Known to his friends as Chuck, Tony Martino is a "burly and beefy stud," writes Jeremy Stone, "who came up in the carnal movie industry in the mid '80s, banging box alongside such workhorse cocksmen as Dan T. Mann, Shane Taylor and Billy Dee. While they faded from view - as did Tony in the late '80s - this one came back. He's bigger, more muscular and has more control now in the sheets than he did in his young buck days."(AFW 96D p.42)

Chuck Martino grew up in Huntington in Southern California, the son of a preacher. His parents divorced when he was one. He mainly grew up with his mother but spent a couple of years with dad who pushed him to go to church every week. Chuck, who has several half-brothers and sisters on his dad's side, says he maintains a good relationship with his parents even though they do not approve of pornography.

"When [1984] my dad found out about it [Tony's porn work], he was cool about it. He told me that he loved me and that I was his son. 'Don't feel uncomfortable. You know how I feel about it and I will never mention it again.'"

Tony entered porn at age 20 in 1984 "when video just came in and Jim South and Reb were enemies…"

In 1986 Martino left porn to finished college at UC Irvine, graduating with a BA in Business. Chuck danced for Chippendales from 1985-91 (where he met Marc Davis) and owned a tanning salon.

He's probably best known for his Philmore Butts series (about 30 editions from since 1995) for Sunshine Films (Factory Home Video). After bad mouthing his bosses Yosef and Rita, Tony publicly apologized in 1996 and returned to pouring out product for Sunshine Films.

Tony had the lead in Western Visuals 1996 film Tight Spots, which he regards as his best film.

5/8/00

Chuck Martino's "Facesitters 3" For Coast to Coast

I was over at Rob Spallone's shooting house Thursday for this Chuck Martino video.

Martino says that director Bud Lee hit his car the other day.

Chuck: "James Noah walked up... 'Chuck, Bud hit your car on accident.' Why didn't he tell me? 'Well, he told Jerry T, and XXX... He was afraid you might ruin your sex scene.'

"But Bud took care of it. He had insurance. He did the right thing. I said, 'Bud, I understand that these things happen.' I have a lot of respect for him."

Martino shows me boxcovers for his new production company "Philmore Butts Home Video" (started with the blessing of Yosef and Rita at Factory Home Video, which started the Philmore Butts line and the original Seymore Butts line).

Chuck: "This is my latest Philmore Butts. Everything is gaping holes. Every scene is gaping assholes, ass-to-mouth, threeways... Three releases a month to start... "Sugar Daddy Sweathearts," "Always 18" and "Philmore Butts.""

Today Chuck's shooting Facesitter 3 by George Kaplan for Frank Rothstein's Coast to Coast.

I talk to Greg Cherry aka Mark Cummings about the thrill of doing double penetrations and double vaginals.

Greg: "It sends me giddy when I get to rub my penis against the massive tool of Dave Hardman."

Tina: "He hates doing double penetrations. Greg gets mad every time. I'm about to do my first double penetration for Metro and he won't work with me."

Chuck introduce me to his new girlfriend Jeanie Rivers, delicious slender blonde. His previous blonde girlfriends have included Shay Sweet and Farah.

Chuck talks about Jeanie's former manager Cam Smith: "He's a straight out f---ing pimp. Roy Garcia is good to business with. He gets a lot of cute pretty girls. Cam was taking 10% of Jeanie's money and $65 from producers... So after a couple of weeks, she says waitasecond... Cam went off... Started talking s--- about me. He' a f---ing pimp."

Jeanie: "Well, he did help me out mentally with this business. When I came in, he was really good helping the girls, making sure that people aren't messing with you..."

Chuck grabs the tape recorder and shuts it off.

Chuck: "I don't want nothing positive about Cam... He's a f---ing pimp..."

Jeanie, who appears in 30 movies, stars in the latest edition of Philmore Butts.

Chuck: "I let her be like Shane was. She goes around and talks to all the girls. Tells them to take their clothes off. Don Fischer and I sat back and started laughing."

Greg: "We were in Brussels [for a sex fair]. And we get really drunk at the bar one night and Tina decides that we should have a woman. First she scouts the club out and there's this one young pretty girl. Tina goes sits with her and the other guy, talking to them. They're married. And he's willing to pimp his wife out. But we did not go through with that.

"Someone said that we should go to the front desk and they will call a prostitute for you, a real pretty one. So she goes to the front desk and it is about US $500. The girl takes forever to get there. I go downstairs to bring her back to the room and then she explains that she does not have lesbian sex. So we ended up giving her a kill fee."

Tina: "I'm the one with the money. I'm the one who called you... And you won't have sex with me? And she got mad and left."

Luke to Greg: "You didn't get to poke her?"

Greg: "It wasn't a big deal to me. She [Tina] was the one who wanted a girl."

Luke: "How do women have sex in real life?"

Tina gets embarrassed.

Tina: "Lots of pussy eating."

A porner had friends at Operation Desert Storm who report that the French solders routinely f---ed the Iraqi male prisoners anally.

Martino looks deeply tanned after four days vacation in the Miami South Beach. Chuck left his girlfriend behind.

