Search The Archive
They've been called 'The Sunshine Boys of smut' but Dan Sonney and David Friedman are proud of their reputation as groovy grandads who peddled taboo and titillation for decades. Beginning in the 30s, Sonney's father, a legendary lawman, turned his notoriety into a carnival act that soon incorporated the kind of early cinema that could only be viewed around the back of a circus tent.
During an era when Hollywood whitewashed any hint of the lurid or salacious, Sonney and Friedman offered such sensational back alley fare as Wages of Sin, Gambling with Souls and Girls of the Street. The pair rode the crest of the exploitation film wave, keeping up to date through fads like nudist camp films, juvenile delinquent and biker flicks, 'Roughies' (beating and bondage) and the classic trash gore of the 60s.
"Pioneering hustlers who gleefully fleeced the moviegoing public. These venerated scamsters are part of the American tradition of turning the forbidden into a three-ring circus. In Mau Mau Sex Sex the fun is contagious." - New York Times
"The uncles we all wish for. Guys who tell great anecdotes and have a business that makes the rest of the family a little afraid." - Boston Herald
Mau Mau Sex Sex is Ted Bonnitt's first documentary. A former journalist for NBC and CNN, Bonnitt now creates and produces publicity campaigns for major Hollywood movies. He also hosted and produced a New York radio comedy programmed for ten years.