Posted on 08/10/2004 8:19:17 AM PDT by dukeman
A former Colorado lawmaker and parole board chairman now works in the family business - but it's no dry cleaner or mom-and-pop restaurant.
These days, Larry Schwarz can be found at Platinum X Pictures, a hard-core adult-film company in California's San Fernando Valley.
Debbie, his wife of 24 years, is director of sales. Their 28-year-old daughter, Stephany, is co-owner and star of the company, where she goes by the stage name Jewel DeNyle.
"I feel no shame, as I have learned that what we do in our office is no different than any other business," Larry Schwarz says. "It is the adult-entertainment industry, and it's not violent like what you see in real-life daily news or in mainstream movies."
Schwarz says he works on the decidedly unsexy side of the porn business - managing the warehouse in Canoga Park, marketing tapes and DVDs, and overseeing payroll and collections - and spends no time on the production side, where the movies are shot and edited.
"It is not a porn shop, it is a warehouse distribution center, like any other, shipping VHS and DVD products - period," he says.
"It looks very much like a truck terminal without a dock. I'm still the same person as before, working with a different product and trying to do the best possible job and create profits. It's only different in the minds of those who wish to make it so."
People who knew Schwarz as a Republican legislator twice elected to represent a conservative House district in southern Colorado say they can't fathom his being part of the $6 billion porn industry.
"I could put my finger in an electrical socket and I wouldn't get this kind of a shock," says Ken Chlouber, the Republican president pro tem of the Colorado Senate, who worked with Schwarz on several bills and once wintered his burros on Schwarz's ranch in Wetmore. "If you knew Larry, none of this fits."
A former trucking company executive, Schwarz was tapped in 1997 by then-Gov. Roy Romer for a seat on the state's Parole Board. He was reappointed by Gov. Bill Owens three years later.
Then everything unraveled.
Authorities raided Schwarz's Wetmore home on Dec. 4, 2001, looking for child pornography.
According to court records, police removed cartoon books depicting children having sex and other items, including tapes of DeNyle from Schwarz's home.
Police also investigated claims that Schwarz had sexually molested family members years earlier.
No charges were filed, but Owens fired him from the Parole Board.
Schwarz says that after 15 months of unsuccessful job hunting, the position at his daughter's film company was the "only one available" to him.
Schwarz and his wife moved to Los Angeles in March 2003 to help Stephany, who was already an industry star, get her own adult-movie company off the ground.
Stephany, who refused to be interviewed for this story, spent nine years in the tiny town of Wetmore, 20 miles south of Cañon City. She is the biological daughter of Debbie Schwarz and was adopted by Larry while still a child. [Oh, tell me this guy hasn't been watching porno flicks of his adopted daughter. Ugh!]
People in Wetmore remember Stephany as a rowdy high school student, but Schwarz says he never detected signs that she was heading toward life as a porn star.
"I would much rather she were on the silver screen with Mel Gibson, but life happens not always as we wish," Schwarz says. "We both decided early on that it was better to be there for our daughter and help her avoid other situations which may have been even more devastating.
"When (Stephany) first told us what she was doing for a living, she stressed that she is who she is at home, and Jewel only while at work. She has done an outstanding job at maintaining that distinction throughout her career. We are proud of her."
Schwarz's willingness to further the adult-film career of his adopted daughter by marketing and distributing her films is baffling to some.
"When you have children, why in the world would you promote them doing pornography?" asks Norma Anderson, a Republican state senator and co-majority leader at the time Schwarz was in the House.
Schwarz says he played no role in Stephany's choice to enter the adult-film industry, noting that she decided to do so long before he ever joined her in California. And, he said, she recently decided to retire from performing.
Schwarz also said he isn't in the adult-film business for the money. While he wouldn't disclose his salary at Platinum X, Schwarz says it is substantially less than the $77,928 a year he earned on the Colorado Parole Board.
At work, Schwarz says he takes extra precautions with his daughter's image and "specifically avoids seeing her in anything she performs."
When it's time to choose explicit photographs of DeNyle for use in promotional materials, Schwarz says he refuses to take part.
