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Private
Sweden's Private - founded first as a porn magazine by
Berthe Milton - produces much of the world's highest quality porn, combining
high production values with fresh girls and nasty sex.
Milton began publishing Private magazine in the 1960s. Content
with the magazine's slow but steady growth, Berthe in 1990 had only four
employees - one for each edition of his magazine published each year.
In 1990, Berthe handed over control of his company to his
like-named son who overflowed with new ideas for the company. The younger
Berthe Milton started a videotape line based around Private magazine's
worldwide success. Each issue of Private Video Magazine features six to
eight sexual vignettes. Next came Private Films - full-length video features
of reckless sex taped in beautiful locations around the world, including
Costa Rica, Thailand and Australia.
"The only place we had a problem was in Russia," Milton
told AVN. "We couldn't do anything there until we had gotten permission
from the local crime bosses.
"We always use new, fresh talent," says Milton. "Normally
we never use any talent more than three times. We never use porn stars..."
AVN: "The Emmanuelle series plus the Mermaids series, plus
some of the freshest, dirtiest, most lushly-photographed hardcore in recent
memory, equals Private Film. When you add the twin penchants Private has
for showcasing American stars in heights that they may have not reached
in domestic productions (reference Kitty Yung in Virgin Treasures or Lydia
Chanel in Anal Clinic, or Danyel Cheeks in Anal Manor, for example) and
finding some incredible European new faces and bodies, we're talking instant-classic
status." (AVN 10/94 p.66)
AVN says Private Video Magazine 5 "…has in abundance what
many big-budget adult videos lack: incredible, outrageous, unbelievable
sex action from beginning to end.
"The women - mostly new to U.S. audiences - are strikingly
beautiful and uninhibited; there's not a scene that doesn't include anal;
several of the scenes are gangbangs; there's plenty of DP action; and
to top it all of there are no less than 20 pop shots, 15 of them facials."
"Private cranks out features with great production values,
gorgeous performers who aren't stale or feel the need to bleach their
hair, tattoo themselves, and then go from a 34B to 40D bust size, non-offensive
looking dudes, and plenty of hardcore sex every time out of the block,"
writes RAME moderator Brad Williams. "Private thrives. They run billboards
in California hyping their latest releases. Private is living proof that
big budgeted, well produced material that is shot over several days instead
of an afternoon has a substantial market."
AVN reviews Anal Manor. "You're not likely to recognize
many faces in this cast [except for Danyel Cheeks], but being an all-anal
feature, faces aren't the focus of attention. A Marquis de Sade cult,
replete with masked monks and submissive, butt-cleaving babes all called
Justine, sets the tone for a well-shot, handsomely mounted romp. Eleven
nasty scenes - including a DP, four-on-one, multiple simultaneous cumshots...and
a chrome dildo attached to an arm stump. Absolutely filthy."
Swede Nic Cramer directs both mainstream and pornographic
flicks for Private including Apocalypse 2, shot in the Philippines. "A
chancy combination of two amalgamate themes (sex and war) succeeds. Copulation
is rampant and can be seen continuously through mortar fire on bamboo
shoots and inside camouflage tents." (AVN 97)
Michael Ricaud directed Beauties in Paradise. "Lush beaches,
emerald forests and luscious foreign youngsters are eager for nasty booty
bustin' and facial frostings in one of the finest imports since Australian
Toaster Biscuits. Exterior locales are exploited for maximum effect in
a tale of two sisters who dash off to become papaya juice waitresses at
a remote resort for widowers." (AVN 97)
Ricaud made Skin 3 - the umpteenth steal of The Story of
O - "timid young thing sent to chateau by boyfriend who wants her to be
a better slut, she does, she comes home and writes about it.
"The cast is composed of equal parts American and European
actors, including Keisha and a hairy brute named Siegfried who seems to
be the Gallic Ron Jeremy. Perfect bodied Eurasian princess Gyn Seng steals
the show, as she submits her enchanting coochie to the increasingly humiliating
sex." (David Aaron Clarke)
One of Europe top directors, Michael drowned while shooting
a feature in the Seychelles for Private. He was standing on a rock, overlooking
the scene, when a wave knocked him over.
AVN: "One of the few amenities one can usually count on
in life is the Private line, so consistently delirious in its devotion
to classic tease, nasty butt-f---ing, multiple facial shots and a bevy
of international to-die for babes to whom the term "breast augmentation"
is a foreign concept. A gaggle of Venezuelan Venuses, those nut-brown
beauties endowed with great, meaty-but-firm butts which true ass-lovers
kneel down and supplicate over is reason enough to recommend the tape."
Critic Pat Riley stopped watching Private after their first
18 movies "due to total disgust at their attitude to the women. How many
times can you stand some guy call the girl a "salope" and "putain" and
then watch while he gangbangs (rapes?) her with his sleazy buddies. Yecch!
And all that looking at the camera while she's getting screwed. Everything's
group sex...a sperm war…
"Pornoland discovered the foreign movie during 1995/96,"
writes Riley, "or saw how well the Private series was doing for Odyssey
and tried to hop on the bandwagon by flooding the market with every scrap
of dreck that could be scavenged from the archives of their European counterparts.
Battalions of porno producers, directors, and actors marched in lockstep
into the Eastern block countries to video their dalliances with the local
hookers in crumbling hotels and then inflicted the results on us. Locals
churned the video cameras faster, producing tape after tape of copious
facials, anals, double penetrations, double anals, and gang bangs but
nary a hint of personality, romance nor even a last name to most of the
performers. When the travelogues of Budapest started to pall, the Czech
Republic became the hunting ground and now Russia and Romania; not to
be outdone, Private headed to South Africa after hitting Indonesia and
the Philippines."
