157 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
157 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
---
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aliases:
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- Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig
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- Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig
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- Male Chauvinist Pig (film)
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category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
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tags:
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- Film
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- Pornography
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- RCHorsch
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- Philadelphia
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- OrganizedCrime
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- SamTheBarber
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- MatureFilms
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summary: "1973 pornographic feature shot in Philadelphia by Ray Hoersch, later R.C. Horsch, and John Butterworth, which Horsch said was financed by the Philadelphia bar owner Salvatore La Russa."
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location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
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relations:
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[R.C. Horsch]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "writer and director"
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start: 1973
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fn: 1
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[John Butterworth]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "co-director"
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start: 1973
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fn: 1
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Georgina Spelvin]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "performer"
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start: 1973
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fn: 1
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Tina Russell]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "performer"
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start: 1973
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fn: 1
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Darby Lloyd Rains]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "performer"
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start: 1973
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fn: 1
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- type: funded
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with: "[[Salvatore La Russa]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "financier, per Horsch's 2026 account"
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start: 1973
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fn: 2
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Sam Lake]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "distributor, per Horsch's 2026 account"
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start: 1973
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fn: 12
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Robert Sumner]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "distributor, Mature Films, per Take One"
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start: 1973
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fn: 13
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Mature Pictures]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "distributor"
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start: 1973
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fn: 13
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- type: participant_in
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with: "[[Helen Madigan]]"
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reverse: true
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role: "performer"
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start: 1973
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fn: 1
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created: 2026-09-23
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updated: 2026-10-15
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---
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*The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig* is a pornographic feature shot in [[Philadelphia]] in February 1973 by Ray Hoersch, later known as [[R.C. Horsch]], and [[John Butterworth]], whom Horsch described as a news cameraman for [[KYW-TV]]. It featured the New York performers [[Georgina Spelvin]], [[Tina Russell]], [[Darby Lloyd Rains]], and [[Helen Madigan]] and depicts rape, bondage, urination, and sex with a character presented as a schoolgirl.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
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### Production
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Horsch said that the project began as an idea rather than a script. "It was more like, look at us, we're making a movie than the actual content of the movie."[^2] He said the budget was "just a little over $20,000," and that 60 to 70 percent of it came from [[Salvatore La Russa|Salvatore "Sam the Barber" La Russa]], who ran the [[Bag of Nails]] bar at 13th and Locust Streets. In Horsch's account, La Russa put up "some extra money that he had laying around in a shoebox behind the bar. We're talking about organized crime."[^2] The podcast's 2013 introduction said the film was "funded by Sam the Barbarossa of the Philly Mob."[^1]
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Horsch said the camera was a 16-millimeter Eclair, that the negative went to New York for processing, and that "There was not a color lab in Philadelphia at the time."[^5] An April 1, 1971 classified advertisement in *The Distant Drummer*, a Philadelphia underground newspaper, sought "ACTRESS WANTED for work in conjunction with [[American Film Institute]] project" and gave the contact as "Ray Hoersch, Filmmakers of America."[^6] Horsch said the film was "almost made up as we went along." The schoolgirl character came late in the shoot: "Tina Russell became available and, gee, what can we do with her?"[^7] The film's website commentary lists the cast as including Paul Taylor as the lead, "Barney," and an actress billed as Any Mathieu or Any Hunter.[^8]
