Adult Video News (AVN) was the most important of the industry magazines to cover the burgeoning adult video industry in the 1980s. From its modest beginning as an 8-page newsletter with limited production values in 1983, the magazine went on to become a 300-page glossy that dominated coverage of the industry. (You can learn more about the AVN’s first year, and access issues, here.)
1984 was the second year of the publication. Two of the three founders – Paul Fishbein and Barry Rosenblatt – were still at the magazine’s helm. Third founder – Irv Slifkin – left that year, going on to more mainstream endeavors such as Movies Unlimited Video Catalog and reviewing films for publications such as Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chicago Tribune.
Key to the magazine’s importance were the interviews with stars and directors, and AVN‘s second year includes interviews with people such as Hyapatia Lee, Henri Pachard, Richard Pacheco, Tiffany Clark and Candy Samples, in addition to reviews of movies such as Reel People, Smoker, Insatiable II, Talk Dirty to Me Part III, and much more…
Copies of the magazine’s early editions have been near impossible to find since their first publication, and The Rialto Report is happy to re-publish them and make them available again.
You can find The Rialto Report‘s ever growing library of digitized resources by clicking ‘Library’ in the menu.
Click on the covers below to access the full magazines. Due to the fact that the magazines are scanned in high definition, allow a little time for each page to load. If you are viewing on a phone, view in landscape orientation.
Many thanks to Mark Kernes and Carol Walker for their help.
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Adult Video News: The Complete 1978 Issues
January 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Marlene Willoughby interview
-Nominations for the first annual AVNA Awards
-Softcore corner: new releases
-Film reviews including That’s Outrageous, Night Moves, Fantasex Island, Forbidden Desire, and Jane Bonda’s Bizarre Workout
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February/March 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Henri Pachard interview
-First annual AVNA Awards announced
-Film reviews including Bodies in Heat, Reel People, Fleshdance, Her Wicked Ways, and Too Much Too Soon
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April 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Candy Samples interview
-First annual AVNA Awards announced
-Film reviews including Piggies, Wings of Passion, Heaven’s Touch, Smoker, Caligula, and Alexandra
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May 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Tiffany Clark interview
-Shauna Grant dies in apparent suicide
-Film reviews including Inflamed, Maneaters, Babylon Blue, All American Girls in Heat, Between Lovers, and Silk Satin Sex
-Softcore corner: new releases
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June 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Richard Pacheco interview
-Film reviews including Insatiable II, Every Woman has a Fantasy, Unthinkable, Heaven’s Touch, Eat at the Blue Fox, and Hot Pursuit
-Top ten sales & rentals
-The perfect video collection
-Softcore corner: new releases
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July-August 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Samantha Fox interview
-Film reviews including Private Moments, An Unnatural Act, Photo Flesh, Trading Partners, Star 84, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun
-Adult sleepers on tape
-Softcore corner: new releases
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September 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Hyapatia Lee interview
-Film reviews including Pink Lagoon, Long Hard Nights, Every Woman Has a Fantasy, I Wanna Be Teased, Hustler 17, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun
-The AVN guide to the hottest new starlets including Rachel Ashley, Traci Lords, and Nikki Charm
-Ron Jeremy at large
-A quickie with Marilyn Chambers
-Softcore corner: new releases
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October, November 1984 – to follow shortly
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December 1984
(click on cover to view full magazine)
–Juliet Anderson interview
-Film reviews including Matinee Idol, Women at Play, Talk Dirty to Me Part III, Succulent, Blue Ecstasy, and Perversion
-Softcore sizzles on Homefront
-The AVN guide to the hottest new starlets including Pam Grier, Kitten Natividad, and Pia Zadora
-1984 in review
-Ron Jeremy at large
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Even in the midst of the biggest and best ever podcast covering the history of the adult industry – which by the way is amazing, thorough, detailed, thoughtful, provocative, and entertaining – I’m impressed that you have time for more posts – and this is a tremendous addition to the Library.
Please thank all your team for their amazing work.
We greatly appreciate that Jose!
Top work – these are as rare as hen’s teeth.
Thank you Hank – we hope you enjoy them!
I’m old-school 8 mm Follow by 16 mm and 35 mm film x-rated from 1970 through 1993 era adult video news came out in the 80s keep up the good work April and Ashley
I don’t remember this in black and white? thanks for the history lesson! The December 1984 issue is my favorite, on page 29 is a full size ad of the greatest Christmas themed porn of all time Santa Comes Twice, starring Gina Valentino and dwarf superstar and Vanessa Del Rio’s loop partner Louie Short Stud. This came out on DVD a few years ago but I am disappointed to say when Gina and Roxanne Rolland are having sex with Louie in the back of the limo they replaced the original music which was Jingle Bell Rock with generic music. That movie also starred the late great Michael Morrison as Santa.
Oh man, I wish Marlene had published her book of fan letters. That would have been something else.
Ahh, what memories these magazines bring back. I don’t remember them being in newspaper form, but I remember the rating systems. Looking at the ads in these magazines reminds me of how high the price of a vhs porn tape was back then, up around $75 per tape or more! I had a friend who worked at an adult bookstore in the 80’s, and just for hanging around during the overnight shift, he would let me “borrow” an adult video each time, which meant I had to go and pay nearly $1000 for a vcr, which was the price back then for one of the first models. I would look through the rating systems in the magazine, then borrow the tape that night. And I borrowed the best tapes with the top stars like, Christy, Traci, Ginger, Amber, Nina, and even the film stars that were put to tape, like Seka and Annette Haven! Like I said, Ahh, the memories! Thanks Rialto Report!
Just found out that the print run of Adult Video News ended with the June 2021 issue. It has switched to all-digital with the July 2021 issue. I found out when I called the editorial department wondering why I did not receive my July issue.
The issues can be downloaded as PDF files, but frankly, I’m old-school, and it’s just not the same.
Thanks for keeping the Golden Age alive. Big hug 🤗