Since the mid-1960s, Berth Milton Sr. "has been a determined
one-man, single-product campaign for the recognition of the role of pornography
in human sexuality, for its legalization in the statute books, for its
acceptance in society and, perhaps above all, for its buyers to have quality
in content and style." (Porn Gold)
Berth's father ran Milton's Tivoli, Sweden's biggest
travelling fairground. Young Berthe remembers going to school
in seven different cities. "Although I was physically the same strength,
I could not be in the football team or the hockey team because I was always
moving about. I also realized very quickly that any friends I made I was
going to lose after a month or so."
Milton developed a deep self-sufficiency which prevented
him from delegating work. He suspected everybody and acted in a hostile
manner towards those who left his company.
Berthe became a car salesman for Volkswagen. "I reached
the top in Sweden. I made more money than the managing director of the
company. I was selling a hell of a lot of cars. They had a work study
engineer trail me to see how I could sell so many in one month. I know
that when they teach salesmen to sell cars they still use the 'Milton
Method.'"
Using his savings, Milton opened a dirty book shop before
moving into publishing in 1966. "When I saw all the rubbish published
and sold for a tremendous amount of money, I said: 'I can do better than
that.' Everybody was printing 36 black and white pictures in 36 pages.
I started with a well-designed layout, with text and with color." (Porn
Gold)
His biggest problem was finding models. "It was more difficult
then. A girl showing herself off in the nude, spreading her legs, that
was a big thing.
"At that time no magazine in black and white sold more than
5,000 copies. I had to sell more than 10,000 copies to get my money back.
So we printed 10,000.
"I sold it myself. For example, I saw a man wheeling his
little kiosk out at three o'clock in the afternoon because the evening
papers were due. I went up to him because he had some Danish black and
white magazines. I said, you can buy this one instead - Private No 1!
'How much did I pay for it?' he asked. I said eight crowns. 'All right,
eight crowns - but what do I have to pay you?' Eight crowns. 'Jesus Christ,'
he said, 'what am I supposed to sell it for?' Sixteen crowns. 'Oh, come
on, forget it!' SO I said, all right, I'll give you three magazines. When
you've sold them, give me a ring. The next day he called and said, 'Mr.
Milton, I sold the magazines, could you come over with another five?'
SO I went over with another five. The next day, he called
again, and said, 'Could you come over with another five?' Then I said
to him, 'Listen to me, I'm not going to deliver five magazines. Take two
hundred, pay for them cash, and when Private No. 2 is out, if you have
any left I'll take them back and give you No. 2 for them.' Before the
end of the month, he had sold a thousand. He made more money out of Private
than he did from the rest of the kiosk. Then I realized the potential
of the magazine."
Berthe slowly pushed the sexual envelope, making his pictures
increasingly explicit. Not wanting to be harassed by the police, he took
his photographs before going to press, to the Ministry of Justice for
their approval.
In 1967, he began showing couples. Issue #8 showed penetration.
Cum shots followed soon after.
Private's circulation passed 40,000 and it stayed ahead
of its competition through the '90s. The magazine has stayed in basically
the same format as its first issue though the number of pages has increased.
Milton appeared frequently in his magazine, holding his
camera while naked women draped themselves over his expensive suit or
Rolls-Royce. In editorials under the headline 'Moral?', he articulated
his philosophy.
In Private No. 8, Berthe published a set of four photographs.
Three show graphic acts of violence, the fourth shows a couple having
sex.
"With the approval of the censoring authorities in question,"
Milton wrote, "abnormal and horrible acts of violence have been shown
in the greater part of our civilization - distributed via newspapers,
magazines, film and television.
"Murders and throat-cuttings are obviously matters within
the limits of decency.
"Why is it then, that in so many parts of the world realism
in love-making and sexual intercourse between human beings are not allowed
to be shown?
"There is only one picture in this spread showing normal
human behavior. Without violence, without bestiality, without hatred,
without revenge. It is not a proof of the Swedish 'sin,' just normal good
sense and honesty."
Many newspapers reproduced the set. All of them censoring
the same photograph. Milton had made his point, writes Porn Gold.
Many of his models volunteered to appear in his magazine.
"I got a letter from a woman in Germany saying that read Private with
her husband and she would like to appear in themagazine with him. I was
just taking off for Germany in a couple of days, so I said I would go
and see her. Her husband was running a factory with five thousand employees.
They had a beautiful house and two daughters, nine and tens years old.
She was an ex-fashion model, a beautiful woman aged 39 or 40. When I showed
up there, he said, 'I'm not certain I can do it in front of the camera,
but you can use my wife. She would like to do it.' SO she came up to Stockholm
and did the set, one lesbian scene and one with a young guy. She didn't
ask for any money; I paid for the trip up to Stockholm, the hotel and
food and so on. On another occasion I had a marvellous guy and a beautiful
Thai girl. He was a fashion designer with one factory in France and one
in Thailand. He met his wife there. They wanted to come over to Sweden
and pose for the magazine. So, I brought them over and we had a marvellous
time together. Later she was pregnant, and he wanted her to be photographed
together with him and another guy, making love when she was heavily pregnant.
They came up to Stockholm, and we shot the set." (Porn Gold)
With money flowing in from his magazine, Milton tried making
films. "They were so good they were copied by the Danish and the German
companies. When I sold a thousand, they sold ten thousand. A man from
England came to Sweden to buy my films. My latest film, the best one,
was ready and I had 200 copies. When he arrived, I put it in the projector
and he said, 'Yes, it is a fantastic film you've done, but I saw it a
few days ago in Amsterdam.' So before I'd even sold the film, it was copied
in Amsterdam. Then I said to myself, no more, I'm going to do magazines.
OK, they can make imitations, try to do the things I'm doing but at least
they can't just push it in a machine and copy it."
