THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

It's not anything sexually scandalous ( according to the April 1992 issue of Manshots, Casey pretty much covered that area thoroughly in his personal life at the baths and tearooms ). It's actually kind of a savvy idea, but like many porn stars of that era, many endeavors they tried outside of filmmaking pretty much fizzled.

Cal Culver ( Casey's real name ) opened up the Casa Donovan Guest House in Key West in April, 1979, and then, in conjunction with that entity, launched Moonbow Tour. The tour operated during the time of the full moon. Casey personally guided the tours, which included "three special dinners at unique spots, a conch train tour, a variety of sightseeing, a one-half-day reef trip, and a rented bicycle." According to Casey, at Casa Donovan, the nine-room house with a pool, "Everyone's a star."

What I would like to know is how long this enterprise lasted ( it started before his last film appearance in Christopher Rage's Fucked Up in 1986 ) and it folded before his death in 1987 of AIDS-related complications. According to the issue of Manshots cited above, he did get a job as a gay tour guide with Hanns Ebenston Travel Agency in about 1985, having struggled to keep his establishment running for some time.

Right now as I am writing this, I am imagining a gloriously bare-chested Casey rising from his pool like a young sea god, drying himself off, and then going out to greet his guests clad only in a tight Speedo. I do have a feeling tha the majority of the guests weren't other porn stars he appeared with like Pat Allen, Steve Anthony, or Al Parker. They may have been the slightly heavyset older "queens" of the period ( I do not mean any insult ) wearing flowered shirts, Bermuda shorts, and lumpy sandals. Still, if he treated everyone like a star as he claimed, I hope the legend gave them something to remember, even cherish, by getting to know him as the real but still amazingly hot "boy next door" he always tried to be in his movies.

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