We lose another pioneer.
When was Screwed published? I’ve always heard about it but have never actually seen a copy.
A slightly different take on Goldstein.
It was still around in the 80s, anyway – I remember seeing it on newsstands.
It was a shitty rag that mostly made money by carrying advertising for prostitution.
Goldstein may or may not have been a pioneer, but it can hardly be argued that he left the world a better place than he found it.
He was no Susie Bright.
I am sadly old enough to remember when “Screw” first started publication.
I was probably one of three gay guys on earth who bought it regularly. Why?
It was just so outrageous and edgy and cheap and tacky and in total bad taste.
What was not to love about it?
Plus, leaving a copy in my dorm room always was a start of conversation. Some hated it and called it nothing but porn, others saw the humor, and others saw the anger and ‘fuck you’ attitude that set this tawdry publication apart from most others on the newsstand.
Plus, Al was one hell of a colorful character and he would write his comments or editorial and it was like hearing the rants of a very fun madman. He was like the pissed off radical brother of white bread Hugh Hefner.
Al is a legendary curmudgeon that will be missed.
He once bought a round of drinks for me and my friends (he was living in South Florida at the time)
He’s only man I’ve ever met who actually oozed.
UT~
He was one of the few people who took porn seriously and encouraged the development of films with a storyline. He also did some great interviews with adult actors.
Sorry to hear he’s gone.
I used to watch Midnight Blue on New York Public Access TV, probably from the ages of like 10-14. It was weird and aggressive and *very *raw, and occasionally quite funny. Smut with personality. Understand, for the most part late night Public Access served as an opportunity to masturbate to the ads for escorts and sex chat companies (and most time slots were nothing but flimsy excuses to host those ads, which took up 95% of the air time and consisted of naked ladies and scenes from porn movies without the penetration). But Midnight Blue actually used most of its time slot for original programming (interviews and rants and the like), and it was the only late-night Public Access show that made me wish for fewer of the commercial/porn breaks. I can safely say there was nothing else like it on TV (or anywhere else, probably).
I don’t know if Goldstein left the world a better place, but he certainly left it a more *interesting *one.
I just read a obit for him that mentioned that when his son disinvited him from his college graduation, Al Goldstein published a bunch of pictures of doctored photos of his son having sex with various men. Classy guy.
If you read the link I included from conservative author Rod Dreher… Goldstein was an extremely proud Dad. He was thrilled that his son went to Harvard Law School, as any traditional Jewish dad would be. Hence, it cut him to the quick when he wasn’t invited to the graduation.
He treated his wives and his son horribly, but it’s partly because he wanted and needed so badly to be loved. He deserved to die alone… but it must have been unbearable for him.
Al, we hardly knew ye. At least not biblically. RIP. 
I hesitate to ask, but what do you mean…he “actually oozed”?
He was actually oily. Just…ick.
UT~
What a great username/post combo.
I’d’ve thought a dose of penicillin would’ve cleared that right up.
I’m not sure if it’s still there, but he used to own a home in South Florida that was on the water, which you could see when you passed by boat. Like many of the expensive water front homes of that area, it sported a decorative statute in the back yard. Only, this being Al Goldstein, the statute was of a large hand extending its middle finger.
Think there may have been a Personality Disorder going on? Or just plain old putzery?
As was mentioned, the positive side of *Screw *and Midnight Blue was being outlets for porn discussion in the pre-Web age whose content was more than just mere shilling for the porn companies (the advertisers of course WERE the porn and prostitution businesses), and that was unapologetic about it being smut when everyone was trying to put on a legitimizing veneer of art or philosophical discourse. He was the dangerous, extreme alleys-of-Old-Times-Square foil to the socially presentable Hef types and as such helped drive much of the liberalization of access to hardcore.
But Screw’s time came ( :rolleyes: ) and went and it seems Al could not move along with it: unlike the likes of Flynt he did not seem able or willing to find the balance or make the tradeoff between making a point and making a buck.
I was a kid in the 70s so I never saw a copy of Screwed but I heard about it and him.
Best memory of him was when he appeared on Tom Snyder’s *Tomorrow *show along side a radical, man-hating, femi-nazi activist woman. She had shot out the front window of an adult bookstore (because it was after-hours she only got probation). Wish I could find it on YouTube (doubt it, it’s NBC) because it was hilarious! Snyder interviewed the woman alone first, and he was his usual serious self. Then after a break they came back with Goldstein there and it quickly turned into a circus! Goldstein was his normal, unapologetic, condescending self so he and the feminist woman practically came to blows. He did his spiel about free speech and all woman having rape fantasies etc. All I remember her saying was shouting, “And don’t fondle me verbally, DEAR!!” (Goldstein had called her that several times). That and when she said she had a copy of his magazine to show and Snyder started to panic stammering, “Ah, ah, the-the NBC Network does not want th-that type of material shown…” and she just said, “Oh don’t worry!” and she dumped out the confetti from a shredded copy!
It was the kind of thing that back then everyone took so seriously, yet even as a kid I thought it was absurdly funny! 
I didn’t click the links, but last I saw Goldstein was about ten years ago when he was on Howard Stern saying he was completely broke and even homeless…
Wikipedia says Penn Gillette was supporting him in his final years. I have no idea if that is actually true.
I thought Goldstein had a mini-resurgence a few years ago, but I guess I mis-heard.