Lost Boys: Vintage Images of Jeremy Scott, Part II

Lost Boys:

Vintage Images of Jeremy Scott, Part II

Today, we continue the telling of the tantalizing tale of porn star Jeremy Scott. His story and rise to fame is as complicated as they come, filled with odd details the likes of which I have never come across when researching other vintage gay porn stars, for the story is not his alone; those around him bring just as much to the table as he did. 

I encourage you to read, if you haven't already done so, Part I, before reading on. That said...

Let's pick up where we left off! 

--- ---

Jeremy Scott

AKA: Troy Andrew Myers
Birthday: October 17, 1961
Birthplace: San Diego, CA

Death: May 28, 1994

Height: 5'  

Weight: 134

Hair: Brown/Blonde

Years Active: 1980 - 1991
Films: 33
Compilations: 14

Studios: HIS, LeSalon, Catalina Video, LA Video, NOVA, Bijou, etc.

At the end of Part I, Brian/Ian Ayres had just discovered, in true soap opera fashion, that his lover, Troy Myers had been living a double life, doing gay porn under the the name Jeremy Scott. Now, in order to get the full story, we really need to step back a year or so to learn exactly how and why Troy Myers morphed into Jeremy Scott. 

During the late '70's, there was a backlash of sorts against the sexual revolution. It would serve as the birth of evangelicals as a political movement. Former Miss America, singer, and orange juice pusher, Anita Bryant was then the face of hatred. In her eyes, those uppity homos in Miami had been getting away with far too much for too long. 

So, in 1977, she successfully campaigned to repeal a Dade County ordinance banning discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Jerry Falwell came to South Florida to lend his support, two years later creating the Moral Majority. Jim Bakker (but not Tammy), Pat Robertson and Phyllis Schlafly all quickly climbed on board The Homophobia Express.

This small, but vocal and powerful minority struck fear in the hearts of happy homos everywhere, including Myers'. Although not directly involved with the gay rights movement, the events in Florida, coupled with his own father's homophobia, pushed him over the gay porn edge. Ayres felt that Myers involvement with gay porn was his "way of saying 'fuck you' to homophobia."

Enter director William Higgins. 

Higgins was working as a cinematographer and director for NOVA Studios in 1979, when the two met at a bar where Myers was dancing. In no time, Higgins convinced the then 17 year-old Myers to get involved in the gay porn industry. But that wasn't the only thing he managed to persuade Myers to do...

He also persuaded Myers to become involved in a romantic/sexual relationship. 

Yes, in addition to doing gay porn for a year and a half behind Ayres' back, the 17 year-old Myers was also having an affair with a porn director who was in his mid-30's. While it's not clear how long the relationship actually lasted (Higgins has never talked about his relationship with Myers), it did last long enough for the two to cohabitate an apartment together - meaning that, during this time, Myers always had two places to hang his hat. 

For his part, it must be noted that Higgins was unaware that Myers already had a home and a lover.

Having adopted the name Jeremy Scott as cover (he chose Scott to honor NOVA's owner, Scott Masters) and altered his appearance (opting for the blonde perm Ayres had sported during their road trip to visit James Dean's grave) Myers filmed Class of '84 in the summer of 1979 - when he was still only 17 years old. 

How was that possible?

Well, back then studios didn't have to have proof of age on file. That stipulation (part of the 2257 Regulations) would not become law until November 18, 1988. So either no one bothered to card Myers or, the more likely story, Myers had a convincing fake ID - which makes sense: he'd been dancing and performing sex scenes live on stage in gay bars since January of 1979, when he and Ayres first got their apartment in Laguna Beach. 

So, how is this film still widely available? 

That would be because Scott Masters sold the rights to NOVA films to a company that has since been mired in bankruptcy - leaving the licensing and ownership of all NOVA films up in the air. It's an internet free-for-all, with no one having the authority to ask sites to take the films down.

During this same period, while Myers was still underaged, Higgins filmed Myers for an additional scene which he also sold to NOVA. It would eventually surface in NOVA's 1981 anthology, Kyd Stuff - featuring a still 17 year-old Myers.

By the time his first film, Class of '84,  was released in 1980, Myers was, indeed, of age. Myers would appear in a total of seven films in 1980-1981.

As if having your life partner living a secret life doing both porn and shacking up with another man wasn't enough, in August of 1980, Ayres had the scare of his life, albeit, one learned after the fact.

He'd met and befriended a man named Randy S. Kraft in August of that year. Kraft, who had recently returned to California after completing a work assignment in Oregon, was an intelligent, friendly man who was both complimentary and cajoling. He offered Ayres free beer and valium. However, Ayres sensed that something wasn't quite right with the man and the situation, so he chose to quietly extradite himself and leave the man's company on August 23,1980. 

 

 Hat knitted by Randy S. Kraft, 'The Scorecard Killer', (most likely bought off murderauction.com) worn by Brian Ayres, who escaped him on 

August 23, 1980

Randolph Steven Kraft would later become infamous as 'The Scorecard Killer' - a serial rapist, torturer, and killer who was convicted for the mutilation and deaths of at least 16 young males from 1972 through 1983 throughout California, Oregon, and Michigan and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of as many as 67 young men. 