Milton also published Pirate, a magazine devoted to saliromania
- defiling sex usually by means of urination or defecation. "There is
a certain demand for piss and shit. I can tell you about one person who
phoned me from Colombia in South America and asked me if I could arrange
to photograph a girl shitting in his mouth. I said I could and he came
over. That is not unique, because lots of people are involved in shit
and piss…. I came across a couple in France who were in that… I bought
a set from a photographer and published it in Pirate No. 1. The response
I got from all over the world was tremendous. Sexual angles are so varied
that you can't believe what people want to do… We've stopped it now because
I didn't like it." (Porn Gold)
By the late '80s, Private magazine sold about 100,000 copies
an issue, 40,000 in Germany. That was more than twice the highest circulation
of either of its leading competitors, Foxy Lady and Color Climax.
Some of Private's product is specially edited for American
consumption by Los Angeles resident and RAME contributor S. Andrew Roberts,
who snipped scenes from Private 21, 22. "…The ones that the powers that
be determined they would have a hard time defending should a bible-thumping
district attorney decide to charge them with obscenity…"
Taylor: "I beg to differ--they're rather the scenes that
a big, profitable company like Private can make money without, and rather
than refrain from short-changing us in the U.S. and taking the slim chance
that their work could be attacked, they cut them out entirely and make
their work a little more bland and unremarkable, just like a lot of other
stuff out there. It's not as if this multinational company lacks the funds
to defend their work if it should be attacked--they have more money than
nearly anyone else in the business. It's rather that they don't care enough
about their work or their customers to have the integrity to sell Americans
the same product they sell everyone else, and they can get away with it
because their videos are otherwise usually great and they can make money
with them. I could understand fisting and peeing being cut from a Euro
vid for the American market, because those are the most likely targets.
However, rape scenes and incest are now being produced in several U.S.
films that are from pretty big sources, like Elegant Angel's Robert Black.
And if other companies, like Magma and a few others, show real incest
between real-life sisters, then surely Private could show fake incest.
They don't, because they don't have the integrity or the balls. For that,
I fault them, and for that we all should--before everyone scales themselves
back so much due to their own choices and cowardice that all we have is
bland crap. VCA and VCX used to have the balls, and they offered a range
of great classics with nearly everything intact--but now that they're
so profitable with their bland BS, they don't offer their great classics
that had rape or little girl themes or incest, except in hacked-to-bits
versions that have been "cleaned up." Why? Only because they can afford
to be "respectable" and sanitized--they'll make a profit with crap, so
they give us crap." (newsgroup rec.arts.movies.erotica)
English Language Publisher Sought For Great Book
On Private
2002-10-04 18:36:08
Thomas Sjoberg, thomas-sjoberg@swipnet.se, a Swedish
journalist who's written a book on Berthe Milton Jr and Sr and their Private
corporation, seeks an English language publisher for his work.
Private Affairs - A summary In November 1998 Private shares began to be
sold at the Berlin Stock Exchange (Berliner Freiverkehr). Germany is Private's
most important European market. A few months later Private had been accepted
for trading on the U.S. Nasdaq National Market as the first adult entertainment
company to be listed on the largest stock market in the world.
The global market for adult entertainment - video, strip joints, magazines,
phone sex, escort service, cable-TV, satellite-TV and pay-TV, CD-ROM,
Internet etc - was calculated by Private to be worth some 50 billion dollars
in 1998. At least 30 of them should belong to the company, which released
70 new videos a year, distributed through some 50,000 points of sales,
and toward the end of 1998 Private had over 210 titles in its library.
The four magazines - Private, Pirate, Triple X, Private Sex - were printed
in hundreds of thousands of copies and were pumped into the market through
180,000 points of sale around the globe, even in countries like Botswana,
Malawi, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Seychelles. Add to all this two, three
new CD-ROM each month, the new DVD-techniques and all Privates other products
like street wear and latex clothes, leather garments, sunglasses, energy
drink, sex aids, fragrances, sex stimulating pills, condoms.
In Private's application for the listing on Nasdaq's National Market,
the American porn market was presented, and thus Private's chances to
succeed in the U.S. In 1996 the American people spent more than eight
billion dollars on hard core videos, peep shows, live shows, cable-TV,
sex aids, computer sex and sex magazines. There were more than 60,000
video film retailers and more than 25,000 of these rented films. The total
sale of hard core videos was in 1997 more than 828 billion dollars.
There were four major cable-TV operators: Tele-Communications Inc., Time
Warner Cable, MediaOne and Comcast. There were the soft core channels
Playboy TV, AdulTVision, Spice Channel and The Adam & Eve Channel. And
there were the seven hard core channels: Eurotica, Exotica, Exxxtasy,
True Blue, X!, Xxxcite and XXXplore. The market for CD-ROM was estimated
to some 300 million dollars a year.
The real potential is Internet. Private's Internet manager Björn Skärlén
stated in the fall of 1999 that private.com had two million Internet visitors
and 100 million hits each month. Private Club had 15,000 members doing
60,000 visits every day. They also made some 150,000 purchases a day.
One year membership was 150 dollars and allowed access to private.com,
Private Magazines, Private Videos, Private Style, Private Livesex, Private
Channels with its videos, Private Models, Private Stars, Private Party,
Private Pleasure, Private Line. Private sometimes cleaned its stock and
sold old videos in package; four videos for 40 dollars.
This resulted in a turnover of 576,000 dollars the third quarter 1999,
inclusive all Private's licence holders that used the company's products
and hosted their own web sites. The sale through private.com increased
by 45 percent each month. Add to this 250,000-300,000 dollars every month
through sales on other web sites or shops that Private didn't control.
The sale the same period in 1997 was maybe 30,000 dollars.
200 million people had access to Internet in the fall of 1999. In 2003
that figure would have increased to 500 millions. Private's future was
definitely Internet and broadcasting. The goal was to have two million
private.com members in 2003, out of a total of 500 million possible users.
