Jack Deveau - January 25, 1935 (Manhattan, NY) - December 2, 1982 (cancer)
Jack Deveau, encouraged by Robert Alvarez and their friend Sal Mineo, created Hand in Hand Films along with co-founders Alvarez (Hand in Hand's editor) and Jaap Penraat. Deveau directed many of the studio's releases. New York-based Hand in Hand Films began in the earliest days of hardcore porn, seeking to create an alternative to minimally plotted West Coast gay films, and they produced many of the strongest narrative adult films of the 1970s, full of developed characters, dialogue, and story arcs, and a marked artistic emphasis. The studio began by making Left-Handed (1972), directed by Deveau, which featured complex characters and relationships, and releasing British director Peter de Rome's acclaimed short film collection, The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome. The studio would go on to produce Peter de Rome's other two features (Adam and Yves and The Destroying Angel) and films by directors Tom DeSimone (The Idol, Catching Up), Arch Brown (The Night Before), Centurians of Rome (one of the highest budget porn films ever produced), and more. Deveau's films were some of the studio's finest releases: Drive is an ambitiously large-scale, entertaining, and surprisingly dark action movie/porn hybrid; Ballet Down the Highway is a believable study of two very different characters and their fraught sexual relationship; and A Night at the Adonis is a look at the goings on in a New York porn theater. Hand in Hand's documentary Good Hot Stuff takes a look behind the scenes at Hand in Hand productions, featuring interviews with Jack Deveau, Peter de Rome, composer David Earnest, star Mark Woodward, and others involved in their productions.

Selected Filmography:
Left-Handed (1972)
Strictly Forbidden (aka Le Musee) (1974)
Drive (1974)
Good Hot Stuff (1975)
Ballet Down the Highway (1975)
Wanted: Billy the Kid (1976)
Sex Magic (1977)
Rough Trades (1977)
Hot House (1977)
A Night at the Adonis (1978)
Dune Buddies (1978)
Just Blonds (1979)
Fire Island Fever (1979)
Private Collection (1980)
The Boys from Riverside Drive (1981)
Times Square Strip (1982)
In Heat (1985)