Lyric Productions, Pt.3: Billy Byars Jr. and Lyric Productions
Edward Bear
Tyler, Texas is known today for its Azaleas and Roses. Tyler is a genteel,
elegant east Texas town of rolling green hills, just far enough away from
the big cities of Dallas and Houston to feel big in its own right. Tyler
also holds on to its history tightly. In the early 1900's Tyler was a cotton
town. Farms and ranches surrounded the tree lined, lazy grid of businesses,
schools and churches. Like most southern towns there was an abundance of
churches. Tyler experienced a boon in the 1930's when the East Texas
Oilfield was discovered. Numerous oil companies and field developers
established offices in Tyler, and the city emerged as an important regional
center for the oil and gas industries. Tylers population swelled with
oil-men and their families.
Billy Byars Sr. is said to have been a millionaire at 21, dead broke at 23,
and a millionaire again at 25. Byars was an investor in the Humble Oil
Company. The term "Oil-Man" in those days was one that commanded respect.
Oil-Men, often called wildcatters, weren't the men that worked the rigs in
the blistering Texas heat and humidity, soaked to the bone in the dark
crude, Oil-Men were the business end of the business. they speculated, they
invested, they gambled on a dream, they wore suits and boots, they
entertained, they made "handshake" deals, they counted the money.
Chartered in Texas in February 1911 with a capital of $150,000 (raised to
$300,000 in 1912), Humble Oil was reorganized in 1917 and incorporated on
June 21 as the Humble Oil and Refining Company with a capitalization of $1
million based on 40,000 shares at $100 par value. In 1919 Humble sold half
its stock to Standard Oil of New jersey. This merger and the eventual
absorption of both Humble Oil and Standard Oil into Exxon, made a few
people, including Billy Byars Sr., very wealthy. As a reference point, in
1948 Exxon recorded half a billion dollars in sales, and that's in 1948
dollars.
In 1936 Billy Byars Sr. and his wife Emily bought a large corner lot in
Tyler from J.A. Bergfeld. The following year Harvey T. Mcqueen built the
couple a two-story, nine room brick and frame house in the Monterey Revival
style rumored to be designed after Clark Gables ranch house. The house had
three baths, a three-car garage and a servants room with a bath. There was a
Steinway grand piano in the living room, and the Sr. Byars' resided there
for the rest of their lives. The home was the site of many lavish gatherings
over the years. Several Grand Rose Festival parties were hosted there with
large buckets of roses adorning the lawn. Famous and wealthy guests
including Pat O'brien, Ronald Reagan, Clint Murchison, J. Edgar Hoover and
George H.W. Bush were rumored to have visted.
About the time that the Byars Tyler home was being finished, the Byar's
adopted a son. Billy Goebel Byars, Jr. was born in Texas in August, 1936 and
adopted through the Edna Gladney Foundation in Fort Worth by Billy Byars,
Sr. and his wife, Emily. The 1941 movie "Blossoms in the Dust" highlighted
the accomplishments of Edna Gladney, two of which are important to the story
of Billy Byars, Jr. In 1936 Edna Gladney succeeded in having the Texas
legislature pass a bill to have adopted children registered as the children
of their adoptive parents, removing the stigma of illegitimacy. Byars was
one of the earliest beneficiaries of this law. In 1951, again at the
instigation of Gladney, Texas law was changed to give adopted children the
same inheritance rights as biological children.
Not much is known of Billy Jr.'s childhood. One can assume that being the
fortunate son of wealthy and powerful parents had its advantages. We do know
that Billy had a sister, and the family businesses included not only oil,
but the Byars Royal Oaks Farm in Tyler, where the elder Byars bred champion
cattle. We know that Byars Sr. travelled well and associated with
politicians, celebrities and big business. Baytown TX. just N.E. of Houston
was the location of corporate headquarters for many of the big Texas oil
companies, and the Byars family is said to have kept a second home there.
We do know that Byars and son travelled regularly to vacation in southern
California, and since at least three of the early, short, mail order nudist
films ( Sandy Hill, The Explorers and Summer Freedom) were shot in locations
surrounding the city of Houston, TX., we can assume Billy Jr. had a strong
familiarity with the area.
