Lost Boys: Vintage Images of Barry Hoffman

Lost Boys: 

Vintage Images of Barry Hoffman

As one of his longtime fans commented, "He’s the epitome of white trash, rough trade."

And that pretty much sums up the appeal of Barry Hoffman, one of vintage gay porn's enduring icons. 

When one thinks about those two porn genre's, he checks off every box. He's from Texas. He has a bunch of poor quality tattoos. He smokes cigars and has a sneer that would put any timid gay boy in his place. He's got scraggly hair and a rocking bod. He's a hustler and a porn star.

And... he's spent time in the big house!

But Barry Hoffman is just a part of the story today. In addition, we'll take a brief look at two gay historical figures who (possibly) played an important part in Hoffman's life; writer James Herlihy and photographer David Hurles.

How did Hoffman's involvement with those two men help ensure his legacy?

Let's find out.

Barry Hoffman
AKA: Mike Glacier, Jeff Reardon, Tom Fox, Barry (Falcon Studios)
Birth Year: 1949
Birthplace: Irving, TX

Hair: Blonde/Light Brown
Height: 5' 11"
Weight:165 lbs.
Tattoos: Left bicep, left forearm, left wrist, center of upper chest, groin; left thigh; right side of left calf

Years Active: 1975-1994
Films: 7

Compilatons: 3
Studios: Adonis, Falcon, COLT, Target, HIS, Man's Hand, Old Reliable, Athletic Model Guild

Born in 1949 in Irving, TX, a very young Barry Hoffman would eventually make his way to San Francisco in the mid-1960's. 

There, he began hustling and working the bars before eventually catching the attention of a photographer from Champion Studio. At the age of eighteen, using the alias Jeff Reardon, Hoffman began his career in gay porn, posing for photo shoots. There are a few photos from this time period shown in the gallery below. The one where he is lying on the bed with the stuffed animal is from his very first session. An internet admirer remarked, "It’s fascinating how boyish, fresh, and open his face is here. It’s nothing like the stoic mask, he would later mature into." 

The other photos of a young Hoffman are also from Champion Studio, but taken a few years later. During this same time period, he posed for photographers at Target Studio. It has been said that Target considered Hoffman "one of their most popular models."

Hoffman, a bisexual, allegedly lived for a short period of time with novelist and playwright James Leo Herlihy, author of Midnight Cowboy and All Fall Down, among other works (he also directed Tallulah Bankhead in a play he'd written!) It has long been rumored that the character of Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy was based on Hoffman. However, given that Hoffman was born in 1949 and the book was published in 1965 (and most likely written some time before that), that would mean that Herlihy, who was who was fast approaching forty at the time, was shacked up with a fifteen year-old boy. 

James Leo Herlihy

Another problem with that timeline? Herlihy spent most of his time in Key West (he was a good friend of Tennessee Williams, who also served as his mentor), New York City, and his primary residence in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles. It raises the questions, how did they meet and, exactly, where is it they supposedly 'live' together?

Herlihy backstage with Tallulah Bankhead

Still, despite the dubious timeline and logistics, that rumor remains firmly attached to Hoffman's legacy. 

 

Hoffman’s first film was 1975's Dune Fox for Target Studio. It's at this point that he began going by the name Barry Hoffman. The film proved quite popular and was followed by Brentwood’s Hayride (1976) and then Falcon’s Three in a Barn (1977), by which point, coupled with his print work, Hoffman had established an ardent following.

1975

Dune Fox

1976

Hayride

1977
Adonis Cockplay 14

Three In A Barn

1984
Take Ten

1985
Spanking 2

1987
Seattle Sea Hunks

1988
Old Reliable 14: Early Days

1994
English Cane And Hairbrush

But the life of a budding gay porn star never runs smooth. Hoffman soon found himself in legal trouble - it was reported that "somebody died over a girl." That landed him in prison. After he did his time, he returned to the industry, doing some modeling work for Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild. There are four photos from this time period in the gallery below. Hoffman, appearing under the name 'Scrapple', also did "an interview for an AMG video, where he discussed his time in prison, among other interesting tidbits."
 

By 1983, Hoffman began to spiral ever downward, appearing in spank videos and coming to the attention of Old Reliable's David Hurles. 

Hurles is an interesting character; part gay pornographer, part sociologist. His one-man company, known as Old Reliable, a mail order photo, tape and film company run from a private mailbox, holds a special place in the canons of gay porn history. 

Wikipedia describes his work as: "produced primarily in the 1970's and 1980's, (it) falls into three categories: photographs, audio tapes, and videotapes. Hurles' models were typically ex-cons, hustlers, drifters, and lowlifes." Director John Waters, who was a big fan of Hurles' work, put it a bit differently, saying: "David likes psychos. Nude ones. Money-hungry drug addicts with big dicks. Rage-filled robbers without rubbers. And of course, convicts."

Based in San Francisco, Hurles once wrote: "Perhaps you had to be there... the 70's, San Francisco, the blossoming and peak of the gay sexual culture. It was a rare time; everything, it seemed, was perfect. So perfect, in fact, that those of us there could not have possibly imagined it might ever be otherwise!"

David Hurles and a friend

According to Wikipedia, what made Hurles' work so unique was: "Hurles chose to downplay technical fireworks with his camera in order to focus on the emotional pyrotechnics of his models. His models, picked up on the street or sent to him by referral, would come to his apartment, get naked, and masturbate."

Waters, who found abundant inspiration in Hurles' work, once wrote: "The wonderful, beautiful, scary life of David Hurles has been an inspiration to my inner filth for years. David Hurles' photographs forever scarred some gay men's ability to be attracted to other average gay men. Without these pioneering Old Reliable photographs, homoeroticism in the art world couldn't have existed. Robert Mapplethorpe was a pussy. Mr. Hurles is the real thing."

More of Hurles' work can be viewed, for free, here.

And that would appear to be where Hoffman's career came to an end. He did resurface for a 1994 spank film entitled, English Cane And Hairbrush and return, time and again to Hurles' couch, but that is as good as it got for him; time and his lifestyle - rumors of drug use plagued his career - caught up to him, weathering his looks irreparably.  

Any mention or article about him has one thing in common... readers want to know, is he still alive? 

Unfortunately, I don't have that information. 

He'd be 72 years old now, and while it's  possible he's still with us, given his lifestyle? Unlikely. 

That said, he does live on in our collective memories, remaining one of the greats of the golden age of vintage gay porn.

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I have been wanting to write a profile and collect the photos of Mr. Hoffman for quite awhile. 

Although I had no idea who he was, his photos were always popping up while I was researching others from the era. 

There is something so 'rough trade' about him. That cigar. His poor quality tats. He always struck me as a bit dirty, as in, hygienically suspect. To paraphrase, "Strange how potent cheap photos can be."

I was not surprised to learn so very little about him. Visually, he doesn't strike me as the type to share much personal information. Given that, I'm amazed I found as much as I did. Of course his associations with Herlihy and Hurles most likely have something to do with his notoriety. (Is it just a coincidence that all their names begin with 'H'?)

Well, that's all for now. I hope you've enjoyed this bit of gay history. 

Until next time... 

...thanks for reading.

Rough Boys - Peter Townsend

Rough Boy - ZZ Top