Dirty Poole tells the story of a sometimes overlooked gay liberation and independent filmmaking pioneer. In late 1971, Wakefield Poole, a respected Broadway dancer and choreographer, had the audacity to put his real name above the title of his first film, a low-budget, hardcore gay erotic feature called Boys in the Sand. And to make sure everyone knew about it, Poole advertised the film in the New York Times, creating a sensation. In an era when anyone making, promoting, or appearing in what the US government considered "pornography" could be liable for prosecution and jail time, Poole was a remarkably open and honest gay filmmaker. He also became internationally famous and his movies screened for years as examples of films that could be artistic as well as sexually explicit.

Director/Producer Jim Tushinski continues the cinematic exploration of art and sexuality he began in That Man: Peter Berlin, but this time the main character is not a cool, untouchable icon. An outspoken and articulate artist in a turbulent, passionate time, Poole didn't think of himself as a pornographer. He was a filmmaker who used his dance and theater background to create beautiful, erotic art films that "challenged the mind as well as the crotch." To many, though, Poole just made dirty movies.

Filled with gorgeous archival footage, excerpts from Poole's lushly photographed films, and entertaining and illuminating interviews with Poole's contemporaries and colleagues, Dirty Poole is a story of artistic integrity and disappointment, self-destruction, love, sex, fortitude, and musical comedy.

Wakefield Poole is fully cooperating in the making of Dirty Poole, which is based on his autobiography of the same name.

People interviewed for Dirty Poole so far include composer/writer Mary Rodgers (Guettel); actress Jill O’Hara; playwright Drey Sheppard; directors Joe Gage, Jerry Douglas, and Ed Kresley; dancer/choreographers Frederic Franklin and Gemze de Lappe; artist Robert W. Richards; and chef Annemarie Huese. Other planned interviews include actress Georgina Spelvin, writer Felice Picano, choreographers Kevin Carlisle and Bob Avian, artist Paul Jasmin, and many others. There are a number of very well known actors who worked closely with Poole on Broadway and we are in talks to interview them as well.

Wakefield Poole (born 1936) is best known for his classy, visionary hardcore gay erotic films Boys in the Sand (1971) and Bijou (1972), which started the "porno chic" trend a year before Deep Throat was released. Few people know that Poole was a member of the corps de ballet in the waning years of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and then went on to a successful career as a dancer, choreographer, and director on TV, Broadway, and the West End, working with theater legends Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Noel Coward, Jerome Robbins, Ethel Merman, Gwen Verdon, and many more.

In 1971, after seeing a typical example of gay porn, Poole asked himself, "Why can't someone make on of these that’s not sleazy and depressing?" He set out to do just that. With a wind-up 16mm camera and the barely known actor Cal Culver (who took the name Casey Donovan), Poole and a small group of friends shot Boys in the Sand over several weekends on Fire Island. He released it as if it were a legitimate mainstream movie, putting his own name above the title, doing press screenings, and advertising in the New York Times. Overnight, the film became an enormous financial success and Poole's theater career abruptly ended.

He followed Boys in the Sand with the ambitious and technically dazzling film Bijou, which was also a hit with audiences and critics. Giddy with success, Poole put all his money into a project that he hoped would be his mainstream calling card, a nudity-filled straight version of Bible stories re-imagined from the women's point of view. Visually sumptuous and unlike anything else filmgoers in the early 1970s had ever seen, Wakefield Poole's Bible was a flop—-rejected by both gay and straight audiences.

In 1974, Poole left New York for the burgeoning gay mecca of San Francisco. He co-owned and operated the influential retail store/gallery/hair salon Hot Flash of America and continued to make unique and successful erotic films, until he began a downward spiral into drug addiction. After a cocaine-fueled attempt at a Broadway comeback, Poole bottomed out, went cold turkey, and cleaned himself up. He eventually graduated from the French Culinary Institute at age 50 and became a successful corporate chef. He retired in 2003 and now lives a quiet life in northern Florida.

Poole has appeared in a number of documentaries, including Ballet Russe, When Ocean Meets Sky, and That Man: Peter Berlin.