SEXIS WRONG

ity. “Just get the paper printed; we’ll talk later,” Kunkin recalls
Miller telling him. Much to the frustration of the authorities,
the Free Press survived. Kunkin ultimately bought Marvin’s
printing plant. 29
Later in 1969, Marvin began another in a series of massive
mailing campaigns. This time he had to assign the job to
an outside printer; typically, he didn’t pay his bill, and, once
again, a printer took matters into his own hands: Legend has
it that the printer included the mailing lists for the Cub Scouts
and Boy Scouts of America in the solicitation. There is no
evidence to support this. (In a statement released October
11, 1968, regarding a similar situation, the BSA declared that
it never sold mailing lists to anyone, Scout’s honor, especially
to pornographers.) The reality was that Marvin bought a mailing
list of 30,000 prospects at a dollar a name. But outsource
mailing lists were notorious for inaccuracy, containing names
of people who might possibly be interested in receiving
sexual material but were not positively so, a risky roll of the
dice Marvin could live with. Apparently, the printer added a
few unlikely prospects of his own to Marvin’s list as vengeful
sport. As a result, Marvin’s advertisements wound up in the
hands of people who hadn’t asked for them.
sidered evading his income tax.… [He] was the recipient of a
‘special assessment’ from the state of California to the tune
of $180,000 in the form of a ‘sales tax.’ When Miller (naturally)
didn’t pay, the state seized one of his printing plants, and
put up notices that there would be an auction for every stick
of his printing equipment. Miller took it to court. The state of
California settled for five thousand in back sales tax…but it
took several months and $30,000 of Miller’s money in legal
fees.” 30 The IRS put four men on Miller full-time for a year
until they finally had to give him a tax clearance. “He owed
the government $130,” See reports. 31
His telephone lines had been tapped. He was served with
a barrage of subpoenas on a steady basis. “At any one time
he might have representatives from the Treasury Department,
the Secret Service, the Bureau of Internal Revenue,
the Department of Justice as well as state and local police
parked in front of his house…. [He] was once forced to close
out his very substantial account in a local bank because his
friends from the Treasury Department, the IRS, and the Department
of Justice had a total of ten men constantly in the
bank going over every check which Miller either drew or
deposited.” 32
And so, shortly thereafter, Marvin experienced this: He walks
out of his house at seven o’clock in the morning and is immediately
arrested by the Covina police. He’s booked, arraigned,
and bailed out. As he walks down the courtroom steps, he’s
arrested by a new set of cops, schlepped to another jurisdiction,
booked, and bailed. In a coordinated effort by authorities,
Marvin goes through this procedure a total of six times in
six different jurisdictions during the day before finally getting
home at 11:30 at night, unkempt, exhausted, and starving.
Just in time to enjoy his fortieth birthday surprise
party before the clock strikes twelve.
The state prosecutor dropped the charges on
all but the City of Orange offense—a complaint
by the mother-and-son owners of a restaurant
in Newport Beach that had received five (!) of Marvin’s mailorder
ads for books such as Intercourse, Man-Woman, Sex-
Orgies Illustrated, and An Illustrated History of Pornography.
Mom opened them. She definitely was not interested, nor
was son amused. Marvin was convicted. He appealed.
By this time in his life, Marvin had been arrested for theft
and sent by authorities to foster care; he’d been incarcerated
on embezzlement and arson/insurance fraud raps; since issuing
My Secret Life he’d been, as outlined by Carolyn See,
“plagued by a special investigation from Washington, in
which Miller’s attorney was informed that Miller was to be
the object of an extensive, extended investigation, primarily
for the purpose of discovering whether Miller had ever con-
If you’re in the pornography business, it’s not paranoia when
you think people are out to get you. It’s reality. However,
Marvin, with all that he’d endured and perhaps with a bit of
the mental illness his mother possessed, now went over the
top: He began to experience paranoid delusions. One day
he frantically called his lawyer, Burton Marks. Cops had surrounded
his place; he couldn’t get to a window to count how
many without letting them know that he knows they’re out
there. Marks sent an assistant to Miller’s to report on the
As a result, Marvin’s advertisements
wound up in the hands of people who
hadn’t asked for them.
situation—a major bust might be brewing. Not a cop in sight.
Nowhere. Marks has one of Marvin’s secretaries scope out
the grounds. Nicht, nada, nothing. Marvin calls Marks back.
He “sees at least thirty cops outside his door in full uniform,
brandishing their guns, and they’re about to come in.” 33
Nineteen sixty-nine is turning out of be one hell of a year for
Marv. It’s not all bad, though. The year gives Marvin an opportunity
to doff his dapper duds and drape himself in the flag
and First Amendment.
SPECIAL FORWARD
The following pages have been inserted at the last
minute, as this book goes to press. We believe
THE MAN WHO SCREWED THINGS UP 245