At last. The porn role James Bartholet was born to play: Richie Cunningham’s father, Howard, in a sleazy, comedic takeoff of Happy Days.

“Everybody told me I channeled Tom Bosley,” laughs Bartholet who, after dieting for Vegas, began cramming pasta in his face during the AEE convention so he could gain some extra pounds for the role. Granted, a heroic, DeNiroesque example to set for all aspiring porn thespians.

“I had to get the double chin, the pot belly, and I got the voice down and everything,” laughs Bartholet.

The project for Hustler, directed by Axel Braun, began shooting Monday at the Remmet Studio with a call time of 9am, and the grueling day continued through to about 4am Tuesday morning.

“Everybody got on the set then got into hair and makeup and wardrobe,” recounts Bartholet.

“Then TMZ and Entertainment Tonight came down. And there was some British press there. Everybody was taking pictures. Then they shot the opening montage- with the record spinning around- they did that. Then we started doing some diner scenes but we didn’t get to the Cunningham living room scenes until 11 at night. But this is what happens when you do a feature. This is what you do when you’re an actor.”

[There’s two more shooting days this week.]

Raquel Devine, playing Mrs. Cunningham, is making an industry comeback in this role.

“She’s incredible,” says Bartholet. “I guess she had taken some time off, and now she’s back. She’s really just great to work with. She’s funny.”

As you might imagine, a clean shaven Tommy Gunn’s playing the Fonz and doing an equally great job, according to Bartholet. Alan Stafford, hair dyed red, plays Richie but Bartholet couldn’t, for the life of him during our chat, remember who plays Joanie. Penny Flame was originally scheduled to play her but switched roles to play Jenny Piccolo.

“And she’s always great to work with,” adds Bartholet. Meanwhile, Jack Lawrence plays Ralph Malph.

“I gather from what Axel said – when they first came up with the concept and pitch- that the two people he had in mind from Day 1 for the casting was myself and Jack Lawrence,” says Bartholet.

“He said those are the two that have to be in this movie.”

This is the first time Bartholet’s working with Axel Braun, a director you wouldn’t expect to be making porno comedies.

“This is a big first time for him in that regard and I think he’s doing a really good job. When we did the read-through, it felt like a real mainstream sitcom. We had one day before the shoot where the whole cast down and we had a table read-through and everyone worked hard to make sure we had the pacing right, the intonation and the right delivery of the lines.”

“And Axel had a story board laid out for this thing. He had everything laid out on how he wanted to do this shoot. I think everyone at Hustler is happy with this. I know the cast is happy.”

With a concept like Happy Days you would certainly hope so.

“Everyone was getting into the whole spirit of it and we had clips of it playing on the flat screen,” Bartholet continues.

“We had Fifties music playing. Even the day players playing the cheerleaders- everyone got into the whole spirit of it.”

Another plus for Bartholet besides the Bosley resemblance is the fact that he didn’t have to don another outrageous wig. Bartholet lets out a roar remembering the levitating head of white hair he wore in the Not Betwitched XXX, www.notbewitchedxxx.com parody.

“It’s so true, man!” he laughs. “The makeup gal said this is great. We don’t have to fuck around with a wig for you. I go, yeah, no shit. Because that was always a hindrance it seemed. That wig was slipping and I needed a wig wrangler. No wig wrangler on this shoot. But Jack Lawrence had on a funny wig. He looked like one of the Marx Brothers. But he was really into that character.”

Bartholet mentions that Lawrence has a line in the feature about Arthur Godfrey. And that took some explaining to the younger generation.

“They’re all scratching their head, who’s that?” says Bartholet who wiled away down time doing impressions of ancient showbiz personalities no one knew or could relate to.

“But everyone was really great to work with and we got a damned good cast for this one.”

In a word or two, the plot has something to do with Ralph, Richie and Potsie wanting to get laid with The Fonz showing them how.

“They’re in the diner and in comes The Fonz- he’s the coolest of the cool,” Bartholet explains. “They ask The Fonz for some advice, and he breaks it down. Next thing you know Richie’s impersonating The Fonz with the shades and the leather jacket. He scores with a cheerleader but he’s still Richie trying to be The Fonz, which is funny.

“Howard and Marion are a little concerned about this and they ask The Fonz to bring back the old Richie. Howard leaves for the Grand Poobah meeting at the lodge and Marion says, Oh Arthur, I’ll give you anything you want. He goes how about some meatloaf. The subplot is Joanie and Chachi with Chachi cheating on her with Jenny Piccolo. Ralph and Potsie tell Joanie who figures she’ll get back at him by fucking Potsie and Ralph. Everybody’s screwing- except Howard!”

“I think Axel and Hustler have really captured the feel of the Fifties,” Bartholet thinks. “Who knows- maybe I’ll get Tom Bosley to pose for the cover of the movie with me.”

[Amusingly, Bartholet has a snap of Shirley Jones holding up the cover of the porno version of the Partridge Family which just came out.]

“We’re doing a lot of parodies and the consumers love them,” says Bartholet who’s conducted acting seminars and is happy to share the benefit of his experience in the mainstream.

“I was signing briefly at the Hustler booth, and I had couples telling me they really love these parodies. We love the features because this is something we can watch together: we laugh and get horny.”

“In the long run if these features make our industry better, then it’s a good thing. If it raises the quality of the performances, that’s making the industry so much better and earning us more respect. I think there are some really good actors in the adult film industry but they just don’t get the credit.”

Or the opportunity. Whereas, at one time, parodies and features were all that were being shot in the industry.

“Look at what Jeff Mullen and Scott David are doing,” says Bartholet.

“They won for Best Sex Comedy. They really put in the time and do a phenomenal job.”