Jim South
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Jim South (born James Marvin. Souter, Jr. in Dallas, Texas) is a recruiter and agent in America’s pornography industry. He was the founder of the World Modeling Talent Agency, which represented many performers and models who worked in adult movies and magazines. The agency, founded in 1975, was based in Sherman Oaks, California. According to its website, the agency accepted mostly women, couples and occasionally single men. It shut down in November 2006.[1]
South's agency once represented famous adult stars like Jill Kelly, Ashlyn Gere, Ginger Lynn, Christy Canyon and Amber Lynn. But his most famous and infamous client was Traci Lords. It was through his agency that a then underaged Lords started nude modeling in magazines and became the Penthouse "Pet of the Month" in the September 1984 issue, and earned $5000 for the appearance.[2] She was subsequently performing in pornographic movies by October of that year. Following the May 1986 revelations that Lords was underaged for most of her adult movie career, he was among those charged by the U.S. government with pandering and child pornography[3]. The charges were eventually dismissed after the discovery that Lords was issued a passport under her then stage name.
In an interview South said, "The only reason that it was dropped was that the federal government that saw the very same ID I saw gave Traci a passport to go to Europe to make an X-rated movie." [4] That movie was Traci, I Love You, made in Cannes soon after Lords' 18th birthday.
Lords holds him in perpetual contempt for what she sees as his (and others' ) unapologetic role in her sexual exploitation. She stated that she named him "Tim North" in her autobiography not for legal reasons, but as a means to protect people from him,and not to give him and his company any publicity, which could draw young women to the sex industry.[5]
South has appeared in several documentaries about the porn industry.
He has two sons, Dallas and James Jr. James Jr. worked with him at the agency. He is the uncle of performer Aspen Stevens.[6]
[edit] Notes
- ^ World Modeling Closes, AVN News, 10-31-2006
- ^ Lords, Traci Elizabeth. Traci Lords: Underneath It All. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
- ^ Jim South on NNDB.
- ^ "Agents Pornographeurs: The Men Behind The Muff " By Kapelovitz, Dan & Partridge, Giddle. Hustler Magazine. September 2002. Accessed July 20, 2006.
- ^ Bowman, David. " Traci Talks " Salon.com 1 August 2003. Retrieved on June 12, 2003.
- ^ Aspen Stevens at the Internet Movie Database
