Source: William Margold
By: Company Press Release
Jim Holliday and I were “Lovers”!
We were “lovers” of honor.
We were “lovers” of truth.
We were “lovers” of loyalty.
And most importantly, we were “lovers” of So many other similar things and situations, that he bestowed on me, the title of “cosmic brother” —during a tumultuous friendship that spanned 25 years.
Jim Holliday—regarded, with virtually no detractors (except those who don’t matter, and those who reek from the stench of jealously) as the Adult Entertainment Industry’s Historian— slumbered into eternity in mid-December, losing a battle with Diabetes that was ruthlessly robbing him of his most vital force…his mind!
Holliday entered into X through the “green door” of sales, and the “black and blue” inks of journalism near the end of the 1970’s, in the middle of what he would eventually call “The Golden Age of X”—and slowly began to carve his legend into the hearts and souls of all those who crossed his path. Fashioning an enigmatic persona, complete with amusingly eccentric wardrobe, featuring sunglasses and moccasins, Holliday more than earned his keep by being as disruptive as he was productive.
Holliday was his own best company. But he amused himself by self-promoting himself to the extent that his numerous audiences would become exasperated, and yet, those same audiences never stopped listening. And I strongly suspect that while earplugs are being handed out in Heaven at this very moment, they will never be used.
After completing “Only the Best”—his masterful study of Adult Films and Videos from 1970-1986, he turned his bushy head toward writing and directing a line of hardcore productions that I called “Marshmallow Rainbows” —utterly inoffensive, cryptically-saturated with trivia, sweetly arousing efforts, loaded with the most gorgeous adult actresses he could find. The lusty ladies who played and splayed for him became known as his “Angels”… and besides striving to help immortalize them, perhaps the most genuine appreciation he could extend to them, each of whom he uniquely named, was to give them, a Hug. My relationship with him extended way beyond XXX, into the never dull world of sports, wherein we shared many joys (me with the New York Yankees, and he with the San Francisco 49ers) and an equal amount of miseries (he with assorted baseball teams, and me with the Detroit Lions).
And because he valued my insight into the world of mainstream motion pictures, he trusted my “nine out of ten” accuracy when I provided him with ” real world movies” to watch. Among his favorites were “Big Wednesday,” and “The Wild Bunch.”
Perhaps our most enduring collaboration was the founding and the guiding of the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) during its formative years. He inducted me into its Hall of Fame in 1989, and I inducted him in 1995. I guess that’s what “cosmic brothers” do for each other.
And so…is what you’ve just read.
Notified of Holliday’s passing, Video Team owner Christian Mann said, “I’ll never forget his eulogy at John Holmes’ funeral. The opening line was ‘John was a liar.’ Classic Jim Holliday. I wonder what the opening line will be at his eulogy, and who will deliver it?”
Well, Mr. Mann, how did I do?
