The Adult Industry Remembers Christian Mann (1961-2014)

Note: As further remembrances of Christian Mann are received, they will be posted at the end of this article, so if anyone sees this article return to AVN.com's front page, they will know that new information has been added. LOS ANGELES—It is safe to say that the entire adult industry, spanning movie production and online content creation and the novelty branch, is shocked and saddened by the death of Christian "Chris" Mann, the 35-year veteran who worked variously for his father, Kurt Mann, delivering the hardcore magazines Kurt produced; for Catalina Video, where he was a top salesman for several years; for California Publishers Liquidating Corp. (better known as CPLC) and Video Team, where he began as the head of that video production unit until it was spun off from CPLC in about 1994, after which he became a co-owner of the new company; for Metro Media, where he was a producer after he sold his interest in Video Team to that company; and finally, for John Stagliano as the general manager of Evil Angel Productions, a job Mann held until his death last evening. "Christian has been one of my best friends for over 30 years, and the last 19 months were difficult for everyone, including him," observed Steve Hirsch, Co-Chair of Vivid Entertainment. "His courage and dignity is something I'll always remember, and he will obviously never be forgotten, and from the first time I met Christian, I knew that we would be friends, and we've been through a lot together, good times and not-so-good times, but our friendship never wavered. "I think Chris was a native Californian; I think he was born in LA," he continued. "He had a really interesting childhood; went to boarding school in Europe and was on his own at a very young age, and that's why Christian was so cultured, because he spent time in Europe. He spoke four languages, so he really knew his European history, that's for sure, as well as his music. Christian was a music aficionado.  He liked early rock 'n' roll. He loved the Beatles for sure, but he also liked Elvis Costello, Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen, that sort of vibe of music. And he was also great at Jeopardy. I mean, the guy would get every single question right on Jeopardy. " For those who knew Mann well, two attributes stand out above all others: his willingness to help others, which grew out of the help Mann himself had received in learning to lead a sober life, and his devotion to his work, whatever it may have been at the time. Add to that a third, which may have been an outgrowth of the other two: Mann was looked upon as a problem solver, a champion of fair play, and a mediator who knew how to bring opposing viewpoints—and the people who held them—together in compromise. "Chris was at Catalina; that's how I first knew him, because he would come to Video Team and ask us to sell the Catalina videos," remembered Susan Colvin, owner of California Exotic Novelties and formerly of CPLC. "Video Team distributed the Catalina videos, so he would be the salesperson who would come and say, 'Hey, how many of these titles do you want? Let's do it—and let's have a promotion on them!' He maintained all of those relationships always; all his friends from Catalina always remained as friends. He was good at maintaining relationships over long periods of time." Hirsch agreed—and knew him during his Catalina days. "I met him on a plane going to the CES show in Chicago, like 32 years ago," Hirsch said. "I must have been working for CalVista at that time; it was before Vivid. Christian was working for Bill Higgins at Catalina, and Christian was a great guy. He was a friend to everyone and everyone loved him. I can't think of a single human being who has anything negative to say about him. Anybody who had any contact with Christian was immediately drawn to him; that was just the kind of guy he was," adding, "We went on football trips together every year for over 20 years, and we just had a lot of great times hanging out and making fun of Paul [Fishbein]." "When he came to CPLC, which was in about 1989, '90, he ran Video Team, and he was in charge of production, and of course, that's what he loved," Colvin detailed. "And over the years, even at California Exotic Novelties, sometimes when we would write copy for men's items, I'd give him a call and he'd give me some terminology that was helpful or some input." "Christian Mann was a man of integrity, who never raised his voice, always entered my office with a smile and positive attitude, and was quite the 'gentleman'," said former VCA Pictures owner Russ Hampshire, speaking for himself and wife Betty. "His knowledge of languages always impressed us, and Betty and Christian carried on many conversations together in German. He was also so witty, and his intelligence impressed me very much. He worked hard at maintaining a healthy lifestyle over the years, and we commend him for the hard work. The thought of not having Christian in our world is a very sad one, but I feel honored to have known him. "We want to pass on our condolences to his family, and hope they know, he was a very special man. … R.I.P. Christian, we love you!" "Christian was just an all-around great guy," recalled producer Jules Jordan, who first met Mann at an East Coast Video Show in the mid-'90s. "He'd take the shirt off his back for anybody, that's for sure. He was a real problem-solver, willing to help anyone out with their issues, you know. I called him the ambassador of good will to the industry. People would have grievances with each other and he'd try to help out and kind of mediate any issues that were out there. He always had great advice for people with substance abuse issues, stuff like that." Colin Rowntree, founder and CEO of Wasteland.com, had similar views. "Beyond being one of the most creative and intelligent people I have ever known, what always amazed me about Christian Mann was his truly caring role as an educator and mentor to others," Rowntree observed. "Over the 15 years