Greg: "Chuck is pretty buffed for an old dude. He's got a cut hard body, I really fancy him. I wish he'd take me right now, pretend that I am an Iraqi prisoner."

A Playboy exec (Shawn Ricks girlfriend) says the company still gets calls complaining, how can you put a white woman with a black man? And calls complaining about two women having sex.

Porner: White blondes with good boobs get about $1200 for a boy-girl scene. A beautiful Caucasian brunette, about $1000. A black girl or mixed race, about $600. A white blonde is the ultimate status symbol, across all cultures.

Jeanie only works with girls and Martino. She quit doing guys late last year during the gonorrhea outbreak.

Rivers did a rough sex scene with Anabolic last year that left bruises.

Jeanie: "It was a four way with Vince Vouyer and Erik Everhard. And I have never walked out of a set feeling like total garbage and been f---ed so hard. Like bad hard. I was hurting for two days afterward. And it was in a warehouse on these stacked ply-things of wood with cardboard over it. I had bruises all over my back and sides. It was rough sex. And I like rough sex. That was not rough sex. It was abusive sex."

Greg: "I saw Vivian Valentine in Mexico after she'd just done a Rough Sex video for Anabolic. She was bruised. They were pinching her."

Jeanie: "I did a good threeway in Pickup Lines 44 with a Czech girl and an Asian girl."

Jeanie keeps hiding her cigarettes while I snap photos of her.

Luke: "I keep getting these guys writing in saying 'take photos of girls smoking.' They love it."

Jeanie: "Oh do they? Ok. I'll blow a big one out for you."

Luke: "That was a great one. Thanks."

She gives me some great smoking pictures.

Luke: "It's interesting the different fetishes guys have."

Jeanie: "Yeah, yeah."

Luke: "Do you get off on pictures of men smoking?"

Jeanie: "No. Not smoking. I haven't gotten to pee on anybody yet."

Tina: "You've got to pee on someone. It's way better. I peed in Alec Metro's mouth. Yeah, it was part of the scene. I gave him four mouthfulls."

Greg: "She'd been taking vitamins so she had really yellow pee."

Tina: "He loved it."

Greg: "I love Alec. He is the s--- dude."

Jeanie: "I did a scene with Alec."

Tina: "He has a foot fetish. He wanted me to run outside and get them [feet] all dirty. Then he likes to suck on them. He also likes you to pull his mouth open and spit in it. He loves it. Just yank his mouth open and spin in it."

Greg: "Alec likes the really nasty sex. And it's cool. It comes out great on film."

Tina: "We've done some crazy scenes. Alec will do anything."

Greg: "Alec is an attractive man. We both work out at Gold's Gym. I see him in the mornings and watch him from afar. He's got big shoulders. He's a big boy, like Davis."

Devon: "The day that mainstream porn companies start doing scenes with people s---ting on each other, is the day I leave the business."

Jeanie: "I did a scene with Ed Powers."

Luke: "Did he spit on you and slap you?"

Jeanie: "He wasn't rough with me at all."

Greg: "He's a little lover guy."

Jeanie: "I haven't done anal yet and he offered me good money to do it."

Chuck: "Unless you're swingers, most relationships in porno don't work. Because you're f---ing other people and you're not really swingers... Sooner or later, mostly sooner, you're going to get jealous."

Greg readies to do a scene with his wife on the basketball court.

Greg: "Normally when I work for Chuck, I have him hold my hand so that I can come."

Chuck talks about how he met his current girlfriend Jeanie Rivers: "I was at Sin City. Eric Price asked me to shoot a blowjob movie for him. So I waited until Shay Sweet left, then they called me and I came down. I'm siting in the makeup room with Olivia and Jeanie... Then Shay walks in...and leaves. And Jeanie and Shay go into Shay's car and get stoned. Jeanie comes back in.

"I ask her if she does guys. She says no, because of the gonorrhea scare going around... I tell her about my series... We hung out that day. Then we saw each other at the IA2000 show in Las Vegas."

Jeanie: "I walk into AIM to pick up my test and he's sitting there... I'm talking to Cam, who am I working with? And Cam says, it's him [Martino], over there."

Chuck: "We did a scene. And then we were supposed to go out..."

Jeanie: "He told me, if you come over here [to Chuck's place], I promise you you will not leave. And I haven't left since I came over there."

Chuck: "We did the scene first. Then I said, we will go out a few days later. Well, she didn't call. And I am not one to call a girl. Then a week later she called, and said, well, you don't call me anymore. I said, you didn't call me like you were supposed to... Then I went over and saw her. And I said, 'If you come over, you won't leave.' It's been three months."

Luke to Jeanie: "What's kept you there?"

Jeanie: "We have a fun time together. I really care about him and love him a lot."

Chuck tells me how much he loves Jeanie's dainty feet.

Luke: "Does Chuck have good feet?"

Jeanie: "Yes."

Chuck: "She's a foot person too. Total. She likes to suck on them."

Jeanie: "I like to suck on his feet."

Chuck: "Isn't that weird? But they have to be a cute guy's feet. I've never met a girl who's like that, because I am like that."

Jeanie: "But I am always on his feet, always grabbing his toes, trying to suck it."

Chuck: "Feet and dick."

Luke: "Is he ticklish?"

