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Deep Throat was the name given to the secret informant who leaked information about United States President Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal. That scandal would eventually lead to the resignation of the president and prison terms for White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and presidential adviser on domestic affairs John Ehrlichman.
The name Deep Throat came from an X-rated movie of the same name, see below.
Four people are said to know the identity of Deep Throat: Robert Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post investigative reporters he was giving information to; Ben Bradlee, their executive editor; and Deep Throat himself.
Over the years, there have been a number of hints and guesses as to the identity of Deep Throat. It has been proposed that "Deep Throat" is a literary device rather than an actual person. Woodward has stated that Deep Throat is an actual male person and not a composite. He also said that Deep Throat has agreed that his identity will be revealed upon his death, which implies that Deep Throat is still alive. Alexander Haig was a popular suspect for being Deep Throat, but this has been denied by both Haig and Woodward. Other candidates have included Henry Kissinger, CIA officials Cord Meyer or William Colby, and FBI officials L. Patrick Gray, W. Mark Felt, Charles W. Bates, Robert Kunkel, and then Nixon advisor Patrick Buchanan. In April of 2003 White House lawyer Fred Fielding (assistant to John Dean) was alleged to be Deep Throat. [1]
Deep Throat was a pornographic movie released in January 1972, written and directed by Gerard Damiano and starring the erotic actress Linda Lovelace. A huge success, it was shown in many mainstream movie theatres.
After Behind the Green Door it was the second hardcore pornography feature film to be released in the United States. It received an X rating as defined by the MPAA film rating system, which had been instituted in 1968. It was then shown in many mainstream theatres all over the US, starting a brief period of 'porn chic' when it was considered cool in some circles to go see porn movies, even in company. Already in 1973, the movie was marketed on videotape.
The movie was produced by Louis "Butchie" Paraino, with most of the money coming from his father Anthony Paraino and his uncle Joe "The Whale" Paraino, both members of the Colombo crime family. The cost of production was $22,000. Based on the profit margin, the movie probably ranks among the most successful ever, but exact data are not available.
Damiano, who had rights to one third of the profits, was forced out by the Parainos shortly after the movie's success had become apparent.
In her biography, Linda Lovelace (real name Linda Boreman) charges that she was coerced to perform by her abusive husband Chuck Traynor who received $1200 for her acting. Co-star Harry Reems originally was hired to serve on the production crew for $200, but then agreed to appear in the film although that meant he would receive only $100 for his performance.
The movie is about one hour long. It is intended to be funny: highly corny dialogues and songs, fireworks going off and bells ringing during orgasm, and a plot that has the doctor of a sexually frustrated woman notice that her clitoris is located in her throat; she then goes on to perform a particular technique of oral sex (see below) on various men.
In various communities, the movie was shown to juries to determine whether it was obscene according to the Miller test; the outcomes varied widely. In 1976, there was a series of federal cases in Memphis, Tennessee, where over 60 individuals and companies, including the Parainos, director Gerard Damiano and actor
Harry Reems, were indicted for conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines. The initial convictions were overturned on a technicality. The Parainos and some other major players connected to organized crime were tried again, convicted and given short prison sentences.
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Deep Throat is a form of oral sex in which the whole erect penis is taken into the mouth, sometimes including the scrotum.
Since the erect penis is longer than the mouth is deep, this requires suppressing the gag reflex in order to partially swallow the end of the penis.
Deep Throat is also the name of a fictional character in the television series The X-Files. The character, who was one of the protagonists' sources of classified information, was named after the Watergate Deep Throat.
Watergate
Movie
Sexual act
Fiction
See also: Deep Thought, the name of a fictional computer in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and of a real chess-playing computer. The name is possibly a parody on Deep Throat.
