture. Cardinal Knowledge." - Edith Bunker

That was hilarious

Between that show and the Jeffersons,they nailed the times to a tee,Sanford and Son was another one.

[Honky Tonk]

In my junior and senior years, we cut class a few times, and took the bus downtown to the Burlesque theaters. There were two at the time. [can't recall their names] They both ran ads in the classifieds of the News and Free Press. Nothing showy though.

[bust]

Good Times.

[CassTechGrad]

Lets be clear, that hard core porn stuff was meant to go where no man has gone before. The camera would zoom right in on the babes crotch with the guys wad flying everywhere. You had to have a strong stomach to watch it.

[Richard]

In my junior and senior years, we cut class a few times, and took the bus downtown to the Burlesque theaters. There were two at the time. [can't recall their names] They both ran ads in the classifieds of the News and Free Press. Nothing showy though.

I actually prefer Burlesque over full nude clubs,burlesque has always been an art form of seduction,back in the day it was excepted even by the landed gentry.

You see the difference in the clubs today,some girls just say look at my bits now give me money,but the ones that make real money do the seduction route.

The dancer Pinky,not my style,will not book a club unless she pulls $20,000 a night.

The sex industry was probably the only one where the women were paid more then the men,men $150 women $600.

Tracey Lords most know from Blade,Melrose Place and Cry Baby and others was one of the highest paid porn actresses in the industry at the time.

She lied and said she was 18 when she did her first porn movie,she was 16.

It was discovered what her real age was when her 2nd film was coming out 2 days before her 18th birthday,and it rocked the industry as it should have,producers were arrested,thousands of book stores and movie galleries scrambled to destroy her film before they were raided.

But she changed the industry where now it is required to retain every actors and actresses proof of age when performing on file for 10 years.

Interesting enough the majority of porn actually came out of Sweden,who was already full blown into the business in the 60s.

The 70s they refer to as the golden age of porn,because it was the defining time when it was allowed.

Which is why we saw an explosion of movie galleries in the low rent districts.

[Gistok]

The National Theatre was the last theatre in Detroit to show live burlesque.

The United Artists Theatre started showing soft core porn in 1970... and the buildings main tenant AAA move out to Dearborn in 1972.

[Honky Tonk]

The National Theatre was the last theatre in Detroit to show live burlesque.

The United Artists Theatre started showing soft core porn in 1970... and the buildings main tenant AAA move out to Dearborn in 1972.

It was definitely Burlesque. I would've been at Wayne State by 70. Wasn't there a Burlesque theater with the name "Art" in it. Art Theater, or something to that effect?

[canuck]

It was definitely Burlesque. I would've been at Wayne State by 70. Wasn't there a Burlesque theater with the name "Art" in it. Art Theater, or something to that effect?

Arty Tarts?

[Henry Whalley]

...where no man has gone before.

"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it..."
United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart [1964]

[Honky Tonk]

Arty Tarts?

No, that's the guy I went to school with.

[canuck]

No, that's the guy I went to school with.

Laffs.

[turnmm]

n

theater and the Empress...

In my junior and senior years, we cut class a few times, and took the bus downtown to the Burlesque theaters. There were two at the time. [can't recall their names] They both ran ads in the classifieds of the News and Free Press. Nothing showy though.

[Atticus]

I agree with Richards post that the “Adult” shops and theaters were a sign of the decline, and not the source. Maybe such establishments accelerated that particular blocks’ decline by a year or two, but the neighborhood was declining economically just the same.

By in large, theatres in their more traditional use no longer had a business case in most 1970s situations, and such “Adult” reuses was trying to using the theatre building structure for some economic purpose… where frankly the building would have otherwise sat empty and probably eventually demolished anyway.

[Honky Tonk]

n









theater and the Empress...

Thank you for the reply. Empress was the one I was couldn't remember. Without revealing too much [ha-ha] were you an entertainer?

There are photos of the Empress in this link.

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/27211/photos

[ptero]

I am thankful The Gem theatre survived the porn years to be moved and renovated. They were showing porn in the late 60s and early 70s.

[Hermod]

As I remember from the 50s, the Gayety Theater was the one who advertised burlesque in the Detroit News.