Jeanie: "Very ticklish. I go and tickle them when he's sleeping and he starts moving around."

Chuck: "About the boy-girl stuff. I mainly produce and direct. Jeanie didn't do other guys before she was with me. So when people say, do you guys only work together... Look."

Jeanie: "When I first got in the business [at age 18], I was doing guys. Then we had that gonorrhea scare... Stopped doing guys. So when he met me, I wasn't doing guys. Now when people say, 'Oh, you're just working with each other?' Well, I wasn't really doing guys...

"Only when I first got in the business and didn't know better. I thought I had to do this and this and whatever I was told."

Chuck: "Michael Raven got her to do some stuff that she normally wouldn't do.

"It's not my decision. She can do whatever she wants. You can't control a 19-year old girl. It doesn't work. Sooner or later they rebell. I look at people and go, look, it is one more guy than she was doing before."

Jeanie: "I am not in this business to be a big porn star."

Chuck: "She could quit tomorrow and it wouldn't even matter."

Luke: "Why are you in the business?"

Jeanie: "I just have fun. I didn't even know I was going to get into the business."

Chuck: "She started doing it for a website."

Jeanie: "Everybody told me how much money they're making off their website... So I decided that I would just come and get a website going and I wouldn't have to do anything else. No movies or anything."

Chuck: "Luke, you know..."

Jeanie: "Only a few girls are making big money off their websites."

Chuck: "How many girls would you say are making big bucks off their sites?"

Luke: "Not many."

Chuck: "You'd think Jill Kelly, but even Jill Kelly is struggling...And if she doesn't..."

Jeanie: "That makes sense. But he had to bring it to my attention."

Chuck: "As far as I know, only Asia Carrera really makes money..."

Luke: "And she puts 50 hours a week into her site..."

Chuck: "So to hear a girl say, I'm in this industry just to make a website... I didn't say anything to Jeanie for three months because I didn't want to burst her bubble.

"If people don't want to hire us together, she does great girl-girl scenes... I asked her, do you care if you just work three or four times a month. No, I don't care. She's from Oregon, and they're not used to making tons of money."

Jeanie: "Not greedy like LA. It's just about having fun and being happy."

As Michael Medved says, liberals say, follow your heart. Conservatives say, do your duty.

Jeanie: "If I am not happy, why even be in the business.

"I danced at a club before and I would like to go back to that..."

Luke: "Some people think there should be a 21-year old age limit to enter the porn industry?"

Chuck: "Yes. Absolutely. She doesn't think like a typical 19-year old. She's more mature. I feel guilty hiring an 18 or 19-year old unless they know what they're doing. Because usually they don't and afterwards they feel bad about it."

Jeanie: "No matter what age you come into this business, you're not going to know anything about the business. You're going to be able to be taken advantage of for a short amount of time no matter how old you are. If you're 18 or 30. If you don't know this business, you are going to come in naive.

"Cam Smith mainly deals with pretty girl and fetish stuff. I did some light bondage stuff, tickling, smothering... That's all I was trying to give Cam credit for but now I know he is not my friend because why, when the money stopped coming from me, he doesn't want to be my friend anymore. He's not calling me.

"We were going to be best friends while the money was coming."

Chuck: "Jim [South] doesn't give a s---. This is a business. I'll get you work. I get paid. I respect Jim. For a new girl, Jim's excellent."

Rivers made her porn debut in Randy West's Up n'Cummers and she's appeared in several more of West's productions. She did a lesbian scene with Dee, April Flowers and Bunny Luv.

Jeanie: "I thought the sex would be more real... More authentic. I had seen all the magazines and movies before I entered [porn]. So I knew coming in what the sex would be like and how open it is...

"I like old pornos [1970s]. I have tons of them that I watch. But of the newer ones, I've only seen 15 or 20 of them.

"When I was 15 yo, I told my mom. 'Mom, you see that movie there. I want one of those. But I want one that is different.' And she actually picked me up one [a porno]. I told her, I want an older one, you know. Where it's more lovin and not all this hardcore stuff. She actually bought me my first porno."

Luke: "And what was your reaction to your first porno? I remember I always blushed..."

Jeanie: "Yeah... Blush and you'd be turning your head and looking [at the screen] from the corner of your eye. Are they really doing that? Kinda being shy about it... I was watching it alone and my mom come in... She'd always been open about sex. And she asked me how I liked it, and I said, 'mom, they're really doing that.' And she's going 'Yeah?'"

Chuck: "Jeanie Rivers gives the best blowjob of any girl I've been with."

Rumdar writes: Luke, Loved your recent shots of porn sluts at work and play. About that young trollop and the pony tailed sloppy fat guy who looks like a biker frolicking on the grass together. Can we surmise that even corpulent unattractive fellows will get young pussy if they are in the porno business? Hmmmmmmm! And I noticed that each and every one those young slut puppies was sucking on a cancer stick. Do you believe there is a correlation between youth, porno and nicotine? And that Chuck Martino with the sunglasses hanging from the gold chain....too much!!!. Keep up the good work.

