larry flynt publications
all rights reserved. all material on this website © 2008 larry flynt publications .
nicole lapin interviews larry flynt, president of larry flynt publications and publisher of hustler, for
bloomberg west .
larry flint publications has killed tips & tricks magazine in place of a monthly code compilation .
larry flynt publishing inc. - company profile, information, business description, history, background information on larry flynt publishing inc .
from left: larry flynt at age 14; larry flynt (right) in his navy uniform in italy; larry flynt wearing the american flag as a diaper. all archival photos courtesy of lfp publishing
and the consensus is that there' s plenty of room for growth for several rap publications .
similarly, larry flynt publications' rap pages is for sale. unlike vibe, blaze and spin, which are all still being published, rap pages was shut down in october. jim kohls, president of larry flynt publications, said the company has received three bids for the publication and expects it to be sold by the middle of this month .
so i thought it’d be interesting to check out magazines put out by larry flynt publications that aren’t hustler, barely legal, taboo or anything else sexual. sounds simple, right ?
larry flynt in his los angeles office. by dan tuffs / getty images .
1986: larry flynt publishing begins producing other magazines, including some mainstream titles .
that same year, larry started a company named larry flynt publications, which published numerous magazines and also handled the distribution. the company stuck to porn until the late 1980s, when they started publishing magazines that targeted the general public .
larry flynt - - passes on playboy mansion... takes grave jab at hef
free speech icon larry flynt decries u. s. senator mitch mcconnell’s paid speech scam
flynt publications
has been replaced by
lfp
atop the office building at the corner of wilshire and la cienega boulevards in los angeles .
to date, larry flynt publications, inc. consists of over 30 magazines, including chic, and barely legal. most recently, he released rage magazine, which is geared toward generation x - ers .
larry flynt arrives to craig' s restaurant in his custom gold wheelchair 4. 7. 16
has three children, theresa, lisa and larry flynt jr. , from three previous relationships .
so i pulled out every trick i had — from reverse ip address tracing through scouring linkedin resumes — to dig up the best non - sexual larry flynt publications (here forth abbreviated lfp) of past and present. here are 11 of my favorites .
larry flynt has sold the beverly hills headquarters of hustler for $ 89 million, his management group said wednesday .
official twitter account of larry flynt: american icon. first amendment defender. founder & publisher of hustler magazine .
these hip - hop publications have quickly become a key outlet for advertising companies hoping to cash in on hip - hop' s newfound commercial acceptance .
1976: flynt founds larry flynt publishing inc. ; he is tried in cincinnati on charges of obscenity, pandering, and organized crime, and convicted on all counts .
gaming magazine tips and tricks was terminated by larry flint publications (lfp) and will release its final issue next month. in its place, a monthly codebook will be published to support the dwindling gaming audience that lacks a proper internet connection .
larry flynt is most famous for hustler, but his publishing company actually makes quite a few other, non - pornographic magazines .
in addition to his prolific career as talk show host on' larry king live,' larry king has appeared as himself in several movies and television shows .
, los angeles: dove books, 1996, 265 p. hentoff, nat,' larry flynt' s famous victory,'
larry hoover, also known as
king larry ,
is the notorious former leader of the black gangster disciple nation, a chicago street gang that spread nationwide .
the people vs. larry flynt helped reframe flynt as a more conventional figure, and the internet soon made his magazine seem mostly harmless. hustler may have shocked in the 70s and 80s, but with computers giving everyone easy access to the most depraved images and fantasies you could dream up, the publications no longer seemed so cutting - edge in the 2000s. and flynt' s personal provocations no longer seem so provocative .
in march 1972, flynt created the hustler newsletter, a four - page, black - and - white publication with news about his clubs. it became so popular that he expanded it to 32 pages in a year, and then decided to turn it into a sexually explicit magazine with national distribution. in july 1974, the first issue of hustler magazine was published, and, in 1976, flynt created larry flynt publications .
flynt and hustler were immortalized by hollywood in 1997, with the motion picture' the people vs. larry flynt.' the movie, which offered a somewhat sanitized version of flynt' s ascension, was nominated for several oscars. it also put flynt squarely back where he liked to be: in the spotlight .
it was a mostly unspoken doctrine at larry flynt publications that the glossy pictures and stories jammed in between so - called “girl sets” of photos were aimed at arousing our male “readers. ” i recall the associate publisher rejecting a collection of photographs of a naked model by shouting at the art director, as he tossed the pictures at the offending employee :
but even larry gave me that same bit of advice that many thousands of editors of thousands of publications have known over the century - plus of magazine publishing: “lee, ” he once drawled in his backcountry kentucky twang, “always put a pretty woman on the cover of your magazine. ”
i was still a fairly young man, 38, when i found a job with larry flynt’s notorious hustler magazine. starting in a junior editorial spot, i eventually became executive editor, working directly with larry and his now late wife althea .
