Like an Eagle by Dennis Parker

Celebrating Pride Month, June 2022

'Like An Eagle' by Dennis Parker

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, we like to observe Pride Month by reviewing media that celebrates the LGBTQ Experience.

For June, 2022, we're going to take a look at an iconic actor and singer, Dennis Parker (the stage name of Dennis Posa) who came to fame in the 1970s as an adult film star, and the singer on one of the greatest disco albums of the era, Like An Eagle (1979). It's a strange and peculiarly melange that could only have come about in the 70s.

Dennis Posa was born in 1946 and grew up in Freeport, NY. After graduating high school he studied at an art college in Philadelphia, became interested in acting, and supported himself in a variety of odd jobs.

By the mid-1970s Posa, now using the stage name 'Wade Nichols', was working as an actor in adult films.

Wade Nichols (Dennis Posa / Dennis Parker) in a still from the 1977 film Punk Rock.

The apogee of Nichols's porno career likely was the 1979 film Love You, which was directed by John Derek and starred Annette Haven. According to Derek's wife Bo, she was responsible for almost all aspects of the production aside from directing. 

In the summer of 1976, Nichols was one of a number of adult film actors and actresses in New York City who signed up for an 'erotic' photo shoot organized by film producer Ed Rothkowitz and photographer Joseph Del Valle. Looking to cash in on the success of the book The Joy of Sex, Rothkowitz assembled the photos into a book, titled Joys of Fantasy: The Book for Loving Couples, which was published by Stein and Day in 1977. 

Rothkowitz combined the photos with 'sensual' poetry and prose from a number of contributors, foremost among them Civ Cedering Fox. Fox (1939 - 2007) was born in Sweden and later moved to San Francisco, where she grew up. She gained notice as a poet, novelist, children's book author, artist, and songwriter during the 1970s and 1980s.

Civ Sedering Fox, 1970s

Below, I've excerpted some of more tame images from Joys of Fantasy. There is the classic 70s emphasis on soft focus', widely used in that era as a means to reduce the sleaze factor in favor of imagery that was considered 'artistic'. It's Nichols / Parker / Posa sporting the quintessential 70s mustache in the photos below.

Circa 1976 Posa caught the eye of the French producer and music magnate Jacques Morali, who was always looking to transform his boyfriends into disco singers. Unsurprisingly, in 1979, Posa, under the name 'Dennis Parker', recorded Like An Eagle, a disco album, on Casablanca Records. The title track was released as a single and made into a video. 

The song is pretty good, if you ask me. And indeed, the entire album is an overlooked gem of Disco Dynamite ! I defy you to listen to it and yet resist the overwhelming urge to boogie.

Also in 1979, Nichols / Parker / Posa got a mainstream role as a supporting character in the soap opera Edge of Night, and discontinued his porno career. 

Sadly, in the Spring of 1984, Posa's health went into decline and he eventually had to leave the show. He died on January 28, 1985, at age 38, from AIDS-related causes.