To say that Jack Wrangler's life is a little interesting is like saying that the U.S. economy is in a little trouble. A hunky man with blonde hair, blue eyes and an eye-catching physique, Wrangler became known as the king of '70s gay porn—and entranced many by coming across as an intelligent stud. Then, the out entertainer did something almost no one ever did: He conquered the world of straight porn as well. And, to top it off, in real life he married 55-year-old singer Margaret Whiting when he was 33.
All of this ( and more ) are recounted in Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon, out Oct. 28 on DVD on TLA Video ( $19.99 ) . In an interview with Windy City Times, Wrangler discussed several aspects of his unconventional life.
Windy City Times: I have to be honest with you, Jack. I hadn't heard of you before I received the DVD—but you certainly have lived one interesting life.
Jack Wrangler: It's like this prism; everytime you turn it around and look at it, something new comes up. I'm very grateful for everything. I feel like I did something wonderful in some other life.
WCT: When you saw the documentary, were you surprised by anything?
JW: My deal with the filmmaker was that I would provide the material that I had, and that I would stay away while the film was being made. The film is not me, it's the director's [ view ] ; he could've made 10 films from the material he had. So when I saw the whole thing, it was a surprise. Thank God my wife was pleased. One of the [ reasons ] I wanted to do this film was to clear things up and get rid of any misunderstandings.
WCT: You said at one point in the film that the transition from your upper-class background to porn made sense at the time. What did you mean by that?
JW: Gee—nothing made any sense to me. There was like this carrot in front of my nose, taking me different places. I never knew where I was going to go. I [ actually ] don't think that [ porn ] was a perfectly natural thing to do. I just went from one thing to the other.
WCT: At one point in your life, you lived in the Chicagoland area. What was the Chicago theater scene like?
JW: I went to Northwestern University, and lived in Evanston. I loved Chicago; I loved that I could go to school and work professionally in the theater in the evenings. There was studying, and there was working in the real world.
WCT: I laughed at the point in the movie where you talked about being in New York City [ moving there from Chicago ] , and how gritty it was.
JW: Oh, Jesus, it was the grossest thing I'd ever seen in my life! I once saw a rat the size of a lumberjack. [ Interviewer laughs. ] I said, 'That's it for me, brother. I've had it!' It was disgusting there. I don't know if it's gotten much better.
There used to be something mystical about New York City, though. I don't know if that's true anymore.
WCT: I'm going to fast-forward to California, because that's where you lived your formative years, if you will.
JW: Yes, I did. [ Beverly Hills ] was an amazing city. There was a bridle path down Rodeo Drive where you could ride a horse. Everybody knew everybody else [ growing up ] . It was a small town—and quite different than it is now. I don't even recognize it now. Before, it wasn't particularly ostentatious; it wasn't a neon sign like it is now.
WCT: Do you remember the first porn movie you did?
JW: [ Pauses ] It was a 15-minute thing on a ranch with me and this other guy. I just remember it being awfully early in the morning, and I remember that it was uncomfortable—and that the fence [ he sat on ] was really uncomfortable.
They wanted to do everything outdoors. They would have me as a window washer or throw me into a swamp.
WCT: It seems, according to the documentary, that you were the first butch role model, if you will, for a lot of people.
JW: If you reflect enough, you find anything that's worth salvation. [ Laughs ] It's been long enough that I was one of the first guys doing this sort of thing. It was liberating at the time. I don't know how great it was.
WCT: I think it was.
JW: Great. Keep that attitude. [ Laughs ]
WCT: I will. You became so popular that you had a line of products named after you.
JW: Yeah. I had the Jack Pack, which was [ a sleeve ] you blew up, and when put your thing in it using Jack Cream, which was 'Ph-balanced and vitamin-enriched.' And there's a brochure of me showing you how to use it. [ Both laugh. ] It was really cute.
I have very little of that stuff left. They took it all back. I never got to keep anything.
WCT: I want to talk a little about your marriage. How long have you been married?
JW: Thirty-five years. She's quite a dame. She's really fun; we have a lot of fun together.
WCT: At first, it seemed to me that you admired her a lot. When did you realize that you were in love with her?
JW: Oh—the first night I saw her. I was staying out in Staten Island, doing one-man shows. I remember that I went to this restaurant and met Margaret; on the way back, I thought, 'I could fall in love with this woman,' and I thought I was out of my mind. It made no sense to me–but I just did [ fall in love ] .
WCT: So, what do you consider your sexual orientation to be?
JW: Gay—oh, completely gay. I told her that in the beginning: 'I'm not bisexual or straight. I'm completely gay.' I just couldn't live the gay lifestyle; it's too hard to live. I'm very competitive, and with two guys having the same kind of thoughts, it'll always be too hard for me. With a woman, there are different kinds of challenges because [ women ] come from a different place. Your interactions [ with women ] are always going to be surprising and different, whereas with a guy it's one-on-one. It was just too hard; I tried it.
WCT: OK. I'm just trying to understand the mechanics of it.
JW: Well, it's not about sex; it's about having a life together.
WCT: I just think that some people would need an outlet, of sorts.
JW: We went to the same elementary school. We lived three blocks away from each other. We went to the same high school. We have extremely parallel lives.
The first year we were together I messed up, to say the least. After that, I decided that I was really good at masturbation. I figured that if I could do it on-screen, I could do it off-screen pretty well, too, and have a perfectly fine sex life.
WCT: How much of a psychological adjustment was it to do straight porn?
JW: Oh, it was terrifying. I had to do it, because that was my competitive side talking. I felt that if the top guy in the X-rated industry couldn't do it, there was no point in doing it. Then, on top of all that, in the first movie I had to wait until the end of the day to do the [ sex ] scene. I had this reputation of being so reliable that they forgot that this was a different milieu. [ Laughs ]
WCT: What do you do now?
JW: Well, besides talking to you, I've got a musical that we've just run in London and that we're trying to sell here. I've got a book, and I wrote a libretto for an opera based on St. Louis Woman.
WCT: In the movie, you talk a bit about your [ contentious ] relationship with your father, and wanting him to be proud of you. Do you think he'd be proud of you now?
JW: I don't know. I have a watch of his that I wear, and every time something really neat happens—like something happening at Carnegie Hall—I'll kiss it and say, 'Well, Dad, we're about to walk on stage at Carnegie Hall. How do you feel about that?' I am very proud to be his son, and I'd like to think that he's saying, 'Good going, Jack.'
See www.myspace.com/wranglermovie and www.tlavideo.com for more.