as a last - ditch effort, someone calls in flynt' s fifth wife, liz—his former nurse who now works down the hall as a larry flynt publications executive—in the hopes that she will get a rise out of her husband .
say money !
she says cheerfully, using her index fingers to widen her own mouth into a smile as if she' s coaching a third - grader on picture day .
in 1984, larry briefly ran for president vs. ronald reagan, but withdrew after realizing that he had little chance of winning. in 1996, the film
the people vs. larry flynt
was produced starring woody harrelson as larry flynt. on june 22, 2000, larry opened his famous hustler casino in los angeles. many people believed that he would be unable to get a gambling license because of his legal problems, but he eventually succeeded, allowing the casino to operate freely .
larry flynt wants to buy the playboy mansion, but as part of the deal he wants to make hugh hefner his bitch. sources connected to flynt tell tmz, the hustler honcho believes the mansion is… read more >
and therein lies the rub for larry flynt magazines — you could do pulitzer - worthy journalism but you’ll never transcend the fact that it’s occurring within a larry flynt publication. it’s like having an oscar - worthy performance in a spy kids movie — no matter how good you are, you can’t transcend the stigma .
1984: televangelist jerry falwell sues flynt over hustler ad parody featuring falwell; flynt is found guilty on one of the charges .
it' s a little too perfect - - hustler honcho larry flynt buying the playboy mansion and giving his archenemy hugh hefner the boot - - but it' s reportedly exactly what could happen. flynt' s hustler… read more >
larry flynt ignored the three l' s of real estate by selling his hustler store building to gwyneth paltrow... because he just couldn' t turn down the boatload of cash on the table. flynt was… read more >
born larry claxton flynt, on november 1, 1942, in the appalachian village of lakeville, kentucky, larry flynt became one of the world & apos; s most well - known publishers of pornography and unlikely champion of civil liberties. with the publication of his flagship magazine, hustler, flynt set off a firestorm, dragging into the eventual fray jerry falwell and the supreme court of the united states .
larry flynt ripped off another casino' s name and slapped it on one of his new casinos... so claims a company now suing to get flynt to drop the name. isle of capri casinos says the hustler… read more >
larry continues to run all facets of the flynt companies from his headquarters in beverly hills, california. at 72, flynt is remarkably healthy and active as a publisher, author, freedom fighter and icon. he never misses a beat .
he was selling religion, and i was selling porn. we were both good at what we did, and we were both making money .
–larry flynt on jerry falwell
althea says that larry’s mother, who lives with them, is “very proud of her son” and points out that the business has provided a good living for larry’s brother as well. jimmy flynt, 30, is president of hustler’s distribution and marketing company. “i think you could sum larry up in one word, ” jimmy says, “obsession. he gets obsessed with anything he attempts to do. ”
he points out that flynt' s fame exploded internationally following milos forman' s 1996 film the people vs larry flynt, which chronicled the pornographer' s first amendment court battles and the assassination attempt that left him partially paralysed more than 20 years ago .
larry flynt was a hardcore porn pioneer, a born - again christian, an antagonist of the women' s movement, and a first amendment crusader. what will he leave behind ?
when larry flynt published an unflattering parody of jerry falwell in hustler, falwell waged a suit that eventually went to the u. s. supreme court. it ruled in flynt' s favor, citing the first amendment' s protection of freedom of speech .
1988: the supreme court overturns flynt' s conviction in the falwell case .
the history of larry flynt publishing is, in many ways, inextricable from the history of its colorful, controversial founder and president, larry flynt. flynt was born in 1942 into less - than - idyllic conditions. poverty, isolation, and alcoholism were the most pervasive characteristics of his home life and his tiny kentucky community. flynt dropped out of school in the ninth grade to join the army but was discharged a year later due to low scores on a general education test. not easily dissuaded, he then enlisted in the navy. flynt was more successful in his second enlistment, eventually becoming a radar technician on an aircraft carrier .
vivid entertainment honcho steve hirsch thinks a kylie jenner sex tape could outperform her big sister' s tape at the box office. steve says he' s undaunted by larry flynt, who… read more >
larry flynt’s life story proves that the american dream can come true with enough drive, determination and effort. his journey is a shining example of american enterprise, and a most unusual journey at that .
larry holmes was an american heavyweight boxing champion in the late 1970s and early 1980s who was known for his solid defense .
larry claxton flynt rose from the impoverished appalachian mountains of eastern kentucky to establish the world famous brand that is hustler. saturday evenings in kentucky would find larry tuning in to the country music jamboree from a distant radio station as he read and reread harold robbins’ the carpetbaggers, another saga of a poor boy’s rise to wealth and fame .