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   Jeanie Rivers, Gwen Summers
   
   
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   Jeanie, Gwen
   
   
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   Jeanie, Gwen
   
   
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   Jeanie on the lap of her boyfriend Chuck Martino
   
   
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   Jeanie, Chuck
   
   
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   Jeanie, Chuck
   

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   Jeanie, Chuck
   
   
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   Jeanie, Chuck
   
   
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   Jeanie, Chuck
   
   
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   Jeanie, Chuck
   
   
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   Chuck
   
   
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   Chuck, Greg (Tina's hubby)
   
   
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   Chuck, Greg
   
   
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   Chuck
   
   
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   Chuck, Jeanie
   
   
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    Chuck, Jeanie
    
    
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    Tina, Chuck, Gwen
    
    
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    Chuck and the girls
    
    
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    Chuck and the girls
    
    
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    Chuck and the girls
    
    
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    Chuck and the girls
    

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   Chuck Martino displays boxcovers from his new company "Philmore Butts Home Video"
   
   
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   Daniella Rush, Chuck
   

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   Jim, Chuck
   

Archives

AVN's gossip pages repeatedly bagged on Martino for supposedly knocking around such porn star girlfriends as the erratic Farrah and Frankie Lane.

Near the end of his state-required curriculum of domestic violence classes resulting from his brutal break-up with Farrah in 1996, Chuck was accused by (in the 1/98 AVN) his 1997 girlfriend Shay Sweet of thrashing her. She certainly showed up to a set covered with bruises a few days after her break up with Tony. He claims that she hit herself in the face after the AVN Halloween party when he asked her to move out.

"That morning, he kicked me out with no money and no place to go," Shay, in tears, told the 1-98 AVN. "I hadn't worked for five months since being with him, and he knew I had no money...

"I didn't want to come back to doing porn, but that's the only decision he made me have. He threatened me that if I said or did anything [about the fight] or went back to porn, he was going to call my family. He said it again on the phone - he and Farrah just called [from Hawaii] and threatened me again. She said she's gonna kick my ass when she gets back from Hawaii, that she will wait at my door until she kicks my ass, because I said that Chuck beat me up. I haven't told anybody that he beat me up. But people see the bruises, and they know Chuck, they know we got into a fight. So it's his f---ing fault that this s---'s going on, because of his past." (AVN 1-98)

On 9/25/98, Sin City's PR Director Lysa Stone writes to me:

Chuck Martino is indeed our director of production. Despite the many musings in the adult industry, David Sturman has not lost his mind. Not in the last three years has our production schedule been so tight or so organized thanks to Chuck. He is an excellent addition to our team. Regarding past rumours about Chuck, he is clean and sober, happy with Shay and has a tremendous outlook on his future as a businessman and a gentleman. We have seen no indication of his past alleged behavior. We at Sin City believe in second chances and we hope the adult industry would extend to Chuck the same.

Regarding postings on our "disorganization" we'd like to think of it as "reorganization". True, Steve Karmelin and Mark Peterson left for greener pastures but it happens in every business, everyday. Our new warehouse manager is excellent and efficient…

We remain committed to our fantastic directors, Michael Raven, Roy Karch, Kris Kramski and Lasse Braun. Expect more movies from all of them soon. We launch our new Gonzo line, Sinister Productions, later this Fall.

So despite the hysteria of Sin City being in disarray and my well-respected boss having lost his mind, the opposite is true. Very exciting things are happening at Sin City and we've never worked so closely as a team before.

10/16/98:

Shock, horror and disbelief rippled across pornville today as readers of this site struggled to deal with their disappointment that on Update 10/13/98 Luke F-rd ran a piece of unchecked gossip as though it were gospel truth.

The internet's DeTorquemada (AVN 10/98) published this paragraph from an anonymous source: "Tony (Shuddup Bitch) Martino has been placed in charge of production at Sin City. One of his first official acts was to verbally abuse PR person Lysa Stone on the floor of the ECVS show. Several people heard the incident and say that Martino actually threatened Lysa's life. Not too smart for a guy on probation for domestic violence."

While this news has a poetic beauty given the way Luke and AVN have ruthlessly flogged Tony Martino over the past year, it's hilarity is marred by an apparent lack of truth.

Chuck Martino, Shay Sweet and Nicki Lynn who were all present at this supposed confrontation say that it did not happen as my source presents it. They say that Chuck did not verbally abuse Lysa and certainly did not threaten her life. And Martino has been off probation for six months.

Returning from psycho-therapy Thursday morning, Luke received bracing spiritual advice from his godfather Rob Spallone. "Call up Chuck," Rob ordered, "and get his side of the story. Chuck's turned his life around and he's a stand up guy."

So Luke took the radical step of checking his facts. I talked with Martino for 30 minutes over the phone. He was polite, direct and understandably annoyed by my lazy and inaccurate "reporting."

I first met Chuck in the fall of 1995 when I pitched Yosef at Factory Home Video an idea for a porno which eventually turned into What Women Want starring Kimberly Kummings. Martino and I didn't talk much. I asked him for an interview but it never came off. Over the years I've read about him and his exploits with women in the gossip pages of AVN. In May of 1998 I saw him a couple of times with his girlfriend Shay Sweet at Jim South's office.

In August I got Jack Hammer to make some off-the-cuff remarks about his friend Chuck which Martino today clarified. "What Jack said wasn't exactly the truth but it was close enough... I didn't call you and bust your balls for that but this latest report is not at all true.

