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By the mid 1990s, Dian Hanson could’ve been forgiven for thinking that she’d finally made it – and that nothing was going to derail her career in magazine publishing that had started two decades earlier.
She’d had an improbable and volatile journey, from a troubled upbringing and difficult marriage, to working as a nurse in rural Pennsylvania, before somehow launching an explicit men’s magazine called Puritan for the mob in New York. There followed a succession of writing, publishing, and editing jobs on men’s magazines whose titles eloquently reveal their sexual content: Hooker, Expose’, Partner, Adult Cinema Review, and Juggs, to name a few.
Her greatest triumph was Leg Show magazine – which Dian turned into a high-selling juggernaut. It was a match made in heaven: Dian, long fascinated and deeply compassionate about sexual quirks and fetish, an audience that was crying out for a more intimate connection with their magazine, and a publisher, George Mavety, who gave Dian near-complete creative control.
But then just as everything seemed to be working out perfectly, the internet happened – crippling the sex magazine business. To make matters worse, her employer, George Mavety, died. The good times were suddenly retreating in the rear-view mirror.
In this final episode of the series, Dian talks about what happened next, and how she re-invented herself with Taschen books. It’s a story that includes characters as diverse as Linda Lovelace, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Crumb, transvestite model Kim Christy and transsexual porn star Sulka, Vanessa Del Rio, and many more.
You can listen to the Episode 1 here, Episode 2 here, and Episode 3 here.
This podcast is 52 minutes long.
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Dian in ‘Crumb‘ documentary, 1991
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Photo for Crumb portrait
R. Crumb portrait
Dian standing on Leg Show reader, 1995
New York, 2000
Dian and Larry Flynt event, 2008
With Liz Earls of ‘Days of the Cougar’ book, 2011
Explaining porn at Los Angeles Public Library, c. 2012
With ‘The Art of Pin Up’, 2015
In Dian’s Taschen office in Hollywood, 2018
Dian with boyfriend Daniel, Christmas 2019
Naomi Campbell party, 2020
Onstage with Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Geffen Theater, Los Angeles, 2023
*
Will always have the fondest memories of Dian Hanson. She was quite the formative powerhouse then and now.
Sending nothing but love her way
Hello Jeanne,
This is Rocco DiRico.
I’ve just discovered this site and want
to thank you for posting the photo of
me, you, Lisa Be and Peter Wolff.
I haven’t listened to your podcasts yet
but I will very soon.
That photo is very interesting to me
because Lisa Be got me started in the
adult film business as a still photographer and Peter Wolff got me
started in the adult magazine business.
Hope you are doing well, T.C.
Rocco, my long lost pseudo-son. You still living in Queens? Have told many the story of your family’s urban farm through the years.
Hello Dian,
Yes, I still live in the same building in
Queens, New York City.
Here is the “my yard” story:
My father was friends with the
landlord.
The yard was full of weeds when my
parents moved in.
The landlord didn’t care.
My father asked the landlord if he could
take care of the yard.
We had free and total use of the yard
from 1950 to 1990.
When the new landlord purchased the
building in 1990 we lost the use of the
yard.
Now there’s a 12 story building in my
yard !!!
But it’s not a total loss.
One of the tenants in the new building
is a woman who likes to walk around
topless with thong panties and no curtains.
Overall, I’d rather have the fresh
tomatoes, the pigeon coop and the
rabbit hutch.
Oh well.
Whoaaaaaaaa. Y’all. What a masterwork. Dian, Ashley – thank you for this literal EPIC. In the coda, when Diane is asked her overall philosophy on her life and how it has turned out, it just feels like words to live by, like something out of an Abraham-Hicks inspirational video. It just feels so true and so profound to consider living a life more like this. Open, humble and grateful –and precisely aware. Judgment seems to be an afterthought here, it is simply loving what is. Grateful, grateful for this, will be listening again & again. Thank Y’all! So privileged to be at this table.
Jeannie! Love you too, my fellow traveler. Oh, the fun we had. And Rocco is here too! It’s a virtual family reunion.
I knew Dian back in the 1970s and it was clear she was a cut above the other femmes who inhabited the adult business and its associated businesses. What a life, what a story, what a dame!
A marvelous series, truly a towering achievement. Absolutely brilliant. Thanks to all concerned. Gripping and arresting always.
Thank you Tony!
Dian Hanson Was Awesome Rise Of Sexploitation From The 70s 80s And Early 90s Keep Up Good Work
Thanks Jeff!
Hello Dian,
This is your “son” Rocco DiRico.
I’ve just recently discovered this channel –
what a great site.
However, I can only stay here for short periods of time because so many of my
friends and people I worked for are now gone. I am sorry to hear of the passing of
Bobby Hanson.
What an “interesting” early life you had.
All me and my siblings got was the wooden spoon.
I never realized that Tony D. was “connected”. Sometimes I’m a little “stunad”.
However, it definitely sounds like you are
having a great time now!
P.S. Whatever happened to those ferrets?
We should just talk Rocco. I think I can find your number.
Hello Dian,
I would love to talk to you on the phone.
That old phone number is not good
anymore.
In 2018 I finally got a cell phone.
I believe that I was the last person in
New York City to get a cell phone.(LOL)
Can I send a letter with my new number
to Taschen in California?
What’s their address?
