In 1972, Alfred Sole, a first time filmmaker, made an X-rated film called ‘Deep Sleep’.
He didn’t know much about adult films or the industry, so he shot it in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey and using a cast and crew made up of friends and family members.
This meant that the local lawyer, banker, policeman, high school teachers, funeral home director, the mayor’s wife, even Alfred’s wife and his mother were part of the film-making group. It seemed like everyone in Paterson knew someone who was involved in the making of ‘Deep Sleep’.
And so predictably when it came out it was a smash hit in New Jersey, with long lines of people breaking box office records trying to get into the theaters to see it.
But not everyone was impressed. And what followed was one of the most remarkable and notorious prosecutions of an adult film in American history. First the filmmakers were indicted on a state basis under an ancient anti-fornication statute, and then on a federal level for interstate transportation of pornography. Suddenly Alfred Sole found himself at the center of a storm. He was under attack both from the law and from everyone who’d helped him make the film in the first place.
On this Rialto Report, the people involved speak out for the first time in 40 years. We speak to –
Alfred Sole, Deep Sleep’s director
Kim Pope, Deep Sleep actress
Joseph Friedman, Deep Sleep cinematographer
Butch Taylor, Deep Sleep’s soundtrack composer
John Niccollai, Assistant District Prosecutor
This episode’s running time is 69 minutes.
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Deep Sleep (1972) – Stills
Kim Pope (aka Mary Canary), Anthony De Marco (aka Anthony Dema)
Kim Pope, Anthony De Marco drive past the Bishop’s residence
Kim Pope, Anthony De Marco, with the whip taken in evidence
Great Falls, Paterson NJ
Willard Butts looks on
Jamie Gillis, in hammock
The Maharishi
Deep Sleep – Press Coverage
The post ‘Deep Sleep’ (1972): Deep, Deep Trouble
Podcast 52 appeared first on The Rialto Report.