Prawn & Porn Night

In the late ‘sixties they weren’t called that, more like a men’s smoko. The first one I went to was to raise money for an injured rider who was doing it tough. It was just finger food and beer with an erotic (porn) movie; illegal then but would only rate about MA now. It was at a hall in the Ryde area in Sydney and attended by about 100 men, mostly associated with bike and racing clubs. The film was a scratchy black & white about some maids in a French hotel. The screen consisted of a white bed sheet stretched over the back of a piano, and the projector was on a small table in the middle of the room. We were about halfway through the movie when all of a sudden the lights came on, the projector was whisked away and the piano was turned around and a man started to play it, just seconds before the police arrived to see all these bike people innocently listening to a man playing the piano. They may have been tipped off or probably just saw all the bikes parked outside and decided to investigate. However the organisers must have had a cockatoo (lookout) to warn of their arrival. They soon left after seeing how innocent it appeared and then it was on with the show, with everyone impressed with the efficiency of the organisers. Mark Dodds Stanwell Tops, NSW