David Forest is finally getting serious about an autobiography that will spill the beans about his quixotic career, including his recollection of famous clients who availed themselves of his services. Our two-part interview is intended to soften the ground in that respect. I’ve profiled him a number of times over the past 15 years.

CLICK HERE for Part One of our interview.

CLICK HERE for Mr. Forest’s Meet the XXX Stars website.

JCA: I want to go back for a minute about how you used to arrange for clients to see specific guys on your roster. In the digital age, people might not understand how you really had to be a salesman over the phone. Did you enjoy it?
Forest: The reason I did it that way is because I always wanted them to be happy. There were no pictures, no internet. It just my voice and my descriptions. I was good at it. Real good at it. It was a rarity for one of my boys to be turned away when the client finally saw them.

JCA: What happened if you didn’t have the type of guy they wanted?
Forest: If I didn’t have what they wanted, I would tell them. Nine times out of ten, they were calling for someone right now. These days, everything is in advance two or three days, since they want specific stars. They know they’ll be in Los Angeles or some other city on such-and-such date in the future. Back then it was usually a call for someone now.

JCA: What was the process when they would call?
Forest: I would go to my list and page the boys, who all would carry beepers. I never wanted to wait more than 30 minutes. I would have three or four boys ready to go out and then I would call the client back and offer them what I had. If he didn’t like any of them, I would say, “Well, here are some others I’m working on.” But it wasn’t unusual for celebrities to say, “I’d rather wait” for exactly what they wanted.

JCA: What was the going rate in the ’80s?
Forest: It was $100 for one hour with a 70/30 split. That was in the summer of ’81. An overnight was $300. In 1982 or ’83, the hourly fee wwent up to $150 and that was a big to-do. Same thing when I went up to $200.

JCA: Clients gave you a hard time about the pricing?
Forest: Men, in general, do not like to pay for guys. They are mad that they’re having to pay. And if they could somehow con the boy, or me, out of extra hours, they would do it. If they can get something for less, they want it. They would say, “Go pay David”—for just an hour of time—”and then come back.”

JCA: Did a lot of your boys do that?
Forest: As unfair as that was, some boys would do it. They felt they had something to gain, a role in a movie or whatever. They were stupid that way. I usually wouldn’t know they were continuing on with a celebrity. The loyalty factor made my life really difficult. But I always found out, always.

JCA: Was it common among celebrities to hold onto a boy?
Forest: Do you know about Alan Carr, the producer? He was a strange character. We had a long-standing relationship. He loved to fall in love with a boy. I can’t tell you how many times a boy was seeing a celebrity like Alan behind my back. The client would call me and say, “Joey is bringing his beeper back. He’s not doing this anymore.” He would take them on trips and give them money and buy them clothes.

JCA: So then some of your more famous clients didn’t bother with the “buyers” you talked about earlier.
Forest: Like I said, a lot of them used phony names when they called. Or like Versace, his boyfriend would call and say, “I need a boy for me and my lover.” They only called a couple of times. But again, I always found out later that the lover was a celebrity. Peter Allen, do you know him? Peter was really fabulous and always dealt with me directly.

Rock Hudson would have one of his friends, sometimes one of my previous customers, contact me and be very specific about taking one of my guys to see him and what kind of man Rock wanted to see. He would say something like, “I know this is what Rock likes.” Rock was very much on the QT. Somebody else paid the boys, too. They would never say it was specifically to have sex with Rock, they were just sending a boy over to Rock’s house for a party.

JCA: So everyone had a different approach with you.
Forest: With Merv Griffin, my client was upfront about why he needed a real star to go with him to Merv’s Christmas party one year. Funny thing was, the star I sent on assignment didn’t even get to be with Merv, who was too busy working Eva Gabor.

JCA: How many of your guys were porn stars?
Forest: My booking business began in the summer of 1981 with porn stars doing the calls: Jamie Wingo, Jon King, Lance, Ron Pierson, Jeremy Scott, J.W. King, Michael Christopher, Shawn Michaels, Christopher Lance, John Davenport, Julian Adams, Tim Kramer, many of which have passed on. They were not the majority of boys I sent out. They weren’t as available as students or aspiring actors. Do you know about Kurt Marshall?

JCA: God, yes.
Forest: He only did a couple of movies. Oh, my god, he was really successful. He was brought to me by a boy who knew me and said, “Whatever you charge for anyone else, double it for Kurt.” God, he did well. He and Leo Ford, god bless him and rest his soul, were hugely, hugely successful. But when Kurt was introduced to Chuck Holmes, the escorting came to a near-halt. Chuck did have him do a few Falcon Studios films and became his sugar daddy. Chuck did not want Kurt to see clients.

The porn-star bookings did not go real strong until Ryan Idol [pictured above with Forest] appeared on the scene in 1990 or ’91. When Ryan and I got together, that was when the price began going up. Then, of course, came Ken Ryker, Marco Rossi, Tim Kramer, Scott Baldwin, Kevin Williams, Tom Katt.

JCA: Now your clients knew who to ask for.
Forest: There was still no internet, but people saw them in magazines, which got passed around. They had a good shelf life. People kept them if they liked the photo spread or the cover. But the bulk of my celebrity clients asked for non-celebrity boys.

JCA: You mentioned using aspiring actors?
Forest: Some of my boys have always been up-and-coming actors. I like those types. They want to work and make money. But nowadays, they don’t want anyone to know about it. They don’t want any pictures to be used anywhere. It makes my job very difficult to be running an introduction service.

JCA: Let’s talk about what an “introduction service” means.
Forest: Back in the day, I would ask, “What are the physical activities required?” How else was I supposed to know what they wanted? All of that is really illegal. It is absolutely pandering. All of that ended in November of ’96. Never again have I spoken about arranging sex. But for 15 years, from the summer of ’81 to November, 1996, I was breaking the law.

JCA: And since then?
Forest: From 1998, when I got out of prison, to the present, I’ve conducted my business as an introduction service. In June of ’01, my parole finished and that’s when I launched it. I try to sell (clients) on my yearly program or my six-month program. A lot of guys tell me its too complicated and expensive. It’s very hard to do this in that form.

JCA: Did you enjoy it?
Forest: I was a madam. Some people loved me, some loathed me because I was a pimp in their eyes. A lot of these men who would call despised me. But they found the boys they wanted through me. That’s how they got them. I was a big hit with the celebs. I had been in the music business, worked at some of the big talent agencies in town. I knew everyone.

See also:
* “In Recession, Adult Actors Turn to ‘Private Meetings’”