Published August 26, 2010

Bill O'Reilly

BU grad and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has always been “a pompous, self-important do-gooder,” according to the Boston Phoenix, but he was a bit more humble back in his college days.

The Phoenix has uncovered O’Reilly’s first column for the paper, published April 30, 1974. O’Reilly demonizes the pornographer Gerard Damiano, who created “Deep Throat” and “The Devil in Miss Jones.”

If there was ever any question concerning the star of the evening, whether it was the film or the producer, it was answered right then as half the audience ignored Damiano’s query and filed noisily out the doors.

Those who remained were treated to the usual banalities and well rehearsed answers concerning censorship, the Supreme Court and so on, that a man in Damiano’s position must constantly spew forth.

O’Reilly penned several pieces for the Phoenix, as well as the defunct Cambridge alt-weekly, The Real Paper. From the Phoenix blog post:

His pieces were noticeably lacking in the right-wing fire and brimstone and the general vitriol he is now known for. In fact, his contributions were largely about movies (including this interview with the soon-to-be-honorary-Oscar-ified Eli Wallach).

Still, not whose byline I’d expect to find in the Phoenix.