Brothers James Lloyd "Jim" Mitchell (November 30, 1943 in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

– July 12, 2007 in

Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok languages, Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 a ...

) and Artie Jay Mitchell (December 17, 1945 in

Lodi, California Lodi ( ) is a city located in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, in the center portion of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 cen ...

– February 27, 1991 in

Marin County, California Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...

) were American entrepreneurs. They operated in the

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

and

striptease club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...

business in San Francisco and other parts of California from 1969 until 1991 when Jim was convicted of killing Artie. They opened the O'Farrell Theatre in 1969 as an adult cinema and at one time operated 11 such businesses. They produced and directed many adult films, including ''

Behind the Green Door ''Behind the Green Door'' is a 1972 American feature-length pornographic film, widely considered one of the genre's "classic" pictures and one of the films that ushered in The Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984).Williams, p. 299 Featuring Marilyn ...

'' in 1972. They were also successful as defendants in many

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin ''obscēnus'', ''obscaenus'', "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Such loaded language can be use ...

cases. Their notoriety significantly increased with Jim's fratricide and they became the subject of three books, ''X-Rated,'' ''Bottom Feeders,'' and ''9½ Years Behind the Mitchell Brothers' Green Door'' and the movie '' Rated X.''

Early life

The Mitchells' father Robert (known as Bob), from Oklahoma, was a professional gambler. He and his wife Georgia Mae settled in

Antioch, California Antioch is the third-largest city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The city's population was 115,291 at the 2020 Unite ...

, near San Francisco. According to the Mitchell brothers' biographers, they had a relatively stable childhood; the boys were popular, and some of their childhood friends became important members of their porn empire. Both attended public schools and graduated from

Antioch High School Antioch High School is a public high school located in Antioch, California, United States. It is located at 700 West 18th Street between G and L streets. It is a comprehensive high school for grades 9-12. There are about 120 teachers, and 20 mai ...

. Jim, a part-time filmmaking student at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

in the mid-1960s, aspired to become an "important" director like

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...

and headed a clique of classmates with similar ambitions. While in school, he worked at the Follies, a cinema showing brief, plotless films featuring naked performers, and observed that each night the theater was filled with masturbators who arrived simply for the onscreen nudity. He therefore perceived pornography as a potentially lucrative career opportunity for himself and Artie, who had been discharged from the United States Army.

Moviemaking and the O'Farrell Theatre

In 1969, with the help of Artie's

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

-educated wife Meredith Bradford, the brothers fulfilled their ambitions by leasing and renovating a dilapidated two-story building at 895 O'Farrell Street, which they converted into the O'Farrell Theatre, a movie theater with a makeshift film studio upstairs. They also rented a larger facility at 991 Tennessee Street in which to shoot some of their films; nevertheless, even their fans conceded that the Mitchells' movies ranged in quality from mediocre to atrocious. Jim Mitchell once quipped, "The only Art in

orn Orn or ORN may refer to: *Orn (name), a given name and surname * ''Orn'', the second book in Piers Anthony's trilogy Of Man and Manta * Offshoring Research Network, an international network researching the offshoring of business processes and ser ...

is my brother." The Mitchells opened the O'Farrell Theatre on the July 4, 1969, and were confronted almost immediately by the authorities. They would open other X-rated movie houses in California over the years, spending much time in court and money on lawyers to stay open as indignant locals and officials repeatedly tried to shut them down. They became incorporated as Cinema 7 (headquartered in the managers' offices at the O'Farrell Theatre), and in 1972 produced one of the world's first famous feature-length pornographic movies, ''

,'' starring an unknown Ivory Snow girl

Marilyn Chambers Marilyn Ann Taylor (née Briggs; April 22, 1952 – April 12, 2009), known professionally as Marilyn Chambers, was an American pornographic actress, exotic dancer, model, actress, singer and vice-presidential candidate. She was known fo ...

in her porn debut. The movie, produced for $60,000, grossed over $25 million. The Mitchells rode the

porno chic Porno may refer to: * Pornography, explicit depiction of sexual subject matter with principal intention of sexually exciting a viewer **Pornographic magazine **Pornographic film * ''Porno'' (film), a 2019 American film * ''Porno'' (novel), a 2 ...

wave, using some of their ''Green Door'' profits to produce fairly lavish hardcore movies including ''

Resurrection of Eve ''Resurrection of Eve '' is a 1973 American feature-length pornographic film produced by the Mitchell brothers and starring Marilyn Chambers, who had become a star in the Mitchell Brothers' previous picture, ''Behind the Green Door''. ''Resurrect ...

