When I announced the death of the gay-mag empire Mavety Media in 2009, it was a wildly successful post. It seemed almost every gay man remembered seeing Honcho, Torso, Inches, Playguy and/or Mandate at some point.
Now, so many years later, I'm wrapping up my interview phase on a project related to Mavety Media's magazines, to gay print porn history and to Mr. Mavety himself.
If any of you reading this know someone who worked in print porn, was a photographer, illustrator, model, etc., please reach out at matthewrettenmund@gmail.com.
Also, if you are a gay man with a stack of older gay publications or ephemera you're done with, I'd be interested in adding them to my archive. I'm most interested in copies of the above titles that I do not have, and of similar/competitive titles. I'm also quite interested in local periodicals like Michael's Thing, Where It's At and the like, invitations, posters and of course original illustrations and photography. If you have things you haven't been able to decide how to rid yourself of, I might be the right repository!
On that note, DO NOT miss reading the new memoir by Sam Staggs, who was once an editor of the Mavety titles, which he has cheekily titled Did You Sleep with the Models? You can read three chapters at his Substack, here.