If so, Private would have a turnover of 300 million dollars. Around Private
there is a global cooperation to make porn even more easily accessible.
For instance, Spanish Telefónica, that transmit live sex-broadcastings,
American Interpacket Networks, that is responsible for the satellite connection
between Spain and the U.S. and Netsat Express, that provides DNS servers,
and a Swedish Internet Service Provider company. Private's net sales in
2000 was 25,8 million dollars. The net income was 5,3 million. In the
fall of 2001, Private was worth 450 billions dollars.
For a complete and updated financial information, see www.sec.gov In the
beginning of the new millennium media and analysts hyped Private's Internet
potential. On October 6th 2000 the renowned investment bank Ladenburg
Thalmann & Co in New York published a report of the Private share and
Private Media Group as a company and stated that the major growth potential
was the company's Internet activities.
At private.com the members had access to every magazine published since
1965 - a total of 311 titles - and more than 700 video sequences from
one hundred movies. They had access to sex games, chat rooms with porn
models and pre views on new releases. The traffic through the web site
consisted more than 100,000 links; 2,4 million visitors and 144 visited
wed sites every month.
The Private Club mailing list had over 300,000 addresses and increased
with some 1,500 new ones every day. The possibility to sell this computerized
address bank could be very lucrative, according to Ladenburg Thalmann.
Its analyze showed that Private was in a moment in hyper growth; the digitalization
of the gigantic library was only the first step. It had already been profitable,
a rare thing when it comes to Internet services. And with more than 200,000
points of sale Private operates a distribution network that reaches over
35 countries all over the world. The company was embarking on a major
initiative to capture one-third of the market in which it competes, either
alone or in conjunction with other solid industry players.
"We believe that Private Media Group is extremely well-positioned - both
operationally and financially - as one of the largest owners and distributors
of adult content in the world. If the company can continue to execute
on its business plans, we expect Private to continue to be one of the
few investable companies in its industry," Ladenburg Thalmann wrote in
the report.
A Chapter Outline for Private with Milton and Milton
Below is a brief description of each chapter of the book.
Part I -- The Porn King (1926-2000)
Chapter 1 -- At the Minister of Justice Berth Milton Sr. pays a visit
to the Swedish Minister of Justice to find out whether or not he can publish
images of intercourse.
Chapter 2 -- The Tivoli King's Sons A brief look at Milton Sr.'s rather
chaotic childhood.
Chapter 3 -- Henry Miller Letters from the famous author concerning the
first issues of Private.
Chapter 4 -- At the Office The daily grind in the early days of Private.
Chapter 5 -- Family Man An introduction to Milton Sr.'s family.
Chapter 6 -- The Sex Lady A look at how Milton Sr. got the well respected,
internationally renowned sex therapist Maj-Briht Bergström-Walan as columnist
for the magazine.
Chapter 7 -- Lady f-ck Milton Sr. buys a Rolls Royce called Lady f-ck,
and we meet the driver and girlfriend/model Lucienne Camille.
Chapter 8 -- Photo Shoots Stories from various sets.
Chapter 9 -- Miss Suck Milton senior meets British Jill Maddox/Georgena
Rhodes, who becomes a model in Private, aka "Mademoiselle Baisser"; close
ups while performing fellatio. Also becomes juniors mistress. She leaves
senior when she meets count Bertil Bernadotte, second cousin to Swedish
King Carl Gustaf. Tabloid press writes about the scandal: Porn actress
marries into the Royal Family.
Chapter 10 -- Bankruptcy A description of the struggling business.
Chapter 11 -- Spain The story about Milton Sr.'s move from Sweden to Spain.
Chapter 12 -- On the Rocks A continued description of life in Spain.
Chapter 13 -- The Taxman Jan Pallin, brother of Milton Sr, finds himself
with a heavy tax debt and suspects that this is senior's revenge for leaving
him in Spain. One of seniors twin daughters fall in love with her uncle
and they later get married and have two sons.
Chapter 14 -- The End Milton Sr. ends up in prison after abusing his 10-year-old
son.
Part II -- The Porn Kid (1955-1990)
Chapter 14 -- Junior Milton Jr. decides he wants to take over the business.
Chapter 15 -- Örebro Bounce back to Milton Jr.'s childhood. Living with
his father, the porn king, and working in the sex shop at age 11. The
experience of watching his father filming and sleeping with models.
Chapter 16 -- Marlboro Time Milton Jr.'s years at sea.
Chapter 17 - The Health Club Milton Jr. starts a gym in Stockholm.
Chapter 18 -- Torpedo The police investigation into accusations that Milton
Jr. hired thugs to collect money.
Chapter 19 -- Montemar Milton Jr. buys a hotel on the Spanish island of
Ibiza from Selim Dangoor, aka "the banqir of the mob".
Chapter 20 -- The Bjuhr Cartel The police investigate Milton Jr.'s connections
with infamous gangster.
Chapter 21 -- Manifestation Milton Jr.'s first years as the new porn king
with scene of him burning his father's most hardcore photographs.
Chapter 22 -- Kim Swedish model does a photo shoot for Milton Jr. in Ibiza
Chapter 23 - The First Film A famous Swedish pop producer makes Private's
first porn video.
Chapter 25 -- The Breakthrough Milton Jr. starts up process for worldwide
distribution.
Chapter 26 -- Linda Milton Jr. meets his fiancée.
Chapter 27 -- Costa Rica Producer Peter Backman shoots first porn films
ever made in Costa Rica
Chapter 24 -- Fist Funk Serious Swedish music producers write soundtracks
to 27 Private videos.
Chapter 25 -- The Meeting in Cannes Milton Jr. meets Penthouse publisher
Bob Guccione to discuss possible business cooperation.
Chapter 26 -- Private with Milton The author spends time with Milton Jr.
during the summer of 1995.