I knew, worked with, and was friends with Christian, one consistently amazing quality I adored was his enthusiasm to teach and support others, imparting his many years of experience and wisdom to both other folks in the industry, and in his personal circles. We have truly lost a great mind, leader, teacher and statesman and my heart is broken at his departure from this mortal coil." Another longtime associate was Gary Miller, co-owner of Moonlight Entertainment, who occasionally would find himself in Mann's company while attempting to sell videotapes to distributors. "Chris was the head sales manager at Catalina Video, and he and myself and a gentleman by the name of Perry Ross, who was the owner of Fantasy Home Video at the time, were invited to do a sales presentation at General Video-Baltimore, subsequently renamed General Video-MidAtlantic," he recalled. "One of the main salespeople there was Steve Karmelin, now the general manager of Wicked Pictures. I remember us going there together. It was the first time I met him, and I remember hanging out with him for a couple of days and thinking he was a great guy and we had a really good time." One aspect of his life of which everyone was aware, because it would inevitably come up as their friendships with Mann grew closer, was that he had once had a substance abuse problem. "His former addiction was well-known, and he made sure everyone knew he had had a drug problem," Colvin advised. "He started at Video Team just as he had gotten clean, went through rehab, and he worked his sobriety program all his life. Even while he was in hospice these past months, the people came over from AA to have meetings at his flat. He always worked. When I knew him at Video Team, some days we'd have a rough day, and he would go, 'I've got to get to a meeting right now!' I'd go, 'Okay, go.' But for all these years, he's actively worked his program; he's mentored—oh my gosh, I can't tell you how many people. He was extremely active in AA; not just that he went on his own; he went on his own, he kept himself straight and he helped so many people over the years. Any time I knew a person was having a problem, I'd give him a call for advice. It wasn't just that he had an issue and he overcame it; he actively worked the program. He stayed sober all these years; a long time." People also remember Mann as an innovator, especially in the area of interracial video. "Once he became in charge of it, Chris really took Video Team to a new level because he's the one that came out with the My Baby Got Back series, which was amazing creative of him," Colvin explained. "Now there's like—I don't know—5,000 volumes? [Ed.'s Note: 47, actually] And then he came out with one of the first all-girl series, No Man's Land—he started all the great series, but one that's still famous today is My Baby Got Back. He was very creative; he really took Video Team to the next level. He always had a great sense of humor; he was incredibly creative, and he never took 'No' for an answer, believe me! He reported to me, so I can tell you, he never took 'No' for an answer. So his sense of humor, his wit and his persistence were always there, and it was great." John Stagliano, Mann's boss at Evil Angel, agreed, but recalled even more movies that Mann was proud to have created. "Christian was the person to push interracial porn or all-black porn at Video Team," he stated. "That was his thing, and he also did that movie West Side, and he would be pissed off at me right now if I didn't mention Edward Penishands also. That was his idea; he was so proud of that. And the big thing about his company was that he did a lot of interesting things besides the interracial, and that's why it's worth noting for his history." Edward Penishands (1991), which spawned two sequels, was one of the earliest adult parodies of famous mainstream films like Edward Scissorhands, leading AVN reviewer Dick Goldhaber to call it but "one of the best erotic video interpretations of a mainstream film that I have ever reviewed," and "a perfect recapture of the Tim Burton film." However, it had to be taken off the market a few years later after it was discovered that one of the movie's lead actresses, Alexandria Quinn, had been underage when she performed in it. West Side (2000), on the other hand, was a sprawling interracial epic send-up of Romeo & Juliet, running nearly three hours and garnering AVN's highest rating, not to mention nominations for director Ren Savant and most of the principal cast. Mann was also a champion of critic-turned-director David Aaron Clark, who directed mostly Asian-themed movies for Video Team from 2002 to 2006, including such titles as Zen and the Art of Fellatio 1 & 2, Asia Noir 1-6 (though the last two volumes came out during Mann's tenure at Metro) and AZN Super Idols 1-3. In fact, it was Mann who arranged for a memorial tribute to Clark upon his death in December 2009, which was held at the New Beverly Cinema where, according to Mann, Clark had wanted to have his last movie premiered. Mann was also no stranger to controversy. Already mentioned was his 1991 federal trial, along with Susan Colvin, Great Western Litho's Michael Warner, and Ron Zdeb and Don Browning, for having sent allegedly obscene videotapes across state lines, but Mann was dropped from the case after all of the counts naming him were dismissed because he was not a Video Team employee at the time of the offense. The case was memorable because the judge, the interestingly named Barefoot Sanders, denied the government's attempt to seize, under the RICO statutes, all of the assets of CPLC/Video Team, Great Western and the individual defendants, but Judge Sanders denied the motion, and after the case was remanded to him by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, he awarded the government approximately $12, the wholesale cost of the videotapes at issue. The other main controversy of Mann's career involved one of his contract stars, Marylin Star, who was found to have profited from inside information provided