By Najib Aminy and Chris Mellides
As one of the top American research universities in the country, Stony Brook University continues to enjoy its rich 50-year history and remains on the list of scholastic institutions to pride themselves on integrity and academic excellence. What Stony Brook students, professors, and faculty may not be aware of is the connection between the rousing success of the 1978 porn classic, Debbie Does Dallas, and the allegations that cite Stony Brook University as being one of the locations featured in the film.
Debbie Does Dallas was released by VCX Ltd. in 1978 after all rights were purchased from School Day Films, the production company responsible for shooting the movie. Debbie Does Dallas revolves around a high school cheerleader named Debbie Benton, played by Bambi Woods, who, in an effort to make the Dallas cheerleading squad, must generate enough money to fund her trip to Texas. Without help from her parents, Debbie and the rest of her high school cheerleading team aim to make money by taking on odd jobs. Before long, the girls realize they can make fast cash helping Debbie with her trip by performing sexual favors for each of their employers.
Despite the fact that Debbie never did Dallas, the question at hand is where Debbie “did” everyone else. Through various online sources as well as rumors that have been spread from student generation to generation, it is believed that parts of the original Debbie Does Dallas was filmed here at Stony Brook University, specifically the Melville Library as well as the original football field and locker rooms near H-Quad. Thirty years since its creation, the question of the myth has yet to be answered.
Back around the time of Debbie Does Dallas, America had just experienced two decades of drug experimentation and was in a time when the free love of the sixties was being swept under the rug and out of the public view. Government intervention was on the rise and quickly gaining speed. The indecency laws and strict federal regulations that would soon surface in the wake of the Reagan era gave way to prominent right-wing political influence. The conservative right reinforced the many social taboos already gripping the nation during the late 1970’s. “You were coming out of the sixties where everything started to open up in terms of free love and all that stuff, but as the seventies progressed…the country was as uptight as ever. This [adult film] industry definitely was right at the heart of that,” said an adult shop manager in St. James, NY who asked to remain anonymous. The repressed sexual urges many teens experienced ultimately laid the foundation for what would become the adult film industry. Over time, the industry would soon evolve into an avenue of entertainment that grew as a response to the needs of a lustful young audience. Debbie Does Dallas played a pivotal role in the adult movie industry and continues to successful and popular today.
As one of the top five highest grossing pornography films in history, Debbie Does Dallas has pleased millions of fans in its three decades of existence. The film did not take off until the mid 1980’s according to David Sutton, president of VCX Ltd., an adult film retailer. As a result there have been numerous sequels, remakes, comic books, even an off-broadway musical in 2002. As a result there have been productions of the musical in New York, and San Francisco. Jessica Douglas, one of the producers of the San Francisco production said Debbie Does Dallas was very popular because it was one of the first pornographic films with a plot. In describing the musical, Douglas said, “The onstage production does not contain sex or full nudity. The sex scenes are converted to numbers that are suggestive only in metaphor. The whole production was done in a spirit of comedy and not sensuality.” There have been four movie sequels and twenty spin-offs such as Debbie Does Wall Street in 1997 and Debbie Does New Orleans in 2000. There have also been a few television spin-offs.
Despite having been filmed three decades ago, Debbie Does Dallas continues to draw attention from consumers. The film’s longevity can likely be attributed to the unique sports-based plot that appealed to consumers in the late seventies, when choices in adult films were considerably sparse. “Professionally, I sell it [Debbie Does Dallas] a million times here. No matter how old it is, come Christmas time I have half a dozen women coming in looking for it for a stocking stuffer for their husband,” said the adult shop manager. The manager went on to say, “obviously it [Debbie Does Dallas] came on the heels of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders becoming the ‘it’ thing.”
Behind the popularity lies the question that links Stony Brook to the porn classic. Location, location, location. The Internet Movie Database, IMDB, provides a service of information regarding movies, television, actors and actresses. After entering the Debbie Does Dallas page on IMDB, one can scroll to “locations” and find that Stony Brook University, alongside the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, are credited as locations in the film. If one actually clicks the hyperlink, Stony Brook University has only one match to locations, and that is Debbie Does Dallas.
Looking through the user comments, there is a user who claims that the football field, locker room, showers, and library in the movie were all filmed on campus at Stony Brook University. According to the user from Attleboro, MA, the movie was made with the assumption that the Buckley Brothers were filming a movie and not an adult film. After word on the true nature of the film got out, a few members of the administration were let go from the University due to the embarrassment that the film brought to the school. To verify this information, Michael Filene, an actor in the porn industry in the eighties, said the movie was filmed at Stony Brook, according to an interview on Xcylopedia, an internet site providing the history of adult films. In the interview Filene was quoted as saying, “[the movie] embarrassed the state, from governor down, and I think it cost the college guys their jobs. A state attorney got a much ignored lifetime injunction against any movie house showing of Debbie in NY.” In addition, there are numerous sites that back the location of the film, including Wikipedia.
However, after speaking with numerous sources, the response received was that the movie was not filmed here at Stony Brook. According to Lauren Sheprow, a media relations officer for Stony Brook University, the movie was not filmed here at Stony Brook, and the information regarding the potential Stony Brook president resigning after the release of Debbie Does Dallas could not be verified. Sheprow also said that the information from the late seventies may have been destroyed in accordance with New York State’s Disposition Schedule for NYS Governmental Records.
David Sutton, the president of VCX Ltd., was also unaware about the location of the film. Sutton became president of VCX Ltd. in 2006, said that the average employee of VCX is 20 to 25, thus most workers were not even born when Debbie Does Dallas came out. Sutton was also unfamiliar with “the Buckley Brothers,” reported as having filmed the movie at Stony Brook. The adult store manager believed the movie was not filmed at Stony Brook due to logistics. “In my opinion working on small budgets I can’t see knowing that the rest of the movie was done in the city.” The adult store manager went on to say, “I can’t believe that they would be able to travel all the way out there [to Stony Brook] with whatever handheld cameras they had, whatever six to twelve people they had working on the crew of the movie behind the scenes and everything and transport them out here to do it and then back to the city, and then out here and then back to the city.”
Another source that was contacted was Robin Byrd, a former adult actress, who starred in Debbie Does Dallas as Ms. Hardwick. Byrd is now the host of The Robin Byrd Show, a radio talk show that has been on the air for thirty years. Unable to get directly in touch with Byrd due to her busy schedule, a personal assistant responded to the question on whether or not the movie was filmed at Stony Brook. He said no, the movie was not filmed at Stony Brook University.
The question of this myth remains unanswered. Through the various internet sources that are deemed not credible, as well as the vague answers given by Sutton and Byrd’s personal assistant, it is still unclear to say whether Debbie Does Dallas was or was not filmed here at Stony Brook University.