1978: flynt survives an assassination attempt that leaves him paralyzed from the waist down .
larry flynt' s hustler club insists its strippers are independent women, but a former dancer is calling bs... saying she was forced to work under house rules with zero benefits. hustler classifies… read more >
larry flynt has 2 reasons for not wanting to buy the newly listed playboy mansion - - no sloppy seconds and no sticky sheets. we talked with the hustler honcho - - and hugh hefner' s… read more >
larry flynt thinks hugh hefner has flipped his lid by 86' ing nudies from playboy. the hustler honcho was leaving craig' s thursday night when he scoffed at hef, suggesting his arch rival is… read more >
larry flynt accomplished all of this despite being shot and paralyzed, enduring multiple surgeries and addiction to pain meds, losing his wife althea to aids and coping with a bipolar disorder that he unabashedly shared with his readers .
for decades, hustler publisher larry flynt has been working to catch “family values” politicians in bed with the wrong people, offering up to a million dollars for each hypocrite exposed. he’s eyeing some juicy targets this election cycle .
larry hagman starred opposite barbara eden on the sitcom i dream of jeannie and played j. r. ewing on the primetime drama dallas .
publisher, civil liberties advocate. born larry claxton flynt, on november 1, 1942, in the isolated appalachian village of lakeville, kentucky. he was the eldest of three children born into a poverty - stricken family, where his life was a struggle from the start. in 1951, tragedy struck when his four - year - old sister died of leukemia. a year later, the flynt family unit began to disintegrate. larry’s parents, claxton and edith, separated; his brother, jimmy, stayed with his maternal grandparents; and larry moved with his mother to hamlet, indiana .
1968: flynt opens dayton' s first go - go bar, the hustler club .
though the film underperformed at the box office and high - profile feminists like steinem accused the creators of glossing over the retrograde sexual politics of vintage hustler, the people vs. larry flynt received rave reviews, and harrelson earned an oscar nomination .
larry craig was a u. s. senator from idaho who was involved in drug and sex scandals, announced his resignation, then quickly recanted .
it was a sign from the universe (or, at least, from the island). first, in my desperate attempt to find any movies left to watch after having netflix on demand for three weeks, i found myself watching the people vs. larry flynt. then as i was falling asleep i turned on a random episode of the simpsons and, in it, lisa reads the masthead of smothering mother magazine and bemoans that her mom actually took parenting advice from a larry flynt publication .
hustler magazine founder larry flynt has begun making the interview rounds to promote the pornography magazine' s 40th anniversary, but in a monday interview with bloomberg tv, the incendiary publisher spoiled the birthday party by predicting a short lifespan for his print edition .
larry flynt was born on november 1, 1942 in magoffin county, kentucky. his parents were very poor and when his mother divorced his father, who was an alcoholic, he moved with her to indiana. in 1958, larry enlisted in the army at the age of fifteen, but had to leave after a year. he immediately joined the navy and served on the uss enterprise until 1964 .
the arrest and trial of larry davis, arrested after a 1986 shootout with the nypd, drew national interest and ignited racial tensions in new york city .
publisher larry flynt and retired escort wendy ellis at a september 2007 news conference where ellis claimed she had had a paid sexual relationship with louisiana republican senator david vitter in 1999, when he was a state legislator. by jim ruymen / upi / landov .
kylie jenner should snatch the $ 10 million to do a sex tape and never look back... because no less a xxx authority than larry flynt jr. says that' s way more than she' s worth on the open… read more >
flynt also announced that he signed a lease for his company to remain a tenant in the building .
film lost one of its great true visionaries yesterday - milos forman. i will always be grateful to him for telling my story in the people vs larry flynt. he was a remarkable man with extraordinary talent. i will miss his presence on this earth .
flynt currently lives in beverly hills with his current wife, liz berrios, whom he married in 1998 .
after leaving the navy, larry found that he had some money and didn' t know what to do with it. he finally decided on starting a strip club in dayton, ohio. the club made quite a bit of money and larry went on to purchase several more in different cities along with his brother, jimmy .
while flynt was fighting his very public court battle, his business was quietly growing into new areas. the market for men' s magazines softened somewhat in the 1980s, leaving larry flynt publishing in need of new income streams. as a result, the company expanded to include adult video production and a collection of internet sites, including a by - subscription online version of hustler .
left: hustler' s way of commemorating the us bicentennial in 1976; flynt gives an interview during one of his many court battles. right: flynt in his famous
fuck this court
t - shirt .
