Reflections on ... David Hurles of Old Reliable (12 September 1944 – 12 April 2023)

“David Hurles, the photographer and filmmaker whose models were plucked from the obscurity of the seedy streets and onto rolls of film shot for his small company Old Reliable, has died today, April 12. Hurles’ longtime friend, author and editor Dian Hanson announced his passing to The Bob Mizer Foundation this afternoon. Hurles acted as the sole employee of Old Reliable, a pornographic media company that he founded in the 1970s in San Francisco. Prior to its founding, Hurles shot his first professional model in 1968. As a photographer, Hurles focused his lens on the unsavory dregs of society – notably, tattooed, shaggy-haired, and sneering drug addicts and convicts – a far cry from the cleaner-cut models who had appeared throughout the magazine pages and film loops until that time ...” 

/ From the latest Bob Mizer Foundation e-newsletter dated 14 April 2023 / 

“Danger is a turn-on for Mr. Hurles. Marines aren’t butch enough or scary enough. No, David likes psychos. Nude ones. Money-hungry drug addicts with big dicks. Rage-filled robbers without rubbers. And of course convicts – his ultimate Prince Charmings. In the last three decades David Hurles has picked up rough trade off the streets of California, out in front of Doggie Diner and Flagg Brothers shoes in San Francisco and the Oki-Dog in Hollywood. Bars like the Old Crow and the Spotlight were his own personal Schwab’s Pharmacy. Only David wasn’t looking for an unknown Lana Turner in a tight sweater to turn into a star; he was looking for handsome criminals … Hurles took these outlaw studs, who may have never even realized they could be sexy, to his home like a fool-saint, paid them money and photographed them for your sick, self-loathing enjoyment. Old Reliable models snarled at the camera nude. They gave you the finger, bent over with their assholes showing, looking through their legs. And in what became Mr. Hurles’ signature photo pose, they smoked a big steaming cigar, nude, with an angry leer … All glaring into the camera looking like they wanted to rough you up … Without these pioneering Old Reliable photographs, homoeroticism in the art world couldn’t have existed. Robert Mapplethorpe was a pussy. Mr. Hurles is the real thing.” 

/ From the book Role Models (2010) by John Waters / 

Adieu to maverick “outsider pornographer” David Hurles (12 September 1944 – 12 April 2023). The gentle-faced model above is not typical of Hurles’ oeuvre, but it’s the only image I could find safe for social media! To really explore Hurles' work, this lovingly maintained blog is an essential starting point. 

Reflections on ... lemon and coconut muffins

 

I’ve been on a baking binge lately (and sadly, I have the waistline to prove it). My manager at work is running in the London Marathon soon and held a bake sale at the office to fundraise. I volunteered to contribute – and made these fool-proof old favourites: lemon and coconut cupcakes. (They make such a huge quantity of cupcakes I could “donate” some to the bake sale and keep most of them at home!). As a public service, here’s the recipe. 

250 grams softened unsalted butter (as in: the whole package!)

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (I ignore that and just use the zest of the whole lemon without measuring)

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

2 ¾ cup of desiccated coconut (I ignore that and chuck in the whole package)

2 cups self-raising (NOT plain) flour

1 can coconut milk 

Preheat oven to 180-degrees 

Cream butter, lemon zest and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy. 

Add and beat the three eggs one by one. Gradually alternate between mixing in the can of coconut milk and the flour until all combined. Finally, add the bag of desiccated coconut and combine. Spoon batter into lined muffin tin. It makes 24 muffins – a huge amount! Bake for approximately 45 – 50 minutes until the tops are pale gold, firm in the middle and a stick of spaghetti comes out clean. (That’s a Nigella Lawson tip: using spaghetti as a cake tester).

 

The Next Lobotomy Room Film Club ... Secret Ceremony (1968) on 20 April 2023

 

Prepare to be comprehensively freaked-out this April when the free monthly Lobotomy Room film club (our motto: Bad Movies for Bad People) presents the peculiar London-set late 1968 psychodrama Secret Ceremony! It's precisely the type of film John Waters would describe as a “failed art movie” – but that’s one of my favourite genres, and if you’re going to make a failed art movie, make it this wildly baroque, inscrutable and claustrophobic! 

Screen diva Elizabeth Taylor (costumed by Dior and coiffed by Alexandre de Paris) stars as Leonara, a blowzy middle-aged prostitute tormented by the death of her young daughter by drowning. One day profoundly disturbed poor little rich girl Cenci (post-Rosemary’s Baby Mia Farrow at her most waif-like) latches onto her, decides Leonara represents the return of her recently deceased mother and drags her back to her haunted art nouveau mansion in Holland Park. Once installed there, Leonora soon clashes with Albert (Robert Mitchum), Cenci’s sexually predatory stepfather. From there things just get progressively more twisted … (To put Secret Ceremony into context: the same year, Taylor and director Joseph Losey collaborated on the even more berserk Boom! (1968), the flop film based on a Tennessee Williams play - another movie I love!). 

So, won’t you join us to watch Secret Ceremony downstairs in the glittering surroundings of Fontaine’s bar in Dalston on Thursday 20 April 2023? Perhaps the £6 cocktail menu will help make Secret Ceremony more comprehensible!  Numbers are limited, so reserving in advance via Fontaine’s website is essential. Alternatively, phone 07718000546 or email bookings@fontaines.bar to avoid disappointment! The film starts at 8:30 pm. Doors to the basement Bamboo Lounge open at 8:00 pm. To ensure everyone is seated and cocktails are ordered on time, please arrive by 8:15 pm at the latest.

Read more about Secret Ceremony here.