"I never said a word to Lysa," responds Chuck to my 10/13 item. "It was just two little girls, Nicki Lynn and Shay Sweet, bickering over something stupid. They are best buddies now. It was all a stupid misunderstanding. Shay and I had a little tiff, a couple of words were said and that was it."

Luke: "Let's develop a civil relationship. To be honest, I was scared to call you."

Chuck: "Two years ago I would've screamed at you, but I've grown up. I just want to do a good job here at Sin City for David [Sturman]. We have enough problems in this business with outsiders. Why do we have to f--- with ourselves [through needless gossip and hatred]? I've read lots of hilarious stuff on your web site that is true..."

Chuck transferred me to Shay Sweet. "Nikki Lynn showed up late [to the ECVS] which I didn't think was fair," Shay told me. "I asked Lysa Stone, our PR director. She snapped at me, 'I don't know where she's at.'

"Nikki finally shows up. I guess Lysa had talked to her because Nikki said to me, 'I hear that you threw a hissy fit.' I replied, 'It wasn't a hissy fit. It's just not fair for me to show up and you not be here. It's the second day it's happened.'

"Chuck did not yell at anybody. We all made up."

Luke: "There was a page about you, Chuck and Farrah in the 12/97 AVN."

Shay: "That was bulls---. We're not getting into that. That was all a lie."

Chuck: "That issue was hilarious. I went to Gene Ross and Paul Fishbein. Paul said, 'Chuck, Mark Kulkis no longer works here. I don't know what happened with that story... I thought you guys were friends.'

"As it turned out, Mark had no proof. It was hearsay. He took quotes out of context.

"Luke, I believe that so long as you do the right thing every day to everyone you deal with, you can never have bad karma. I try to be nice to everybody. I'm Italian. I tend to have a hot temper.

"Shay Sweet and I have been together for 18 months. We've had only one argument. This is the first honest happy relationship I've had. We work for everybody. We do great scenes. I made a stupid mistake when I tried to get back with Farrah [fall of 1997].

"Ask people how we treat each other? She is a good person. You could never fight with her. I've never hit her. I never knocked Farrah down the stairs. I didn't beat the s--- out of her. I never threw Frankie out of a truck. Those charges are not true."

Luke: "I heard that Shay showed up to the set last year with bruises."

Chuck: "They were bruises on the inside of her legs. They were thumb prints. Have you ever had sex with a girl, Luke?"

Luke: "Uhh, yeah."

Chuck: "Have you ever grabbed her legs and f---ed her?"

Luke: "Uhh, yeah."

Chuck: "You ever see what happens to a girl's legs when you do that? Look at the legs on all porno girls. They have thumb prints around their knees and the backs of their legs. There were no bruises on her face or arms [Shay's]. This came from Jim Lane. We were mad at each other.

"I did get in an altercation with Farrah three years ago. I did not throw her down the stairs."

The 9/98 AVN quotes Chuck threatening Mark Kulkis. Chuck says he was misquoted.

Chuck served 18 months of summary probation after his "altercation" with Farrah who other porners have called drug addicted trouble. "I was never convicted of anything. The judge looked at my record and saw that I did not even have a traffic ticket until I got into an argument with Farrah. 'Go have a nice life.'

"Our system is trying to send the message - 'Don't argue with women.' And it is correct. Women should not be talked to in a disrespectful manner. I say, try to get along.

"I'm not saint. I've yelled at people. But I've only gotten into two fights in my whole life."

Luke: "Jack Hammer said that 'Chuck beat the s--- out of Frankie Lane. He threw her out of a truck at Northridge Mall.'"

Chuck: "I said to Jack, 'how could you say that? It's not true.' It was something that Jack had heard... This is absurd. I've never thrown anyone out of a truck. Have you ever tried to throw someone out of a Four-Runner, Luke?"

Luke: "No."

Chuck: "It's impossible. I could never open up a door on the other side of her and push her out of the car. It doesn't happen."

10/22:

Sin City publicist Lysa Stone has quit. I hear that she is furious with Chuck Martino, the new head of production at Sin City. Lysa loved her job, so she must've felt upset.

A smart player of industry politics, Lysa writes: "Thanks, but that's not why I'm leaving! I'm leaving to pursue the money! I had a great time at Sin City and I did indeed love my job. I wish everybody at Sin City the best and I'm leaving on good terms. David Sturman is a great person and the only thing I regret is not being able to continue to work with him."

On 10/13 I reported on a confrontation that Martino supposedly had with Stone at the East Coast Video Show. After talking to Chuck (Update 10/16/98), I retracted the story. Then I heard later from a source that my original story was dead on. Several Chuck Martino detractors are sources of mine, so that slants my coverage of him.

When I emailed Lysa over the ECVS confrontation, and phoned her, she backed up Chuck's version. Despite Sin City's disorganization, she's been a vocal supporter of the company and of her boss David Sturman, who operates GVA West out of San Francisco.

A source: "Luke, I spoke to David Sturman today and he could not stop laughing at your column today. He loves your "reporting," albeit, skewed. There is a real story in there somewhere, featuring greed, pathos...