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In a 2013 interview Horsch said that he made [[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]] with the proceeds of this film and "a couple of the other films": "I took the money I made from Erotic Memoirs and a couple of the other films, and I made this unfortunate Black Mass film." He said that the film lost its money and left him in a deep depression.[^9]
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### Locations
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Horsch's 2026 account places the emergency room scene at "the emergency room at the [[Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania|University of Pennsylvania hospital]] on a Sunday evening," shot under permission "to film a little scene from a student film."[^4] The website commentary instead gives the scene as the "actual [[Hahnemann University Hospital|Hahnemann Hospital]] emergency waiting room." The same page says the principal location was "the Chestnut Hill home of a local Assistant District Attorney," and adds the "infamous Locust Street 'Bag of Nails' go-go bar" and "a vintage [[SEPTA]] trolley" as further locations.[^8]
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### Premiere
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Horsch said that the premiere was at the [[1812 Theater]] on Chestnut Street, which he called "a mainstream theater," and that his girlfriend at the time was "the wife of one of the district attorneys," at whose house the film was shot. He said that "all kinds of people from the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]] came" to the premiere, under a searchlight outside. He said the audience "kind of loved it" and "accepted it as a comedy."[^10] The *Inquirer* gives the premiere year as 1973 and the theater as the 1812 Theater on Chestnut Street.[^3] The website says the premiere was "attended by many city dignitaries who gave it an actual standing ovation."[^8]
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Horsch said that in adult theaters the film was "never really accepted as a comedy," and "never accepted as a porn film." He said that [[Al Goldstein]] reviewed it in [[Screw (magazine)|Screw]] and that "the sex in male chauvinist pig is disgusting."[^11] The website commentary attributes the same review to *Penthouse*.[^8]
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### Distribution
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Horsch said that the film was made "without any thought whatsoever concerning distribution," and that theater chains were "controlled by certain political groups." He said the contact with [[Sam Lake]] "was arranged through the mafia in Philadelphia, through Sam the barber," and that the film was "Sold to Sam for exactly $50,000."[^12] He said that Lake "was always complaining that it didn't make any money," and that "Sam ended up making four or five million dollars from the film," adding "I don't know how true it was or not."[^12] The website commentary says the film was "Distributed by the legendary Sam Lake (Mature Pictures, Inc.)" and that it "achieved #38 in the nationwide Billboard" chart, where Horsch's 2026 account gives number 42.[^8][^12]
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The trade magazine [[Take One]] reported in the spring of 1973 that "Bob Sumner's Mature Films in New York followed up Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig (starring Ms. Spelvin) with High Rise."[^13] In the same March-April 1973 article, John Morthland wrote that pornography "operates on the fringes of legality, and that area has always been ripe for organized crime, which started calling on various exhibitors around the country to offer 'protection' within a couple of weeks" of the Supreme Court's obscenity ruling, and named "the Mitchells, Mature Films, etc." among "the few who are in the business in a highly visible way."[^14] The *[[Boxoffice (magazine)|Boxoffice]]* booking guide of February 1974 listed "Erotic Memoirs/Male Chauvinist Pig," a sex drama of 75 minutes, from the distributor Mature, with a date of October 15, 1973.[^15]
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### Mature Pictures
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The media historian [[Peter Alilunas]] describes [[Robert Sumner]] as the president of Mature Pictures in New York, who premiered *[[Deep Throat (film)|Deep Throat]]* at the [[World Theater]] in 1972 and in spring 1977 put the company's library on videotape under the Quality X label, with the first thirty cassettes sold at the East World Theater. By October 1978, Alilunas writes, [[Arthur Morowitz]]'s Sweetheart's Home Video Center stores carried Quality X tapes from Sumner, and in 1979 Mature Pictures released [[Gerard Damiano]]'s *People* and *Misbehavin'* to theaters and on video at once. In a note drawn from the cinematographer [[Larry Revene]], Alilunas places Sam Lake "at Mature Pictures" with Sumner as producer, and links Lake to [[Howard Farber]] and Morowitz's [[Distribpix]].[^16]
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The New York registry lists a domestic business corporation named Mature Pictures, Inc. as inactive, with the alternate name Mature Pictures Incorporated and the status "Dissolution By Proclamation / Annulment Of Authority" and a registered address in care of the law firm Kassner & Detsky at 350 Fifth Avenue.[^17] In *Walt Disney Productions v. Mature Pictures Corp.* (Southern District of New York, No. 75 Civ. 394, decided February 14, 1975), Judge Kevin Thomas Duffy granted [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Productions]] and the Walt Disney Music Company a preliminary injunction over the use of the "Mickey Mouse March" in a film titled *The Life and Times of the Happy Hooker* or *The Life and Times of Xaviera*. Kassner & Detsky, by Seymour S. Detsky, appeared for the defendants Mature Pictures Corp. and Robert Sumner.[^18]
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Deep Throat opened on June 12, 1972 at the New Mature World Theater, which was owned by [[Mature Enterprises]], a New York company charged in August 1972 with promoting obscene material; its trial began in December 1972, and Judge [[Joel J. Tyler]] fined it 100,000 dollars, later reduced on appeal.[^19] The match between Mature Enterprises and the later Mature Pictures rests on the shared name and the shared trade.
