Eric Stanton, aka Ernest Stanten, aka Ernest Stanzoni, aka Stan.... Or, In the Beginning, When Mr. Eric Stanton Met Mr. Irving Klaw....

Purchase PERMANENT OBSCURITY now from Amazon

¤*.¸¸.·´¨`°*» For more visit: PermanentObscurity.Com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 
Eric Stanton!                Irving Klaw!

Also featuring mention of:


John Coutts (John Willie)


Steve Ditko

 
Bettie Page 

In the world of cult fame, Eric Stanton holds a unique position. For years his artwork has been enjoyed around the globe, appreciated by millions, yet few will admit to knowing his work publicly, fewer still will even admit to knowing his name. Such is the fate of a fetish artist.

If ever there was a creative individual from the sexploitation era that engaged me, it would be him. In some ways, I've adopted him, projected on to him, made him a central focus of my sexploitation era investigations. I see him both as a survivor, an outsider artist worthy of praise, and maybe something of a misfit (which may account for some of my affection for him). But there's no question in my mind that he's an icon and that he remains to this day one of the most pirated underground artists in the world.

Biographical facts about his life are often contradictory and murky; and sometimes he would contribute to this misinformation personally. There's even some question of his real name: was he born “Ernest Stanzoni” as claimed in the huge Eric Kroll coffee table book? Or is his birth name “Ernest Stanten,” as claimed by Belier publisher and personal friend and associate, J.B. Rund?

Most of what I know about the sexploitation era and the subgenre of what was then labeled “bizarre,” which today would be assigned fetish culture or kink, I've learned through tracking Stanton. He remains, in some strange way, a central figure for me (my own personal Dante) whose life intersected with other curious characters of the day, artists and business people, gangsters and hacks ... shadowy and mythologized figures I've come to admire and who I never grow tired of hearing about: Irving Klaw, Bettie Page, Gene Bilbrew, Lenny Burtman, Eddie Mishkin, Stanley Malkin.... And then, of course, there's Steve Ditko, Spider-Man co-creator and Stanton's friend-as well as his studio mate of 10 years.

When it comes to the sexploitation era, there are so many unverifiable facts. Eric Stanton lived and operated in a subterranean culture where few people kept records and everyone operated under a multitude of aliases. This was the sexploitation era preceding XXX; a time when any association with “porn” could get you arrested. And most of the characters involved were arrested and brought to trial—often repeatedly: Irving Klaw, Lenny Burtman, Eddie Mishkin, Stanley Malkin.... In this period, operations connected with producing this sort of “smut” were tracked by government agencies, Postal Inspectors (who acted as censors, with strong ties to the local police), even the Catholic church (hugely influential then); and these publisher/distributors were raided. Irving Klaw's Nutrix warehouse, Lenny Burtman's Exotique editorial office, Stanley Malkin's Queen's warehouse, virtually anything connected to Eddie Mishkin was under surveillance and sooner or later put under wraps—at least temporarily. Even the working studio shared by Steve Ditko and Eric Stanton was subjected to a police raid with all the materials confiscated and much of it destroyed.

Eric Stanton was born and raised in Brooklyn, the child of Russian immigrants. The true direction of his life took shape when he wrote to Irving Klaw—then an underground publisher and distributor of kink material—and boasted to Klaw that he could "do better," meaning better than the fighting girl episodes he had purchased via his mail order business. Invited to show what he could do, Stanton contributed his own sexy catfight illustrations, which although primitive Klaw bought and later sold, taking on the young man at his legitimate shop, Movie Star News.

Irving Klaw established Movie Star News largely to sell movie star photos and Hollywood ephemera, but following 1947, on the suggestion of a customer, he entered the fetish trade, building his catalog with anything he could get his hands on: customer/practitioner's contributions produced outside or inside his store (where he would set up monthly bondage shoots), European acquired kink material originally sold by Charles Guyette (a local merchant and his predecessor in the kink trade) and illustrations, photographs and art by John Coutts, aka John Willie.

In 1949, Klaw would also start producing underground fetish-oriented films, in addition to commissioning illustrated kink-pulp stories (bondage serials). Eric Stanton would contribute where he could, starting in 1948 (by some accounts) or 1949 (by others).