"He also is a huge believer in the saying "Any publicity is better than no publicity at all". Keep Sin City there in your updates. Thanks."

Rob Spallone flew to San Francisco to meet today with Sturman.

I understand the turmoil at Sin City extends way beyond Lysa and this troubled company should remain in the news.

"You mention turmoil," writes Dave, "ask them what they did to the video Club Sunset and find out who screwed up the box credits and description of the movies. Somebody is on acid there."

I talked to Martino by phone Thursday afternoon and he presented a picture of a smoothly running company, as did his receptionist and fiance Shay Sweet, a rare porn girl not embarrassed about revealing her real name (Kristy Castle).

Kristy and Chuck will wed in January. She's done about two dozen videos with Martino and about the same number with her friend Katie Gold.

From the Excalibur Porn Star Mall: "Shay's sweet indeed, an absolutely delightful young strumpet whose innocent facade masks a sexual desire that's second to none. With a tight, tiny-breasted figure, Shay exudes a youthful sexuality in every movement. Her cute-as-a-button face is home to a pair of the most dazzling blue eyes in the biz, and her slightly bobbed nose and pixieish grin really give her the look of a fresh-faced and innocent young schoolgirl.

"Shay first hit porno screens in early 1997, and before the year was out she had performed in over 55 hardcore features. Her combination of youthful cuteness and voracious sexuality were impossible for producers and fans to resist. From her early pro-am appearances in flicks like "More Dirty Debutantes #67" and "Video Virgins #35," it was clear that Shay had what it takes to make it big in this business. She's perfect for roles as inexperience coeds being guided through their sexual initiations, and has landed plenty of roles that capitalize on her innocent good looks. In features like "Cherry Poppers: The College Years #02," "Freshman Fantasies #01," and "Kissing Coeds," Shay's youthful exuberance all but steals the show."

Martino: "Let me look at our [Sin City] release schedule. For the first time, we have everything from October and November and December out to the distributors. Everything is shot, edited... Flyers and screeners are going out to distributors 10 weeks ahead of schedule.

"David has put together a good team in this office and it's running smoothly. When everybody read your site this morning, they were disappointed. 'Whoever is writing this, I wish they could come in and see how people are working. Everyone is happy and efficient.'

"We release four features a month, a specialty tape [bondage, she-male or gay] and eight compilation tapes. Next month we release our last Johnny Toxic tape.

"Michael Raven directs and edits our gonzo line Extreme Hardcore. All threeways in our latest video, anal, using the best guys like T.T. Boy and Marc Davis. A $20,000 gonzo. I produce. I get the girls, locations, director.. We try to only use A girls...

"Shay Sweet and I made The Sweet Life which sold about 3500 pieces. On all of our titles now we're sending out screeners and trailers [promotional tapes] with a flyer [to distributors] and we did 500 [tapes] more out the door than usual...

"We bought another warehouse to put our tapes in... We have a lady in the office who says to me on a daily basis, 'it's nice working here. Everything's smooth...' It hurt her feelings when she read it [this site]... 'God, we work so hard Chuck. You should call him... It's a pleasure to work here now. He [Luke F-rd] should at least get the right information.

"You may be talking to people who used to work here, or want to work here... They're not going to give you the best info. I work in LA and Lysa works in San Francisco. I don't even know Lysa. I don't know how I could've offended her. I don't know why people are always trying to cause commotion with Sin City...

"Yes, we've had GMs [general managers] who've moved on... Turnover... Now we don't really need a GM [Sin City has not replaced Steve, their last GM who quit about two months ago to go to Wicked].

"I've always wanted to own a company but I don't have the money. So the next best thing to owning a company is running production at a company. That is what I know about. I've been around and seen it all. So I thought who could I do that for? There are only two [major] companies with absentee owners - Metro and Sin City. I flew up [to San Francisco] and had a meeting with David. He gave me a shot.

"I used to say, 'knock on wood, things are really good.' But you know what, as long as you do a good honest job every day, you don't have to knock on wood because everything falls into place."

Luke: "What is Shay doing in this industry if she is so sweet?"

Chuck: "She doesn't do much anymore, about six movies a year for Sin City. She got into this because she was told by someone in Texas that she could come into this and do a few movies, then go feature [dance in strip clubs]. We both know that isn't true.

"I met her. She didn't work for eight months and decided it really wasn't for her.

"She loves being a secretary [she serves as Sin City receptionist]. She loves having a normal job where she goes to work every day.

"She's only 20 [year old] but very mature.

"If we have a kid, he or she will go to church every week."

1/15/2000

Mad Jack writes from Las Vegas: It's Sunday and i just realized that the shows (CES & IA200) are finally over and I hadn't written one word about the happenings....(actually, Chuck Martino called me last night wondering why he hadn't seen anything from me on Luke lately). Let's just call it brain freeze, mind melt, or any of the other terms we use when we just plain f--- up!!! It took four days for the fog to lift but I'm now feeling as normal as can be...Speaking of Chuck Martino, when he wasn't trying to f--- ANYTHING with a pulse, he was hanging around with yours truly at the K-Beech booth watching Senneca shake her ass up on the dance stage they had set up. It turns out that Chuck is a pretty good guy since he overcame his little problem of a few months ago.. Considering our booth was right across from the bar, I never even once saw a drink in Chucks hand...His mind was, as usual, on getting his dick wet. And what a way to wet it but with Vivid contract girl, Sky. From what I understand, Chuck put the moves on her at the David Lee Roth concert at the Hard Rock and wound up in a cab with Shay Sweet's ol' man Jeff.