At some point in his late teens or early twenty's, Billy Jr. reportedly had
a falling out with his father regarding his sexuality and left his parents
Texas home. Although Billy Jr. would often tell people he held various
degrees and was a molecular biologist, in truth he only attended MIT for one
semester from Sept. 16, 1954 - January 7, 1955, and held no college degree.
Billy has also been rumored to have travelled to San Fransisco where he is
said to have modelled for a company named More & Sons. Terry Stuart, Billy
Jr.'s long term friend and associate, is also said to have found his start
in modelling at More & Sons, and perhaps this is how the two met.
Apparently, Billy and his father somewhat reconciled their differences and
in the early 1960s he was still joining his father for annual vacations at
Clint Murchison's Del Charo Hotel in San Diego, where they often took the
bungalow next to J. Edgar Hoover's.
Billy Byars, Sr. died in 1965 and reportedly Billy, Jr. received an
allowance of about $2000 per month from either a trust his father had set-up
or directly from his mother Emily who lived until 1979.
In the mid 1960's Billy Jr. moved to southern California and rented a house
in the Hollywood Hills near Mulholland Drive. Billy let people believe he
owned the house but he actually rented it from the owner Benjamin Ghramn.
One of the earliest appearances of Billy Byars' Lyric Studios upon the gay
"physique magazine" scene in California appeared in the October 1965 issue
of "Muscle Teens" magazine published by Y.P. Productions. This issue
featured photographs of various nude teen males including the young Terry
Stuart.
Around 1969 or 1970 advertisements began appearing in many magazines such as
"Boyhood Photo" for photo sets and films of a photographer identified as
"Slim Pfeiffer", later known as Harlan "Slim" Pfeiffer. Pfeiffers' works
were sold through Lyric International. These photos and 8mm films featured
naked boys from 10-16 years of age swimming and playing on Texas gulf coast
beaches, riding dirt bikes in the Mojave Desert and years later swimming in
the pool at Byars' Mulholland Drive residence. Three of the Lyric films seem
to have been produced in Texas. "Summer Freedom" was supposedly shot on
Padre Island, near Corpus Christi. "Sandy Hill" was probably shot in the
town of that name, northwest of Houston. "The Explorers" was also said to be
filmed in south Texas and the topography seen in that film closely matches
that of "Sandy Hill". "Peter And The Desert Riders" was filmed in California's
Mojave Desert while "How To Make Friends", "Spring Break" and "Swim Party"
were all filmed at the house in the Hollywood hills near Mulholland Drive.
It should be noted here that we now know that there were two categories of
products made by Lyric. One category would be the "nudist" films and photo
sets that were advertised as such and mostly shot in outdoor locations. The
second category was the overtly sexual material. The majority of this second
product line was shot either at the house near Mulholland or in various
hotel rooms. In the beginning the two products were advertised differently,
and sold seperately, but as we'll explore later, for various reasons that
line of seperation became more and more relaxed.
A small number of boys who became known as "the Lyric boys" appeared
repeatedly in the "Slim Pfeiffer" Lyric works and by far the most popular
were the boys known as "Billy Marshall" (aka "Jack Good") and "Peter
Glawson". Most of what I have learned about these two actors, and any other
minors involved will remain private out of respect to them. "Glawson"
appeared to be about 14 years old in 1970 and was reportedly from Byars home
town of Tyler,Texas. He was once photographed wearing a Tyler, Texas YMCA
T-Shirt (he is filmed wearing the same or another T-shirt with Tyler, Texas
printed on it at the beginning of the Genesis Children film), and supposedly
came from a broken home and an alcoholic father. His younger brother
appeared in some of the Lyric works and was known as "Max" or "Maxey". One
Internet poster claims "Glawson" gave an interview to a local Texas cable
television company in the 1990's, but that claim has never been verified.
Other Internet rumors assert that "Glawson", who was an obvious favorite of
Byars, was given the "rights" to the Lyric works (or at least the "Slim
Pfeiffer" Lyric works.
An earlier favorite and frequent model of Lyric was "Terry Stuart". "Terry
Stuart" appeared in very early Lyric works and apparently did not appear in
the "Slim Pfeiffer" works (although he did appear in some of the Pfeiffer
works shot at Byars residence near Mulholland Drive). He was also rumored to
have been from Texas (the Byars family cattle ranch foreman was a man named
Tommy Stuart) and was also photographed by the DOM (Guy Strait). One
Internet poster claims Terry Stuart was "Byars first" (possibly meaning
first lover or first model) and "always acted the biz", (was business
minded). The poster goes on to relate a story of how Stuart, who had an
obsession with clean money, took "money laundering" to the extreme when he
placed a large quantity of Lyric cash in a washing machine (gentle cycle, no
bleach) and then a clothes dryer.
