“We received $6,000 a year from [former VCA head] Russ Hampshire,” Margold told XBiz, “but that is no more. We need to pay rent.”
PAW receives tax-deductible contributions as a non-profit institution. Margold said most of the donations are small and do not make up for the loss of Hampshire’s gift.
PAW was founded following the death of adult star Savannah. Also known as Shannon Wilsey, she allegedly committed suicide on July 11, 1994. Margold said that porn actors are just “overage juvenile delinquents” and that he created the organization, which he compared to the Beatles’ AppleCorp, as a way for adult stars to get emergency relief.
Margold admitted that he might be the reason people do not donate as much to PAW. “If you ask 100 people what they thought of me,” he said, “50 would say they loved me and 50 would say they hated me. And of the fifty who hated me, no one would be able to say why.”
Margold has had public feuds with many members of the adult industry, some of whom could explain their distaste for him at length, but only off the record. The general consensus, however, is that Margold is a benefit to the industry and his intentions are sound.
“We run free ads for PAW, and frankly, when all is said and done, I'm on the Margold side,” AVN President Paul Fishbein told XBiz. “He and I haven't always gotten along but we agree on the major points: the First Amendment and better conditions for the talent.”
After the annual Bowling for Scholars event on May 29 (the proceeds go to schoolchildren), Margold will help produce the X-Rated Critics’ Organization Awards on June 2.
“We try to give comfort where we can,” Margold said. “We are always trying to watch the kids.”
“I've been in just about every business there is, and I’ve never met a man that is as helpful, caring and diligent within his profession as Bill Margold," said Maxxx Beaver, who joined the industry after supplying a lot of it with DVD boxcovers, and has sinced financed 12 adult films in Canada and the United States. “Bill introduced me around.”
Margold does not draw a salary from PAW and is quick to point out that many of the contributions the organization makes to performers are anonymous and are never paid back. He credits himself with the “messy” birth of Sharon Mitchell’s Adult Industry Medical in 1998, and displays a business card that reads, “God created man, Margold created himself.”
“Bill has been through everything and when you strip down the bravado, he's a good guy,” Fishbein said. “The industry is better having Margold.”
“Bill Margold is a legend in this business,” Beaver told XBiz, “and has a huge ego which is rightfully earned. People can't stand being in the presence of him, because he takes the spotlight wherever he goes.”
“Like an old bull,” Beaver continued. “He's the big daddy of the business, and all the young bulls have to give him respect or get the horns!”
Margold is seeking to recoup the $6,000 loss, but wouldn’t be averse to taking more. “PAW provides stability just by people knowing it’s here,” he said, citing its peer counseling services, its 24-hour hotline and its lecture series, “PAW University.”
