‘Centerfold Fever’ (1981): Behind the Scenes of an Adult Movie

Regular readers of The Rialto Report will know that we occasionally like to pick a golden age film and deep dive into how it actually got made. This time, we’re taking a look into the 1981 film, Centerfold Fever.

Centerfold Fever had one of the best cast lists in XXX history – including Samantha Fox, Tiffany Clark, Kandi Barbour, Ron Jeremy, R. Bolla, Marc Stevens, Jill Monroe, Lisa Be, David Morris, Roy Stuart, Sue Nero, Alan Adrian, Veri Knotty, Marc Valentine, Annie Sprinkle, Jake Teague, Bobby Astyr, and Joey Silvera. It was shot in October 1980 – and directed by Swank editor Richard Milner, in his adult-only film.

Our review of the movie was greatly assisted by our recent acquisition of the archives of Richard Milner, as well as the photographs of Marco Nero, a frequent still photographer on adult film sets in the 1980s.

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1. Centerfold Fever – Pre-Production

Richard Milner:

I’d been reviewing adult films for Stag magazine, and got to know everyone in the business and enjoyed their company, so it was relatively easy for me to set up interviews or picture shoots. After I’d been working on Stag as managing editor for a while, I was getting a little tired of it and wanted a fresh challenge, so in 1980, I approached my boss and pitched the idea of a new magazine, Porn Stars.

‘Porn Stars’ was published as an offshoot of Stag magazine, which in turn was part of the Swank stable. Here are two drafts of articles written by Richard Milner while working at Stag magazine:
(click on page to view full documents)

The first issue of ‘Porn Stars’ was an impressive debut – featuring “exclusive photos and interviews” of Nancy Suiter, Desiree Cousteau, Seka, Serena, Bambi Woods, Marlene Willoughby, Gloria Leonard, Vanessa Del Rio, Annie Sprinkle, Samantha Fox, Jennifer Welles and others. However successful the first issue of ‘Porn Stars’ was, it was six months before the second edition saw the light of day in November 1980.

By this time, Richard had been working on a new project, an explicit sex film, with a large cast featuring many of the biggest names from the adult film scene in New York.

Noticing the success of Distribpix and their star vehicles, which included Inside Jennifer Welles, Inside Gloria Leonard, and Inside Annie Sprinkle, Richard selected one of newest stars to break into the business, Kandi Barbour, and tentatively called his film, ‘Inside Kandi Barbour’:

Richard’s ‘bare-bones budget’ was $50,000 – $70,000, and he set about building a business case for potential investors – as outlined in the following letter:

The original draft storyline, as outlined in the document below, was a romantic comedy involving the mob and the adult film industry.
(click on cover to view full document)

The story underwent considerable development as actors were attached to the project – as can be seen in this subsequent draft.
(click on cover to view full document)

One of the first actors to sign on was Tiffany Clark, girlfriend of Fred Lincoln, veteran adult film performer and sometime manager of Plato’s Retreat and live shows at Show World:

A publicity shoot was arranged with the movie’s star, Kandi Barbour:

With the funding secured, a production company – Bradford Productions Inc. – was set up, and a distribution contract with Distribpix was signed.
(click on cover to view full document)

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2. Centerfold Fever – Production

Production of ‘Inside Kandi Barbour’ took place over the last weekend of October 1980. The fact that the shoot took place over a weekend was no coincidence – film equipment costs could be high, and a weekend shoot enabled the production team to film for four days while only paying for two days of rental charges.

The crew was assembled, which included top cameraman, Larry Revene:

The required equipment was listed in detail.
(click on cover to view full document)

The locations selected were all in Manhattan – and included a couple of venues arranged by Marc Stevens, who also starred in the production. The first day was shot in Marc’s apartment (and on his terrace) and the final day’s shoot was at Le Trapeze, a nightclub where Marc often organized parties.

Richard Milner:

Marc was a good friend, and I did a lot with him. He was the ultimate gossip in real life, so we created a column for him in the magazine to share his stories about what was going on in the porno business.

In fact, part of ‘Centerfold Fever’ was a parody of his existence as ‘Mr 10 1/2’ and he features with his girlfriend, the transsexual Jill Monroe. He considered this film his comeback after a few years out of the industry. One of the scenes called for his penis to be measured by a journalist, played by Kandi Barbour, to verify that it was truly 10 1/2 inches long. When the scene shoot started, Marc asked to speak to me in private – and revealed that he wasn’t actually 10 1/2 inches. He wanted me to create a new, fake measuring stick that would show him to be the full length – and he asked me to make it myself so that no one would find out.