Some who have a historical interest in Byars and Lyric often focus on
"rumors" about an "Uncle Terry". They often question the identity of "Uncle
Terry" and his relationship to Byars and Lyric. The answer is really quite
simple and undramatic. In almost all of Lyrics' magazines, Byars would give
each specific issue a "title" and include a mostly ficticious "storyline"
about the photos included. In one particular issue that featured the Lyric
boys swimming, naked as usual, at the Mulholland Drive home, Byars wrote
about the Lyric boys ".visiting Uncle Terry and Uncle Bill." at their home
for a summer swim. That one "throwaway" sentence in one Lyric magazine for
some reason spurred lengthy discussions about the identity of "Uncle Terry".
Byars probably meant himself as "uncle Bill" and Terry Stuart, who was
obviously older than the other actors.
In 1970 Guy Strait and Billy Byars agreed to combine their publishing
companies and decided upon the new publishing name of DOM/Lyric. Strait
would later contend in interviews that he and Byars merely agreed to share
their customer mailing lists, However the evidence shows a close working
relationship. Strait and Byars shared their young models (such as "Terry
Stuart", "Sean Patrick", "Mike Jackson" and "Junior"), operated out of the
same office/studio and Strait often photographed his models at Byars' home
near Mulholland Drive. From 1970 to 1973 DOMLyric published numerous gay
pornography magazines focusing almost exclusively on boys age 12-18. Byars,
without Strait, went on to create a separate division called Lyric Films in
an effort to produce more "mainstream" quality motion picture films that
would focus on male youth.
In the spring of 1970 Billy Byars and Hollywood film man Bill Dewar traveled
to Italy to film "The Genesis Children". Byars, working with a young
writer/poet named Barbara Smith had the plot and a rough draft of the script
in hand upon arrival. The story was supposed to be a modern day version of
"Lord of the Flies" where young people discover the truth about the nature
of mankind. Upon arriving in Italy the men scouted the coast for filming
locations and a house to rent for the cast and crew. They then placed an ad
in an American newspaper published in Rome for positions that needed to be
filled, such as "sound man". Twenty four year old John Dulaney who had
recently moved to Italy and aspired to become involved in the film industry
was hired as "sound man" to do the audio recording. His lack of experience
would result in the poor quality of the sound in the final product.
British citizen Anthony Aikman, who had also migrated to Italy, had heard
from a friend who worked at the American Embassy that a young American film
crew was in Italy and that the producer was looking for a writer/director to
join the crew. Upon meeting Billy Byars, Aikman was told that the script
needed work and that they also needed help directing the film. Aikman soon
agreed to join the crew and together Byars and Aikman completed the script.
After finding a remote coastal location in Salerno, Italy and a home to
rent, the Lyric Boys, many of whom by this time were under the legal foster
care custody of Billy Byars Jr. , were brought over to Italy from the U.S.A.
by Byars longtime companion and photographer William Johnson. Among the boys
was the model and soon to be actor known as "Peter Glawson" and his younger
brother known as "Max" and the long time Lyric model known as "Billy
Marshall" appearing as "Jack Good". Aikmans' first and lasting impression
of the boys were that they were ill mannered, illiterate and unintelligent.
He remembers it was very difficult to get them to learn even the simplest of
lines. William "Bill" Johnson was described as an older man who remained in
the background and was said by Billy to be his security guard. He has also
been described as Byars "henchman" and "hired bully". Johnson was also
reported to have been an intermediary between Billy and his father years
before when Byars father threw Billy Jr. out of his house upon learning of
Billy's homosexuality. Billy Jr. himself was remembered as a braggart who
boasted about how he was an heir to an oil fortune, knew J. Edgar Hoover and
once told Aikman he could have Aikman or anyone else killed and nothing
would happen to him. He also repeated the lie that he had a Masters degree
from MIT and believed his real parents were Russian royalty. Bill Dewar was
the cameraman and really the only person who had professional experience
working on a film. He was described as a hard working man and talented
filmographer. Although the film credits for TGC have been listed in various
ways, it can be now said that Dewar/Byars/Aikman were the "Directors",
Byars/Aikman were the "Writers" with a poetry credit to Barbara Smith, Dewar
was the "Director of Photography" and Dulaney the "Sound Engineer".
