Sex is My Business (Mary Millington circa 1974)

[Johnny B]

Some screenshots from the Millington rarity Sex is My Business (8mm circa 1974 dir: Harrison Marks)

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My account of the film?s rediscovery (org: posted on my myspace page):


?Sex is My Business was something of a British sex film mystery, advertised in 1970s porn magazines as a 8mm film starring Mary Millington, the film was known by title to Millington collectors but little could be found out about the film itself, and unlike Millington?s early John Lindsay shorts (Miss Bohrloch, Betrayed, Oral Connection etc etc) the film was never transferred to video or resurfaced as an internet download. Last year however an intriguing bit of information came my way; an actor/model who worked for the legendary glamour photographer, pornographer and piss artist George Harrison Marks in the 1970s remembered that Marks had made a soft core short with a pre-fame Millington that was filmed in 1974 and ?set in a sex-shop just off Leicester Sq in London?, but he could not remember the title. Coincidentally a fellow film collector (the real hero of this story) had a film on Super 8mm called Sex Shop which was sold to him as ?Starring Mary Millington?. There was no box cover, just ?Sex Shop? written on a sticker on the box, but he didn?t have the equipment to play the Super 8mm film.

Interesting, while he was still alive Harrison Marks claimed he couldn?t recall filming Mary prior to making Come Play With Me in 1977, something that was backed up by his estate which could find no evidence of them working together prior to that date either. The mystery deepened?.

I found a website that could transfer 8mm and Super 8mm to DVD, and passed the URL onto my fellow film collector with the mystery 8mm film (albeit telling him to check the company was OK about handing possible pornographic material? after all none of us knew what on earth was on that 8mm film, softcore???, hardcore??? someone?s holiday home-movie???, sod all???.)

Finally however the film came back transferred to DVD, and did indeed turn out to be the enigmatic Sex is My Business directed by Harrison Marks for his Maximus company and starring the one and only Mary Millington.

Sex is My Business opens with some choice shots of mid-70s London at night, with exterior shots of the film?s sex shop setting along with other bits of neon scenery including a marquee advertising Danny La Rue. Due to some bad editing Harrison Marks? hand is also captured for posterity, directing the cameraman which way to pan.
Once the film goes inside, Marks gives you a guided tour of a mid-seventies sex shop, with signs on the wall advertising crotch-less panties and other sex aids. In a self-referencing touch, the peep show booths in the shop are showing ?Sex is My Business? and another Marks 8mm film called Santa?s Coming (shot sometime in the late sixties/early seventies, I suspect Santa?s Coming was the ?inspiration? for the blue film parody in Lindsay Anderson?s O Lucky Man, but thats another investigation).
Enter Mary Millington as a member of the shop?s staff, whose unorthodox uniforms consist of see-through dresses that end way before their crotches!!!
Anyway, never mind the plot, heres the narrative excuse for the sex: a customer drops a bottle of a aphrodisiac on the floor, which turns the staff and the customers sex crazy. It must be good stuff, as most of them start having it off right there and then in the shop. Mary at least manages to drag a customer to the back room for some multi-position sex, thoughtfully turning on the shop?s CCTV camera, so that another member of staff, a black girl with a huge afro straight out of a blaxploitation movie, can watch them making out.
Quite how Marks forgot he filmed Mary in this, is anyone?s guess, while the film is ?..ahem something of an ?ensemble? piece, Mary is the films main focus of attention and even though the film is soft core, remains a highly sexual presence throughout. Particularly memorable are the shots of her, quite literally, making love to the camera, ending with a huge CU of her tonguing the camera.

My theory is that sometime in 1975/1976 Marks sold a number of his 8mm films to David Sullivan, who then advertised them in his own magazines and those of others. Sex is My Business would obviously have been a lucrative pick-up for him, given that in the short time since the film was made the two main actresses in Sex is My Business had both become big stars of Sullivan?s publications. Mary Millington being the obvious draw, while the film also features Maureen O?Malley, who appeared in Sullivan magazines under the name ?Mary Whitehouse?.
In fact, it probably wasn?t long after making the film that O?Malley introduced Mary to David Sullivan, and the rest as they say, is history.