Amazing series of podcasts. What a life you have lived Dian. Hope someday we get a Kim Christy (Ken) podcast who is more or less the grandfather(mother?) of transsexual adult cinema.
Hey, youse guys should do a full run of Puritan, just like you do with other wank rags.
Just a thought!
There weren’t that many issues of Puritan, and only two that I had a hand in. Watch Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman and you get a pretty good idea of how Puritan came about.
Thank you for the info! I appreciate the reply, all the best!
Bravissimo! This entire four-part interview was as riveting as it was beautifully put together. Dian Hanson is as eloquent, open, and intelligent as her work. Wonderful work and words and heart on all fronts here. (Someday, I will get my mitts on that Vanessa Del Rio Taschen book.)
Awww thanks Heather!
Dian, your next book for Taschen perhaps: Psychopathia Sexualis Vol II An Illustrated Assessment of Developements Since Krafft-Ebing by Dian Hanson.
Tell me I should keep my eye out for it.
And to you and Ashley both, Thanks. Y’all done well.
I’m taping another podcast, with a serious book guy, tomorrow and was asked to bring three important books that everyone should know about. Psychopathia Sexualis is on top of the pile.
So sad to see this incredible series of interviews end… it was a true – and rare – pleasure in this day and age to just hear a great conversation between two smart people.
Thank you Cassie!
Wonderful conclusion to a wonderful series.
Thanks Don!
And thank you to everyone who commented. I have never wanted to spill the beans on my whole life, but Ashley is a fine and trustworthy guide, and I was honored to be asked.
Dian, thank you. 🙂
This was Simply The Best! Really Enjoyed it. Dian, you overcome the Odds. Job Well done!
I’m sad the series has come to an end. Maybe Dian can start a podcast of her own!
In this episode, I was struck by her devotion to her Leg Show readers. I was also impressed by the stories of George Mavety’s generosity and loyalty. There was a lot of heart in those pages.
Dear Dian,
I wish I’d known someone like you when I was growing up; you would’ve been a great mentor to me. Heck, you’d be a great mentor to me now, and I’ll be 60 in November! Thank you for sharing your life and memories with us.
I learned a great deal about porn (didn’t know what it was called) from the underground comix. I even met S. Clay Wilson and Spain Rodriguez at a comic-con in Novi, MI in tweeeenty-oh…four, I think. Even as a girl of eight, I wanted to what this sex thing was all about and how it worked!\
With kind regards,
L. A. Gothro
Hi Dian – I am sure that most correspondence that you receive (and perhaps the comments on this site) are from men, but I want you to know how much your life story meant to me as a woman. Thank for sharing. It means a lot to have a role model like you in my head.
Thank you.
Brilliantly told, exceptionally put together!
Thank you Hans!
Just the Best! Dian got it right. This poor Aussie couldn’t afford that beautiful Vanessa book. It still hurts. Stay Cool & Ciao.
Really enjoyable four part series. I had no idea who Dian Hanson was going in and enjoyed every bit of her story.
Incredible and amazing interview with an icon – you guys are fantastic. Beautiful to have Dian commenting here as well. This website is one of the true gems of the internet.
I have watched the interview with Schwarzenegger – just search youtube for An Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger – June 28, 2023. Dian did a great job and it is well worth watching.
By the way, I purchased the Vanessa book directly from her (2019), as a gift for a dear friend (who doesn’t realize what he now has). She gamely inscribed it, “Dear John, I’d really love to blow you!,” and schmeared a bright red smooch below, all wrapped in leopard tissue with raunchy “S.W.A.K.” stickers. I was awestruck, and still am. The book is triumphantly sumptuous, an obvious labor of love and homage (and the Crumb to boot!!). I so loved this RR series, cannot stop thinking about it!
I just finished the series and loved everything about it. Great questions from Ashley and engaging, candid stories from Dian Hanson. (Thank you, Dian!) She is a great raconteur. Maybe she missed some book learning growing up, but she more than made up for it with abilities that school cannot teach. I wish I had even a fraction of her perseverance.
Another tremendous series Thank you so much Ashley and Dian.
The Kevin Ayers track was the cherry on top.
Thanks again.
Just a great series about an amazing woman. I knew so little about her before and am now a devotee. What a life story. Dian’s ability to accept those she meets in life without judgement is to be admired and celebrated. Her willingness to accept opportunity and turn it into accomplishment is impressive to say the least. Thank you Dian for your forthright honesty in sharing your journey with everyone. I can see why your Leg Show audience found you so captivating. You look like a goddess and have empathy and acceptance for your fellow travelers in life. I would also like to thank Ashley and the RR for this profile of a beautiful, intelligent lady.
Another triumph from The Rialto Report! Dian Hanson is certainly one of the most interesting individuals featured here! It’s funny. I was thinking that Dian would make a wonderful interview for the site and was on my way to suggesting Ms. Hanson to Ashley and April, so it was a real treat to see that they had already done it!
What really stands out for me with Dian is how she was able to handle the transition that adult publishing was going through with the internet compared to Al Goldstein. She was able to create beautiful art books for Taschen while Goldstein simply ignored the writing on the wall. Dian might not have a college degree, but so what. She certainly had the editorial eye and the foresight of the future of publishing that Goldstein, a college graduate, sadly lacked-to his detriment.
Well, of all the stuff on the Rialto Report, this piece of work was the absolute best. I knew nothing at all of Dian Hanson before I listened to this, but every single word was utterly compelling. Well done.