hustler ~ june 2018 our constitution does guarantee religious freedom, and this must be respected, however, the first principle of doctors and nurses is to “do no harm. ” if their religious beliefs trump that rule, then they should abandon the medical profession ~ larry flynt urltoken
although lacking a fancy education, larry had the built - in business savvy to reinvest his earnings in his new enterprise, leading to the establishment of a chain of eight hustler clubs in ohio in the early 1970s. the notion of pouring profits back into the company is a staple of larry’s business approach that he still employs today .
these days, hustler is a shadow of its former notorious self. you can find traces of its penchant for bomb - throwing in a great many publications of the online era—especially gawker, which went down in a blaze of lawsuits after pissing a lot of people off and posting a snippet of a hulk hogan sex tape. but hustler itself isn' t in the conversation .
on march 6, 1978, during a trial related to an obscenity charge in gwinnett county, georgia, flynt and his attorney were shot by a sniper near the county courthouse in lawrenceville. the shooting left flynt partially paralyzed .
larry birkhead, ex of the late anna nicole smith, is raising their daughter, dannielynn, after confirming in 2007 that he' s the girl' s biological dad .
in 1996, columbia pictures released the critically - acclaimed film, “the people vs. larry flynt, ” with actor woody harrelson in the title role. harrelson’s performance earned him academy award and golden globe nominations. the film was directed by milos forman and co - produced by oliver stone .
when hustler obtained naked photos of jacqueline kennedy onassis in 1975, they did not hesitate to publish them. the resulting publicity resulted in skyrocketing sales and made larry flynt famous and infamous overnight. the business was soon making millions of dollars and the magazines could be found in every local drug store .
but not even a bullet could slow larry down, and hustler grew to become the third - largest men’s magazine and one of the top - selling magazines of any field with a staggering peak circulation of around three million. larry continued to develop more magazines and at one point there were more than twenty titles in lfp’s publication line, covering many diverse fields .
in 1977, a 60 minutes producer introduced flynt to ruth carter stapleton, the evangelist sister of president jimmy carter. the two formed a fast friendship, which resulted in flynt’s surprising and publicized conversion to christianity. under the guidance of stapleton, flynt altered his mindset about hustler ’s objective, vowing to no longer portray women in such a vulgar manner .
however, that is hardly a problem for flynt. unlike other adult media entrepreneurs who watched their businesses shrink and, ultimately, shutter, flynt parlayed the hustler brand into an empire with divisions for broadcasting, gaming, and adult toys .
flynt also set about clearing his conscience. in an unreleased excerpt from her memoir my life on the road provided to vice by her publisher, feminist icon gloria steinem and longtime flynt antagonist (who is now a host on viceland) recounted that following his conversion flynt reached out to her through the carters, asking her to formally forgive flynt on behalf of all women .
if i offer [ ed ] flynt absolution ,
steinem wrote ,
he [ would ] give $ 1 million toward the passage of the equal rights amendment ,
the proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights for women. but flynt' s well - known penchant for publicity stunts made steinem suspicious, and she declined the indecent proposal .
arnold schwarzenegger aside, opinionated democrat larry flynt was probably the most colourful of the many candidates campaigning for the governorship of california. however, not only did his official slogan,' the smut peddler who cares', fail to win over the voters, it also failed to reflect his business thinking .
in december 1987, larry won a landmark court judgment in the u. s. supreme court against evangelist jerry falwell, when an earlier verdict awarding falwell $ 200, 000 was overturned. the original claims alleged that larry had published an obscene illustration of falwell to deliberately cause emotional distress. his first amendment win is regarded as a decisive victory in publishing history .
over the years, larry flynt has peddled pornography, fought for freedom of speech, been shot at, and run for office. the pioneer of pornography in america has two new hustles planned for this year: a digital revamp of his iconic magazine - hustler - and a major expansion of his retail stores .
flynt himself was made mainstream by the 1996 film the people vs. larry flynt, a prestige - y picture that sanded over the man' s roughest edges and recast the pornographer (played by woody harrelson) as a renegade free - speech icon. his supreme court victory against jerry falwell was rendered as the ultimate vindication of a pure - hearted pervert who defended the nation' s ideals even when he was rejected by the nation .
it was not. at all. there is no unified list of all the larry flynt magazines past and present anywhere, internet or otherwise. it’s as if they have something to hide. i even called their office and asked for a list — and was told they could possibly “put it together for me. ”
, april 1, 1997, p. 22. horn, dan,' cincinnati vs. flynt: the sequel,'
it was kind of an amazing time to be at hustler ,
says macdonell .
larry wasn' t necessarily talking truth to power, but he was talking rage to power .