[Gistok]

I agree with Richards post that the “Adult” shops and theaters were a sign of the decline, and not the source. Maybe such establishments accelerated that particular blocks’ decline by a year or two, but the neighborhood was declining economically just the same.

By in large, theatres in their more traditional use no longer had a business case in most 1970s situations, and such “Adult” reuses was trying to using the theatre building structure for some economic purpose… where frankly the building would have otherwise sat empty and probably eventually demolished anyway.

Yes... burlesque and porn movies saved some of the downtown theatres from demolition, and also the "blaxploitation" movies helped keep some movie houses open. That any the turning of some of the movie houses to concert halls, although that put a lot of toll on the theatres. The Michigan Theatre [[the separate recent thread), and the Grand Circus [[formerly Capitol Theatre and now Detroit Opera House) were getting pretty beat up by concert patrons.

[401don]

Yes... burlesque and porn movies saved some of the downtown theatres from demolition, and also the "blaxploitation" movies helped keep some movie houses open. That any the turning of some of the movie houses to concert halls, although that put a lot of toll on the theatres. The Michigan Theatre [[the separate recent thread), and the Grand Circus [[formerly Capitol Theatre and now Detroit Opera House) were getting pretty beat up by concert patrons.

Yes, most of those patrons just wanted to save the theaters.

[EastsideAl]

I remember the National and the very dying days of burlesque. Such a beautiful theater, but by the time I got there the shows had degenerated into some quick stripping to records between the standard porn movies. The days of the band and the "blue" joke baggy-pants comedians like Scurvy Miller was, alas, already gone.

The Empress, the Gayety, and others were long gone by then. There was the infamous Stone theater on Woodward, whose sign said "Burlesk" until the very end. But it hadn't really presented any Burlesque in quite a long time.

[Vitalis]

It rained the evening of Sunday, November 9, 1969, but the precipitation was hardly noticed by the 400 swells who flooded a ballroom in the Hilton Hotel to see and be seen at the Gala for the premiere of "Goodbye Mr. Chips" at the United Artist theater. Cocktails and canapés [[or as the 3 Stooges would call them - can-of-peas) were served to those willing to pop for a hundred bucks to benefit the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Petula Clark, the films co-star was on hand, and when it came time to cross Bagley Avenue on a sodden red carpet, the Red Garter band played "Ain't She Sweet" as Miss Clark made her way.

And so ended an era of motion picture galas and roadshow premiers at the best roadshow house in the city - the United Artists. This last exclusive engagement was a box office disappointment, and the booking was ended short of two months. [[In the meantime, the Birmingham Theater picked up "Chips" just weeks into the exclusive UA run, stepping all over the prestige of the theater at 140 Bagley Avenue.

As the amusement page ad above clearly shows, the change in film fare was abrupt for the UA. The old theater scuffled through the 70s, with a mix of second run Hollywood or X-rated features. There was a surprise booking of "Tora, Tora, Tora;" though not an exclusive showing it was first run, and gave the theater a reason to brush off and practice some showmanship once again. For a very brief time in 1972, the UA became the Downtown Theater, with primarily porn double bills. Why the change? Did the new theater management team, feeling sorry for the decline of the UA, decide to deemphasize the memory of that era in favor of the realities of the then current downtown marketplace? There was one last highbrow moment when the DSO used the decrepit UA auditorium for recording sessions. The UA still had a voice to project, and the theater's sonic vibrations live on in DSO recordings of the early 80s. In the end, theaters and their marquees are another barometer of the economic situation in their neighborhoods. Apparently, to mothball the past in anticipation of a new future isn't in the cards.

[turnmm]

The Gem theater was owned by Milton and Virginia Roth as a adult porn house ...After the move, it became
How do I know,,I worked for them,playing drums for the girls and delivering film canisters to the Gem...After the move, it became a legit enterprise...






































How

[Jimaz]

I do recall some great consternation at the time about whether strip clubs could be totally nude or just topless. It turned out they would only be topless except one enterprising soul circumvented that restriction by opening a nude club in Walled Lake, IIRC.

You earthlings wring your hands over the strangest things.

Then people who clothe their pets are regarded as odd. Go figure.