Chapter 27 -- Struggling for the Empire Milton Sr. starts the battle with
his son, claiming Milton Jr. has stolen the company and robbed him blind.
Chapter 28 -- Private Lady Milton Jr. gets bright idea: a floating porn
fair in the Mediterranean. He is accused of treating models as sex slaves
on the ship.
Chapter 29 -- Blackmail A well-known Swedish motorcycle gang threatens
Milton Jr.: "Pay 40,000 dollars or else ..."
Chapter 30 -- The Stock Exchange Listing Private goes public on Nasdaq
and the author meets Milton Jr. in Barcelona.
Chapter 31 -- The Accountant The author meets Tom Björklund at Ernst &
Young.
Chapter 32 - The Mouth-to-Mouth Method Private becomes the world's leading
Internet porn content provider.
Part 3-In Woodman Land
Chapter 33 -- Budapest Star porn producer Pierre Woodman arrives in Hungary
in January 2000 to recruit new Private models.
Chapter 34 -- L'homme du bois The Woodman-story. The author meets him
in Paris and is invited to dinner at his home.
Chapter 35 -- Room 301 Woodman casts young Hungarian women, films and
has sex with them in room 301 at a respectable hotel in Budapest.
Chapter 36 -- Superf-ckers A detailed description of a photo shoot and
a movie set.
Chapter 37 -- The Contract What the models have to sign in order to work
for Private.
Chapter 38 - Sasha The sad story of an under aged Russian model who is
mistreated in Bali and Paris by Woodman and other mean and finally ends
up in Sweden as Milton Jr.'s protégé.
Part 4-Clean but Hunted (1990-2001)
Chapter 39 Millennium (This chapter is included in translation) Milton
Jr. celebrates with huge party in Berlin and signs historic agreement
with Penthouse.
Chapter 40 -- Call Girl Scenes from a movie set in Paris at the first
Private/Penthouse production.
Chapter 41 -- Father-in-Law Makes Movies An interview with Jerker Swande,
aka John Millerman, Milton Jr.'s father-in-law, who directed The Uranus
Experiment and other films.
Chapter 42 -- Fundraising Pro The Private promotion machine, with scenes
from the AVN Awards in Las Vegas.
Chapter 43 -- Image Consultant The story of how Milton Jr. is turned into
a respected businessman, profiled in Forbes, Businessweek and other lifestyle
magazines.
Chapter 44 --The Money Shot Describes how porn became hip in the 90s.
A look at much money Private earns.
Chapter 45 -- The Boy Who Didn't Want to Pay Taxes Swedish tax authorities
hunt Milton Jr. for $670,000 in tax debt. Milton Jr. is accused of deliberately
spreading misleading information.
Chapter 46 -- Hells Angels Milton Sr. and Hells Angels start a business
together. Hells Angels threaten to start producing magazines and videos
under Private/Pirate label. Also describes how Milton Jr. stole the Private
trademark from his father.
Millennium
BERLIN Six of Private's top actresses stepped onto the stage at Metropol,
Berlin's largest discotheque. They were there for one reason --- to give
two thousand people something in return for their patience by showing
them what it was that Private actually sells.
It was two in the morning and the people gathered there were tired of
the fashion show, the laser show, the latex show. They were tired of the
huge crowd and waiting forever to get a drink at the bars. They were also
all riled up from spending the day a the erotic fair Venus '99, where
they'd walked around the displays and stared at crotches spread wide open,
naked breasts with mousetraps clamped on the nipples, anal sex, gay sex,
golden showers and "normal" sex.
They'd stood in line to get autographs from porn stars. They'd posed with
women in front of their friend's cameras. Some got to grab the women's
tits. And they'd seen the poster for A Private Night, which promised an
"erotic show" with "original Private girls" in the colossal neo-classic
dance club at Nollendorfplatz 5. At this point, the party had been going
on for six hours.
The tickets for the show included free drinks and the alcohol, smoke,
low lights and heavy dance music were only increasing expectations. The
crowd had seen Monique, Bettina, Anastasia, Caroline, Vivienne and Wanda
climb all over each other on the couch next to the VIP bar, where they
sat with the cherubian, cigar smoking Hungarian adult film director István
Kovacs and the tiny little skin head who went by the nickname, "the porn
dwarf."
Private was the biggest and best in the industry --- that's how the company
marketed itself on all fronts. Biggest because their name was the world's
best-known brand for hard pornography. Biggest because the company pumped
out 65 films a year and was leading online development. Biggest because
it existed in 35 countries around the globe. Biggest because it was the
only pornography company listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the United States.
And best because Private made the world's most profitable porn. Best because
it was the only company in the industry to translate its films into 11
languages. And --- in order to distinguish it as better than all the rest
--- best because it was the only company that didn't allow its actresses
to be on display at the erotic fair.
Visitors to the fair were, of course, disappointed. It was possible for
people to think that Private was distancing itself from its target group,
since only trade industry types were allowed into the displays or VIP
lounge --- a rule that was clearly displayed on a neon sign. But that
was the way Private wanted it.
People, not least the journalists in attendance, were supposed to learn
that the company didn't work like the competition. Private was all about
modern business with big ambitions to spread its special lifestyle concept
throughout the world. And the business was always "tremendous," the impact
was always "enormous," --- Berth Milton's favorite superlatives in his
interviews with the German, English and French TV channels.
If you wanted to rise out of the porn gutter, it wasn't going to happen
by being vulgar. The way to do it was to prove you could mingle with the
elite crowd, and that's why Private's actresses would wear clothes when
clothes were appropriate and strip down only as a special treat at the
end of the evening. Before Venus '99, Private's promotion manager Ole
Nicolausson had it all figured out --- the actresses would definitely
take their clothes off, but not before Metropol and only as the last number
of the night. Until then they would represent the company in either the
recently launched Danny Cook line from Private Circle or in latex from
the Private Collection.