columbia pictures would not issue him a ticket to the 69th annual academy awards (his biopic the people vs. larry flynt (1996) ) was up for two awards) because executives were afraid flynt would pull some kind of vulgar stunt and embarrass them. he became angry and began railing against the studio for allowing the film to be made but then censoring him in real life. he also hired a private one - man airplane to circle the awards show with the message
columbia pictures sucks! - l. flynt .
at the very last minute woody harrelson (who played him in the film) gave him his agent' s ticket, but flynt still had the plane circle the show .
five years ago, in a move designed to cut costs, reduce staff and increase profits, playboy announced it would outsource most of its operations to american media inc. larry flynt himself has predicted the demise of hustler magazine, with its glossy photos of bewitching blonde babes on brass beds and brazen bronzed brunettes on broiling beaches .
larry’s legacy is accounted for in further detail in his autobiography, an unseemly man: my life as pornographer, pundit, and social outcast (dove books, 1996), in the film the people vs. larry flynt (dir. milos forman, 1996), in his tell - all memoir sex, lies & politics: the naked truth (kensington, 2004) and one nation under sex: how the private lives of presidents, first ladies and their lovers changed the course of american history (palgrave mcmillan 2011) .
in a weird way, queen says, even hustler' s offensive and at times alienating imagery had progressive, though completely unintentional, effect .
that' s part of the gift of larry flynt ,
she says .
he gave us a discussion that helped us understand how problematic sex could be for some people .
in an interview last year, flynt said publishing accounted for less than five percent of his revenue. instead, a casino and its broadcast channels account for a substantial chunk of hustler' s revenues .
diversification was a smart move ,
flynt told me .
in march 1978, alleged gunman and white supremacist joseph paul franklin shot flynt and his lawyer, gene reeves, outside a georgia courthouse. flynt’s injuries included permanent paralysis of his legs, as well as a minor speech impediment. shortly after, he renounced his enlightened christian thinking. althea and flynt retreated to a lavish bel air estate where, over the next few years, the couple lived in their bedroom behind a steel door. in constant pain, flynt grew dependent on painkillers, while althea developed an addiction to heroin .
when trent lott announced his resignation from the senate in late november, hustler got two dozen calls from reporters and bloggers assuming, wrongly, that flynt had a hand in it. as someone who has worked closely with him for more than a decade says, “larry is now the go - to guy for this sort of thing. ”
but i' ve got another confession to make. when a state tax court case contains the terms larry flynt, hustler club, and beaver bucks; well, it' s enough to make me drop whatever i' m doing on a saturday night (read: nothing) and get writin'. so here goes ...
in 2003, a recall in california of governor gray davis allowed larry to campaign as a replacement. he placed 7th out of 135 candidates, many of whom were fellow celebrities, losing to arnold schwarzenegger .
in 1997, hustler launched its multimedia division and thereby entered the internet business. the company now operates dozens of web sites through urltoken, and larry even has his own heavily visited political site – urltoken .
in 1983, larry published an advertisement parody in hustler featuring jerry falwell as a fan of alcohol. falwell sued him for libel and larry counter sued him for copyright infringement. in a landmark supreme court victory, it was found that public figures cannot recover damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress based on parodies. it ensured that citizens of the united states could freely parody celebrity figures for the many years to come .
manhattan' s hustler club - - owned by smut king larry flynt - - offers topless dancing to dark loners, the unemployable, and fireball - fueled wall street bros, among others. once inside, club customers can exchange their cash for the creatively coined
beaver bucks ,
which can then be used to pay for tips and dances .
unfortunately, in march 1978, larry was shot by a sniper outside a courthouse in lawrenceville, georgia, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. he relocated the company from ohio to los angeles at the end of 1978 .
the building has a few show business connections. the site was originally a miniature golf course owned by silent screen star mary pickford in the 1930s. john wayne was the great western savings television spokesman. the company installed a statue of the actor on horseback upon his death in 1979. in 1984, great western savings sold the building to adult - content magazine publisher larry flynt .
on march 6, 1978, larry and his lawyer were shot by a sniper as they left a courthouse in lawrenceville, georgia. the gunman turned out to be joseph paul franklin, a white supremacist angered by interracial photos published by the magazine. his lawyer survived without permanent injuries, but larry was left paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. after the attack, he renounced his newfound religion and became an active atheist .
a few years ago, we opened up the whole niche market with a magazine we put together in - house, called barely legal ,
said harris, the divorced mother of two daughters .
a lot of publishers were concerned about the title, but larry flynt was willing to take a shot at it. overnight, it became his second - best - selling magazine, behind only hustler .
still, flynt himself remains an icon in the world of porn .
