The authors were introduced by longtime industry veteran Bill Margold, who gave the book its title. He pointed out that shooting adult films was illegal until 1988, claiming, "there is no good movie about this industry. 'Wonderland' was about drugs."
After reading his forward to the book, Margold introduced Cass Paley, who directed the documentary "Wadd" about Holmes. He said that he had met Sugar at a party given for Holmes's 60th birthday.
"She said she was writing a book about Holmes. I laughed, because I knew how hard it was to make the documentary."
Paley introduced director Bob Chinn, who directed Holmes in several films.
"Many years ago, I made a film called 'Johnny Wadd' and it turned into a series and John C. Holmes became a star," Chinn said. "He became known as Johnny Wadd, unfortunately for him. I made a lot of films with him, but people remember his Johnny Wadd films."
Chinn said that the 60-minute Johnny Wadd features were shot in a week on $750 budgets, including $75 a day for Holmes. "The last one cost $1,000," he added.
He called the book "a comprehensive survey of a great tragedy," adding, "There is so much I've forgotten. I'm glad to be here tonight."
Chinn also announced that he has found his print of "Johnny Wadd" in storage, the first answer print which has only been projected once.
Author Sugar read a letter from Seka, talking about working with Holmes and advice he had given her on a set, before she and Nelson read excerpts from the book.
In a question-and-answer session after the reading, Sugar and Nelson said they were inspired to write the book after seeing the mainstream film "Wonderland," which was packaged with the documentary "Wadd" as a supplemental disc. Both said they wanted to know more about Holmes after this initial exposure to him and his life.
"'Wadd' is the best documentary," Sugar said, "but we were able, with an unlimited number of pages, to delve deeper."
The book signing took place during a wine-and-cake reception which followed the reading. The evening was capped with a midnight screening of "Eruption," starring Holmes, at the Silent Movie Theater.
Adult industry personalities attending the signing included Holmes' widow Laurie Holmes, veteran performers Ron Jeremy, Tricia Devereaux, Rhonda Jo Petty and Don Fernando, photographer Kenji, veteran adult industry writer Jared Rutter, director Alan Colburg, videographer Captain Bob and Plan 9 Media partners Wayne Hentai and Shari B.
The signing was sponsored by XBIZ, with catering provided by Cake and Art.