Upon completing the filming of TGC, most of the crew and the Lyric Boys
traveled throughout Europe. They visited Holland where Byars filmed footage
for "Danish Boys Camp", a film that was perhaps never finished. The crew
also did some work on a documentary Byars wanted to make about a small
fishing village in Italy. Aikman remembers Billy filming some underwater
scenes in very cold water while Aikman sat in a boat above the surface
dropping buckets of hot water into the ocean to keep Billy warm. Everyone
then traveled to Amsterdam where Dulaney left the group to head home and
never saw anyone again from the crew except for Aikman. Aikman and Dewar
were sent back to Los Angeles to work on the editing of TGC while Byars,
Johnson and the boys reportedly headed to Russia to scout locations for a
future film.
Aikman and Dewar arrived back in Los Angeles where Aikman was sent to stay
at the house near Mulholland Drive. Aikman and Dewar worked on editing the
film at the Lyric Studios located at The Crossroads of the World business
complex in Hollywood. Aikman describes the studio as being in a building
designed to look like Mothers Hubbard's shoe. Aikman says that as soon as
the editing work had begun, it was discovered that Byars either hadnt paid
the rent for the editing space, or had made the landlord angry, as soon he
and Dewars were locked out of the space and the air conditioner was removed.
The two ended up crawling through a "jimmied" window and working in
swealtering heat. At the house on Mulholland Drive, Aikman found a strange
man named Teeterman. Teeterman slept in a coffin in the lower level of the
house and had a job at the Hollywood Wax Museum where he dressed up in a
costume and played the Mechanical Man while standing outside the museum to
attract customers. Teeterman once showed Aikman an old 8mm film of himself,
dressed in a vampire's costume, and Billy Byars Jr. trolling through a
cemetery late at night.
Soon Byars, Johnson, the Lyric boys and Vincent Child (the adult actor in
TGC) returned to Los Angles and the house near Mulholland Drive. This busy
house also included Byars pet snake, which was allowed free roam of the
house, and a Beddington Terrier dog. One of Billy's only rules at the house
was that if you wanted to swim in the pool you had to swim naked. On one
occasion, the dog got loose and everyone started to run naked down the road
to try to catch it. The group was almost run over by a shocked elderly
couple coming around the corner in their car. Aikman claims that the car
actually left the pavement and hit a tree, resulting in the fire brigaid
racing up Mulholland with sirens and bells wailing. The dog can be seen in
many Lyric photo shoots and short films shot at the pool location. Since
several of the "Lyric boys" were under legal custody of Byars as foster
children, on one occasion the Los Angeles County Department of Child
Services notified Byars that they would be coming by the house the next day
for an inspection/visitation. Byars and friends quickly went on a shopping
trip to buy books, tables and a portable blackboard. By the time the Child
Services officials came to inspect the next day, Byars had set up an outdoor
classroom complete with Vincent Child, black cape and all, acting as the
boys teacher. Byars received rave reviews by the impressed county officials.
After a few weeks of rest Byars rented a motor home and he and some of the
boys reportedly left for Alaska while Dewar and Aikman remained behind to
finish the film. At some point, Aikman reports that someone, possibly Jeremy
Hoeneck, appeared at the Lyric studios saying he was told to take over the
editing. Dewar and Aikman were not about to turn over the project at this
point and reportedly Dewar became so angry he had a bloody fistfight with
the interloper. Dewar and Aikman prevailed but then a "lawyer type" who
occupied an office next to their studios attempted to evict them from the
premises. Despite all of this Dewar and Aikman finished the film and Aikman
returned to Italy never to see Byars again.
Upon the release of the film Aikman read the reviews and was shocked. He
couldn't understand why there was so much criticism about the film being so
disjointed and not making any sense. Many years later he was able to obtain
a copy of the film and discovered that the film had been re-edited. Jeremy
Hoeneck was listed as the editor and Aikman believes that this person
basically ruined the film under the direction of Byars who was really only
interested in displaying the naked boys. Aikman believes the Dewar/Aikman
version must still exist somewhere today.
