Deep Throat @ 50: Svengali – The Chuck Traynor Story: Part 1

We all know the story of Linda Lovelace and Chuck Traynor, right? Linda was the star of the groundbreaking adult film Deep Throat, and Chuck was Linda’s husband and manager. When the movie was released, Linda did tons of television and newspaper interviews sharing how happy she was to showcase sexual liberation and personal freedom. She capped the publicity rounds with a book, ‘The Intimate Diary of Linda Lovelace’, in which she shared her sexual fantasies and experiences. A real poster child for women’s liberation, then, right? Not so fast. On the heels of the book’s publication, and little more than a year after the film was released, Linda’s story began to change. She divorced Chuck and began sharing extremely troubling details about their former relationship. Now she said Chuck was her pimp. He was her abuser. He was her tormentor. Linda published full details of these allegations in two additional books: ‘Ordeal’ and ‘Out of Bondage’. The stories involved beatings, guns, and imprisonment. And then Chuck married Marilyn Chambers – the other most famous porn star of the decade. Her experience of Chuck differed greatly from Linda’s. She spoke well of him and stayed married to him for years. Nevertheless, Linda’s description of Chuck is how we understand him today. In the 2005 documentary Inside Deep Throat, Linda’s sister Barbara Boreman curses the day Linda ever met Chuck . Peter Sarsgaard’s portrayal of Chuck in the 2013 film Lovelace is infused with cruelty. And there are countless TV interviews, magazine articles, books, and even a PhD thesis recounting the same story of Chuck’s manipulation of Linda and his brutality.  History is written by winners and in this era of Me Too, Chuck has ended up as the quintessential loser in this story.  And maybe that’s correct. But who was Chuck Traynor really? And what happens when we try to understand him, and how this self-described small-time hick played such an outsized role in the adult industry – and by extension, in pop culture at large? What’s surprising is that, despite his pivotal role in the early porn business, there’s never been a detailed investigation into Chuck’s life. He never told his own story before he died 20 years ago, and no one has ever tried to track down his numerous ex-wives, friends, or family members.  Over the past years, The Rialto Report contacted just about everyone who knew Chuck. What emerges is a story more far complex and interesting than anything imagined – it’s a tale of family intrigue, drug smuggling, nudist films, biker bars, tax fraud, political insurgency, illegal porn loops, and, of course, Deep Throat. So is Chuck a misunderstood hustler? An opportunistic conman? Or a devious Svengali exercising a controlling influence over people in his orbit for his sinister purposes? This is Part One of the untold story of Chuck Traynor. This podcast is 35 minutes long. —————————————————————————————— 1. Chuck Traynor: In The Beginning Let’s start at the very beginning. Research Chuck’s history and straight away, you’ll find records listing Angelo and Theresa Traynor as his parents. Angelo Traynor was born in Italy in 1885.