Nicolausson's strategy was to get the girls to show their personalities
even when they weren't naked. Journalists and folks in the industry would
see the women as interesting people to talk to and interview. The girls
would then add to the suspense by surprising VIP guests during dinner
at Hotel Berlin before the party, where they would hand out tickets to
the evening's festivities. And thus the powerful contrast in seeing them
naked on the stage at Metropol.
Ten minutes only. Anyone who missed it would have to wait a year at least
to get another chance. A catwoman in red and black latex with a huge rubber
dildo strapped to her hips, a couple of half-naked dark-skinned girls
and the traditional group of fitness-types with their swollen muscles
and washboard stomachs brought the Latex Fantasy Show to a close.
Metropol's owner had decided to go for the Egypt look. The place was filled
with sphinxes and Egyptian dogs and the walls were covered in hieroglyphs.
A gigantic pharaoh statue was rolled out onto the stage and on it perched
Lilo Wanders, the transvestite host of the German porn show called Wa(h)re
Liebe. Over the loudspeakers a voice boomed, "Let's start the music, come
on Private strip girls!" and Bettina, Monique and the other actresses
climbed on stage. They started dancing, fumbling at first but then more
provocatively.
The view was blocked occasionally by an irritating group of photographers
who zoomed in on the actresses private parts as they removed their clothes
--- a top and skirt from Private's latex line --- and threw them up to
Wanders on the statue. None of them were used to being on stage, so Nicolausson
didn't require any solo dances. But together in the spotlights they seemed
comfortable and eventually they started going wild with each other on
the edge of the platform.
A guy from the crowd gave Monique a glass of wine and with a mischievous
look poured the liquid over her breasts. The girls continued to dance,
but the number almost too long and the actresses did their best not to
look bored. The only one who seemed to be having any fun so far was Monique.
The show closed a little clumsily and received an applause that sounded
a touch let down. Afterward, in the VIP bar Monique and Bettina, both
now fully clothed, were sitting on a couch with Philippe Dean, one of
Private's few male stars. Dean held a microphone shaped like a dildo while
the blond, sinful Monique and the dark-haired, somewhat more sophisticated
Bettina sat like objects in front of German RTL's cameras. The TV team
was there to film a segment for a show called Rendezvous, and Dean was
supposed to talk and play with the girls.
He had done a few films with Monique so they were rather familiar with
each other's anatomies. She had nothing against a few deep, wet kisses
or him pulling up her top to rub her breasts. Bettina, who sat to his
right, spread her legs and pulled up her skirt --- there was nothing underneath
it --- and let Dean go to work with the microphone exactly as if it was
a real dildo; all with RTL's cameras rolling and while Dean asked the
typical questions about what kind of sex they liked and whether or not
they had boyfriends.
The guys standing around the couch and at the bar who weren't laughing
did their best to look unimpressed. "Okay, we're not making love here,"
Bettina said with a smile. She then closed her legs and ended Dean's sick
attempt to interview her privates.
Berth Milton had been to enough trade fairs and parties that lately he
attended very few of them. He had handed over responsibility and representation
for Venice '99 to other people. He himself was in London to launch a new
energy drink called Private Dynamite at Bill Wyman's bar Sticky Fingers.
The distributor for the English and Irish market had ordered 30,000 cans.
They came in various blue colors and had images of Private actresses on
them --- not naked, just faces.
Milton had already generated substantial attention in Great Britain for
the Private Circle clothes line, which was marketed as street-smart style.
And he'd also received good media coverage for the fact that both Massive
Attack and Prodigy had written music for The Uranus Experiment.
PARIS Berth Milton felt he had good reason to spend big on the Millennium
party in Berlin. Not only because the company was going to celebrate its
35th birthday, but because things had never gone so well for Private.
Its stocks fluctuated between fifteen and twenty U.S. dollars and the
large investment banks were waiting in line for the next big move. The
company's website was visited by hundreds of thousands of surfers every
month.
The media watched the company and its leader like never before, and not
just the traditional porno rags and men's magazines, but international
business publications like Forbes and The Economist and glossy lifestyle
magazines like Vogue, Germany's Max and Spain's Man. The BBC had done
two documentaries on the societal complications of modern pornography
with Private as a main example. The German channels, of course, were close
behind. Even the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet --- which had long chased
after Private's founder, Berth Milton Sr., and then shifted its hunt to
Milton Jr. --- had given its female editors a two-page spread to write
about "the new, hip porn," under the headline "The porn king's new clothes."
It was quite a move from the elitist, indignant tone that had otherwise
been evident in the newspaper's previous coverage of him. Milton was most
proud of the fact that Private and the American porno mag Penthouse had
during the summer of 1999 signed a partnership agreement and produced
films in both hard and soft versions. The victory had a special sweetness
to it.
Milton Sr. and Penthouse's founder Bob Guccione had always had plans for
a cooperation of some kind. But dad had never quite been able to bring
the agreement to a close. The news about the agreement between Private
and Penthouse caused Private's stock to jump a few dollars, which led
to a call from Nasdaq exchange officials to Johan Gillborg, CEO for Milcap
Media Group --- the Swedish division of the Private concern that had administered
Private's entry into the exchange --- in Nacka, outside of Stockholm,
to find out what had happened.
Gillborg yawned, checked the press releases in his computer, found the
one that seemed to have the right date and told the curious woman on the
other end of the line about the agreement. The agreement, considered a
historic one in industry circles, included co-production of films for
video, DVD and cable TV. Everything was to be marketed in each of the
company's magazines and on the Private and Penthouse websites, which meant
Private's brand would have unsurpassed exposure worldwide.
