HAPPILY WOODED BLISS

Marie Forså starts an uncontrollable forest Feuer.


Did you think you’d seen the last of Marie Forså? We can promise you, that won’t happen soon. We love all the old sexploitation stars of the ’70s because their breed is extinct now, but Forså is particularly special because of the heat of her performances. Could she act in the thespian sense? Hell, we have no idea. All her dialogue was in Swedish or dubbed. This West German poster was made for her 1975 erotic classic Butterflies, sometimes known as Butterfly, but which was called Feuer der lust in Germany—“Fire of Lust.” And she’s about to burst into flames here. We talked about the movie a couple of years ago. The unidentified head belongs to co-star Eric Edwards. Below is another promo of the pair, as happy as two people can be.

Everybody wants a piece.


Radley Metzger was the director of perhaps the most stylish films from the golden era of porn, so it’s no surprise his output reached Japan. This poster was made for his 1978 film Maraschino Cherry, which in Japan was known as Marasukîno cherî: Musei. Annette Haven, Gloria Leonard, Leslie Bovee, the lovely Constance Money, and Eric Edwards star, and there’s an actual plot, as Manhattan brothel madame Maraschino Cherry, played by Leonard, indoctrinates her hick sister Jenny Baxter into the business. Little sis takes to it like a fish to water, so much so that at the end she’s left in charge while Leonard heads off to open another cathouse.

Metzer directed this under the pseudonym Henry Paris, which he used because he directed non-xxx features under his own name. So once again we see the blurry line between adult and non-adult entertainment back in the day. Among Metzger’s mainstream movies were Camille 2000, Little Mother, aka Woman of the Year, and The Lickerish Quartet, which we talked about several years ago. His most famous xxx effort is probably The Opening of Misty Beethoven, but Maraschino Cherry, with its goofy comedy (“Would you like to be eaten while you wait?” “Oh, no thanks. I’m not hungry.”) also seems well remembered.

Below we have images of the film’s female cast, excepting Jenny Baxter, who we couldn’t find. Top to bottom you see Leonard, Haven, Money, and Bovee. We’ve uploaded these for a couple of reasons. First, they’re beautiful shots. Second, the Pulp Intl. girlfriends are Stateside and when they’re gone we tend to post more nude images, possibly because we get a bit lonely. Without their influence we also come up with ideas like “everybody wants a piece.” If they were here one of them would have said, “Really?” And we’d have rethought it. But it could have been worse. We almost went with the header “Fruit Cock Tale.” So there you are, girls. Hurry back before we bury ourselves under an avalanche of crudeness.

Marie Forså gives a lofty performance in a down and dirty classic

Above is a Japanese poster for the Swedish film Butterflies, another sexploitation romp featuring blonde-on-blonde sex symbol Marie Forså. The movie also stars Harry Reems and Eric Edwards, two legit porno actors from back in the day, here getting a chance to do some mainstream work. The basic thrust, so to speak, of the plot involves a country girl who goes to the big city and has various sexual adventures with older and more experienced men. You know the drill.

As with other Forså films, there are explicit scenes, but in this case it’s actually her doing the deed. There are several quick uncut pans from face to nether regions in two of her bed sessions that leave no doubt. There’s confusion around this because the filmmakers wanted a gynecological version of the movie and shot jarring close-ups of thrusting genitalia. Those aren’t Forså’s. They were shot later to make the film extra explicit, and the uncut pans of Forså were dumped. We don’t understand it, but that’s what happened. So there are three slightly different versions of the movie out there—an r-rated one with no hard sex, a version with the revealing pans of Forså, and an x-rated version with a body double.

On a related note, even though the intercourse is real, that doesn’t mean the sexual ecstasy is, but Forså is a brilliant performer in this regard. You may even believe she’s having the best sex of her life. This is of course not the norm for softcore and porn actresses, whose fakery generally is obvious. But Forså is a force of nature. We don’t know if there’s a legally available version of the movie with the Forså pans. If there is, that’s the one to acquire. But either way, her innocent looks, combined with an uninhibited performance, make Butterflies a true blue classic. It premiered in Japan today in 1975.

The woman who redefined sex.

1972’s Behind the Green Door was considered part of a porno chic movement—along with Devil in Miss Jones and Deep Throat—that brought porn into the mainstream. That mainstream now amounts to several billion dollars in profit a year, or as much as $97 billion, depending on whom you believe. But of course, profit and consumption are two different things. Most porn is consumed for free. But as to how widely viewed it really is, ask yourself this—what would you think of someone who claimed they had never seen a porno movie? The answer to that question tells you how pervasive it really is. The above poster, which features Marilyn Chambers symbolically wearing a pearl necklace arranged in a not-so-symbolic X, was produced for Behind the Green Door’s Japanese run, which began today in 1976.

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1945—Hollywood Black Friday

A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators becomes a riot at the gates of Warner Brothers Studios when strikers and replacement workers clash. The event helps bring about the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which, among other things, prohibits unions from contributing to political campaigns and requires union leaders to affirm they are not supporters of the Communist Party.

1957—Sputnik Circles Earth

The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik I, which becomes the first artificial object to orbit the Earth. It orbits for two months and provides valuable information about the density of the upper atmosphere. It also panics the United States into a space race that eventually culminates in the U.S. moon landing.

1970—Janis Joplin Overdoses

American blues singer Janis Joplin is found dead on the floor of her motel room in Los Angeles. The cause of death is determined to be an overdose of heroin, possibly combined with the effects of alcohol.

1908—Pravda Founded

The newspaper Pravda is founded by Leon Trotsky, Adolph Joffe, Matvey Skobelev and other Russian exiles living in Vienna. The name means “truth” and the paper serves as an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991.

1957—Ferlinghetti Wins Obscenity Case

An obscenity trial brought against Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of the counterculture City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, reaches its conclusion when Judge Clayton Horn rules that Allen Ginsberg’s poetry collection Howl is not obscene.

1995—Simpson Acquitted

After a long trial watched by millions of people worldwide, former football star O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson subsequently loses a civil suit and is ordered to pay millions in damages.

1919—Wilson Suffers Stroke

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed. He is confined to bed for weeks, but eventually resumes his duties, though his participation is little more than perfunctory. Wilson remains disabled throughout the remainder of his term in office, and the rest of his life.

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