Although Eric Stanton's first work for Klaw seems to be “fighting girl” episodes, his first bondage serial contribution appears to be the latter half of "Poor Pamela" (the first 5 pages or episodes produced by another artist [as per publisher J.B. Rund]).

(Reproduced in BIZARRE COMIX, vol. 3, the 1970s)

Two notable works from the Irving Klaw 1950's period produced by Eric Stanton—true masterpieces of fetish art—were:

“Bondage Enthusiasts Bound In Leather,” book 1& 2
Reproduced by Belier Press from surviving photo prints.

“Pleasure Bound,” Books 1 & 2
Reproduced by Belier Press from surviving photo prints.

In the early 1960s, after he moved his kinkster base of operations from New York to New Jersey, Irving Klaw would publish different versions of these same serials under his Nutrix imprint. Unlike the bondage serials sold as loose single page episodes printed on photographic paper, these 5 x 7" versions, featuring cropped and edited versions of the original illustrated serials, were bound (stapled) and sold for the first time as “books” or illustrated novellas. Distribution was via mail order and through adult bookshops (like those owned by other Stanton employers, Stanley Malkin and Eddie Mishkin, along Times Square).

“Bondage Enthusiasts Bound In Leather,” v. 3



“Bondage Enthusiasts Bound In Leather,” v. 4






“Pleasure Bound,” Book 1, Vol. 1





“Pleasure Bound,” Book 1, Vol. 2





Detail: Original Nutrix Bulletin (advertisement issue #53)







Original Klaw Nutrix Bulletin (featuring “Cruel Duchess” ad)

While it appears that Eric Stanton generally stopped working for Movie Star News after Klaw moved his fetish-oriented operations to New Jersey—during which time Eric Stanton disastrously took a “straight job” as a parts clerk of Pan-American Airlines (apparently to please his wife)—evidence shows that he contributed to Klaw's imprint after 1960 with a series of booklets offering new art. So not all Nutrix booklets featuring Eric Stanton material are recycled from older serials.

(This is a hand-copied version of one of Klaw's post 1960 Stanton booklets—purchased directly through Stanton's “Archives” mail order business. When Eric ran out of genuine material, he would personally reproduce it on his in-house xerox machine. The letter symbol in the upper corner—“V”—is a catalog marking [his Conneticut POB address stamped inside].)

Detail: Original Nutrix Bulletin (advertisement issue #30)

“Vacation In Fetterland,” Vol. 1,
just another of Klaw's many Nutrix booklets



(All part of my personal Eric Stanton collection.)

Thanks, Eric!

© 2011 Richard Perez

---

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did you enjoy this blog?

Support this author by purchasing his work: here.



“Richard Perez has the ears of the angels—lend him yours.”
—Barry Gifford, author: WILD AT HEART, PERDITA DURANGO


“Perez's is an exciting talent and his work goes far beyond most of what is published today.”
—Henry Flesh, author: MICHAEL and the Lambda Literary Award-winner,
MASSAGE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yours at --------> AMAZON!

PERMANENT OBSCURITY: Or a Cautionary Tale of Two Girls and Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death by Dolores Santana (as told to Richard Perez)

IS THIS NOVEL RIGHT FOR YOU?

~ Visit:  PermanentObscurity.com

PERMANENT OBSCURITY: what is it?

Buy now Worldwide >> PERMANENT OBSCURITY available here

Permanent Obscurity:  Or A Cautionary Tale
Of Two Girls
And Their Misadventures
With Drugs, Pornography
And Death

by
Dolores Santana
(as told to Richard Perez)

***********************************

Serena Moon ... and The Fine Art of Face-sitting

Purchase PERMANENT OBSCURITY now from Amazon

¤*.¸¸.·´¨`°*» For more visit: PermanentObscurity.Com

Share |

Face-sitting of course is heavily referenced in the artwork of Eric Stanton. In some ways it's a staple of female domination scenarios, because what could be more humiliating or shameful as a man than to be conquered and subdued in that way? What could be a more clear display of subjugation than that? Kissing a woman's feet is sinking pretty low on the scale of surrender, pretty much an acknowledgment of abject slavery and a complete renunciation of pride. But then finding yourself below her ass, conveniently used as a seat cushion is really pushing the boundary forward a notch.

