Al Di Lauro & Gerald Rabkin, Dirty Movies: An Illustrated History of the Stag Film, 1915-1970
(New York: Chelsea House, 1976), 73-4.
[There is] the perennial question of whether such
Hollywood stars as Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, or Marilyn Monroe appeared in
stag films. It is not impossible, of course, that sitting in the vaults of some
producer or wealthy collector lie some of these mythic films. But the two
largest American stag collections (those of the ISR and a well-known publisher)
contain no such items. We are reminded of the tattoo artist’s myth of the fox
hunt, in which a man’s back is completely covered with hunters and hounds
pursuing a fox whose tail is disappearing up the man’s anus. No one has actually
seen the fox hunt, but there is
always a friend who has. Similarly, someone else has always actually seen Joan
Crawford’s blue film. There is evidence, however, that pornographic scenes were
spliced into such thirties films as Red Dust and Camille for showing in the
“specialized” cinemas of Latin America, with look-alikes finishing what Harlow
and Garbo started. Recently, the peep show tenderloin in New York City has
displayed stag films ostensibly starring Jayne Mansfield and Barbra Streisand.
The “Jayne Mansfield” film is so unclear as to defy identification, but the
“Streisand” film, supposedly shot in Greenwich Village in the sixties, does
offer an enthusiastic heroine who looks very much as Barbra must have looked a
decade ago. In the absence of any corroborating evidence, however, we continue
to stand on the fox hunt theory.
[I’ve actually seen a few photos of a tattoo of a
hounded fox disappearing down a man’s butt crack; there’s one in Desmond
Morris, Bodywatching (1985), 179.
Unverified accounts of such tattoos go back to the nineteenth century.
Sometimes they were offered as evidence of the crude humor of the low or
criminal classes. But when supposedly sported by aristocrats, like Lord
Beresford or the Duke of Connaught, no such aspersions applied. See the
following excerpts from debates in the British House of Commons.]
TATTOOING OF YOUNG PEOPLE
HL Deb 31 January 1967 vol 279 cc936-50
LORD AILWYN - My Lords, may I say one word? Once upon
a time, many years ago, my duty as a signal midshipman was to report a signal
one day to my Admiral. The Admiral was in his bathroom. On being told to enter
the bathroom, I was faced with the nude figure of the great man, who had
modestly turned his back upon me. And in front of me, was the panorama of a
complete hunt, in full cry, travelling down the great man's back: horses,
hounds, and the fox. Well, my Lords, the fox was gradually disappearing. The
pursuit was in a North to South direction. The great man was aged about 60 or
65 at the time. No harm had come to him, so far as I know. He commanded a Fleet
and he was a very famous Admiral indeed.
TATTOOING OF MINORS
HC Deb 21 January 1969 vol 776 cc266-70
Mr. Martin Maddan (Hove) - In another place, two years
ago, in a debate initiated by the noble Lord, Lord Royle, Lord Ailwyn described
an admiral under whom he had served who, on his back, had a full hunting scene,
with riders and hounds pursuing, in a north to south direction, the fox, which
was going to earth. It was, I think, Admiral Lord Charles Beresford to whom the
noble Lord referred—[Interruption.]
Mr. Speaker - Order. The hon. Member is asking leave
to introduce a Bill and we want to hear about the Bill.
Mr. Maddan - That story is water under the bridge now,
Mr. Speaker, and I will not repeat it. But it was just 100 years ago that
Admiral Lord Charles Beresford acquired his edition of this famous hunt scene,
which today would cost about £10 to acquire in full, covering the whole back
from shoulders to cleft of buttocks.