How Falcon Studios Gave Birth to Today’s Gay Adonis

A new article expands the territory director, and The Sword founder, Michael Stabile explored in “Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story” to ask if Holmes most lasting legacy is the bar at which gay beauty is still set at.

“Is porn responsible for gay men’s Adonis-like body standards?” writer Jack Flanigan asks at the beginning of his Advocate article, How Chuck Holmes Engineered Gay Beauty.

Besides the porn film, “the boy” was also an innovation of Falcon Studios — specifically, of its earnest Midwestern founder, Chuck Holmes. He happened upon the formula for the perfect man, at least in porn, according to interviews in last year’s documentary, Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story. As soon as he found it, he stuck to the formula: blond feathery hair frozen with hair spray, hairless body, rock-hard abs. This was was Holmes’s Adonis. We still live with it today.

The faces of "The Other Side of Aspen II by Chuck Holmes. (photo credit: Advocate,com)
The faces of “The Other Side of Aspen II by Chuck Holmes. (photo credit: Advocate,com)

The credit doesn’t all go to Holmes. Just before the Adonis started appearing in his films, another gay entrepreneur, Calvin Klein, had launched an iconic advertising campaign that sexualized the nubile man, though obviously not as explicitly as Holmes later did. According to a testimony from Holmes’s business partner and lover, Steven Scarborough, the porn king was so inspired by the Calvin Klein models’ beauty he created a mold out of it, into which he poured all his future talent.

Pretty remarkable. Chuck Holmes enduring influence to gay porn is not unlike how “I Love Lucy” left its mark on every situtaion comedy that came after. But as we can see from this article, Chuck Holmes’ infulence extended from beyond the blue screen into how we evaluate ourselves, and each other, to this day.

NakedSword is proud to have provided finishing funds to the film, and is helping support the film during its festival run. NakedSword Film Works (NSFW) has continued to produce and showcase new work from independent film directors with an eye toward the provocative, the experimental, and the explicit. NSFW films will be available exclusively to NakedSword members.


Original Post: October 25, 2015
The universal acclaim afforded Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story is due in large part to the vision an tenacity of its director, Michael Stabile. Selected as part of the NewFest LGBT Film Festival for 2015, see it this weekend in NYC!

Michael Stabile was also a co-founder of The Sword in addition to being an all around talent and good guy. NakedSword could not have been more proud of providing the finishing funds to the film and of course, of Michael Stabile.

“Seed Money tells the story “the harrowing true story of the man behind Falcon Studios — and one of the gay rights movements secret heroes.”

The Los Angeles and San Francisco screenings were sold out. There are still a few seats left in New York: get your tickets here.

I am thrilled that Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story is one of many worthy films selected for inclusion in NewFest: NY’s Premiere LGBT Film Festival, in partnership with Outfest and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. NewFest opens today, October 22, 2015 and runs through next week. For the New Yorkers out there, the screenings this year will be held at the Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas, 260 W. 23rd St in Manhattan.

NewFest curates the best in LGBT cinema each year:

[Visit the “Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story” Facebook Page]

Previously:
[Exclusive: Talking With Filmmaker (and Sword Co-Founder) Michael Stabile About His New Porn Documentary ‘Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story’]

2 thoughts on “How Falcon Studios Gave Birth to Today’s Gay Adonis”

  1. I was lucky enough to see the film at the festival in San Francisco. Excellent film, great story telling and amazing to see the old footage. Stabile did an excellent job. I highly recommend seeing this if you can.

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