When it comes to being "topped," it's about as topped as you can get. Being her bottom, in her bottom is almost overstating the case. You've gone way beyond ass-kissing to form a whole new communion.

Yeah, it's vulgar, I know. And I don't need to mention that when it comes to face-sitting there's a certain degree of shock value, some crass humor involved. Not to mention that the act has a subversive quality, which seems to go contrary to standard feminine behavior. In fact, face-sitting may be the most unladylike practice I can think of. 

In my private life, I have to admit, I don't like it much. I mean, having a naked butt on my face: getting intimate with her a-hole. (Much as I wish that weren't true.) Aside from the weight of it being too heavy for comfort, a stinky butt is a stinky butt, whether it belongs to your girlfriend or wife or Rachel Welch in her prime. But to this day there remains something startling, even jarring, about the imagery connected with facesitting.

Or maybe that's just a typical guy's view (with a guy's inbred terror of having his masculinity squashed). I mean, the thought of a subjugated male allowing himself to be sat on—his face wedged deep where the sun don't shine ... there's something about the very idea that stops me cold, carries with it a trace of boyhood fear.

Face-sitting of course is an important pychosexual element in PERMANENT OBSCURITY, particularly as it comes from someone in the story named Serena Moon. "Obscurity" as in: "It's dark with my face wedged up here!" "Permanent" as in being butt-snuffed, which is where things lead ... if it's where you wanna go ....

---

Thanks, Eric!

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did you enjoy this blog?

Support this author by purchasing his work: here.



“Richard Perez has the ears of the angels—lend him yours.”
—Barry Gifford, author: WILD AT HEART, PERDITA DURANGO


“Perez's is an exciting talent and his work goes far beyond most of what is published today.”
—Henry Flesh, author: MICHAEL and the Lambda Literary Award-winner,
MASSAGE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yours at --------> AMAZON!

PERMANENT OBSCURITY: Or a Cautionary Tale of Two Girls and Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death by Dolores Santana (as told to Richard Perez)

IS THIS NOVEL RIGHT FOR YOU?

~ Visit:  PermanentObscurity.com

PERMANENT OBSCURITY: what is it?

Buy now Worldwide >> PERMANENT OBSCURITY available here

Permanent Obscurity:  Or A Cautionary Tale
Of Two Girls
And Their Misadventures
With Drugs, Pornography
And Death

by
Dolores Santana
(as told to Richard Perez)

***********************************

Russ Meyer, All American Outsider & Padre of Sexploitation Cinema!

Purchase PERMANENT OBSCURITY now from Amazon

¤*.¸¸.·´¨`°*» For more visit: PermanentObscurity.Com 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Russ Meyer, you gotta love him. When you're talking about true outsider artists or demented "auteurs" in American film culture, he's near the top. No question about it. This is because he not only directed movies his own way, he also cast, produced, shot, edited and distributed them (and to this day his family still owns all the film rights)! Maybe the only person in film history you can compare him to—in terms of complete ownership and control and productive individualism—is John Cassavetes.

Russ Meyer, of course, was a sexploitation filmmaker. That was his medium—and how he chose to express his creativity. So his films are always deeply rooted in sexuality—some might say twisted sexuality (as if there might be any other kind) -- the battle between the sexes, issues of masculinity—or the lack of it (as in Lorna, Common Law Cabin, even Beyond the Valley of the Dolls). Often dissatisfied, uncontrollable, if not overbearing, women were at the center of some disruption. The male terror of being ineffectual, upended, cuckolded, and shamed often loomed large. In Russ Meyer films, amply endowed (and often over-sexualized) actresses were cast as the stars. The men—regardless of how large they were, or how hard they tried assert their manhood—always seemed to be diminished, to be rendered helpless in the presence of these haughty, intimidating females.

