The Birth of the (Blue) Movie Critic

I’d never sat and watched an X-rated movie in my life, when I was asked to be Penthouse’s erotic film critic. Naïveté can work in your favor.

I quit my day job the same morning I was hired by Jack Heidenry in 1986 to write for Penthouse Forum, a pocketbook-size sex journal that porn mogul Bob Guccione published during his heyday.

I had no idea that Heidenry’s plan was rather experimental. All I knew, was that I’d never been paid professionally to write before, though I’d worked tirelessly on u…