Dr Infinity had one of the shortest careers in the golden age of adult film. In fact you could probably measure it in seconds as he appeared briefly in only a handful of films.
Ah, but what a career! Dr Infinity could blow his own bugle, kiss his clarinet, and honk his own horn. In short, he could blow himself. Who was Dr Infinity? Where did he come from, and where did he go? What kind of person would do this? And why?
We went in search of answers fearing the worst, but instead uncovered tales of Salvador Dali, Harvard University, the Gutenberg Bible, live sex shows, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and much more.
The Rialto Report: The Biggest Stories about the Biggest Stars. Except for this week.
Dr Infinity on film
About half way through the film ‘Every Inch A Lady’ (1975), something strange happens. Even by the standards of a New York adult film.
The movie was the first big budget hardcore film shot by the Amero brothers, John and Lem. But if their trade was porn films, their real passion was MGM musicals – and their films reflected this love. (They marketed their next film, ‘Blonde Ambition’ (1981), with the tagline ‘If you liked ‘Deep Throat’ and ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, you’re gonna love ‘Blonde Ambition’). When you saw an Amero Brothers film, you didn’t expect to see the bizarre.
In this scene, a slim man in his mid 20s is introduced as ‘Joe Blow’. He is shown into the office of a madame, Crystal Laverne (played by Darby Lloyd Raines), but after tiring of waiting for her to finish her phone call, he takes the matter into his own hands. Quite literally as it turns out.
He strips naked, climbs on top of a table, lies on his back, flips his legs in the air, and proceeds to play the pink bassoon until he ejaculates. Did I mention he also inserts a cucumber in his behind whilst doing this?
Crystal stares in shock, whilst her swishy assistant Charlie (played by Kurt Mann) watches in disbelief – before declaring: “Now that’s entertainment!”
Years before Ron Jeremy schtupped his own schlong, this was the first screen appearance of Dr. Infinity.
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The Gutenberg Bible theft
Six years earlier, on the evening of August 19, 1969, Harvard University’s Widener Library was being closed for the night. Security was supposed to be watertight as the library was home to Harvard’s copy of one of only 47 Gutenberg Bibles known to be in existence. The Bible was insured for $1 million but was widely considered irreplaceable.
On this evening, a wiry, dark twenty year old secreted himself in a men’s room on the top floor of the library. After closing hours he stepped out of the window of the lavatory onto the roof of the Memorial Rooms at the center of the hollow square in the middle of Widener. He took a rope from his knapsack, lowered himself to a window, broke it, entered, smashed the case containing the Bible, put the treasure in his knapsack, went back out the window, and attempted to climb up his knotted rope back to the roof.
The New York Times’ diagram of the attempted burglary
First problem: he’d failed to reckon that the two-volume Bible, massively bound, weighed over 70 pounds, so he couldn’t manage to climb up the rope with his laden knapsack.
Change of plan. Instead of climbing up, he would lower the rope to the courtyard, climb down it, and escape from there.
Second problem: Half way down, the wannabe cat burglar realized that his rope was way too short to reach the ground six floors below. He hung there for a couple of hours before the rope snapped, and he dropped several stories, landing on the priceless Bible.
Remarkably the Bible was virtually unscathed. The thief fared worse. He was unconscious, badly injured, and was later discovered by a janitor who heard moaning from the courtyard.
“Theft of a Gutenberg Bible Fails; Suspect Is Found”, New York Times, 21st August 1969
The Harvard police identified the suspect as Vido K. Aras of the Dorchester district. He was taken to Cambridge City Hospital, where he was reported to be in fair condition. Hospital officials declined to say whether he had regained consciousness.
The police charged Mr. Aras with breaking and entering and the possession of burglary tools. A crow bar was found beside him.
The future Dr. Infinity had made his first splash.
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The Making of a Man
If we’re to believe the Jesuit maxim “Give me a child for his first seven years and I’ll give you the man”, then what on God’s earth happened to Dr Infinity in his childhood that led to this?
Dr Infinity was born Vido Aras, in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1949 to Lithuanian parents. They moved to Montreal, Canada when he was a young boy, before ending up in Boston by the time of Vido’s tenth birthday.
Despite reasonable grades at school, he was a solitary kid and was always an outsider.
“Dr. Infinity – Guru of Self Abuse” by Mara Mills, National Screw, Issue 1, Volume 1 (1976)
“I started having relationships with women… emotional commitments and everything. But it wasn’t pleasing.
If I wanted to I could probably enjoy sex with other people… but I’m a sex object unto myself. More important, I’m a whole, complete human being, and pure in a way that most people can’t grasp”.
As a teen, Aras attended a Franciscan monastery for boys of Lithuanian descent, and whilst there he discovered self-pleasure.
“Dr. Infinity – Guru of Self Abuse” by Mara Mills, National Screw, Issue 1, Volume 1 (1976)
“I tried to suck myself off as a child, and managed by 15. I’m better than anyone I ever met at sucking my cock”.
