Scream and Cream Yet Again

Its a little known fact that many porn actresses, although talented physical performers, are completely unable to produce satisfactory vocal performances to match. Consequently, producers and directors are always on the lookout for suitable vocal doubles. According to Vernon Diddle, an expert on the subject, this practice has a long and honourable history, dating back to at least the 1930s and legendary stag-movie producer Irwin J Whipper. In the wake of King Kong’s success, Whipper produced a porno cash-in entitled King Dong, featuring an amorous ape on the rampage in Manhattan. For the climactic sequences where the heroine falls for the charms of the heavily-endowed primate on the roof of an apartment block, Whipper found that leading lady Fanny Lincolnshire just wasn’t able to provide the requisite level of decibels. His solution was to pirate Fay Wray’s screams from the original King Kong and dub them over the final scenes of his own film. (Finding Fanny’s lovemaking too demanding, Dong is unable to keep up his erection and, frustrated, leaps from the roof clutching his flaccid member, prompting a passing policeman to comment “It was beauty that killed his beast”). Wray’s pirated screams were also used in the 1935 sequel Son of Dong and 1948’s Mighty Joe Dong, essentially a remake of King Dong.

Diddle, a sound recordist in the porn film industry, told us that it wasn’t just Fay Wray whose screams were purloined for illicit use on porn soundtracks - although for many years her screams were the preferred first choice (just as Johnny Weismuller’s Tarzan call would be dubbed over subsequent inferior Tarzans, including Lex Barker and Ron Ely). Other horror film screamers such as Evelyn Ankers and Gloria Stuart also found their vocal talents misappropriated for such porno epics as Pootenanny Toot and Of Inhuman Bondage. This practice was finally outlawed by the Screen Actor’s Guild in 1949, and porno producers were forced to find their substitute screamers elsewhere. Their solution, Diddle reveals, was to secretly record female stars known for their vocal abilities whilst they made love. This practice started even before the 1949 ban - Irwin J Whipple succeeded in obtaining a recording of Bette Davis’ amazing screaming whilst she was being juked by Errol Flynn’s amazing bone flute. Her screaming was so loud that the sound recordist responsible suffered permanent damage to his hearing (he also claimed that Flynn’s banging stick was so long he was able to stand three feet from the bed and read a newspaper whilst he banged Davis). Davis’ cries of ecstasy were later used on countless stag-films, including Blow the Man Down and Susie’s Buttonhole Deelite. Other popular stars targeted by the porn producers included Joan Crawford and Mary Astor. Rumour has it that notorious peeping tom Oliver Hardy supplemented his meagre film income during the lean years of the 1940s by making many of these secret recordings.