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### Salvatore La Russa
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The Inquirer's 2026 coverage describes La Russa as a "Philly tavern owner and mob associate" and says he "helped Raymond produce The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig." A second article of August 4, 2026 describes him as a nightclub owner and friend of [[Nicodemo Scarfo]] and says the film "was financed by" him.[^3][^20] La Russa died of a heart attack in 1996.[^20][^21][^22] The Philadelphia Daily News obituary of August 20, 1996 says that he began opening "bust-out bars" in the early 1960s in the red-light district of 13th and Locust Streets, among them the Phone Booth, the [[HMS Pinafore]] and the [[ZuZu Club]], and that his dozen after-hours clubs and bars led to several arrests for liquor-code violations. It describes him as having opened clubs at 13th and Locust in the 1960s and on South Street in the 1970s. The Inquirer obituary of August 21, 1996 says that on one occasion Scarfo used La Russa's house in [[Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania|Whitemarsh]] for a mob initiation ceremony.[^21][^22]
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A 1974 report by the [[Pennsylvania Crime Commission]] on police corruption in Philadelphia described an officer who passed word of an anticipated raid to La Russa, the owner of the Sugar Shack, which was not raided.[^23] The same report describes La Russa as the manager of the [[Why Not Lounge]], owned by [[Irvin Goltzer]], and says that La Russa "also negotiated the payoffs" to uniformed officers. It quotes La Russa advising Goltzer to pay, or "they will bust the joint."[^24] In a recorded conversation, an officer told Goltzer, "I always understood that Sam the Barber [LaRussa] ran the place," and Goltzer replied, "He works for me."[^25] In another passage the officer said, "I took a couple of Sammy the Barber's joints. I took the Bag O'Nails."[^26] The report also describes a month in which Goltzer and La Russa ran the Brass Monkey, a former bust-out operation at 1227 Walnut Street, at the request of its owner.[^27]
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The Crime Commission's 1990 report on organized crime lists La Russa with prior arrests for liquor law violations at "bust-out bars" he operated around 13th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia.[^28]
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### Later references
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The Inquirer's coverage of August 2, 2026 reproduces an advertisement from a 1974 edition of the paper for a screening of the film.[^3] The same coverage reports that investigators examining the 2026 missing-women inquiry at [[Olney, Philadelphia|Olney]] were reviewing Horsch's films and novels for clues.[^3]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: West, Ashley. "Ray Horsch: Sociopathic Villain," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 27, December 15, 2013, introduction at 00:29 to 01:33 (audio preserved in a Wayback Machine capture of March 31, 2019). https://web.archive.org/web/20190331064614/http://traffic.libsyn.com/therialtoreport/27_Rialto_Report_027_-_Ray_Horsch__Sociopathic_Villain.mp3 Text archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20260520094947/https://www.therialtoreport.com/2013/12/15/ray-horsch/
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[^2]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio transcript at 20:01 to 21:07 (republishing interviews recorded in 2013). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^3]: "How a pornographer's violent fantasies blurred fact and fiction as cops searched Olney house for missing women," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 2, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-philadelphia-missing-women-history-20260802.html
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[^4]: West, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2," audio transcript at 23:50 to 24:31 (emergency room scene and the film's contents). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^5]: West, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2," audio transcript at 21:15 to 21:42 (camera and processing). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^6]: Classified advertisement, "Jobs," *The Distant Drummer* (Thursday's Drummer), no. 131, April 1, 1971. Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p16002coll34/id/2597
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[^7]: West, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2," audio transcript at 22:52 to 23:38 (making the film and casting the schoolgirl role). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^8]: "Commentary: Male Chauvinist Pig" and "Art Beat" interview of 1997, eroto.com, archived November 5, 2016. Horsch's own website; the credits, locations, reviewer and chart figure are his claims. http://web.archive.org/web/20161105022433/http://eroto.com:80/commentary/64-mcp-commentary
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[^9]: West, Ashley. "Ray Horsch: Sociopathic Villain," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 27, December 15, 2013, audio at 46:22 to 46:45 (audio preserved in a Wayback Machine capture of March 31, 2019). https://web.archive.org/web/20190331064614/http://traffic.libsyn.com/therialtoreport/27_Rialto_Report_027_-_Ray_Horsch__Sociopathic_Villain.mp3
