Florida- from www.palmbeachpost.com – A group of porn actors who arrived on the arm of entertainer Connie Francis on Friday to help Fort Lauderdale promote an upcoming beach party were not hired for the occasion by the city, Mayor Jack Seiler said.
The four models, working for a Fort Lauderdale-based talent agency, attended the press conference as escorts for Francis, the singing actress who first came to Fort Lauderdale to film Where the Boys Are, a 1960 movie about college students on Spring Break. Francis and her hit song of the same name have become iconic touchstones for the gay community.
The Memorial Day weekend festival, to be called “Connie Francis’ Great American Beach Party,” will commemorate the movie’s 50th anniversary in an event that Seiler said would consist of “good old-fashioned family fun.”
Seiler said the city was not involved in selecting the models and no taxpayer money was spent on the press conference.
“We didn’t have anything to do with her entourage,” Seiler said Monday.
John McLaughlin, a spokesman for Francis, said he organized the press conference and sought out models for the event through “Hot Spots,” a publication that serves South Florida’s gay community.
“Hot Spots” publisher Peter Clark said he called Howard Marr of FabScout, a Fort Lauderdale-based talent agency that sent the four models to the event.
“We contacted Howard and asked for anyone,” he said. “I don’t care about their backgrounds and I didn’t specifically ask for anyone of any notoriety.”
Marr said, “All four guys are gay porn actors,” and declined to comment further.
McLaughlin and Seiler both said they were not aware that the models had appeared in gay porn films. But Seiler said he avoided having his picture taken with the men after a city staffer alerted him.
The mayor said he knew Francis was going to arrive with a bunch of guys, but, “We thought they were going to be in their 60s.”
Francis, in an interview on Tuesday, said she found out about her escorts’ adult-film resumes almost as soon as she met them in their bathing trunks at the Bahia Mar resort hotel, shortly before the press conference.
After the introductions, Francis said her hairdresser — who recognized the models — pulled her aside and said, “These four guys are porno stars.”
She kept that information to herself and didn’t even tell McLaughlin, her publicist and the press conference’s organizer, “because for me it wasn’t that important,” she said.
Francis said she would not have chosen adult-movie performers for the occasion but added, “I can’t hurt their feelings … Everybody’s gotta earn a living.”
She counted herself as amused by the episode. “It’s a funny story … Nothing ever happens normally in my life,” she said.