Essex
Essex was sunk by the cocaine use of its owners, the Steinmans, and by a conviction for ITOM (Interstate Transportation of Obscenity).Father Joe, a Gentile, came from Guatemala where he married a Jewish woman with the name Steinman. He suffered his first heart attack around 1984 while in bed with a woman who worked at Essex.
Joe took a hit of coke after the 1986? AFAA awards just before entering the Hefner mansion and suffered another heart attack. Joe survived.
Essex got charged with ITOM - Interstate Transportation of Obscenity - in 1987 and the place fell apart.
"It was a wealthy company," remembers veteran pornographer Mickey Blank who ran Essex West. By 1990, it had filed Chapter Seven bankruptcy.
Marianne Lovett of VCA worked at Essex for five years as art director before moving to VCA in 1989.
VCA bought rights to numerous Essex movies. "When the company blew up,"
Blank remembers, "they sold rights [to its extensive library] to everybody.
Two companies had a big lawsuit."
