Jim Holliday, who passed away in late 2004, was the most comprehensive of all carnal critics before the Internet opened the floodgates for every wannabe scribe such as myself to put in their two cents worth. In later years, he would frequently rant against the smug ignorance of those "instant experts" in his irregular columns for AVN magazine, not always without reason even though I've always felt it was more important to discuss this previously taboo subject openly and get as many opinions out there as possible so that this crucial part of sociological history might finally be explored. He proved a fitfully effective filmmaker in his own right, assuming an uncharacteristically humble stance when it came to this stage of his career, claiming only to serve (service ?) the Real Adult Film Fan by assembling huge female casts consisting of whoever was most popular at the time of shooting, augmented with starlets he felt were deserving of higher praise, hence his notorious repertory company of loyal "Angels". My personal favorite among his uneven output would be TIMELESS, a witty tribute to the porno styles from the '60s to '90s within the narrative framework of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and as such a heartfelt tribute to Shaun Costello's exquisite PASSIONS OF CAROL, starring a wonderfully wicked Kylie Ireland in what could very well be her finest turn. As a pioneering adult film reviewer when few others would even touch the stuff, he had very few if any equals though. It was his 1986 book Only the Best that clued me in that cinematic porn had a proper history rather than just a shady past. Video company Cal Vista (now Metro) published this tome and gave its author the opportunity to dig through their vast back catalog for a compilation of best ever sex scenes to accompany its release.
Erotic evaluation being the highly personal endeavor that it is, viewers are bound to disagree with some of the choices Holliday settled on. I for one have never cared much for the lovey dovey cuddling of Shauna Grant and Joey Silvera from Gary Graver's SUZIE SUPERSTAR. For Shauna, I would've included either of her Paul Thomas scenes from Bill Eagle's ALL American GIRLS 2 or John Seeman's criminally underrated VIRGINIA, proving my point made at the start of this paragraph. Most of the other scenes seriously rock however and it's a treat just to have such an amount of top quality, high voltage sex in a single package. Anthony Riverton's THE OTHER SIDE OF JULIE may be a tad over-represented with a whopping three sequences (John Leslie and Kristine Heller on the staircase ; Susannah French soloing with a wine bottle ; Leslie's sweat-drenched romp with Jackie O'Neil) but there is such an embarrassment of riches to be found within that fabulous film that its supremacy here can easily be forgiven.
Cult goddess Abigail Clayton (a/k/a Gail Lawrence of Bill Lustig's MANIAC infamy) sears the sheets with Ken Scudder in the credit sequence from Alan B. Colberg's unjustly overlooked NAKED AFTERNOON. Lesllie Bovee voted all time best oralist by male performer consensus and legendary large John Holmes tumble in a "monster shot"-studded encounter from Stanley Kirlan and Jack Mathew's popular ERUPTION. Unsung Fay Burd, the prostitute posing as a ringer rape victim in Joanna Williams' EXPENSIVE TASTES, does a scalding three-way including the type of multiple penetrations you wouldn't want to try at home with that same Holmes and Joey Silvera in a Swedish Erotica loop that was incorporated into Bob Vosse's STORMY. Also included is the excruciatingly erotic Sapphic shower scene between real life lovers Georgina Spelvin and Judith Hamilton from Gary Graver's 3 A.M., a strong contender for being the best of its kind though Holliday favors Spelvin's violation of Jesie St. James from Sam Weston's exceptional EASY. In the current DVD incarnation by NuTech however, this sequence suffers somewhat by the elimination of the cat-fight intro in the name of political correctness (still present in NuTech's separate release of the complete film) which is bound to make viewers unfamiliar with the material wonder as to why Jesie's cowering in fear as Georgina's working her way down her naked body. Another scene, the husband/wife "rape" between John Leslie and Annette Haven from Graver's V THE HOT ONE, has even been excised in its totality though her name is still prominently featured on the disc's artwork ! Modern times (well, 1986 anyway) are covered by clips from Alex DeRenzy's killer loop-carrier WILD THINGS 2, with succulent Joanna Storm seducing water delivery boy Jonathan Lee, and the omnipresent Graver's (for the sake of completeness, he also photographed THE OTHER SIDE OF JULIE !) PEEPING TOM that finds a glowingly youthful Nina Hartley throwing down a mattress before tearing into an amusingly slack-jawed Buck Adams ("Cool !") with Jerry Butler's spying only spurring them on to greater ecstasy.
Holliday would do several more compilations under the ONLY THE BEST and LEGENDS OF PORN banners for Cal Vista, then got miffed when they used the now copyrighted titles for further tapes for which they did not seek his involvement. He took his act to rival company VCA who enabled him to assemble the ONLY THE VERY BEST (what a difference one word makes !) signature series with extra scenes he got to shoot with contemporary starlets added for bonus enticement. Industry giant VCA, run by the venerable Russ Hampshire, was also the place where Holliday's directorial talents were nurtured into full bloom. The rest, as they say, is history and now sadly so is he, though he would be the first to appreciate the irony regarding his humble beginnings chronicling the evolution of erotica.