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Crime and Punishment
Eight days after his arrest at the Widener Library, Aras appeared in court for the first time. His initial arraignment had been postponed from August 20, the date of the crime, to August 28 because of skull and femur fractures Aras had suffered in the 40-foot fall.
The court found Aras indigent and committed him to a state mental hospital for observation, setting a trial date for three months later.
“Dr. Infinity – Guru of Self Abuse” by Mara Mills, National Screw, Issue 1, Volume 1 (1976)
“(Whilst receiving treatment) I met this doctor who was leaving Harvard and disposing his books. I took them. He had a unique way of underlining things that were relevant… so it was easy to go through the books without having to read all the material. It gave me enough information to make judgments about my own situation… which supported my theories and helped me achieve an understanding which, I think, is unique”.
Aras’ trial started in December 1969 and received coverage in the national and local press.
“Suspected Thief of Harvard Bible”, Harvard Crimson, 1st December 1969
The trial of the suspect for the attempted theft of the Gutenberg Bible from Widener Library begins Wednesday in Third District Court.
Vido K. Aras, 20, a Dorchester man, is accused of trying to steal the Bible on August 20.
Aras is charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny and the possession of burglar tools. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
On the second day of his trial, Aras was deemed mentally incapable of understanding his actions. The trail was halted and Aras was not prosecuted any further.
“Charges Against Suspect in Bible Theft Dismissed”, Harvard Crimson, 4th December 1969
Charges against the man accused of attempting to steal the Gutenberg Bible from Widener Library August 20 were in effect dismissed yesterday by Judge Lawrence F. Feloney of East Cambridge District Court.
Feloney ruled that the defendant. Vido K. Aras was not legally responsible for his actions on August 20 because of mental illness. As a result the judge found no probable cause for the charges against him – which in effect dismissed the case.
The ruling meant that Aras lacked the mental capacity to commit the crime, John C. Cratsley, Aras’s lawyer, said yesterday. The law defines mental capacity as being able to tell right from wrong and being able to appreciate the consequences of one’s actions, he added.
Before the judge reached this decision, he was given a medical report that demonstrating that Aras had responded well to mental therapy. Aras assured the judge that he would return to the hospital as a voluntary patient to resume his mental therapy.
After the trial, Aras refused to talk with reporters, leaving mental confinement shortly after, and disappeared into thin air.
*
‘Every Inch A Lady’
By the time Vito Aras emerged in New York in 1973, he had a new purpose in life.
“Dr. Infinity – Guru of Self Abuse” by Mara Mills, National Screw, Issue 1, Volume 1 (1976)
“When you have an affair with another person, you lose your energy. Sucking your own cock allows yourself to utilize the energy yourself. It gives you life. It’s beautiful. I am much more biologically fit than most people because I control my own biology and thus my own emotions and my life”.
Soon Aras started turning up for adult film casting sessions.
Gerard Damiano (adult film director):
“There was a time after I made ‘Deep Throat’ when I’d get a call every few months from this strange character. He sounded foreign, and never made much sense. He was always talking about this ability he had to give himself head. I never had a good reason to use him”.
Alfred Sole (director of ‘Deep Sleep’):
“I was casting for my first film in New York, an X-Rated thing called ‘Deep Sleep’ (1973), and we put an ad in the trades for actors.
A few people did show up and, boy, I saw some strange things. I got a guy who called and said “Do you need anybody who can blow himself?” I said “Sure, come on down.” So this guy came up and started blowing himself. He called himself Dr Infinity. We sent him away”.
By now Aras practiced yoga, dressed in black (“Black is as close as I can get to infinity, and I love infinity”), and had developed his own philosophy based around playing the blue-veined piccolo.
“Dr. Infinity – Guru of Self Abuse” by Mara Mills, National Screw, Issue 1, Volume 1 (1976)
“I hope to introduce a new psychological understanding of human behavior. If we turn within ourselves, we find a great deal.
Through sucking on my own cock, I have created a human condition that is very stimulating.
I am psychologically contained and don’t need other people. I am a romantic and have found the ultimate love – myself.”
In 1974, John Amero received a call from Richard MacLeod, a New England film distributor who had directed the sexploitation film ‘Kitten in a Cage’ (1968).
MacLeod had recently shot an undistributed film called ‘The Last Semester’ starring Vido Aras as a student in the lead role, and he suggested that John use Aras in the upcoming film ‘Every Inch a Lady’.
John Amero (adult film director):
I met Vido and explained what kind of film we were making. Even thought he knew it was an X-rated film, he wanted to be in it because he said “It’s important that I promote my way of thinking”.
He took this self fellatio very seriously, like a lifestyle choice. He had a whole theory about infinity and recycling the life force, and how if men did this, it would make them better people.
On the film set, Aras was an erratic presence, talking of revolution, self-love, and armed struggle.
John Amero:
We found his philosophy hilarious, but we didn’t dare take it lightly because we thought that he would be thoroughly offended.