To celebrate the agreement --- the crown on Private's recent marketing
efforts in the United States --- at the end of October, the company invited
journalists and industry insiders to L'Etoile, a restaurant in Paris,
only a few weeks before the Millennium party in Berlin. Private's PR department
took care of the press coverage by sending invitations to a select group
of publications and TV channels; there were 100 journalists in all. Each
guest would cost 300 francs for appetizers and drinks at the bar. The
bill for 30,000 francs is the equivalent of what it would cost to buy
an ad in the French trade magazine Hot Video.
"An interesting event and very cost effective," wrote Private's marketing
department in an internal memo. L'Etoile was packed with industry people,
reporters, cameramen and women. Star director and producer Pierre Woodman
sat in one of the couches with his velvet-eyed stable of ladies, that
night made up of a Tania (Russof, his wife), a Susanna, an Inga and no
less than three Gabriellas; the actress' stage names occasionally resulted
in rather comic effects.
The journalists who covered the branch were all there: Massimo Bonera,
a small, balding man from European Promotion Masters in San Marino, who
looked like he'd just emerged from the boys' room and whose glasses were
steamed up from all the beauty that surrounded him; David Chrizo from
Hot Video, who had been covering Private since 1993 and whose only assignment
was to write about porn industry; the anemic Joel Daguerre, who was working
on a TV documentary about Woodman; and Yves Trevalec from RTL in Luxemburg,
who was always anywhere there was nudity and whose huge camera always
looked like it was about devour the porn stars.
Private had also shown up in full effect: marketing director Mĺrten Kull;
production director Javier Sánchez, who had started his Private career
with Milton Sr. in the 1980s; J.C. Jougla, Milton Jr.'s personal image
consultant and friend of Swedish supermodel Emma Sjöberg and Ace of Base
star Ulf Ekberg; press secretary Xavier Escolar from the headquarters
in Barcelona; and Nathalie Michel from Private's Paris office. Kull was
especially pleased by the fact that the Canal Plus program Journal du
Hard was there. They had filmed Milton in Barcelona, they had footage
from the first Private/Penthouse production shot the day before and they
had filmed the move of the majority of Private's Swedish operations down
to Spain. Journal du Hard constantly had fifteen to twenty million viewers.
The hours passed. The party was missing its main ingredient. Everyone
was waiting for Berth Milton. Kull was worried that the Canal Plus crew
was going to get tired and leave before his boss arrived. Extremely late
--- fog in London and thrown off flight schedules --- Milton finally arrived
like a presidential candidate on the campaign trail. Flashing cameras
and the bright lights from TV cameras followed him from the sidewalk into
the restaurant. Milton shook hands and nodded his head left and right
as recognized people in attendance. He was wearing a three-piece business
suit, a white shirt and tie and was clutching his cognac-colored leather
briefcase. The hero had arrived.
Milton apparently hadn't had time to eat any breakfast that morning, having
jumped straight into work at 7 a.m., but during the day Private's stock
had gone up fifteen percent. He had just been at the prestigious Distripress
conference in Rome, where new continents that had opened themselves up
to his Nasdaq-listed hard pornography. Private's products would now be
distributed in counties like New Caledonia, Ivory Coast and Tahiti. Milton
made a point of it, just to show that Private was breaking down all boundaries.
In addition, in the next few days he would sign a contract with one of
the largest Spanish and South American media concerns, a contract that
would give Private exclusive rights to provide the porn content for a
new Internet portal for the Spanish-speaking world. He hugged Pierre Woodman
and kissed Tania Russof on the cheek. Woodman introduced him to the other
models on the couch and Milton greeted them as politely as he did everyone
else. He did interviews and, as expected, said everything was "tremendous"
and "enormous."
Canal Plus had arranged a cell phone call between Milton and Bob Guccione
and Milton was forced to dial the number to Penthouse's office in New
York a handful of times before finally getting the legend on the line.
The TV cameras captured it all as the two exchanged the standard phrases
about the success that awaited them and as Milton reported on the fantastic
reception in Paris.
Milton stayed at the party for a couple hours. Then he'd head back to
the hotel to sleep and be on his way early the next morning. He was careful
about partying, and he never rested on his laurels. But he had the world
in his hands. The victories kept coming.
Back in Barcelona were Linda and the kids. And this father's persistent
legal attacks were going nowhere. Berth Milton was 44 years old. The flowing
blond hair had been trimmed long ago for a style that fit better with
business meetings and boardrooms. He usually has a light suntan and looked
to be in good physical shape. The market for Private --- films, magazines,
sex-enhancing drugs, websites, clothes, sport drinks --- was insatiable.
Milton was even talking about creating special "Private Resorts" in exotic
places where couples could disappear into seclusion.
The future for Private, as Milton saw it, was that people wouldn't be
able to do anything in life without in one way or another encountering
the company's products. "We create a lifestyle and we do it very successfully,"
he had said to journalists in Paris. Berth Milton rang in the new millennium
with a confirmation: everything seemed possible. It was almost too good
to be true.
Chatper 37
Budapest. The Taverna is a non-descript, four-star Central European hotel
in the center of Budapest on Váci utca, a popular walking street lined
with shops selling furs, jewelry, souvenirs, jeans, shoes, porcelain dolls,
sunglasses and overpriced knick-knacks. Over the hotel's entrance facing
the shopping street, national flags fluttered listlessly in the afternoon
breeze. There was France, Germany, England, Sweden and the EU-flag with
its ring of gold stars on a blue background; an indication of the country's
anxious dream of full membership in the enormous bureaucratic colossus
known as the European Union, which is supposed to guarantee peace and
harmony in Europe and a more even distribution of its many resources.
The Taverna was a member of the Hungarian Convention Bureau --- according
to the hotel's website, a prestigious designation --- and confident that
it was an important part of the country's official representation and
incentive tourism program. The hotel's various restaurants were responsible
for catering when the country's most important politicians were hosting
guests. Indeed, the hotel had been named Official Caterer to Parliament.