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[^10]: West, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2," audio transcript at 24:55 to 25:27 (premiere, the girlfriend's husband, and the district attorney's office). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^11]: West, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2," audio transcript at 25:27 to 26:40 (audience reaction and the Goldstein review, as Horsch recalled it). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^12]: West, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2," audio transcript at 28:35 to 29:49 (distribution, sale price, chart position and receipts, as Horsch recalled them; his account of Lake's earnings is marked by him as uncertain). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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[^13]: Morthland, John. "Porn Films: An In-Depth Report," *Take One,* vol. 3, no. 6 (March-April 1973), p. 16. https://archive.org/details/take-one-1973-03
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[^14]: Morthland, "Porn Films: An In-Depth Report," *Take One,* vol. 3, no. 6 (March-April 1973), p. 17. https://archive.org/details/take-one-1973-03
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[^15]: "Boxoffice Bookinguide," *Boxoffice* (Canadian edition), February 4, 1974, entry "Erotic Memoirs/Male Chauvinist Pig" (running time 75 minutes, distributor "Mature," date 10-15-73). https://archive.org/details/boxoffice-canadian-1974-02-04
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[^16]: Alilunas, Peter. *Smutty Little Movies: The Creation and Regulation of Adult Video* (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016), pp. 74, 75 and 77, and p. 255 n. 77 (note citing Alilunas's email correspondence with Larry Revene, December 26, 2012).
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[^17]: "MATURE PICTURES, INC.," New York (US) entity no. 248644, domestic business corporation, status "Inactive," "Dissolution By Proclamation / Annulment Of Authority," previously known as "MATURE PICTURES INCORPORATED," registered address "%KASSNER & DETSKY, 350 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK." OpenCorporates. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ny/248644
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[^18]: *Walt Disney Productions v. Mature Pictures Corp.*, 389 F. Supp. 1397 (S.D.N.Y. 1975) (No. 75 Civ. 394, Duffy, J., February 14, 1975; counsel Kassner & Detsky, Seymour S. Detsky, for defendants Mature Pictures Corp. and Robert Sumner). https://static.case.law/f-supp/389/cases/1397-01.json
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[^19]: Boston Globe, obituary of Judge Joel J. Tyler, January 16, 2012. The obituary reports the opening of Deep Throat at the New Mature World Theater on June 12, 1972, charges filed in August 1972 against Mature Enterprises for promotion of obscene material, the company's ownership of the theater, a trial beginning in December 1972, and a fine of 100,000 dollars later reduced on appeal. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2012/01/16/joel-tyler-judge-deep-throat-case/hbiQ0keQ0VW0y26CY035SL/story.html
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[^20]: "Five takeaways from Philly missing women mystery connected to Raymond and Eugene Horsch," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 4, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-missing-women-20260804.html
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[^21]: Caparella, Kitty. "Heart Attack Claims 'Sam The Barber'," *Philadelphia Daily News,* August 20, 1996 (Wayback copy). https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-20/news/25645508_1_heart-transplant-heart-attack-mob
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[^22]: Anastasia, George. "Salvatore Larussa, 58, Friend Of Mob Figures," *Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 21, 1996 (Wayback copy). https://web.archive.org/web/20150928205738id_/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-21/news/25645305_1_nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-grand-jury-mob-activities
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[^23]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), p. 108 (officer's conversation with Goltzer about an anticipated raid on liquor establishments serving minors). https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
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[^24]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), pp. 112-113 (La Russa as Goltzer's manager, p. 112; "also negotiated the payoffs" and "they will bust the joint," p. 113). https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
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[^25]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), p. 114 (taped conversation between Goltzer and an officer, quoted in the report). https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
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[^26]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), p. 117 (officer's account of earlier payments). https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
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[^27]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), p. 124 (the Brass Monkey, run as a bust-out by Irvin Goltzer and Sam LaRussa). https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
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[^28]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Change, 1990 Report* (1991), p. 159 (entry for Salvatore LaRussa, also known as "Sam the Barber"). https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf
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