--- title: Photos: A Look Behind the Scenes at the Early-1970s Porn Industry description: As the industry boomed with low overhead and high margins, concerned citizens waged a campaign against obscenity. canonical: https://time.com/3966147/pornography-industry-1970/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-28T12:00:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:22.994Z article:section: History og:title: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Porn Industry in 1970 og:description: As the industry boomed with low overhead and high margins, concerned citizens waged a campaign against obscenity. og:url: https://time.com/3966147/pornography-industry-1970/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81c71a62dbf959fe/69885bc9cd1bba3c946fc5c2/150721-porn-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: August 28, 1970 issue of LIFE magazine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Porn Industry in 1970 twitter:description: As the industry boomed with low overhead and high margins, concerned citizens waged a campaign against obscenity. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81c71a62dbf959fe/69885bc9cd1bba3c946fc5c2/150721-porn-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Porn Industry in 1970  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jul 28, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  August 28, 1970 issue of LIFE Magazine. August 28, 1970 issue of LIFE Magazine.Al Frent—LIFE Magazine  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jul 28, 2015 12:00 PM UTC A pornographic filmmaker, during an interview for a 1970 LIFE cover story about his industry, offered a bold prediction: “When everything is shown that can be shown,” he prophesied, “boredom will set in.” The ensuing decades, of course, have proven him incontrovertibly wrong: Pornography in the U.S. has [grown](http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/things-are-looking-americas-porn-industry-n289431) from a $1 billion annual industry to a $10-to-$12 billion industry, and the Internet has made both the creation of and access to pornographic materials easier than ever before. But in 1970, as the sexual revolution challenged traditional perspectives on love and sex, the industry was stuck between increasing demand and growing concerns over morality. The “torrent of sexuality,” as LIFE called it, was a subject of debate from the Capitol Building to small-town living rooms, as elected officials and private citizens debated not only what to do about porn, but also how to define it in the first place. From a business perspective, there was never any question as to pornography’s value. Overhead was low and profit potentials were soaring: One racy film with a loose premise about industrial espionage cost $125,000 to make and was expected to gross more than $10 million. (That’s about $61.5 million in today’s dollars.) An Iowa theater owner earned $1,600 in one week showing the Julie Andrews musical film _Darling Lili_. He made nearly twice that amount in a single night showing the less innocent _Love Camp No. 9_. As the business thrived, President Nixon became more determined to stifle it. Following the Supreme Court decision in _Stanley v. Georgia_, which established that people could view whatever they wished in the privacy of their own homes, Nixon established the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. Despite the Commission’s finding that there was no evidence to suggest that pornography was harmful, Nixon urged the formation of a “citizens’ campaign against obscenity.” And campaign the citizens did. In the small Iowa town of Mason City—the same town where _Love Camp No. 9_ drew such an eager audience—the Concerned Community Citizens group was protesting what they viewed as an infiltration. They advocated for higher ticket prices, warnings on the marquee and less prominent placement of pornographic books in bookstores. But their efforts were not without opposition, not only from businessmen like the theater owner, but also from fellow citizens who believed in free speech and education over censorship. The divide, like many of the era, was largely generational. Mason City’s young adults were more concerned about the environmental impact of the cement dust from nearby factories than fictional movies which, they said, were having no impact on their own behavior. One parent, a local car dealer, occupied a position somewhere between freedom and defeat. To a fellow parent, he suggested, “You cannot shield your children from life. And I don’t care how you try.”  August 28, 1970 issue of LIFE Magazine. LIFE Magazine _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  August 28, 1970 issue of LIFE Magazine. Al Frent—LIFE Magazine  Caption from LIFE. Car-borne moviegoers jam a San Francisco drive-in to watch Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, first high-budget sex film done by Russ Meyer, pioneer "King of the Nudies." Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Alan Roberts directs nude couple for a scene in his film Zodiac Couples. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Young competitors Bob Stein and Alan Roberts expect to gross many times their $50,000 investment in Zodiac Couples, shot in a week. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Marquees and bookstore windows mark pornography's wide-open beachheads around the United States. 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