when larry flynt comes into a room, people stand up. he' s a godfather - type figure ,
says the porn producer, director, and performer joanna angel. and hustler the company is still a key player in the industry: its pay - per - view channels often pay production studios for content; porn stars can make money by appearing at hustler clubs or selling branded sex toys at hustler hollywood stores .
they keep a lot of people in business ,
says angel .
the hustler clubs are a joint venture between larry flynt publishing inc and entrepreneur harry mohney, who operates more than 60 low - rent lapdancing clubs on the outskirts of us cities under the name déjà vu. according to jimmy flynt, larry' s nephew, and the man spearheading the international expansion, the european clubs will be more satin than sawdust. as in the plush £5m prototype off the champs elysées, which opened last october, expense - account holders will be encouraged to sup pricey drinks in the company of 50 hustler honeys,' girl - next - door types' who, the company promises, will be hand - picked for their conversational skills as well as their athleticism. once london premises (and licences) are secured, other venues will follow in cities including dublin, berlin, prague, madrid and moscow .
in 1974, larry decided to release the first issue of hustler magazine, as a newsletter for his strip clubs. at that time, there weren' t many issues and subscriptions were not allowed. however, the people that did see the issues gave larry a lot of good feedback, prompting him to start publishing it as a professional magazine. the difference between hustler and other similar magazines at that time was that hustler was almost all pictures and took the
lewdness
to a whole new level .
flynt refused to pay up, however, appealing on the grounds that parody and satire were protected speech under the first amendment. after a pair of higher courts shooed flynt away in 1986, he appealed a third time, asking the supreme court to hear the case. the justices agreed, and in 1987—four years after flynt had gotten kicked out of the court' s chambers for screaming obscenities—he found himself yet again appearing in front of the highest court in the country, this time wearing a suit .
this is because the larger - than - life founder of the hustler empire, which comprises more than 30 top - shelf magazines, video companies and websites, has actually been marshalling his business activities away from hardcore porn - and, more recently, towards europe. flynt is preparing a lapdancing emporium in central london as part of what will eventually be a' classy' $ 100 million european chain of' larry flynt' s hustler clubs' as well as plotting an international chain of shops selling own - label clothing and lingerie. there is also talk of casinos, record labels and television projects .
in early 1978, while his cincinnati appeal was still pending, obscenity charges were filed against flynt and hustler in lawrenceville, georgia. while in lawrenceville for the trial, the controversial publisher was gunned down outside the courthouse. shot twice in the abdomen, flynt barely survived. he was left paralyzed from the waist down and in blinding pain .
after being discharged from the army due to personnel cutbacks, flynt, still just 16, joined the navy. while awaiting deployment, he married a woman he met in a bar in order to have sex with her, only to divorce her when the sex was bad. at 19, he married his girlfriend peggy, who at the time was pregnant with another man' s child. when flynt left the service for good, the couple settled in dayton, ohio, and had a kid. the marriage, which had seemed doomed ever since flynt had gotten institutionalized for firing a pistol at peggy' s mother, dissolved completely when flynt resolved a marital argument by spitting in his wife' s face .
leaving home early to join the service, larry eventually found himself working a variety of jobs (from dishwasher to factory worker) and finally saved enough money to realize one of his dreams: owning and operating a nightclub. the first hustler club opened in ohio in 1968 .
as the 70s bled into the 80s, flynt was repeatedly sued for obscenity, shot and paralyzed by franklin, and increasingly erratic thanks to his undiagnosed bipolar disorder. while a national debate over the potential dangers of pornography whirled around him, flynt became reclusive, surrounding himself with armed guards and rarely leaving his mansion near hustler' s new beverly hills headquarters .
flynt has been married five times and has five children. he and his wife, elizabeth, live in the hollywood hills. his company is headquartered in beverly hills, ca .
flynt takes a moment to suck on his teeth .
i' ll leave that for the historians ,
he says .
i' ll probably be a footnote somewhere .
as the episode with bonnie livingston indicates, flynt has a conscience to go with his moral compass. moldea told me that flynt once backed off on an exposé after it got back to him that the politician in question was on the verge of suicide. i ask him if he ever second - guesses what he does, if it ever makes him feel “bad. ”
like flynt' s earlier newsletter, the new publication was called hustler. it debuted in july of 1974 & mdashø less than rave reviews. in his autobiography, an unseemly man, flynt describes the first issue as a mess:' a high school version of playboy with a little penthouse thrown in.' upon seeing it, fenton immediately bailed out of the operation .
a year into publishing hustler, flynt knew that he had hit on the right formula for success. by april, the magazine was grossing more than $ 500, 000 per issue. by june, with publishing profits far surpassing those of the hustler clubs, flynt decided to get out of the bar business. for better or for worse, he had become a publisher .