A cryptic list found at the time of his arrest linking him to 40 additional unsolved murders became known as 'Kraft's Scorecard.'

Just how close had Ayres come to being one of Kraft's victims?

On September 3, 1980, the bound body of a 19 year-old Marine named Robert Loggins was found discarded in a trash bag located close to the El Toro Marine air base. Loggins had last been seen alive by two fellow Marines close to the Pacific Coast Highway on August 23 (!) - the very day Ayres escaped Kraft. 

Based on Kraft's Scorecard and a series of polaroid photos later found in Kraft's possession, it was determined that Loggins had been drugged, photographed and killed in Kraft's apartment.

That makes Ayres one lucky, capable dude! 

So, I guess, seeing as how well Ayres was able to handle himself, it's hardly surprising that when the truth about what Myers had been up to behind his back was revealed on the silver screen of a porn palace in Hollywood, Ayres, initially, took it all in stride. 

He'd been okay with Myers working as an escort and dancer/stripper; gay porn, no doubt, seemed a logical extension of that career choice.

Ayres and Higgins would eventually meet face-to-face. 

The two shared a limo on April 24, 1981, on their way to  the Hollywood premiere of Pacific Coast Highway, Higgins' film starring Jeremy Scott and Kip Noll. However it is doubtful that Ayres was aware of Myers and Higgins' personal relationship at that time.    

Brian Ayres at Hollywood premiere of Pacific Coast Highway, starring Jeremy Scott and Kip Noll released on April 24, 1981. Photo by director William Higgins.

And once they did meet, Higgins was immediately struck by how much Ayres looked like the star of the film they were about to see - gay porn superstar, Kip Noll. The enterprising director quickly cooked up the idea of an incestuously based film starring Ayres as Noll's younger brother. However, Ayres was much less taken with the idea and turned the opportunity down immediately. 

And speaking of Noll... guess who Myers true sexual obsession was focused on? The two had met while filming Myers' first porn film, Higgins' Class of '84, and the two would work together on several more films in the next two years. Myers became infatuated with Noll, to the point that - remember that distinctive ring Ayres and Myers stole back from Ayres' ex-boyfriend? Well, Myers gave that ring - the one that spelled out 'love' with a diamond in it -  to Noll to wear in one of their films!

So, in addition to Higgins, Ayres was dealing with an unknown in the form of Noll. 

Doesn't this all strike you as a recipe for disaster? Yet, the ever-wily Myers managed to carry it off for years.

Now, the reason that I don't believe Ayres was aware of Myers' infidelity with Higgins is because, later, in the spring of 1981, Ayres came home one evening and found Myers in bed with another man - and that? That was the final straw. Ayres walked out. Fooling around was obviously something Ayres was not willing to put up with, so there's no way he met Higgins in April of 1981, knowing that he and Myers were shacking up in an apartment together. 

Later, long after the fact, Ayres would say that he should have have seen Myers' sex addiction for what it was and accepted that theirs could, and would, never be a monogamous relationship. In retrospect, he came to feel that he should have given Myers a second chance.

But, back to Noll. 

Post-break up, Myers and Ayres stayed in touch with one another and remained on friendly terms. A few weeks after the debut of 1981's Kip Noll Superstar, Myers flew to New York City to appear at the Gayety, an infamous strip and sex club. Myers had secured three weeks of work there and invited Ayres to join him in NYC. Ayres took Myers up on the offer. While visiting the Gayety, Ayres ran into Noll, who, it turned out, was also (not so coincidentally) booked there to perform. Between his own sets, Noll would sit in the club and watch Myers perform, sitting next to Ayers. Noll propositioned Ayres, telling him how much he'd love to fuck him. Ayres turned him down, unaware that Noll was fucking Myers as often as he could during the duos off-hours.

It brings to mind the question: Was the invitation nothing but a set-up on Myers part for a three-way in order to please Noll?

Oh, how the wheels do turn. 

Now, if you thought 1980 and 1981 were difficult years, 1982 would prove to hold plenty of surprises for all involved.

Oddly, Myers didn't appear in any films in 1982. Nor did Noll (who more or less, left the industry at that point). Instead, Myers spent most of the year in New York concentrating on working as an escort and stripper/dancer. 

When the legendary gay bar Uncle Charlie's opened in Greenwich Village in 1982, Myers became one of their first go-go dancers and remained a regular there most of the year. 

The reason for the change of scene and sudden disinterest in the porn industry? Things of a romantic nature.

He and Higgins broke up early in the year. It was mutual and amicable, but it momentarily distanced Myers from his connections in the industry. He and Higgins would work together in the future, but they both needed a break from one another, personally and professionally. 

So that means that things were back on for Ayres and Myers, right? Not quite. 

On October 13, 1982, Brian/Ian Ayres married a woman named Shirley Gayle Lang. The two would remain married for three and half years, divorcing on June 1, 1986. So, Ayres had clearly moved on... not only to greener pastures, but to a completely different farm.