'' in 1973, '' Sodom and Gomorrah: The Last Seven Days'' in 1975, ''C.B. Mamas'' (1976), ''

The Autobiography of a Flea ''The Autobiography of a Flea'' is an anonymous erotic novel first published in 1887 in London by Edward Avery. Later research has revealed that the author was a London lawyer of the time named Stanislas de Rhodes. The story is narrated by a ...

'' (1976),'' Never a Tender Moment'' (1979), and ''Beyond De Sade'' (1979). One of their last big-budget movies was ''

The Grafenberg Spot ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1985), featuring

Traci Lords Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma; May 7, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She entered the adult film industry using a fake birth certificate to conceal that she was two years under the legal age of eighteen. Lords starred in adult fi ...

, who had entered the adult-video industry underaged using fake identification. The Mitchell brothers were the first to transfer film titles to videotape and market them via ads in national sex magazines. The brothers were inducted into the

AVN Hall of Fame The ''AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') Hall of Fame has honored people for their work in the adult entertainment industry since 1995.sequel to ''Behind the Green Door'' that had been long-awaited—and often postponed. They hired Sharon McNight, a cabaret singer and frequent movie collaborator, to direct the picture and, uncharacteristically, chose to cast the film exclusively with amateur performers, despite the availability of such adult-industry stars as Lady Ashley Liberty, who had just concluded an engagement at New York City's Show World Center. The Mitchell brothers auditioned virtually every newcomer who responded to their advertisements (which appeared in Variety and Bay Area sex tabloids). A handful of O'Farrell dancers accepted small roles; one of them asked to be cast as Gloria, the female lead, reprising the role originally played by Chambers, who did not participate in the sequel. While McNight considered the house dancer for that part, Artie Mitchell's girlfriend, who then called herself Missy Manners,
cast herself as Gloria. Filming of the sequel occurred mainly in the O'Farrell Theatre, and took only one day. Missy, overweight and utterly inexperienced at acting and public sex, reportedly had much difficulty performing in front of the film crew; the set was so tense that at one point Jim Mitchell harangued one of his O'Farrell managers in front of everyone because their catered lunch was inadequate. The Green Door sequel was also the world's first

safe-sex Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer se ...

film, in which all the men wore condoms, and self-protection advice was given to the audience by one of the characters. Highly over-budgeted at $250,000, ''Behind the Green Door: the Sequel,'' according to adult magazines, was one of the worst porn pictures ever made, mainly due to the absence of a professional cast.

Lawsuits

In the mid 1970s, low-level organized crime began making unauthorized copies of the Mitchells' movies, and the brothers retaliated in the courts. When one judge ruled that obscene material could not receive copyright protection, the brothers eventually prevailed in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, leading to the FBI copyright warnings now found at the start of videos. The O'Farrell Theatre was frequently raided on obscenity and related charges, leading to over 200 cases against its proprietors. According to Artie's daughter Liberty Bradford Mitchell, the brothers were arrested and jailed more than 180 times each; the family euphemistically referred to those episodes as "business trips". They were defended by attorneys who included Michael Kennedy and civil rights specialist, Joseph Rhine.

Friends and activities outside of porn

The Mitchells were popular on the fringes of San Francisco's diverse society. Their friends included a who's-who of pornography plus San Francisco personalities and celebrities from outside the city:

Warren Hinckle Warren James Hinckle III (October 12, 1938 – August 25, 2016) was an American political journalist based in San Francisco. Hinckle is remembered for his tenure as editor of '' Ramparts'' magazine, turning a sleepy publication aimed at a li ...

, Herb Gold,

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...

Huey "Doc" Newton, and

Jack Palladino John Arthur Palladino (July 9, 1944 – February 1, 2021) was an American private investigator and attorney. In 1977 he founded the private detective agency Palladino & Sutherland with his wife, Sandra Sutherland, and over a career spanning more ...

. Palladino would come to be considered the world's most expensive private investigator. The late journalist Hunter S. Thompson was a close friend of the brothers, and frequently visited the O'Farrell Theatre. In 1988, the Mitchells made a 30-minute documentary about him, ''Hunter S. Thompson: The Crazy Never Die.'' Thompson claimed in his 2003 book ''

Kingdom of Fear Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * Kingdom (British TV series), ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 200 ...