In fact when Kurt Mann delivers his line “Now that’s entertainment”, we got Kurt to mouth the line silently because we didn’t want Doctor Infinity to hear Kurt in case he took offense. We just dubbed the audio in later.
Roberta Findlay was the behind the camera for ‘Every Inch A Lady’, and was also fearful of Doctor Infinity.
John Amero:
She was convinced that he was a serial killer, and she kept saying “He’s got a knife, he’s got a knife, he’s gonna kill us all.” The shoot was difficult, we did it late at night so that just increased the stress”.
To add to the problems, Dr Infinity – new to the adult film business – had performance difficulties.
John Amero:
It took quite a bit of time to shoot that scene waiting for him to climax. We’d have been there until a month from Sunday – if we hadn’t finally given up the ghost and used some Coco Lopez instead.
*
‘Self Love’, Salvador Dali, and Radio City Music Hall
After ‘Every Inch A Lady’, Dr Infinity devised a new idea to get his message out.
He’d shot reels and reels of film of himself playing the skin flute in various locations and situations. The film clips showed him in trees and fields, in a public library, with a herd of buffalo, by the sea… you name it. He even broke into historic buildings and estates to film himself, such as The Rockefeller Estate in Westchester County, New York – where he was arrested for trespassing.
He decided to edit the reels together into a single film – and take it to the Spanish surrealist painter, Salvador Dali, in Spain, who would surely agree that his ability to self-fellate was an artistic statement, a wonder of nature, and should be preserved.
Certainly Dali shared some of Dr Infinity’s sensibility.
“The Dali I Knew”, art critic Brian Sewell, Channel 4, 3rd June 2007
“Dali… engaged others in orgies of uninhibited sexual congregation, heterosexual, homosexual and both in combination, while he watched, fully clothed, the voyeur fumbling in his trousers. Sex, certainly masturbation, had always been the driving force behind his work”.
Who could assist with the creation of this film? Re-enter John Amero.
John Amero:
I produced a short for him called ‘Self Love’ which consisted of footage of him “doing his thing” in many famous and strange places. I gave him some money for post production as I figured it might have some commercial value somewhere down the road.
The last clip of the film was my favorite. It was a smoking trash can in Harvard Square, not far from where he had attempted to steal the Gutenberg Bible. Vido rises up out of it, looks around in confusion, and then sinks back down into the smoke. On the soundtrack, I used the track ‘All By Myself’.
Now he had a film of himself in action, Dr Infinity needed publicity for his unique cause – and in 1978, he again hit the front pages.
Plans were being made to convert New York’s Radio City Music Hall into office space. Sensing a self-promotional opportunity, Dr Infinity picketed the building – spending several months in the freezing cold with placards saying “Save the Music Hall”. When approached, he’d also hand out flyers giving details of Doctor Infinity and the film ‘Self Love’ – to the obvious shock and dismay of everyone.
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The Ballad of John and Yoko. And Dr Infinity.
Dr Infinity still clinged to the dream of showing his film to Salvador Dali. The trouble was that Dali lived in Spain and Dr Infinity lacked the money to travel there.
Jamie Gillis (adult film actor):
I’d met him in the 1970s when he was trying to get work on adult film sets. I ran into him years later, maybe the late 1970s. He told me he’d got a job looking after Sean Lennon – John and Yoko’s son, who must have been around five at the time. Apparently he got the job through the New York Times.
John Amero:
I was there when he got it, yeah. He went to work for Yoko Ono… imagine taking care of her son if you can believe that. That lasted about a couple months.
Danny Stone (adult film director):
To raise money to go to Spain, he got work for Yoko Ono as a nanny to Sean Lennon. But I heard he was fired from there for showing his party trick.
John Amero:
I said to him “I hope you didn’t show Sean your trick?”
He said “Oh I did. That’s what got me fired”.
Shortly after this, Dr Infinity managed to leave the US and found work in a sex show in Barcelona from where he started to make efforts to contact Salvador Dali.
John Amero:
He had an act in Barcelona for years afterward. It was a sex show, and featured him doing his thing on stage. He’d come out in a cape on a revolving turntable, and they’d introduce him as Doctor Infinity.
He was married to a gypsy fortuneteller the last I heard.
I managed to contact Dr Infinity recently. He claimed he eventually met Dali who loved his film ‘Self Love’, but that Dali’s mental illness in his last few years prevented any further interest from developing.
In my communication with him he seemed happy, intense, passionate, and eccentric.
And, after all these years, he was still keen to promote his message of self-pleasure.
“Self-generating energy will allow you to be anything you want.
I’m going to be floating through the galaxies, pulling energy from the stars”.
Hysterical classic. Great article (even though I’m ashamed to admit it.)
LOVE IT! Hope this character shows up in “The Deuce”!!!!!!!!
I’d heard rumors of this so now I’m happy to learn the full story – even if it is “hard to swallow”!
Thanks!
Truth is stranger than fiction!
If you can perform that trick, why ever leave the house?
This article blows..for all the right reasons. Unreal!