Needless to say I?m completely chuffed that a ?new? Mary Millington film has been rediscovered, and that a small piece of British sex film history has been saved from the dustbin of time.?

[joe king]

Nice find.
In The Mary Millington Story, John Lindsay says he did 15-20 films with Mary M.
Just to be clear, is this film 'Sex Shop' hardcore?

[Johnny B]

no, just softcore and by Harrison Marks.

[alec]

Thanks a lot.

We list a Mary Millington and Maureen O'Malley loop called Sex is Our Business, a listing based on information in Simon Sheridan's book Come Play With Me.

On page 52 he says the action takes place in an adult shop and on page 60 he implies that John Lindsay was the director - "Mary Maxted was well acquainted with Maureen O'Malley, having worked with her on several jobs for John Lindsay including the hardcore film Sex Is Our Business made two years previously."

It is evident that this must be the same film, but did it exist in two versions? If it did, it wouldn't be the only Harrison Marks loop to exist in both soft and hard versions.

Anyway, we think we should add the black girl to the database for this film (with a suitably amended title). Is it possible to get better captures of her? Then we can either add her to the unknowns or compare her more closely with Sylvia Bayo and XNK0636. Thanks again.

[Johnny B]

When I spoke to Simon about the film (this was before it was transferred to DVD) he told me the early Millington film set in a sex shop was called Sex is My Business, as opposed to ?Our Business?. My Business is the way the title appears in adverts for the film as well.
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As I said Marks claimed he hadn?t worked with Millington prior to Come Play With Me in 1977, so thats probably why its been previously thought that John Lindsay was the director. The version I have of the film is soft core, but I wouldn?t rule out Marks also shooting a hardcore version of the film for export.

Heres some more screenshots of the black actress:


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I also wonder if anyone can ID this actress; distinguishable by her rather large nose and ears. She was definitely in one or two other loops of this period.


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The setting appears to be a sex shop called Lovecraft which judging from the exterior shots was situated next to the Pigalle Cinema which I believe was in Piccadilly Circus?
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[alec]

Johnny B wrote:

> When I spoke to Simon about the film (this was before it was
> transferred to DVD) he told me the early Millington film set in
> a sex shop was called Sex is My Business, as opposed to ?Our
> Business?. My Business is the way the title appears in adverts
> for the film as well.
>
>
> As I said Marks claimed he hadn?t worked with Millington prior
> to Come Play With Me in 1977, so thats probably why its been
> previously thought that John Lindsay was the director. The
> version I have of the film is soft core, but I wouldn?t rule
> out Marks also shooting a hardcore version of the film for
> export.
>

That all makes sense. Thanks a lot and thanks for the caps.

[Short Jack Gold]

Wow, this is like, you know that film about the ship..Titanic I think it was called. Revisiting something, somewhere you`ve been before. Spooky

I was in this film. Shot in Coventry St sex shop between 12 midnight to about 8am on a Saturday evening/sunday morning.

Can`t id the girl with the nose and ears, which is a shame cos I went out with her for a while, but her name escapes me. Bit unfair too, Johnnie B cos she was a bit of a looker. Ran John Lindsay`s model agency "Ragdolls" in Margaret St.

"Santas Coming".. was in that too

[Johnny B]

Thanks for that additional info.

I believe the unknown girl with the large nose/ears is listed on this sites database as XNK0648 (on account of her small role in Die Lollos).

Two softcore loops she was in were also later compiled into a video called Emmanuelle and Friends. Released on tape in 1980.
http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/cgi-bin/cms/Film/43857

[joe king]

I thought she could like her

[Johnny B]

Heres some additional screens caps of XNK0648 -these from ?Emmanuelle and Friends?.


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The chap in the pics is Howard ?Vanderhorn? Nelson, a bodybuilder friend of Harrison Marks, who was in quite a few of Marks films. (Which makes me suspect that Emmanuelle and Friends was also directed by Marks)