In 1983, Myers - now known strictly by his stage name, Jeremy Scott, made three films. NOVA's classic Little Brother's Coming Out was actually filmed in late 1982, but held for release until '83. For Bijou's Rock Creek Gang, Scott actually directed a good deal of the sex in the film. This inspired him and he developed visions of running his own porn studio. He even consulted Ayres about it and Ayres, always willing to help his former lover, actually created a logo for the company and drew up some brochures. However, it was all for naught, as Scott lacked the financial backing for such a venture and the whole thing went nowhere.

Instead, Scott poured himself into his film work for other companies, appearing in three to five films per year for the next four years. 

1980
Boys of San Francisco
Class of '84: Boys of Venice Go to College

1981
Class Of '84 2: The Adventure Continues
Kip Noll Superstar
Kyd Stuff
Pacific Coast Highway
Palace Of Pleasures

1983
Giants
Little Brother's Coming Out
Rock Creek Gang

1984
Arousers
Jock Empire
Mind Games

1985
L.A. Boiling Point
Making It Huge
Men And Steel
Never Big Enough
Two By Ten

1986
Bad Boys Dormitory
P.S. Connection 2
Size Counts

1988
Black Force
Hard Line
Hot Hung and Hard
Split Decision
Stroke 26: Anywhere, Anytime
Workin' Hard For The Money

1989
Easy Access
Manco Video 25
Manco Video 32
Probe 4: Black And Blond

1990
Glory Hole of Fame 1

1991
Lone Star

One of those films was Making It Huge, a major film starring hot twink of the moment, Jim Bentley. Scott appeared briefly in the final scene, but it was enough for Bentley to go on record as saying that Scott, with his emotionless, obsessive approach to sex, totally "creeped him out."  

In fact, there seems to be a bit of a critical consensus that Scott's performances on film began to wane the further along he got in his career. 

Sources believe that Scott most likely contracted HIV sometime after 1986, which may help explain his absence from film during 1987. However, he was back full force in 1988, appearing in six films. 

By 1991? It was all over. 

Very little is known of his whereabouts or activities during the last six years of his life.

It is said that he bounced around the country for a time, finding boyfriends here and there, shacking up for a year or two before moving on. 

He continued to escort and strip, trading on the brand he had built while doing porn, while supplementing that income with a string of low-paying, go-nowhere jobs. 

In the end, he landed in Rockford, Illinois. There, he found employment in the trust department of Bank One and fell in love with James Leon Larsen, Jr., in whose arms he died on May 28, 1994 at the age of 32. 

Cause of death was listed as complications due to AIDS. He was cremated, with his ashes being scattered over the Rockford cemetery.

 

As for Ayres, he would go on to reinvent himself as Ian Ayres, publishing numerous books of poetry and a memoir based on his childhood in the traveling carnival his parents owned and subsequent years traveling with his mother, who worked as a prostitute and madam. He would travel the world, photographing himself at the gravesites of famous writers, artists and celebrities. Surprisingly, he remained in contact with William Higgins. There exists a photograph of the two of them taken on April 24, 2018 in Prague, where Higgins escaped to in order to run his own mini-porn empire. Higgins would die of a heart attack a year and half later, on December 12, 2019. 

Ayres became something of a starfucker; I have no other way of putting it, really. A charming man, he would ingratiate himself on the lives of older celebrities, such as the late Sylvia Miles. He became an integral part of Tony Curtis' final years, going so far as to film a documentary about the aging Hollywood legend. 

Below, you will find links to the bits and pieces to be found about Ayres by Ayres, mostly blogs and sites started and then abandoned. 

Ian Ayres interview

Van Gogh's Ear

The Marilyn Report

 --- ---

If my assessment of Ayres seems harsh, I apologize. In my time, traveling with The Artist, I met many similar people - some of them quite successful at it, others, merely 'wanabes'. I found all lacked some fundamental element which prevented them from creating art independent of the accomplishments and lives of others. Thus, my use of the term coined for such people by Mick Jagger; if Ayres wasn't propping himself up going on and on about his obsessions with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, then he was actively attaching himself to those currently or formerly in the spotlight. 

It's his life - it's what he chose to do. I'm sure he's very happy and proud of all he's accomplished. But my real problem with Ayres? 

I don't know if I trust his truth. 

There's a lot of ego backing up his life work and its presence causes me to become suspicious. One of the reasons I question just how genuine his relationship to the truth is has to do with Jeremy Scott; here's a story he has firsthand knowledge of and had the means to tell in a compelling, authentic and complete way. And yet... radio silence.

Perhaps he doesn't believe it's his story to tell.

And that's where I'll leave it. I'll say no more.   

All in all, this has made for a fascinating, sometimes difficult and frustrating story. The various sources used frequently get key facts wrong or mix up timelines. I've sorted it all out as best I could. What dogs me? There are so many pieces missing, but I should be used to that by now.

Vintage gay porn stars are hardly known for their high profiles, now are they?

Still, I enjoy digging up what I can. 

Jeremy Scott? Possibly my all-time favorite excavation.  

That's all for now. 

Thanks for reading.

Star, Star (Starfucker) - The Rolling Stones 

Live -1981

Suck Up - talker