Deep Throat @ 50: Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 3

In 1970, Chuck Traynor – former Marine, sexploitation dabbler, successful Miami bar owner and less successful drug smuggler, met Linda Boreman – a hippie drifter who’d recently had her newborn taken from her and was recovering from a harrowing car accident. They were both looking for something new, a fresh start – Chuck wanted financial opportunities that would prove his macho worth; Linda wanted direction and acceptance.

The way they tell it, they met and fell in love. They lived together, partied together, worked together. Then Chuck lost his bar. This led to money troubles that led to sex work and the start of domestic violence. This violence followed a well-established pattern of conflict building to physical outburst, followed by a reconciliation period of intimacy and re-connection. Linda’s allegations were sometimes inconsistent, but were never disputed by Chuck. He said it was just part and parcel of his background and their lifestyle at the time.

In summer 1971, Chuck and Linda got married. A month later, Chuck won his court case for drug smuggling and was a free man. No longer legally tied to Florida, Chuck persuaded Linda to go with him to New York to see if they could claim a stake in the city’s burgeoning adult film business. Chuck was excited about the money they could make; Linda was hopeful the change would break the cycle of abuse.

Within a year they would be internationally famous, their lives turned upside down, and the figureheads of the new ‘porno chic’ movement.

This is Part Three of the untold story of Chuck Traynor – with contributions from Linda Lovelace, Eric Edwards, Gerard Damiano, Eric Edwards, Harry Reems, Larry Revene, Tallie Cochrane… and Chuck Traynor himself – all talking about the notorious loops Chuck and Linda made in 1971.

This podcast is 40 minutes long.

Listen to, or read, Part One and Part Two here.

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Advisory

A quick word before this particular episode. You know this is a podcast about the early adult film industry. And that means that we tackle topics that often aren’t, let’s say, acceptable dinner table conversation in polite society.

Even allowing for that however, this podcast episode is a little different. The themes and story lines are highly problematic and we recognize that this installment may not be for everyone. Having said that, we’ve tried to present the events in an accurate way with the views of all key participants.

This is an additional trigger warning for particularly sensitive X-rated subject matter.

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In the previous episode of ‘Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story’:

Chuck was born in Connecticut in 1937 to a single mother. He was raised by his grandparents amid rumors of his mother’s escorting and involvement with mobsters. Eventually the whole family moved down to Florida. Chuck served in the marines, before working on the fringes of the sexploitation business through his romantic ...