' europe, the clubs and the merchandising has nothing to do with our business needs,' he insists.' we just think it is important for our company to be on the world stage. we have never done anything outside america until now but we believe the time is right. the name is the big draw. it' s not only the hustler club, it' s the larry flynt hustler club, and there are two strong trade names there.'
1998: flynt arrested in cincinnati on 15 counts of obscenity and corruption; he takes out ad in washington post, offering payment for evidence of illicit sexual relations involving high - ranking politicians .
in the fall of 2013, flynt spoke out on a very personal issue. he called for the state of missouri not to execute joseph paul franklin. franklin was the man who shot flynt in 1978. he also responsible for shooting civil rights leader vernon jordan jr. in 1980 and for murdering an interracial couple. flynt wrote a guest column for the hollywood reporter opposing franklin & apos; s pending execution. in the article, he said ,
as i see it, the sole motivating factor behind the death penalty is vengeance, not justice, and i firmly believe that a government that forbids killing among its citizens should not be in the business of killing people itself .
despite flynt & apos; s request, franklin was executed in november 2013 .
after a five - year stint in the navy, flynt returned to dayton, where he bought a local bar and transformed it into a successful strip club. within a year he expanded business, opening similar clubs in columbus, toledo, akron, and cleveland. the establishments quickly gained loyal customers, which influenced flynt to send out a short newsletter about upcoming events to his growing clientele .
the man behind flynt lifts him up by his armpits, suspending him 18 inches or so above the seat so that his blood can flow more easily down into his lower body. flynt closes his eyes, and his face goes blank, as if he has momentarily receded into himself. almost reflexively, i divert my gaze to a nearby table, where i find a miniature sculpture of two people fucking doggy style. this is not a subtle office, but then again flynt—once the most provocative, most reviled pornographer in america, now an old man in the twilight of life—was never a subtle guy .
in late 1998, flynt opened hustler hollywood, an upscale combination of sex shop and coffee bar located in west hollywood. the store was to serve as a prototype and flagship for a whole chain of stores, to be located in major cities nationwide. although no other locations had been officially announced, flynt was reputed to be considering atlanta, miami, and las vegas for his next such ventures .
in 1977, larry met with the evangelist ruth carter stapleton, the sister of jimmy carter. they both believed in making the united states more comfortable with sexuality and she succeeded in converting him to christianity. he was baptized and began changing the direction of the magazine, no longer publishing pictures of women alone .
carolyn bronstein is a media studies professor at depaul university whose 2011 book battling pornography recounted the anti - pornography efforts of the women' s movement during the 70s and 80s. much like hefner of playboy and bob guccione of penthouse, she tells me ,
larry flynt had his finger on the pulse of the culture and realized there was money to be made by selling sex .
but unlike his competitors, flynt took a more reactionary stance toward progress and the sexual revolution. bronstein says ,
he spoke to a segment of men who felt disempowered by women standing up and saying, i' m not gonna take it anymore. he saw that anger; he knew he could feed it and make money off of it .
a friend of mine who lives in washington told me something many years ago. he said, larry, when it comes to scandal, the conventional wisdom is that it’s sex with democrats, & with republicans it’s money. but, he said, in actuality, it’s the complete opposite. he was right ...
flynt' s attachés wheel him over to his desk, where my photographer asks him to smile. he does not .
i' ve got a lot of work to do ,
he says to evan roosevelt, a large guy in his early 30s who serves as vp of marketing for hustler' s various brands. flynt speaks slowly, often wheezing between sentences and gurgling as he struggles to enunciate his words .
smile or no, the photographer begins snapping away. as if in protest, the left half of flynt' s face slackens, drifting downward to join the skin that has collected at the base of his neck. flynt gradually tilts his head back, and his mouth falls all the way open, as if he' s trying to parody the way old people look when they fall asleep in front of the tv .
in his early teens (under a false age), flynt spent a year in the u. s. army until he was discharged because of low test scores. he then joined his mother in dayton, ohio, where he held various jobs, including one at a general motors assembly plant. flynt soon grew frustrated with his job, and sought the familiar discipline of the military. this time he enlisted in the navy, where he outshined first time recruits because of his previous experience. he eventually landed an esteemed position aboard the u. s. s. enterprise. with a renewed confidence, flynt took correspondence courses and received his high school equivalency .
for those hustler buyers who really did read the articles, we carried exposé journalism, much of which was touted on the cover as “shocking, ” as in “shocking exposé! ” i think larry may have been the only hustler staff member who really believed that people dropped a few bucks for the magazine so they could actually read investigative reportage .