to her by Wall Street investors Anthony Pomponio and James McDermott. Star was put on trial along with the stockbrokers, and it came out that according to Mann, he had first introduced Star to Pomponio when Pomponio had gushed to Mann about Star at the East Coast Video Show in 1995, saying that he wanted to meet her. AVN reported on Mann's CNN interview on the topic here. Mann also received numerous awards from the adult industry, including AVN’s First Amendment Defense Award in 1991, the Free Speech Coalition’s Good Guy Award in 2000 and his induction into the AVN Hall of Fame—Founder’s Branch in January 2010. He was also elected President of the Free Speech Coalition in January, 2014, after having served as its Vice-President for two years. Several industry members shared other memories of their friendship and interactions with Mann. "Christian was a gifted, brilliant thinker who inspired me to be my best," said Kimberly Wynn, Mann's longtime assistant at Video Team. "Every day we shared at work, and off work brought us together beyond employer/employee. Now that I look back, it seems like a lifetime ago, yet I remember and enjoyed every minute we had together. Christian, Thank you! There will never me another like you. Rest in peace my friend." Other former employees of Video Team also spoke out: "From the former staff of Video Team, Amy, Kimberly, Maricela, Violet, Steve, Susan, David, DC, Keith, Joanie, Luis and Pedro, we would like to send our heartfelt and deepest condolences to Melissa, and Mann family for your tremendous lost. Christian was our friend and that’s who we will miss. Christian you are special! Thank you for everything." "I remember when we were doing one of the first AVN award shows," recalled Gary Miller, who was one of the show's producers, "and Christian was still with Catalina, and we were trying to think up a good opening of the show, and Christian had these girls that they were calling the 'Catalina twins,' that he and Paul Norman had shot for some special shows that they had for their line, and we thought up this idea along with Christian to have—Paul Fishbein decided to dress in a white tuxedo, and back in those days, he was actually hosting the award show, so we decided we wanted to do a big opening, so we had the Catalina twins, who were dressed exactly alike in these hot black dresses, flanking Paul on each side, grabbing his arms and walking him down the aisle down to the stage for this big introduction, and Paul hated it; he was uncomfortable because he's not an entertainer, but Christian and myself and my brother Mark Stone, we all got a kick out of it and it was a lot of fun." Even Mann himself had fond Award Show memories, one of which he shared with AVN on its 30th anniversary. "I have been to every single AVN Awards Show since they became an event that industry people attended in person," Mann said. "One of my favorite pictures from the AVN Awards is of me sitting at my Video Team table flanked by rapper Lil’ Jon and Lakers owner Jerry Buss. My favorite presentation moment occurred when one of the starlets [Micki Lynn] had to stumble through announcing a win for Risque Burlesque, pronounced by her as “Risk-Cue Burles-Cue.” I’m not being mean, but it was sweet and fucking funny at the same time." Several people expressed their admiration for how Mann had continued working even after his cancer had become very painful. "He was a great gentleman, and I can say he was a great asset to Evil Angel," assessed Jules Jordan. "He would work all the time; his main priority was coming into the office and just trying to work despite his medical condition, because that's what he loved to do: He loved to work. Everybody saw it coming, but it's always a shock when you finally hear that he's gone. He always felt a sense of responsibility to help people out. When David Aaron Clark passed, he took the responsibility to see that he was taken care of in death." "Chris came for my birthday in March, and of course, he was in a lot of pain," Susan Colvin said. "We took some pictures in the warehouse with the original [CPLC] people, and we were just looking at those. Most of those people didn't know he was so sick and was in a lot of pain when he came for my birthday. I had the sad duty to go around to all the CalExotics employees who knew Chris, some from as long ago as the CPLC days, and tell them that he passed away last night, and oh my God, that just made it even worse." "The two Melissas, his wife and his sister, have been at his side every single day for the last well over a month, 24 hours a day," Hirsch noted. "They are angels, those two women, and they took care of him and so the people who spent time there often became close with them." Since, at press time, AVN has been unable to speak with the two Melissas in Mann's life,  we'll give his last boss, John Stagliano, the last word here: "The first thing I want to say is that normally, Christian Mann would handle all my interface with the press, but he's gone now," Stagliano half-joked. "He was really a good person for Evil Angel in terms of putting forth the image and taking care of business, and he allowed me to be creative in so many ways, and it was a great thing to have him for the time that I had him working for me. I had had one long conversation with him back in the early 2000s. We were stuck in an airport together. And I talked to him briefly a few other times, but as soon as Chris Norman left, I thought of him, because I knew I had heard his company had closed and he was just working for Metro. He's the only person I considered, and Christian was a very smart, well-educated man, and he was a pleasure to be around, because he knew so much stuff." More memories of Mann's life can be found here, and as more of his friends and acquaintances respond to AVN's requests for comment, they will be added to this story, so keep checking back with AVN.com for more memories of one of the adult industry's best, Christian Mann. Pictured: Christian Mann at Susan Colvin's birthday party in March, 2014.