May 16

Lads in Leather

My date with a Leather Master:

Your blogger has been on a date with a porn star only once in his life. And that was with Paul Garrior, a nude male model for (now vintage) Colt Studio magazines. Some years ago I was browsing vintage porn at a store in San Francisco (as one does), when I was drawn to a cover model known as "Ledermeister" (Colt Gallery #5, not the one pictured). Wow. Without hesitation I bought the magazine at an exorbitant price and headed right back to my hotel to attend to a rather urgent need, if you get my drift.

BTW: these magazines would have made great investments. The one pictured above, with a cover price of $8, is for sale right now for $125.

 That was in 2001, when I was on my way from the east coast to Australia, and I broke up those 22 hours of flying by stopping off in San Francisco for a few days. I shared the "Ledermeister" story with my friends who live in the Castro, and they said they knew this Colt model personally. "He plays the piano and flute at church".

What?

This hyper-masculine porn star with a hairy muscular chest to die for is a musician? "Yeah, and he's a stage actor, too. And he speaks fluent German".

Long story short. My friends put me in touch with Paul Gerrior (Ledermeister's real name), and we set up a dinner date for the next day. I was crazy with anticipation. I let Paul choose the restaurant, but I swear I can't remember the name, but it had a dress code. Jacket required, but no tie.  I had a jacket with me, because I was on my way to play an organ recital in Sydney.

But when Paul showed up he was dressed in a cardigan with a shawl collar. No jacket, but management had no quibble. Of course, he was the most masculine man in the room. But there was also an elegance about him. No wonder, with his military (Army) bearing, stage and screen experience.

Here I was sitting across the table from a man I had fantasized about and jerked off to not 24 hours earlier. I suppose he was accustomed to star-struck stares, but he put me at ease right away. We talked about travel, music, and we spoke a little German. He had been stationed in Germany, and I used to live there as a university student. I never brought up the subject of a possible sexual encounter, nor did he. Anyway, we were both tops.

At the end of the meal I picked up the tab, we stood up, and he embraced me in front of the entire room of upscale (straight) diners. I'm sure I looked as if I had won the lottery.

I'm writing about this now because I just found out that Paul died in 2021 (cancer, not Covid) at the age of 88. It had been my privilege to make his acquaintance. And such a sweet memory.