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October 28, 2004
Peter Berlin Documentary
As promised in my blog entry about local photographer Biron, here's a little bit about an almost-forgotten porn star from the 70's named Peter Berlin.
He made only two movies, "That Man" and "Nights in Black Leather" back in the 70's and then dropped out of sight, not unlike Greta Garbo. But he went on to do erotic self portraits which caught the attention of the legitimate art world.
From his website, http://www.peterberlin-usa.com: "Peter Berlin's original photo prints and art work (pencil sketches, photo drawings, collages, paintings, and pastels) have been exhibited in Europe and the USA and are in private collections on several continents. Highly admired as a photographer by Robert Mapplethorpe, who curated an exhibition of Peter Berlin's black and white 'double exposure' prints in New York City shortly before his untimely death in 1989."
His image has graced the covers of many gay male skin magazines.
In 2000, it looks like Biron helped him build a website to sell CD's of Peter Berlin's photos.
But what's really exciting is that there is a 2004 documentary titled "That Man: Peter Berlin". I believe it made the rounds of the gay film festivals this year, but I somehow missed it. (It's on the TLA Video website, but looks like it's sold out right now.) Click [continue] to read the liner notes.
There is also a website about the movie http://www.that-man.com/ that was created during production, but hasn't been updated since. What's interesting is that one of the interviews in the movie is by a 50ish gay guy who was totally starstruck to find out Peter Berlin was his neighbor! I had the same reaction when I've seen Peter Berlin walking around the Castro. And like the neighbor said, he still looks the same - same bleach blond hair, same skin tight pants.
And speaking of skin tight pants, if you look closely at some of the models on Biron's site, Peter Berlin gets credited for lending some of his famous hip hugging stretch pants for some photos. But beware, kids, the ability to wear stretch pants is a "gift" not a "right".
| Buy "Nights in Black Leather" |
Posted by lavenderloungeblog at 01:54 PM
Comments
"almost forgotten"? again, you're behind the times with this post (hey, you brought it up, not me) -- Berlin was the topic of an extensive article in the last issue of Butt ...
Do your research -- especially if ur gonna brag on about how you were the OG porn blogger.
Posted by: whatever, mary at October 28, 2004 11:42 PM
Thank goddess I said "almost forgotten" instead of "mostly forgotten" or "completely forgotten". I shutter to think what you might have written if I had made that fatal error.
I don't claim to know everything about everything, nor do I claim to be a responsible "journalist" that does extensive research. I'M JUST WRITING FOR FUN, and discussing things the way I'd talk to my friends.
Thanks for writing, and if you have additional tidbits about any topic the readers or I should know, please contribute!
Posted by: Webmaster at October 29, 2004 01:54 PM
Nights in Black Leather was his first film, from 1973; but you got the title wrong for his second - it was called THAT BOY, which he wrote, produced and directed. Oddly, some of the (old) ads for THAT BOY list him as Peter Burian; but now that the documentary is out, would be cool to check it out and see what story is with the name, etc. Thanks for the info that's it's been released. Oddly, the TLA site has the wrong director name for his first film - it's not Berlin himself, but Ignatio Rutkowski! (lord knows if THAT's another fake name!)
Posted by: bj at November 12, 2004 09:39 AM
What a pleasant surprise to stumble across this blog concerning Peter and my documentary, That Man: Peter Berlin. The official web site for the documentary has recently been updated and we're scrambling to finish post-production in time for festival screenings which we hope will start in January or February of 2005. The documentary answers the question of Peter Berlin/Peter Burian as well as the story behind "Ignatio Rutkowski", Peter's encounters with Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sal Mineo, and Tom of Finland. You can also sign up for my email newsletter which will update you on the latest about That Man: Peter Berlin news and screenings. Sign up at www.thatmanpeterberlin.com (scroll down to the bottom of the main page).
Jim Tushinski
Gorilla Factory Productions
Posted by: Jim Tushinski at November 13, 2004 12:43 PM
Call me.
Posted by: Richard Wilson at December 2, 2004 07:31 AM
Hot Site!
Posted by: Taeki at December 2, 2004 08:13 AM
Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved
.
Posted by: Archangel at December 13, 2004 01:50 PM
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