Jeff told me that on the ride back to the Venetian, Sky kept telling Chuck that she wasn't going to f--- him. From what I understand, she held her mud until they were back in the room but a short time later, she was asking Chuck to pound her in the ass. Chuck being the gentleman that he is, wanted to save that for the second date. Anyway, when he called last night, Sky was hanging at his house and they were on their way out to party. She had just returned from Vegas the night before and apparently received a page from the horn dog wanting a little Vegas deja vu. Chuck's known for taking new girls and making them overnight stars, but I think Sky's WAY out of his league. I have a feeling that even with 1,500 scenes under his belt, Sky's going to tear him up...Good luck bro...We keep getting older and they keep getting younger..Keep me posted...and Sky, when you're in Vegas next time, PLEASE give me a call. I've got Viagra!

10/29/00

Chuck Martino Confronts Sin City's Ari

I hear that Chuck Martino and Ari Octavia at Sin City had an angry telephone confrontation Friday morning and Chuck threatened to beat Ari up.

Sin City sources say that Chuck Martino wants his job back at Sin City as production manager. And that Chuck feels that Ari Octavia and his son Guy are preventing him.

Martino has no comment.

A Sin City source reports: "Luke, you haven't lost your touch. This has great soap opera like appeal. You know Chuck is a lovable maniac. In reality, he can cause much turmoil and has at Sin City. What you have is a typical case of sour grapes. Chuck wants what he can't get, it is that simple. Ari is in charge of keeping all dead lines for boxes, productions, duplication, and distribution for both video and DVD. Sin City is no small company with over 20 video and 8 DVD releases per month so his job is formidable. Dead lines can't be changed and unfortunately, some of these dates, because of human error or forces beyond ones control, are missed and he has to be the one to communicate to the people responsible to find out why these dead lines were missed. Plus, Ari is from Israel and English is not his first language so at times his communication might seem rather forceful where he really means well, it can be taken as the opposite and has."

Jerry Falwell writes: "The pornography industry has left a long line of body bags. Perhaps porn and criminal violence are intrinsically linked? Perhaps it is those "dead lines" that Ari runs?"

Phyllis Schafly says to Luke: "David Sturman probably has a better sense of humor than any other owner in the industry. He finds you amusing though he has been pissed with you a few times."

Arianna Huff says: "You never know where you stand with David. Sturman's affected by the lunar cycle."

Jeffrey knows Sin City. He says: "Ari may be a piece of s--- but Mark Snyder is the biggest snake in the building. He is treacherous. Michael Raven is where he's at because he's in good with Mark. Because Michael came out of nowhere.

"It's almost impossible to get fired from Sin City. When Chuck got let go, I was surprised. But Snyder is on very thin ice with David."

YYY, another Sin City source, says company morale is good. "Ari Ovadia had some ideas for doing things and they didn't work out. Ari sat down and talked to [Sin City owner] David Sturman and decided to just concentrate on the DVD and the video duplicating lab. Everything is fine. He's meeting today [Friday] with producer Guy, his son, and director Alex Ladd who was in Europe the past two weeks."

Luke: "My source says that office manager Sharon, and Mark Snyder and co all hate Ari."

YYY: "I don't think they hate him. Sharon definitely does not hate Ari. It's just that sometimes their responsibilities overlap. But they seem to work things out and that's where it ends. Mark is essentially the general manager. He heads the art department. He's in charge of everything around here."

A Sin City source tells Luke: "The matter between Arie, Guy and Chuck is a private matter, and publicizing their differences does nothing for Sin City, David or anyone involved. Arie says that he forbids Chuck from calling anyone at Sin City during working hours because it wastes everyone's time and diverts them from work."

By contrast, XXX, a source with connections to Sin City says: "Ari at Sin City Let me give you the lowdown. This guy is a cunt cocksucker. He rips David off more than anybody with duplicating. Ari's burying this company into the ground. He's alienated everyone there. Everybody hates him.

"Mark Snyder should run that company. He knows what's going on. Director Michael Raven is excellent.

"Ari's son Guy produces Alex Ladd's gonzos. Alex is a good director. But take a look at the girls in the movies. Guy selects them. They're pigs. And that comes from everyone at that company."

I asked former Sin City shooter Chuck Martino to comment on the quality of the girls in the Guy Ovadia produced gonzos. Martino had a one word response: "Pigs."

XXX says: "Ari is out for his family and that's it. His son Orin also works there and does nothing but cause trouble. Ari's not out for David [Sturman, Sin City owner]. He's out to f--- David. He f---ing double charges David for duplicating. Everybody hates Ari because he's a cunt.

"I want to bury that f---er. Ari f---s David worse than anybody."

"David's a good guy. But he's a big pussy. He will get f---ed and will get f---ed and will get f---ed and David doesn't care because he's so rich.

