Who Made the First Professional Porn Film?
 

Ever since the first films were being hand cranked out, someone was putting a naked tit or twat before the camera. Amateur porn probably began as soon as movie cameras became available for purchase. The home movie formats were being experimented with in Europe, but it was Eastman Kodak who standardized it with 16mm in 1923 and 8mm in 1932.

So who was the first porn star, where was the first porn film made and when, what was the title and where was it shown? Is there even a way to accurately track this down?

There were some European films made in the 40's I think that could just about qualify, but I'm wondering if there aren't more porno nitrate negatives out there and even some naughty stuff of some of the old silent film stars like Lillian Gish or Greta Garbo.

Why do you think such stars as Lillian Gish (D.W. Griffith's virginal heroine) or Garbo ever made naughty movies? ;)

The oldest porn movie I've seen dates from 1915 and was probably made in America. There were no professional porn actors or actresses until the 1960s. I would guess they mostly used prostitutes and their pimps before that.

True Film Historians Need to Answer
 

I have seen some very old porn films dating back to the beginnings of the film industry. It would not be surprising at all if the earliest film makers used their cameras to shoot the films without putting their names on them. At least one I saw on ********.com was of the same quality as feature films of the era.

I don't know about Gish, but I do know that Garbo did some nude stills. Same reason why any other actor would do a naughty movie. It's a fickle business, Hollywood always has been an expensive place to live and work and sex has always been a "reserve parachute" for any out of work woman who was willing to compromise the moral issues.

Right.There used to be laws on the books about making pornography, still are in many places. Yet if one has a thriving underground business, a former prostitute can become a professional porn star. Like there's much of a difference?

How many aspiring actors, directors, cameramen, editors and producers paid their dues with porn? Hard to find out as if they used pseudonyms, how would you know? I've seen some of these early films too as well as heard some debates about who may have done such based on the style of cinematography , editing and directing.

I'm curious to know what was the 1920's equivalent to Deep Throat or Debbie Does Dallas.

They U.S. Hays Motion Picture Code was initiated in 1930 and not officially rescinded until 1968. As for no Jazz Age Debbie Does Dallas, well, any reel showing boobage would get no screentime in a public theater in the silent era. Communities, counties, and states all had decency laws and even if they didn't have one for the movies, they'd make one up on the spot and no court in the land would challenge it.

A few things happened in the 1950s and 1960s that made porn theaters possible. First the U.S. Supreme court ruled in 1952 motion pictures were protected by the First Amendment to the U.S Constitution, reversing an earlier ruling from 1915. The second was a court ruling, I think in 1958, that the studio system constituted a monopoly. Therefore, the motion picture studios couldn't own the movie theaters. Thus, when Paramount owned the theater and Main and Broadway, they showed only family-friendly Hays Code-approved studio moves. When Dirty Bob bought the old Paramount, he was free to show those racy European flicks with naked babes and boobs a-bouncing! And Dirty Bob had a Constitutional right to show 'em. (Sorry, I don't know the case names off the top of my head. You'll have to look them up.

Then the MPAA did away with the Hays Code in 1968. The code, among other things, forbade words such as "goddamn," "shit," and "fuck," and required actors to keep all their clothes on and not do bedroomy things on camera.

Thus, with First Amendment protections for movies, independently owned movie theaters, and no more Victorian Hays standards to be followed, the road to "Deep Throat" was paved.

Remember, the Hays Code was not enforced by the U.S. government. Rather, the movie studies enforced it. They figured in the 1920s that they'd better set their own Draconian decency code or else the government would set one for them, and God knows HOW Draconian that code would be.

That's why there are only "blue movies" or "stag films" before the late 1960s. I suppose you could make a big budget porno in the 1940s U.S., but even if you found people willing to risk their careers and businesses to back it, you couldn't get in show in any theaters, and if you set up a screen in the old warehouse, you and everybody involved would be arrested, booked, fined, and/or jailed for peddling smut and a dozen other charges. And, no, per above, you could not cry First Amendment. You were SOL!

According to Wikipedia, the oldest extant US porn movie is "A Free Ride", also known as "A Grass Sandwich", dating from c1915. The first mainstream movie to show the sex act was "Extase" (1933), starring Hedy Lamarr.

Is that the film where she's seen swimming nude? I've seen clips from that. Does anyone know if there were any racy silent movies with a budget made in Europe? Germany was very wide open with prostitution, gambling and cocaine in the 1920's before Hitler. Hell, bringing Germany back to traditional morals was one of his platforms just like the Tea Party today.

Yes, that was probably the film I mentioned.

Directed by Gustav Machaty, "Extase" had two scenes with Hedy Lamarr (then called Hedy Kiesler) swimming in the nude. The film had no "sex scenes" per se.

Lamarr was one of the screen's most beautiful actresses ever, so seeing her nude was an extra bonus for this film. :)

A few year ago, the found some old films in France. It was at an old brothel and the films were made before WWI. Historians were amazed that it had the usual combinations M/M, M/F,F/F. threesomes, orgies, etc..
I am surprised that porno movies were not made in Weimar Berlin. They did everything else in those days. The Germans made porn movies so that their armies in North Africa could trade with the locals.
When Dad was part of the occupational army in 1945, The Germans has films with naked women in them. He was too busy to watch them.
I bet people made private films of our favorite actresses. I am surprised that none have appeared. I remembered being told that David Mccallum and Jill Ireland appeared in a blue movie before they became famous. I always wondered if our stars posed before they became famous.

A few years ago I found a few short films made around 1900-1910 which were not exactly porn, more Nudie Cuties, in Austria by a company called Jupiter or Saturn (or some planet anyway). They were on a streaming site and I could not download them and have lost the link. If I ever find the site again I'll post it. They were fairly good quality for their age.