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newsletter, which he ordered for “only ten dollars.” Two or three issues came out. She also sent the humorless black-and-white study of herself in his album. Haven’s penmanship is the finest in the scrapbook.
    “You’re a great lover,” says Juliet Anderson’s inscription to the balding Lou.
    “But we never made the big scene,” he confesses. “Maybe they get vibes that you’d be a great lover, so they put it down.” The only lecherous Uncle Lou face is the shot in which he’s cupping Annie Sprinkle’s bazooms. “Annie encourages that type of behavior,” says modest Lou of the golden shower poetess, whose autograph appears in Day-Glo pink.
    “They’re basically good kids, they just come from a bad situation,” Uncle Lou says of these nieces. “The difference between me and some of the other guys is, I don’t look at them for what they are, but for what they can be. People fall into three categories: those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that wonder, ‘What happened?’ The girls in the middle category that can get to the first category are the ones I get involved with, the ones with potential. In a symbolic sense, in the way pimps turn girls out, I try to turn them in.”
    In the middle of his scrapbook is a coquettish Veronica Hart from her first Show World gig, in the summer of 1981. The newly-wed-mother-to-be hams it up, legs in the air, boobs out, and tongue in Lou’s mouth. The Polaroid concession was handled by her teenage brother. Next comes the baton-twirling face of Desiree Cousteau, whose nay-nays are uncle-handled by then-mustachioed Lou at the Melody. The five Polaroids were taken by her husband, Mr. Desiree Cousteau. “I understand she’s retired from films, going to school in Atlanta,” Lou narrates.
    “Most guys have this image of porno stars, they see the glitter, costumes, and makeup, they think they’re untouchable. After you get to know ‘em, you don’t look at ‘em as sex images, you relate to ‘em as everyday people—you get to the nitty-gritty of their everyday problems. Many of these girls never got asked to the senior prom.”
    The last shot in the book is an out-of-focus though clearly nervous and fully clothed Kandi Barbour at her first Melody appearance. It is also Lou’s earliest snapshot.
    “Most of the porn stars I’ve gotten to know had a problem with their fathers or stepfathers. In some cases sexual, in some a communication or emotional problem where they weren’t able to relate normally. Most of these girls have been innocent victims of adversity, broken by a fate beyond their control. This brings back my childhood. I lost my parents at an early age, and I grew up in an orphanage from the age of eight to eighteen. A good orphanage, up in Yonkers. We, as young kids, were also innocent victims of adversity. Fortunately, we had people that cared about us, that raised funds and were able to help us establish self-esteem and a positive outlook. Each of the fellas that stayed through high school was instilled with some of the executive director’s qualities. He made each boy feel like a son. To me, it’s a natural continuity of the principles he gave us. These girls have been either abused, molested, or put down at an early age. Consequently, it’s hard for them to get out of that syndrome. Perhaps, in some way, I trigger a positive response.
    “I don’t come on in a sexual way, I don’t force myself on anybody, I lay back. They can let their hair down and not be under any pressure. If a girl wants to do something with me, she does it ‘cause she wants to, not because she’s obligated.”
    And how often does this happen, where Uncle Lou becomes a daddy-o?
    “Let me put it this way: A gentleman never tells.”
    Season’s Greetings from Long Jean Silver
    During the break between her eight and eleven o’clock performances at the Avon 7, I took Long Jean Silver to Bernard’s for a couple of cheeseburgers and stiff