"Guy makes $1000 to produce Alex Ladd's movies. Why are the girls so f---ing ugly It's because of Guy. He knows nothing about women."

Ari Octavia supposedly does not allow Chuck Martino to call his friends at Sin City. Chuck considers Sharon the office manager to be like his mom.

According to a source, the following conversation occurred like this:

Chuck called Ari's son Guy to say, "If your father says one more derogatory thing about me, he will be sorry he ever met me."

Guy replied: "If you ever call me or my family again like this, I will f---ing kill you."

Chuck hung up and then called back.

Chuck: "Listen Guy, you little f---ing cunt pussy little f---ing 100-pound weakling, don't ever talk to me like that again. Because when I see you at the show I will kick the f--- out of you. And I'm not a violent person. But I don't take being disrespected."

Martino says: "If Guy ever speaks to me like that again, I will f--- him up."

Martino and Ari had a confrontation at the AVN Expo in Las Vegas in July. It supposedly went like this, according to a source.

Chuck: "Who shoots the best gonzo movies for Sin City"

Ari: "You did. But you have a big mouth. You talk to Luke F-rd."

Chuck: "Get the f--- out of my face. Luke is my friend."

Kim writes: "Thanks...Luke I've been reading your site for over 2 years now... And I've never really cared about anything that I read, it was more just for entertainment... But Your Article About Sin City and Ari and his Family is so very much true... It's just to bad that more wasn't said about the family... And how much they really steal... Or the Truth about there son Orin and how he should locked up for all the crap and sexual harassment that he says to the Female workers...The company should be worried about the Sexual Harassment Charges that may be brought on because of him and the way there family treats the employees... These are all bad people and it is very much true...THAT EVERYONE HATES THEM... They Lie, cheat, steal, harass, and that's everyday and all before lunch... I hope someday the right people (they no who they are) put an end to this family as being apart of Sin City.... From..someone inside"

I've got a bunch of sources on this Sin City controversy.

MMM, a source near Sin City, says: "Mark Snyder and Michael Raven hate Ari. Mark and Michael wanted to rent the old Sin City building when Rob Spallone vacated. And take their whole operation over there. They want to get out from underneath Ari and do their own thing. David squashed that idea. It's really true how much they hate Ari."

Luke: "It seems that Ari has many enemies?"

MMM: "It's because he's got that Israeli disease. Every time his lips move, he lies."

Sources tell Luke that the reason that Sin City has been a mess for years is that its owner David Sturman employs friends who aren't competent. One much criticized member of Sin City is the duplicator Ari Ovadia, who is blamed by many for driving down prices in porn in the mid '80s with his Israeli cut-throat methods.

Other Israelis contributed to the drop of porn video prices in the 1980s, including Danny Mimain (who took over Caballero), Yosef and Rita Shemesh at Factory Home Video aka Sunshine Home Video, and Ariel, a salesman for David Sturman's GVA West.

Ari is essentially Sin City's General Manager, though the true power at the company has long been thought to belong to Art Director Mark Snyder.

When David Sturman started Sin City in 1989, he wanted the best artist around. Sturman thought the Western Visual boxes were the best back then, and Snyder designed them. Sturman hired Snyder, and Sin City earned many nominations by AVN for Best Box Cover. Snyder also become one of David's best friends. When David spent two years in prison (1992-93), Mark Snyder was a rare porner to visit him regularly. Mark let David's wife cry on his shoulder and Mark helped her run David's extensive businesses.

Unfortunately for Sin City, many artistic persons like Snyder do not have what it takes in a business sense. So David has had to resume control of Sin City's business operations.

But Sturman's still an absentee owner, living in San Francisco while Sin City resides in Chatsworth.

Though undoubtedly talented as an Art Director, Snyder still releases (like the rest of his peers) numerous boxes with misspellings and inaccurate information.

"This whole idea that Sin City is in a mess is a misnomer," claims a Sin City insider. "We have one of the strongest new release numbers [though sources tell Luke that SC only sells 1300-1800 pieces per new release], we sell all our releases to domestic satellite, and our international sales are the best ever. With over $5MIL in sales annually, the company does well in spite of its absentee ownership."

According to rumors, Ari the duplicator secured his position at Sin City by refusing to testify in the early 1990s against Reuben Sturman, David's father. But a well-places source tells Luke: "David's duplication arrangement with Ari has nothing whatsoever to do with his past relationship with Reuben. To the best of my knowledge, there was never any time Ari was ever called to testify against Reuben. Ari, in effect, is the general manager of Sin City, and he works cheap, David pay him nothing for it. Ari, like Mark Snyder, is a great person.

"Like his dad, David is a deeply loyal person to people who show him loyalty. That's why David overlooks some harmless mistakes and concentrates on the bigger picture. I will let you know a secret about David Sturman. One of the main reasons he started and continue to operate SCV, is the creative satisfaction he gets from the development of the product, from input on all art (e-mailed to him daily) to plot selections. And what a great excuse to write off trips to Cannes and Milan."

• Chuck Martino, Farrah at CES 01/00
  
  
• Chuck Martino, Farrah
  
  
• Chuck, Farrah
  

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  Shay Sweet and Chuck Martino
  
  
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  Shay Sweet and Chuck Martino