'' that he had worked for a while in 1985 as night manager at the club, an assertion repeated by some news articles. Thompson also claimed that the Mitchell brothers smuggled guns to the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

. Jim and Artie Mitchell supported various

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Dan O'Neill Dan O'Neill (born April 21, 1942) is an American underground cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip ''Odd Bodkins'' and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates. Education O'Neill attended the University of Sa ...

among them. During the 1984 Democratic National Convention, they opened the upper floor of the O'Farrell to a group of underground cartoonists, including

Victor Moscoso Victor Moscoso (born July 28, 1936) is a Spanish–American artist best known for producing psychedelic rock posters, advertisements, and underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the first of the rock poster artists of ...

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

Spain Rodriguez Manuel Rodriguez (March 2, 1940 – November 28, 2012), better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, was an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman. His experiences on the road with the motorcycle club, the Road Vultures M ...

Ted Richards Ted Richards (born 11 January 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club and the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). AFL career Richards was recruited from Xavier Col ...

, S. Clay Wilson,

Gary Hallgren Gary Hallgren (born October 28, 1945) is an American illustrator and underground cartoonist. Illustrations by Hallgren have been "commissioned by publications such as ''The New York Times'', ''Men's Health'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Mad ...

and

Phil Frank Phil Frank (March 27, 1943 – September 13, 2007) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the San Francisco-based comic strip ''Farley'' and the artist on nationally syndicated comic strip ''The Elderberries''. Works In additio ...

, to cover the convention for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

.'' Jim launched the publication ''War News'' to protest the

first Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

; journalist

was hired as editor,

designed the logo, and

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade (comics maga ...

and

Winston Smith Winston Smith may refer to: People * Winston Smith (artist) (born 1952), American artist * Winston Smith (athlete) (born 1982), Olympic track and field athlete * Winston Boogie Smith (born ), American man killed by law enforcement in 2021 * Winst ...

were paid contributors. Other contributors included

Daniel Ellsberg Daniel Ellsberg (born April 7, 1931) is an American political activist, and former United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the ''Pent ...

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

Paul Krassner Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American author, journalist, and comedian. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key ...

, Ron Turner, Bob Callahan,

Peter Bagge Peter Bagge (pronounced , as in ''bag''; born December 11, 1957) is an American cartoonist whose best-known work includes the comics ''Hate'' and ''Neat Stuff''. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced ...

Jim Woodring James William Woodring (born October 11, 1952) is an American cartoonist, fine artist, writer and toy designer. He is best known for the dream-based comics he published in his magazine '' Jim'', and as the creator of the anthropomorphic cartoo ...

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins (born Trina Perlson; August 17, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. In the 1980s, Robbins beca ...

, S. Clay Wilson, and Hunter S. Thompson. The publication drew little support, and folded shortly after the defeat of Iraq.

Personal lives

Twice-divorced Jim cohabitated for years with Lysa Thatcher (real name Lisa Adams), a former adult-entertainment starlet and O'Farrell dancer. He and his second wife Mary Jane had four children and were married for seven years until 1986; one of them, Meta, is now the O'Farrell's general manager. Artie was the father of six, three with his first wife, Meredith Bradford (who retained her maiden name and insisted that their children go by Bradford), and the others with Karen Hassall, whom he divorced in the mid-1980s. Meredith attended law school at her husband's expense and, upon graduating, represented the Mitchells until Jim fired her over a conflict involving his children's manners at her family's Massachusetts vacation home. In 2011, Jim's son James "Rafe" Mitchell was convicted of murder. In May 2014, Artie's daughter Jasmine, a

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

addict, was arrested for her alleged participation in an identity theft ring. In ''Bottom Feeders,'' John Hubner characterizes the Mitchells as frequently quarreling with each other and everyone else, alternately stingy and profligate, and often misogynistic. In Hubner's book, the O'Farrell Theatre is a mirrored house of sleaze, filled with bikini-clad predators hustling money from men too insecure or ugly to get girls any other way.

Killing of Artie and trial

On February 27, 1991, Jim, in response to demands by friends and associates to "do something" about alcoholic, cocaine-addled Artie, drove to Artie's house in Corte Madera with a .22 rifle that he had inherited from his father and fatally shot the younger Mitchell. O'Farrell dancer Julie Bajo (Artie's lover at the time) immediately called 911 and the police arrested Jim minutes later.

spoke at Artie's funeral, and he was then buried at Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi. After a highly publicized trial in which Jim was represented by an old friend, Michael Kennedy (by then a prominent attorney), the jury rejected a murder charge and found him guilty of

voluntary manslaughter Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender acted during ''the heat of passion'', under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed to the point that they cannot ...