Pierre Woodman checked in to the Taverna on a dry, cold snow-less Friday
in January 2000. The hotel proceeded with its standard, uniform guest
service. The restaurant filled at breakfast, lunch and dinner with hungry,
whiny tourists. The man at the piano played his eternal mellow music whether
you liked it or not.
And then, of course, there was the discreet treatment of the regular guest
in room 301.
Woodman was there to make sure Private had new models. He was at one end
of the company's giant porn factory. He was there to drain Hungary of
its young, beautiful girls, who wanted some of the wealth that might be
waiting for them just around the corner, who were intrigued by the money,
travel and possibly the sex itself --- and to that extent they knew the
real reason behind Woodman's work at the Taverna. Or perhaps they really
thought there was a chance to land a proper fashion job.
Woodman said there were always girls who liked sex --- they either fantasized
about it or they had just started to explore it with their boyfriends.
Some had slept with a bunch of people; others were completely inexperienced
but curious.
It was, of course, no coincidence that Woodman was in Budapest. Porn had
been legal in Hungary for a couple of years (the country had historically
been "the exit to the east," as he put it) and he compared it to Sweden,
where he said you could always meet a woman at a bar and go home with
her for the night, but you could never get a Swedish girl to take part
in a casting, except on rare occasions.
In Hungary, it was the opposite. Here you could rarely count on a one-night-stand,
but it was always easy to find girls for a casting. It was partly about
money, he said. In Sweden, women earned enough money to resist his propositions.
Swedish women saw Woodman as a monster. That he could live with. In Hungary,
though, money was a powerful motivator. The chance to earn 300 - 500 U.S.
dollars for the first movie was often an irresistible temptation. But
there was another reason he was there. The debate about and awareness
of sexual equality hadn't developed in Hungary as much as it had in the
West. And, Private's products weren't for sale on the market in any easily
recognizable way. The risk for the girls of being exposed at the magazine
stand was minimal, which, in turn, lowered the risk that their families
would find out about what they were doing.
Woodman was at the hotel to find girls that fit his, and Private's, requirements
-- girls that fit the porn industry template based on 10 years of experience
of what sold best. Currently that meant anal sex and double penetration,
cascades of sperm on the girls' faces and gangbangs. And blowjobs, of
course, or fellatio, or whatever you want to call it -- it was a classic
scene that always satisfied the male audience.
Woodman wanted the models needed to look as young as possible, he was
milking the Lolita trend for all it was worth. But he was also careful
not to work with anyone below the 18-year-old age limit. That had happened
once before; when Private found out about the faux pas, distribution of
the film was stopped immediately, at least in the French market. If it
had come out that one of the models - her name was Sasha - hadn't yet
turned 18 when Golden Triangle was filmed in Bali, it could have caused
Private's brand irreparable damage before its upcoming entry to the Nasdaq
stock market in the United States. This was aside from the purely legal
and moral aspects of the situation, of course.
The models would also be the most beautiful young women one could find.
"Baby faces," was what Woodman was looking for. And they should be from
the East - Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia. Woodman had agencies
in Budapest, Bratislava and Moscow and the local markets went crazy when
he came to town.
For Woodman, being a pornographer was a gift from God and he never tried
to hide what he was doing. It's possible he occasionally stepped over
the line, but who was checking? According to his own calculations, he
met between 600 and 800 girls a year, 250 of which would end up in a Private
production. He had sex with about 250 of the hopeful models each year.
In a single weekend he could meet 40 - 60 girls. Every month he spent
between 20,000 and 30,000 U.S. dollars searching for new faces. The constant
search for young women cost him about 1 million German marks every year,
he said.
"And it's my money, not Privates. But I don't complain you know, it's
my game. Berth never asks me to do this. He knows about it and is happy.
And that's why I believe he respects me. He knows that I am 100 percent
focused on Private's and Berth's success."
Woodman was accompanied by Gabriella Wolf, a 25-year-old blond who had
been in a number of Private productions but had decided to give it up
to become the Frenchman's talent scout in the Hungarian capital. She ran
the Hungarian Private Agency together with Laszlo -- or Leslie, as it
said on his business card - a former car salesman, ex boyfriend to Gabriella
and a pleasant guy with kind eyes who wore stonewash jeans, a loud shirt
and sneakers. Gabriella, Miss Hungary 1994, was pretty, easy to talk to
and said herself that she liked to get in the face, preferably from many
guys at once.
Woodman had a busy weekend ahead of him. He was going to meet up to 40
girls between 18 and 20 years old. He would personally call a few of them
up to room 301, interview them about their experience and sexual fantasies,
ask them to take off their clothes and take up the position on the bed
- which meant getting on all fours, spreading your legs, arching your
back and sticking your ass up in the air - and then comment on their physical
assets.
He would videotape the whole thing and take stills with his Polaroid.
And he would have sex with a bunch of them, in order to show them that
anal sex was the ultimate pleasure. Even that would be filmed so that
it could later be edited, but not censured, and sold on the market as
part of the Woodman Casting series, which was Private's third-best-selling
film label. So far about 20 or 30 of the films had been released and they
were all authentic.
On each VHS tape, there was room for a handful of castings with the girls,
who later signed contracts, took HIV tests and were then made-up, shaved,
plucked and styled and used in two or three Private productions, films
and/or magazines. That was the usual lifecycle for a model. Woodman didn't
want to work with girls longer than that. He wanted to work with virgins,
which meant they were virgins in the true sense of the word or hadn't
yet worked in the porn industry. Only a few were promoted by Private and
industry media as stars, allowing their face to pop up in films and magazines
for many years.
Aside from his duties in room 301, that weekend Woodman would also find
time for a photo shoot for one of Private's magazines and a scene for
the third part of the gonzo-series known as Superf-ckers. |