Tom reminisces:
“…my very first byline for the Baltimore City Paper, an October 1982 story about adult film star Annie Sprinkle‘s visit to The Little X Theatre on Howard and Franklin Streets, back in her pre-“Post-Porn Feminist” period. The Little X Theatre, nee The Little Theatre, is now a parking lot that I pass every day on my way to and fro work. But back in the day on this very spot of asphalt, Annie thrilled audiences with her “Bosom Ballet” performance and received their hearty one-handed applause in return. (Alas, typical me, there’s a typo in my print debut, with Annie referred to as Ms. Sprinkles, plural, instead of her singular self. Hmmmft, who was the proofreader back then?)”
Annie (X)
By Tom Warner (“Mobtown Beat,” Baltimore City Paper, 10/1/1982)
“I like wetness. Swimming, golden showers, spit—anything wet. That’s why I’m Annie Sprinkle,” said one of America’s top adult film stars as she munched on Chinese food in between her live stage performances at the Little X Theatre on N. Howard St. In town last week to promote her film, Ecstasy In Blue, 28 year-old Annie said she was genuinely impressed with her Baltimore fans. “They’re the most polite audience I’ve seen. Everyone’s been very nice and receptive.”
As she sat in her manager’s office, clad in “casual” attire—a see-through pink teddy, white garter belt and fishnet stockings showing off her 38-27-38 figure—Annie described her act as “a sort of obscene phone call with a lot of audience participation—verbally, that is.” Sporting a variety of fantasy outfits onstage, ranging froth Student Nurse to Leather Bondage Slave, she strips to musical accompaniment, poses for polaroids and performs what she calls the “Bosom Ballet: I wear these long black gloves and make my bosoms dance with my hands.”
Photo credit: Kilduffs.com
Live appearances, however, are just one of many ventures for the “Renaissance Woman of Porn.” “I do every-thing,” she proudly declared, “films, modeling, writing; I’m even co-directing my next movie, Consenting Adults.” She also has a New York-based mail order business which offers diehard fans the opportunity to purchase Annie’s own unsoiled panties, for a nominal fee of $100 a pair. “I don’t like to wear panties,” she confided, “so I try to get rid of them this way.”
As an adolescent, Annie was anything but eager when it came to shedding her underwear. Born in Philadelphia, she spent most of her youth traveling, as her father was stationed at various U.S. embassies all over the world. Recalling this nomadic period, she said, “I was very shy then. People liked me, but I was terrified of boys.” It wasn’t until she worked as a candy girl in an Arizona theatre showing Deep Throat that Annie got her big break into porn films. The film was busted, and in the process she met and had a fling with the film’s director, Gerard Damiano. The association with Damiano led to involvement in hundreds of adult features, including such classics as Teenage Deviant, Slippery When Wet and M*A*S*Hed. Considering these titles, it isn’t surprising to hear Annie admit that “I’m not an actress. Out of all the things I do, I think that’s the weakest.”
She is proud of her sex scenes, and has worked with every big name “stud” in the business except John C. Holmes. Asked to pick her favorite male star, Annie could only say “I love them all.” Actually, she is very close to Marc Stevens, the “biggest” name in the business after Holmes, and Annie’s co-star in Consenting Adults.
“Marc’s my neighbor in New York. We’re very, very close friends. He’s trying to get out of porn by running his own disco party thing. A lot of people get out of it. Andrea True became a disco singer, and this one guy even got plastic surgery so he could go into straight films. He’s a regular now in one of the soap operas.”
Annie has no desire to “get out if it” just yet. Porn has given her the chance to travel across the country and get to know towns like Baltimore through personal appearances. Her tour of Baltimore included a visit to Harborplace, dinner at Sabatino’s (“it’s good, but not as good as in Italy, where I lived for two years”) and a shopping spree at The Block (“they seem have all the latest equipment”).
Her only complaint about Baltimore concerned censorship, something Annie detests. “They don’t allow you to touch your nipples here,” she said with incredulity. “Baltimore has a ways to go, but I enjoy its innocence.”
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Baltimore City Paper’s “1999 Best of Baltimore”
