Paul Raymond Film and Rumours

[Bill Malone]

"I would hope that when it released it will be a quality product that will stand the test of time. Never to been seen on BBC.."

...because the BBC don't screen quality programmes?

You may need to watch some more foreign TV just to see just how good BBC shows are! No adverts, best actors in the world, a 70 year archive of award winning productions...and reality bollox limited to tangoing newsreaders.

[one eyed jack]

Ive got to defend the quality programming of the BBC. I agre with your view about East Enders (not my bag at all but it provides actors with work so its all good and its popular. Just not with me and you )

I'm talking baout their documentaries and HD progs, they were involved with some of the qulaity programmes like Rome and have the best technicians inthe world bar none! To say you worked at the BC would get you into the most high end productions for sound and vision jobs.

I cant speak for the King Of Soho film. Ive offered assistance if they needed it but obviously they dont so its ok. I have no idea what level of quality it is but I aimagine they are spending money on it.

Latest I heard was its a made for TV film but dont quote me on my sources, I htink thats speculative gossip.

I feel Paul Raymond deserves a biopic tothe minimum level of Sex Drugs and Rock n Roll, the movie about Ian Dury and that was superb! If the director and producer are half way as good it wil be a decent film.

I think it would be nice to have an industry screening but they dont owe us that. I just think it would be a cool industry event and make it a charity premiere maybe?

[Deuce Bigolo]

Dont really know the guy or what he did in the industry apart from the one aspect that I was interested in...Mayfair magazine

Within a year after he bought its regular readers reduced by 100,000
because the quality simply wasnt there any longer.

The idea of exclusive content seemed to be lost of him as he used the same sets through umpteen new titles

Use of fit and slim Eastern Euros versus the traditional English Buxom Rose
another cost cutting phase I'd expect

When I finally came online in 2001 I joined his website sexclub.co.uk
For the price it was OK because it offered streaming videos clips
where the downside lay was offering the entire back catalogue of his magazines but at sizes like 400x 300 which you can find today.

-other sites around then were 800 x 600 for pics and they were free

My overall impression is he was cheap unscrupulous businessman

Takes some kind of a flawed business man to reduce the best softcore magazine in the UK by a 100,00 users within a year.

[IainT]

Deuce Bigolo wrote:

> Dont really know the guy or what he did in the industry apart
> from the one aspect that I was interested in...Mayfair magazine
>
> Within a year after he bought its regular readers reduced by
> 100,000
> because the quality simply wasnt there any longer.
>
> The idea of exclusive content seemed to be lost of him as he
> used the same sets through umpteen new titles
>
> Use of fit and slim Eastern Euros versus the traditional
> English Buxom Rose
> another cost cutting phase I'd expect
>
> When I finally came online in 2001 I joined his website
> sexclub.co.uk
> For the price it was OK because it offered streaming videos
> clips
> where the downside lay was offering the entire back catalogue
> of his magazines but at sizes like 400x 300 which you can find
> today.
>
> -other sites around then were 800 x 600 for pics and they were
> free
>
> My overall impression is he was cheap unscrupulous businessman
>
> Takes some kind of a flawed business man to reduce the best
> softcore magazine in the UK by a 100,00 users within a year.

I cannot say that I ever met Paul Raymond, but I worked briefly for the group towards the end of the archer street era and work regularly for the new company. My impression is that far from being a cheapskate the problem was that with PR and people from that era at the helm, the organisation simply didn't move with the times in terms of embracing the Internet and introducing modern budgetary constraints.

Under PR the company never had an independant web presence, sexclub was a third party operation. in the modern adult arena that is virtually business suicide. They spent to much money producing a quality of product the market didn't need and couldn't sustain.

When PR were bought over by a mainstream magazine group, the operation was decimated in terms of staff, budgets day to day operation. Today it's run on a shoestring, but in line with modern adult trends, with the exception of the we operation which is still to little, to late.

Mayfair and Men Only do still feature buxom uk models wherever possible, but there is a limited supply of models of suitable quality in the uk. Its wrong to say models from overseas are a cheaper alternative...they are not, there are simply more of them. Model fees in most of eastern Europe are comparable to the uk nowadays and in the USA, much higher.

[Arginald Valleywater]

So what about the film? Is it going to be a tour de force like Woody Harrelson's in the film about Larry Flynt or all porn is bad etc?

[frankthring]

Lets all hope its going to be an interesting film. I suspect there might be
the odd flash or tit or bum but that it will basically be a comedy-drama
about this larger-than-life character.
I have no idea what planet Deuce Bigelow lives on but he seems to have a
lamentable lack of porn hisrtory knowledge since Paul Raymond was the man
who tried to give Soho its first "upmarket" strip club, with the Raymond
Revuebar, purchased a crap little mag called "Men Only" and built it up into
a major mag, actually launched Mayfair, Club International, Razzle and co.
Personally, he ran a tight ship, but set high quality standards.
Its also true that the company failed lamentably to get itself organised
properly on the web (or even in the dvd market come to that) and rooted
itself too long just in print magazines.
Along the way Mr Raymond seemed to buy up those parts of Soho not owned
by that other - still living - legend, Mr David Sullivan, a man who surely one
day will get a major biopic !