365 Days #197 - Pent-R-Books, Inc. - Sexual Adventures in Marriage (mp3s)

MP3:
1 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Intro (1:35)
2 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 1 (10:40)
3 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 2 (10:40)
4 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 3 (10:41)
5 Sexual Adventures in Marriage - Reel 4 (10:40)

About 11 or 12 years ago, while digging through a forgotten  part of the Chelsea  flea market, I found a copy of the classic Fornicating  Female Freaks on Audio Stag Records. That was cool, but stuffed inside the  jacket was a second record: this little gem.

A soundtrack to a "film documentary" of the same name, Sexual Adventures in Marriage is a  terrific mess largely due to the narrator, who is aloof, maybe tipsy, and most definitely  rushed. He coughs repeatedly, clears his throat, flubs his lines, and loudly  turns his pages. A phone rings next to him at one point, and you can also hear  what sounds like a big truck driving by outside. As the narration goes on, I  could swear that a couple of the pregnant pauses are due to the narrator  actually stifling a yawn. And that's not even getting into the content of Sexual Adventures in Marriage. Most of  it is only moderately spicy, but things definitely heat up by Reel 3, which contains  such progressive maxims as "Never tolerate muscular softness in your wife" and  "Give her a good slap where she's built for slapping."

Pent-R-Books was a cheapo, X-rated publishing outfit based  at 120 13th St  in Brooklyn, in business from the late-60s  (maybe before) through the late-70s. From what I can tell, they published  mainly adult fare disguised as how-to books. They published a book version of Sexual Adventures in Marriage (written  by one Rudiger Boschmann), as well as other titles such as The Full Color Guide To Sexual Pleasures A-Z, The Picture Book of Sexual Love, and Love's Photo Album.

The story got more interesting when I discovered that  Pent-R-Books was, in a way, some kind of free speech pioneer. In New York in 1971,  Pent-R-Books challenged what was known as the Goldwater Amendment, a law that  had passed requiring notices on any sexual oriented mail. At the same time, the  Post Office had made available a blanket protection form for anyone who did not  wish to receive such material. According to articles in the New York Times, the  law stated that publishers had to purchase the lists (which were updated weekly  by the Post Office) to make sure they were not breaking the law when sending  out their explicit material. The law itself carried stiff fines and jail  sentences. Pent-R-Books apparently had a mailing list of over 8 million  potential customers they regularly sent sexually oriented ads to, and demanded  a restraining order on the law. They claimed that the law was a violation of  free speech, and would irreparably damage their business. The State's Attorney  disagreed, and a 3-judge panel was ordered.

Problem is, that's where the news dries up on my end.  By late 1971, 500,000 people had signed the Post Office forms, and Pent-R and  four other publishers had been dutifully purchasing them at great expense,  while still pursuing the matter in the courts. Missing from the newspapers was  a 1974 case, United States  vs. Pent-R-Books, which appears in a finding aid for the John Francis Dooling  papers at the Harvard Law Library. In 1976, Pent-R-Books was still kicking  around, as that's the date of this recording. However, by 1979, the company was  bankrupt and an attempt was made to purchase (for ten grand) the rights to  their holdings by one Jay M. Halpert.

- Contributed by: Jonathan Ward

Images: Record Label

Comments

[The Chemical Brothers']

If ya FMUers really wanna get hot, just check the hottest cool parody pic by clickin' dè link.

[Dan B]

So, the deal is that Pent-R-Books was sued by the US over 20 mailings that it made to customers who had asked not to receive any more mailing from them, and the US won in the Eastern District (Brooklyn) federal court. On appeal, the 2nd Circuit remanded 16 of those cases for reconsideration because of various procedural problems, but did not declare the postal regulation unconstitutional. I checked the statute, and it looks like it has only once been found partially unconstitutional. That was in a case where Larry Flynt mailed copies of Hustler to every member of Congress, and many of them signed on as not wishing to receive any further mailings from him. Of course, he sent another round of Hustlers up to Capitol Hill and argued that it was protected by the First Amendment because he was expressing his political views to Congresspeople. The court agreed with him and held that the statute was unconstitutional if it was used by a Congressperson to restrain a citizen from communicating with the Congressperson about political issues of concern. Otherwise, the anti-pandering legislation appears to still be good law.

(Can you tell I'm taking the bar exam next week and so I'll do just about ANYTHING to procrastinate right now?)

[Jonathan Ward]

Thanks for that info - and good luck with the exam!

[Ace London]

This recording sounds like John Cleese moonlighting as a sex ed teacher or something. I love this recording. It takes you back to a day when sex was really a partially hush hush thing. Of course, I am not surprised that WFMU posted yet another winner of an MP3. Hasn't let me down yet. :)

[Gigs]

This sound track just smacks of "we just threw this record in so we can say this porno is educational." He's flubbing lines, coughing, etc. It's like they didn't expect anyone to actually listen to it. :)

It's great, thanks!