"I think it's great that Jewel's parents have an open mind about their daughter being in the adult industry," says Michael Stefano, a co-owner of Platinum X and a performer in the industry. "Jewel is very close with both of her parents and would do anything for them."
It's possible that Schwarz, who calls his Platinum X family a "team of mother, father, daughter and associates," is breaking new ground in an industry that thrives on expanding the concept of what's acceptable.
To date, the phenomenon of parents working directly for, or with, their porn-star offspring is still fairly unusual, says Mark Kernes, a senior editor with Adult Video News, an industry trade magazine.
Schwarz's former neighbors in Wetmore aren't turning their back on him.
"I don't think there is anyone you can talk to up here that would bad-mouth him," says Cecilia Sanders.
A group of longtime residents that gathers regularly for conversation and coffee at the Wetmore Community Center recalls Schwarz as "nice" and "personable" and as a legislator who effectively looked out for the interests of Custer, Fremont, Teller and Pueblo counties.
However people categorize his involvement in the adult industry, Schwarz says he will never abandon his Republican ideals of self-reliance, lower taxes and individual freedom.
As for those who question his commitment to family values, Schwarz says the term has many definitions.
Schwarz plans to spend the rest of his working days with his family at Platinum X.
But he still manages to keep the state he called home close at hand, with pictures of cowboys, horses and cattle on his office walls and mountain scenes glowing on his computer screen.
And Schwarz vows to one day return to the state he loves.
Par for the course for California. Nothing about that state surprises me any more.
Sounds as if it's pretty much acceptable here. And so we go on down, down, down that slippery slope.
Prostitution is illegal. But porn, which is far worse, is legal. This makes no sense except that some judges cannot make it through their day without their porn.
what are the odds that a porn princess would hail (come?) from Wetmore !?
So cut the guy some slack - it's tough being a Republican in the film business.
Um...better do this..(/irony)
I understand that sentiment. I guess what troubles me is that Schwarz appears to have too easily gone along with his daughter's choice once he learned of it. I have a teenage daughter and it would grieve me deeply to learn she had gone into this line of work. Schwarz seems to have nuzzled up to it pretty easily. And saying that he's not involved for the money, well, that's a lie. Life rule: When someone says it's not the money-- it's the money!
I like the way you talk too umm hmm
Wow. I don't know what to say. As the father of a five-year old girl, I can't just make some snide comment, its truly disgusting...oh, wait, Jewel DeNyle, I've heard of her. Owl, wasn't this the girl you telling me about that was a Kerry campaign worker in Philly back during the primaries? She was the head pollster or something?
I got the attitude
And that's all I ever say
Don't have to tell nobody
How their tail ought to lay
Had a sudden revelation
The heights that I've sunken down to
And I don't mind I can't find
My way out of this witch's brew
Livin' for the lizard life
Livin' for the lizard life
I stumbled on the way around
My own reality
Gettin' right-tightly wound
Past the pale of normality
I like big loungin' every day
On the iguana side of town
The lizard love, it mighty deep
Talkin' way underground
Livin' for the lizard life
Livin' for the lizard life
Livin' for the lizard life
Livin' for the lizard life
I be a reptile all day
And it's so fine (FINE)
Ain't no other way
Like a life minus mind
I prefer reclinin'
Beatin' that conga drum
And waitin' for a three-point landin'
On my sticky tongue
Livin' for the lizard life
Livin' for the lizard life
Livin' for the lizard life
I'm livin with a lizard life
I agree with you, but that means I will probably get torched on this thread.
Porn is no longer limited to dirty old men in yellow trenchcoats. Today it appeals to singles, couples, and women. The variety of sexual material is limited only by one's tastes and interests. And thanks to the Internet and DVD, its more accessible to a mainstream audience than ever before in history.
Shameless, you are. ;)
probably
I think your reply at #36 pretty well sums it up. Well said!
Which of course makes him a sensitive, endearing, loving father. [/sarcasm]
Right! If there's really "no shame", why take any such lame measures?
As I said, down, down, down the slope. (And just when you think we've hit bottom, down we go again!)
What's a fluffer?..in charge of towels?
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