HOME

Gail Palmer is bad news. She brings trouble to whomever she's around.

Born Gail Parmentier in 1959, the Catholic daughter of the St. Clair County superintendent of Schools in Detroit, she served on the student council at Marine High. A cheerleader and beauty queen in high school, she won two Detroit News Scholastic Writing Awards and made the National Honors Society all four years.

At Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, she became a Bronchette cheerleader. She met a rich married guy - Harry Mohney - who owned 350 porn theaters and a chain of adult book stores. Gail moved in with him, became his mistress, and transferred to Michigan State. She appeared in a 1977 Playboy spread called Girls of the Big 10.

On a trip to Los Angeles, Gail posed nude for photographer Johnny Castano (who ran an 8000 square foot photography studio on Hollywood Blvd). They spent the night together. Johnny at the time did not know she was Mohney's mistress.

Johnny submitted her photos to Penthouse and publisher Bob Guccione wanted to use her. Then Palmer phoned Castano back and said her boyfriend Harry Mohney would not permit the publication of the photos. Gail had not signed a model release.

Palmer claims she prompted Mohney to begin making his own films. She says she adapted a college term paper to produce the script for her first film Hot Summer in the City. For her next movie, she stole from Voltaire's Candide and developed The Erotic Adventures of Candy, the story of an innocent girl's sexual adventures. Detroit's Carol Connors starred.

In all, Gail received credit for writing and directing eleven films for Mohney, most of them in California. Gail loved her fame while Harry kept a low profile. "Officially he was a nonperson," says Palmer. "He never wanted his name on anything. No credit cards, no bank accounts. He paid for everything in cash, even the actors in the movie."

"Gail Palmer is a breath of fresh air," gushes Adam Film World. "As the producer, writer and director of Hot Summer in the City and The Erotic Adventures of Candy, two of the highest grossing erotic films, she demonstrates a remarkable feel for people and what makes them get off. Not only has she brought some of the highest production values the erotic film industry has ever had, but she has also been one of the prime movers in the movement to have erotic films understood - even if not totally accepted - by the mass of American adults.

"That she wields a big stick - despite being a woman in a man's industry - and has an entrepreneurs knack for good business at the age of 23, makes her a phenomenon. She is a tall, statuesque country girl whose raw beauty and sensuousness is matched by her warm personality." (AFW V.23 N.12)

"A lot of the directors are men," notes Gail, "and I don't think they use their heads or listen to the public because they always portray women as either hookers or nymphomaniac housewives. And that may be a turn on to them, but the public is sick of it.

"The majority of women like love stories. I thought we had gotten away from it with liberation, but I'll tell you how I know. I got thousands of letters from women that said Manuel (Candy's first lover) was so handsome, put him in all your movies, etc..

"Now, Manuel is not the handsomest. He's short. But it was the way I portrayed him and the way I directed him. The whole love scene was shot in soft focus. You built up to the point that Candy kept looking at him. You knew she wanted him. She dreamt about him as Fernando Lamas, the hot Latin lover. You felt her get ready to go to bed with him. And that's what women need. Women need to feel they were talked into it or at least they thought about it a while before they jumped." (AFW)

The Erotic Adventures of Candy appeared in 1978, a comedy based upon Voltaire's Candide. Carol Connors plays Candy, a bubbly 20-year old virgin, with a heart of gold and the desire to cheerfully pursue whatever lies ahead. Once she loses her cherry to Mexican gardener Don Fernando, it's off to the races for a cross country sexual odyssey.

Her naivete allows jogger John Holmes to show her 'his deformity' and what follows is classic. The pairing of big tits and a big dicks have long appealed to American's fantasies. Gynecologist John Leslie and researcher Turk Lyon also take full advantage of poor Candy. Finally, she winds up with the Balde Kishkas, a love cult that practices all day long. Under the tutoring of guru Paul Thomas, she learns to appreciate the various positions of the sex act. The orgy scene, usually a major problem with most films that have one, is superb. (Holliday)

Gail served as Executive Producer for 1983's The Young Like It Hot. Jim Holliday worked on the film but says it's director's Bob Chinn's picture - an '80s attempt to recapture the fun of Candy Stripers. The setting moves from the hospital to the Ocean Valley phone company.

The script was the end result of separate collaborations by Gail Palmer and Hyapatia and Bud Lee, with final doctoring by Holliday. "Some stuff was ruled untouchable, and most of the bits the critics appreciated best were my additions. No brag, just fact."

The Young Like It Hot marked Hyapatia's starring debut and was the first major role for newcomer Callie Aimes. The late Colleen Applegate had not yet become Shauna Grant. The favorite of many fans was the six foot version of Serena, long-haired blonde Rose-Linda Kimball, who made a handful of films and disappeared. Bill Margold plays Big Dick, the obscene caller.

Director Bob Chinn shot The Young Like It Hot in October, 1982, rounding out the young beauties in the cast with veteran superstars Kay Parker and Eric Edwards.

Chinn directed many of the films credited to Gail Palmer. Despite the hype, Gail was little more than a pretty face who happened to be the mistress of mob pornographer Harry Mohney. She showed up on the set of movies credited to her, but her input was minimal.

Harry threatened to break the legs of porn journalists who considered revealing the truth about Gail. Palmer was "bad luck". Nasty things such as broken legs and worse happened to persons who displeased her. Journalists Hunter S. Thompsen and Peter Wolfe (broken leg) number among her victims.

Palmer split from Mohney in 1984 and she claims that Harry "shut the doors to her" in the X-rated industry. In truth, all she ever had was Harry's influence and money. Gail says that her porn background was "the kiss of death" in Hollywood. She lived on welfare for a while before making a soft porn exercise video for Playboy. Two Playboy Playmates later sued Gail and Playboy, claiming they were deceived and manipulated.

Gail used her sharp eye and good looks to latch on to another rich man in the late '80s, St. Clair eye surgeon and opthalmologist for the Detroit Red Wings, Charles Slater.

Palmer became the star witness in the government's prosecution of Mohney for tax fraud which sent him to prison for four years. She also sued her ex for half of the $30 million she says she earned for Harry with "her" films.

"My husband makes $600,000 a year," Palmer told the 10/20/91 Detroit News, "and we don't live as well as Harry and I did when he and I were together and he was declaring $120,000 in income on his tax return."

In February 1990, Gail and her husband attended an opthalmology convention in Aspen. A friend suggested she introduce herself to writer Hunter Thompsen who lived there. Seeking movie rights to one of Hunter's books, Gail sent a note on a personalized card that read "sex is a dirty business, but somebody's got to do it." Inside the card she wrote that she wanted to get together and "have a really good time."

Palmer-Slater claims Thompsen said naughty words to her, and when she turned down his proposition, he twisted her left breast and threw Cranberry juice at her.

Gail had Hunter charged with third degree sexual assault. The famous gonzo writer for Rolling Stone fought back with numerous interviews saying she got drunk and tried to seduce him.

When the case went to trial, Gail's main witness began flirting with Hunter from the stand. The prosecutor dropped the charges.

Gail published a book in 1995 about her life entitled Candy Goes To Hollywood.