Sunday, September 10, 2006


Sometime in the early 80s Les Wiseman and I went to the Four Seasons Hotel to photograph porn queen Marilyn Chambers. She was in town fronting a country and western band that was going to play at the Commodore. On the strength of her musical contribution to our city's culture, Wiseman was able to convince Vancouver Magazine Editor, Malcolm Parry, that Chambers was the genuine article. It was during my photo session with Chambers that I noticed her husband Chuck Traynor. It was this man that Linda Lovelace ( of Deep Throat fame) had acused of forcing her into making the film under gun point in her autobiography (written with Mike McGrady)Ordeal. It is the only time in my life that I have ever felt evil in a room.

Going down the elevator I asked Les if the star of the 1972 film Behind the Green Door really "did it". Les looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, "Alex how can you be so naive?"

It was about 10 years later that in one of my visits to Les Wiseman (when he was living in a coach house near city hall) that I experienced an event I will never forget. Les let me into the living room and said, "I want to show you something." He opened a TV cabinet and pushed in a VHS cassette into the recorder. Pointing at what I was watching he said, fast forwarding through 10 years, "See, Alex, they really do do it."