in a january 2014 interview with erin moriarty of cbs, flynt announced that he didn’t expect hustler, the heart of his porn empire, to last more than two or three years. he added that the magazine’s monthly circulation had
kohls cited the company' s decision to finance the launch of code, flynt' s african american men' s fashion magazine, as well as a need for better editorial direction, as the reasons for closing the magazine .
in addition, flynt has also shorted real estate. for example, he sold the hustler headquarters, located in a prime location in beverly hills, for a profit of $ 70 million over a twenty - year period last year .
flynt was once again thrust into the national spotlight in november 1983, when reverend jerry falwell sued him for publishing a satirical cartoon, which implied that falwell had an incestuous affair with his mother. the televangelist filed a libel suit for $ 45 million with the additional charge of intent to inflict emotional distress. six months later, a court ruled in flynt & apos; s favor in the libel matter, but awarded falwell $ 200, 000 for emotional distress .
jimmy flynt says that the european hustler clubs will be similar in ambience to the parisian one, which holds 350 people and is the largest topless bar in france, dwarfing the paris club of peter stringfellow, flynt' s other london rival. dimly lit and with a jazz lounge feel, the paris venue has two bars and two dancing stages. the dancers, who are predominantly american and british, perform on stage and mingle with customers six nights a week .
though ward found flynt to be an unrepentant hedonist and cynical businessman, the budding mogul was also charming and whip - smart, and his more unsavory tendencies were tempered by a whiff of naiveté. by 1976, he' d recruited althea to help him oversee the magazine' s production, and the pair seemed in over their heads. in one of their conversations, ward recalls, flynt, desperate to find better writers for his magazine, went to the journalist for advice. he asked ward to tell him the best writer he could think of .
james joyce ,
ward responded. flynt then asked how to get in touch with the famed author, not realizing he' d died in 1941 .
larry flynt spends his days sitting in a gold wheelchair on the top floor of a building that' s shaped like a big gold dildo. his office is covered in money - green carpet sectioned into squares by gold lines. on one side sits a golden life - size statue of julius caesar. on the opposite wall, there' s an end table with green marbling and gold trim on top of which sits a pair of gold statuettes that from a distance resembled oscars but up close reveal themselves as busts of nude female torsos. on the surface of flynt' s desk, which is accented with even more gold trim, there are two decorative gold pens, a gold - framed photo of him and bill clinton, a bowl of gold paperclips, and a gold stand that holds a 9 / 11
deception dollar .
i don' t think hustler' s going to be around very much longer ,
flynt said .
most people are getting their information from the internet. it' s a technology evolution that brings a lot with it and takes a lot away .
when asked if he knew when the magazine would cease publication, flynt said that it will remain so long as it continues to make money, adding
but we can see the handwriting on the wall .
his father, claxton flynt, was a sharecropper, his mother, edith, a waitress in their hometown of lakeville. his only sister died of leukemia when she was 5 years old. when flynt left military service at 18, his parents were already divorced, and he took a job washing dishes in dayton. then came stints in mattress, fireworks and automobile factories. by the time he was 21, he had been married and divorced twice and had filed for bankruptcy .
i bring this passage up to flynt. does he hope history will reframe his legacy yet again and place him within the tradition of rabble - rousers instead of opportunistic titillators? instead of selling sex, will we remember him for selling speech ?
flynt' s first major court case was tried in 1976 in cincinnati, ohio. he was charged with pandering, obscenity, and organized crime, and was convicted on all three counts. filing an appeal, flynt' s attorneys got him released on bond, and he returned to columbus to run hustler. as it turned out, the trial publicity had been good for business. sales of the magazine had reached an all - time high of 2. 7 million copies monthly .
by its late - 70s peak, flynt' s flagship publication hustler reached 3 million sweaty palms per month, transgressing every boundary under the sun and earning the scorn of both the religious right and the feminist left. in his quest to piss off the entire world and make himself rich in the process, flynt developed a bull - headed insistence upon contesting every single lawsuit and obscenity charge that came his way, transforming him into an unlikely canary in the coal mine of first amendment law.
larry flynt publications , or lfp , inc. , runs the adult entertainment empire founded by larry flynt . founded in 1976 , two years after flynt began publishing hustler magazine , lfp was originally to serve as the parent company of this magazine . 
larry flynt publications, or lfp, inc., runs the adult entertainment empire founded by larry flynt. founded in 1976, two years after flynt began publishing hustler magazine, lfp was originally to serve as the parent company of this magazine.
larry flynt publications, or lfp, inc., runs the adult entertainment empire founded by larry flynt. founded in 1976, two years after flynt began publishing hustler magazine, lfp was originally to serve as the parent company of this magazine.