The next problem was unexpected: Marc started out the scene erect, but the more that Kandi gave him a blow job, the more his erection failed. Marc took me aside again, and this time confessed he was gay, and wasn’t able to get excited any more with a woman. I was a first-time director, and couldn’t believe what I was having to deal with. When I looked at the scene with my editor in the cutting room, I realized we had a problem as Marc’s performance issues were there for all to see. Luckily I had a brain wave: we reversed the sequence, and lo and behold Marc went from being soft to hard over the course of the scene. Disaster averted.

At this stage, the film’s working title was still ‘Inside Kandi’, as evidenced by the cover of the script.

However once the production started, it became apparent to Richard that he had another problem. And that problem was his star, Kandi Barbour.

Richard Milner:

Kandi Barbour was a total airhead, but she photographed like a dream. I wanted to make her the subject of ‘Inside Kandi Barbour’, but she proved to be so flaky that I knew it was going to be difficult. The moment I advanced her any money, she’d go off and buy drugs and disappear. In the end, I had to hire Tiffany Clark to follow her around and make sure we knew where she was. Tiffany was responsible for picking Kandi up in the morning and bringing her to the set.

Halfway through the shoot, Kandi disappeared altogether so I had to change the title and the plot. In the first half of the movie, you see her being interviewed for a job, and then she disappears from the movie in the second half. It proved to be a lucky break because we got Samantha Fox and Tiffany Clark instead, and they were great. After that Kandi rapidly fell out of favor because no one could trust her. Nobody wanted to take a chance on her.

Sadly she died a homeless bag lady. Very sad.

The sudden absence of Kandi meant that changes had to be made to the script – which were hastily scribbled on the reverse of each page.

The script included detailed descriptions of the sex required.

Frantic production notes from the set:

Continuity picture from Day 1 of the shoot (showing Marc Stevens, Tiffany Clark, Ron Jeremy, and Kandi Barbour):

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3. Centerfold Fever – Production Stills

Marco Nero was on set throughout the production of ‘Inside Kandi Barbour’. He lived and worked with director Chuck Vincent throughout the late 1970s – until Chuck passed away in 1991.

Marco took photographs of the events unfolding on the set of the movie – and these photographs have been unpublished and unseen for almost 40 years. This is a small selection of his pictures:

Ron Jeremy, on Marc Stevens’ terrace

Richard Milner, with (from left to right) Bobbie Feilen, Lisa Be, Susaye London, Sue Nero, Kathy Harcourt

Jake Teague, Bobby Astyr (face obscured), Annie Sprinkle, Joey Sprinkle

Kandi Barbour expresses surprise at how long it takes Susaye London to get ready

Susaye London unzippers her mouth, while Ron Jeremy looks on

Ron Jeremy and Samantha Fox tend to Susaye London

Lisa Be

Ron Jeremy, Samantha Fox

Lisa Be, Tiffany Clark

Lisa Be, Colette Connor, Ron Jeremy

Ron Jeremy, Lisa Be, Richard Milner, Tiffany Clark, Colette Connor

Samantha Fox

Richard Milner, Annie Sprinkle

Tiffany Clark, Ron Feilen

Kandi Barbour, Ron Jeremy, Colette Connor, Tiffany Clark, Jahn Gold

Samantha Fox

Marc Stevens, Tiffany Clark

Samantha Fox, David Morris

Tiffany Clark, Richard Milner, Ron Jeremy

Richard Milner, Tiffany Clark – outside of the Gaiety

Annie Sprinkle, Ron Jeremy, Samantha Fox

Jahn Gold, Robin Sane, Marc Valentine

Samantha Fox

Jake Teague, Ron Jeremy, Samantha Fox, Annie Sprinkle, Richard Milner

Samantha Fox

Ron Jeremy

Marc Valentine, Colette Connor, Richard Milner, Lisa Cintrice, Ron Feilen, Roy Stuart

Larry Revene

Annie Sprinkle, Joey Silvera

Jake Teague, Annie Sprinkle (and Joey Silvera)