. Before Jim's sentencing, numerous people spoke on his behalf (presumably appealing for clemency), including former Mayor

Frank Jordan Francis Michael Jordan (born February 20, 1935) is an American politician and former police chief, who served as mayor of San Francisco from 1992 to 1996. He is a Democrat. Early life and education Jordan was born in San Francisco in 1935 and ...

, Sheriff

Michael Hennessey Michael Hennessey (born c. 1948) was the longest serving Sheriff in the history of San Francisco and was the longest tenured Sheriff in the State of California. Hennessey was elected in a run-off election in December 1979 and had been reelected ...

and former Police Chief

Richard Hongisto Richard Duane Hongisto (December 16, 1936, Bovey, Minnesota – November 4, 2004, San Francisco, California) was a businessman, politician, sheriff, and police chief of San Francisco, California, and Cleveland, Ohio. Early life and educat ...

. Jim Mitchell was sentenced to six years in prison. One of the outcomes of Jim's trial was that the California Courts allowed, in a precedent-setting decision, a computer-animation reenactment of the murder to be entered into evidence. The animation was produced by Alexander Jason, a crime scene analyst who had first planned to make a video to show the complex series of events that ended with Artie's fatal shooting. The animation showed the positions of Jim, Artie, the bullet impact points, and the path taken by bullets as they entered Artie's body. This was the first use of a 3D computer animation in a criminal trial. In his final argument before the jury, Michael Kennedy had attempted to mock the virtual-reality reenactment. However, the success of the method led to its use in other trials.

After release from prison

After he served three years in San Quentin, Jim was released in 1997 and returned to run the O'Farrell Theatre. Jim established the "Artie Fund" to collect money for a local drug rehabilitation center and for the Surf Rescue Squad of the San Francisco Fire Department. (In 1990, Artie had been caught in a riptide off Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Jim had paddled out to help, and the Surf Rescue Squad had aided in the rescue of both of them; the Mitchells, out of gratitude, issued lifetime O'Farrell passes to the squad members.) Artie's children have denounced the fund, claiming that it is intended to whitewash Artie's murder. On their website, they describe their father's murder as premeditated and motivated by greed and jealousy, and claim that the depictions of Artie in the books and movie are inaccurate. Shortly before his death, Jim wanted to change California's nickname to "the Prison State" and design a license plate saying so. He intended to protest the efforts of law enforcement officers and prison guards to lobby for longer prison sentences.

Death of Jim

Jim Mitchell died at his ranch in Sonoma County, California on July 12, 2007, from an apparent heart attack. The funeral in Jim's boyhood town of Antioch, California on July 19 was attended by around 300 people, including Mayor Willie Brown, former District Attorney

Terence Hallinan Terence Hallinan (December 4, 1936 – January 17, 2020) was an American attorney and politician from San Francisco, California. He was the second of six sons born to Progressive Party presidential candidate Vincent Hallinan and his wife, Vivi ...

, and many O'Farrell

ecdysiast A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "exot ...

s. He was buried next to his brother.Farewell to a porn king.
''San Francisco Chronicle, July 20, 2007.

Books and movies

Biographies of the brothers are ''X-Rated'' by David McCumber (1992, ) and ''Bottom Feeders: From Free Love to Hard Core'' by John Hubner (1993, ). In 2000, their story was dramatized in the movie ''Rated X'' starring real-life brothers

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), ''The Thr ...

and

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen. Emilio Estevez started his career as an actor and is known for being a member of the acting Br ...

as Artie and Jim, with Estevez directing. The film was shot in Toronto, Ontario, although the entire story occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2001, the TV series ''

Forensic Files ''Forensic Files'', originally known as ''Medical Detectives'', is an American documentary television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was origi ...

'' aired an episode titled "Sibling Rivalry", which documented Artie's murder and the use of forensic animation and sound analysis at Jim's trial. The 2007 book ''9½ Years Behind the Green Door'' () by Simone Corday describes the brothers from the perspective of a dancer at the O'Farrell and girlfriend of Artie.

Popular references

The Mitchell brothers "The Left Hand and the Right Hand", written by Chuck Prophet and released on his 2012 album ''Temple Beautiful''. The album was an homage to Prophet's hometown San Francisco.

Notes

External links

Mitchell Brothers - Rotten.com
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell Brothers Culture of San Francisco Sibling duos American pornographic film directors American pornographic film producers Sibling filmmakers People from Antioch, California 1945 births 1991 deaths 1943 births 2007 deaths Cinema of the San Francisco Bay Area Deaths by firearm in California Film directors from California Pornography in San Francisco Sex industry in San Francisco 20th-century American businesspeople