His first success, The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959), launched a subculture—a sexploitation subgenre—"nudie-cuties." And soon other filmmakers and producers would join in, contributing their own variations (while also cashing in), including Hershel Gordon Lewis, David F. Friedman, and Doris Wishman. Sexploitation cinema would find its strongest auteur in Russ Meyer, whose films were always gorgeously shot and energetically (some might say kinetically) edited. As artifacts of cinematography his films could be appreciated as museum-worthy art—and his films have had retrospectives at institutions like M.O.M.A. in New York City.

Nearly all of his films were self-produced and self-financed. This is important in understanding the creative bubble that Russ Meyer lived in and the eccentricity of his work. He was an outsider and operated far from mainstream Hollywood and the European art film leanings of NYC. After the success of The Immoral Mr. Teas (which was shot for 24K and would gross over 150K), he was able to bankroll his own projects with little outside interference.

Now was this a blessing or a curse, artistically? Some might suggest that living in a state where no one challenges creative decisions is not always the optimal situation. Great artistry, it might be argued, often emerges through give and take, through conflict and creative friction —sometimes even from negotiating compromise. A strong independent producer—just like a committed book editor—can help in contributing a fresh, outside perspective in shaping and defining a project—allowing for a work of narrative art to be the truest manifestation of itself. The fantasy of a lone, inspired genius taking dictation from God, producing fully mature and polished first drafts—is mostly that: a fantasy.

 Russ Meyer's narratives are not always the most linear and coherent. Even he was honest enough to admit to that. Writing and structure were not his strong suit. And he often employed a number of screenwriters to contribute to his films while he busied himself with the look of the movie. The most famous of these writers, of course, was tabloid film critic, Roger Ebert.

 

Ebert (often using a pseudonym, so as not be associated with films that were rated X) and Meyer would actually work on four of his most over-the-top projects—each more progressively demented—Beyond The Valley of The Dolls (1970), Up! (1976), Who Killed Bambi? (1977; never completed), and Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979).

In his life, Russ Meyer had the opportunity to produce two studio films (both for 20th Century Fox), which included Beyond The Valley of The Dolls and the rarely seen The Seven Minutes (1971). After that he was no longer welcome by studio heads who openly disparaged their association with Meyer, this pornographer-cum-pervert (while, of course, perfectly happy to collect any cash he made for the studio.)

Was Russ Meyer a pervert? He would admit to such in an interview with John Waters, saying it was "easier" just to answer yes to that question. Was Russ Meyer a pornographer? Not by post-'70s sex film standards: he never made a true porno.

The era of commercially viable "sexploitation" came to a close after the first real XXX feature appeared in 1971 with Howard Ziehm's Mona. The final nail in the coffin for '60s-style sexploitation was the surreal success of Deep Throat, which signaled in the "porn chic" era. And while many sexploitation filmmakers—including Radley Metzger, Doris Wishman, Roberta Findlay—slid into hardcore, Russ Meyer resisted, even though he could've made huge money. In some ways—much like other sexploitation figures of his day, most notable fetish artist Eric Stanton—he was a product of a different time, emerging from the era of burlesque, where larger-than-life voluptuous women and the "tease"—as well as the unspoken "promise" of sexual pleasures to come—played a big part.

  
Also of Interest: 
Bad Girl Cinema!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did you enjoy this blog?

Support this author by purchasing his work: here.



“Richard Perez has the ears of the angels—lend him yours.”
—Barry Gifford, author: WILD AT HEART, PERDITA DURANGO


“Perez's is an exciting talent and his work goes far beyond most of what is published today.”
—Henry Flesh, author: MICHAEL and the Lambda Literary Award-winner,
MASSAGE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yours at --------> AMAZON!

PERMANENT OBSCURITY: Or a Cautionary Tale of Two Girls and Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death by Dolores Santana (as told to Richard Perez)

IS THIS NOVEL RIGHT FOR YOU?

~ Visit:  PermanentObscurity.com

PERMANENT OBSCURITY: what is it?

Buy now Worldwide >> PERMANENT OBSCURITY available here

Permanent Obscurity:  Or A Cautionary Tale

Of Two Girls

And Their Misadventures

With Drugs, Pornography

And Death

by

Dolores Santana

(as told to Richard Perez)

***********************************