Samantha Fox, Ron Jeremy

Kandi Barbour, Richard Milner

David Morris

Marc Stevens, Tiffany Clark, Kandi Barbour

Annie Sprinkle, Richard Milner

Annie Sprinkle, Ron Jeremy, Samantha Fox

Ron Jeremy, Samantha Fox

Marc Stevens, Kandi Barbour

Kathy Harcourt

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4. Centerfold Fever – Post-Production

As the plot of ‘Inside Kandi Barbour’ changed to accommodate the absence of the eponymous star, it was obvious that film’s name had to change as well. These notes show the options that were considered – before the final title of ‘Centerfold Fever’ was decided:

Post production equipment was hired through Chuck Vincent, from Laumic Co. Inc. in New York:

One of the important tasks in post-production on any adult film are the over-dubs (including “1 min slurps for bj…”):

The draft credits were decided:

A trailer for the movie was cut:

And ultimately it was decided that Tiffany Clark would replace Kandi Barbour as the face of the movie, so a photo shoot was arranged to produce a picture for the one-sheet:

The shot that was selected for the poster:

After the shoot wrapped, director Richard Milner received feedback – both positive and negative – from a couple of the featured actors.

Jake Teague wrote to Richard to express that he’d felt used on set, because he was not compensated sufficiently for being used in more scenes than he had agreed to:

Richard replied to Jake, justifying his actions:

But not all impressions of working on the film were negative:

For the title song, Richard engaged the services of Michael Korie, a well known librettist and lyricist who went on to achieve acclaim for his work on the musicals Grey Gardens, Far From Heaven, Harvey Milk, and The Grapes of Wrath. His works have been produced on Broadway, and his lyrics have been nominated for Tony Awards.

Michael composed ‘Beautiful Forever’ and was credited as ‘Michael Twice.’

The song was sung by Linda November – the queen of commercial jingles in the 1960s – 1980s, including being the voice of the singing cat in the Meow Mix commercials.

‘Centerfold Fever’ trailer – with ‘Beautiful Forever’ title song:

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5. Centerfold Fever – Release

The first screening of ‘Centerfold Fever’ took place in early 1981 at the Preview Theater on Broadway, an event that was strictly by-invitation only:

The scribbled note below shows the names of some of those invited to the initial screening, an event that was followed by a party at Magique, arranged by Marc Stevens:

A draft pressbook was developed.
(click on cover to view full document)

A subsequent screening was held for adult film reviewers to ensure that the film’s release would have maximum press coverage:

Quotes were selected from early reviews for use in promotional materials:

The final version of the pressbook was produced.
(click on cover to view full document)

Finally ‘Centerfold Fever’ was slated for release in the Distribpix Fall-Winter 1981-82 schedule:

‘Centerfold Fever’ premiered on November 11, 1981 – over a year after it had been shot:

Never-before-seen photographs from the premiere of ‘Centerfold Fever’:

Samantha Fox, Bobby Astyr, Lisa Cintrice

Jill Monroe, Annie Sprinkle

Tiffany Clark

Marc Stevens, Annie Sprinkle

Annie Sprinkle, Samantha Fox, Marc Stevens, Jill Monroe

R. Bolla, Tiffany Clark, Richard Milner

Marc Stevens, Fred Lincoln

Veronica Vera, R. Bolla

Even Ugly George was in attendance

‘Centerfold Fever’ was widely reviewed in the adult media:

Tiffany Clark made public appearances in support of the film’s release, handing out signed promotional photographs of herself:

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5. Centerfold Fever – The Aftermath

After all the effort he had invested in making the movie, Richard Milner wasn’t happy with the way that Distribpix released ‘Centerfold Fever’ – and he wrote a letter to company head honcho, Howard Farber, to complain.

Richard’s main issue was that his film was paired with the Joe Sarno film Silky – an effort he described as “the worst clunker of the year” (“I have never seen such squirming and utter boredom during a screening”). He was particularly peeved about the financial arrangements in place for the movie’s distribution:

Despite the disagreement, Richard continued to promote his film, which included a trip to Los Angeles for the 1981 Erotic Awards Convention:

In 1982, Centerfold Fever was nominated for an AFAA award for best song for ‘Beautiful Forever’.
(click on cover to view full document)

Richard traveled back to Los Angeles for the ceremony – and returned home with the trophy:

Centerfold Fever had a long and successful life, released with success on VHS and LaserDisc: