An item in the 19 May 1969 DV announced that Dan Greenburg’s novel Philly had been optioned by Universal Pictures, and Harry Keller would produce the screenplay to be written by Greenburg. A 1 Sep 1981 DV article reported that Greenburg’s screenplay was optioned in 1972 by Universal from Irving Oshman’s Vision Feature Associates. Five years later, director Paul Bartel, who ultimately left the project, brought it to Barry & Enright Productions, who “took over the option and bought the rights from Universal,” with Universal retaining a small profit participation. The 3 Jun 1981 Var noted that Vision Features Corporation obtained the option from Universal in 1975, and gave Barry & Enright Films the “sole option” for Vision’s rights in 1979. Vision president Irving Oshman is credited as co-executive producer on the film.
       Articles in the 17 Oct 1979 Var and the 4 Oct 1981 LAT noted that executive producers Jack Barry and Dan Enright’s company was successful in the television quiz-show market prior to branching out to features. Producer, R. Ben Efraim, was a vice president and partner at Barry & Enright. Philly marked their second feature film, and was the first to be fully financed by the company, with a production budget of $1.65 million.
       The 4 Feb 1980 DV announced principal photography began that day. The film was now titled Private Lessons. As tracked in articles in the 7 Aug 1981 HR, the 1 Sep 1981 DV, and the 4 Oct 1981 LAT, the production ran into several problems. Eighteen days into the planned twenty-eight day shoot, the male lead, Neil Barry, was replaced. All the footage featuring Barry was “scrapped,” and this “necessary” decision added twenty-six days to the shooting schedule and cost an additional $450,000. A call sheet in AMPAS library files reveals that Eric Brown was originally cast as “Sherman” before the filmmakers chose him to take over the role of “Philly.” Private Lessons marked Brown’s feature film debut. Eric Brown was fifteen years old, and child labor laws were a consideration, since he was in almost every scene and needed to work long hours. The LAT noted that the filmmakers filed a special petition in Los Angeles Superior Court, providing a shooting script for the judge to approve before Brown was able to work. Phoenix, AZ, was selected as the filming location because labor laws in that state allowed Brown to work longer hours. However, citizens observing the filming complained to police, who informed the production company that their actions were contributing to the delinquency of a minor (CDM). Arizona authorities prohibited the filmmakers from shooting any scenes in which Brown was simulating sex with actress Sylvia Kristel, and they could not photograph Brown in the same room with Kristel when she was nude. To circumvent the Arizona obscenity law, the filmmakers shot those scenes in Albuquerque, NM.
       When the director’s cut was viewed, the film was almost written off as “unreleasable.” Foreign distributors felt the film was not erotic enough for the European market, and domestic distributors felt it was too sexual. Efraim told the HR that the filmmakers were in a “state of shock.” He noted the film was “badly directed, sloppily shot, lacked a concept, there were bad performances.” However, the company did not want to write-off their $2 million investment. Efraim believed the film could be reworked to appeal to the teenage market and could potentially earn approximately $6 million. Director James Fargo, who is uncredited, was hired to shoot new footage. The final film contains sixty-eight minutes of the original 145 minutes filmed by director Alan Myerson, and twenty minutes of new footage. The filmmakers spent six months in the editing room to “re-tailor” Private Lessons for the fourteen to eighteen-year-old market, and $100,000 was spent on a “pop-rock” soundtrack. The film received an R rating, for nudity, but Efraim noted that an R rating makes films “more desirable to young audiences.”
       Major distributors, including Universal, declined to release the film domestically. According to the 28 Apr 1981 LAHExam, Efraim approached Filmways and offered to have Barry & Enright pay the cost of prints and advertising, but Filmways turned down the offer, as did Avco Embassy Pictures. The 4 Oct 1981 LAT noted that some foreign distributors refused to market the film to the teenage audience. For example, Switzerland’s campaign focused on Sylvia Kristel and was aimed at the twenty to forty-year-old market, and the film “bombed” in Switzerland. However, Japan’s distributor marketed a “very, very soft campaign” featuring Eric Brown standing on a stack of books and leaning to kiss Kristel. The logo read, “What happened to him should happen to you.” The film grossed $2 million in Japan. After Universal passed on domestic distribution, Mike Ridges, Universal’s vice president of special projects, left Universal to form ADI Marketing with Neil Wise, and ADI agreed to distribute Private Lessons. ADI employed the Japanese advertising approach and tested the film in three percent of the country, with a marketing budget of $75,000. On 5 Jun 1981, Private Lessons opened in Denver, CO; Phoenix, AZ; Austin, TX; and Las Vegas, NV. If the box-office grosses from the test markets were double the cost of the advertising expenses, ADI planned to slowly release the film on a regional basis over the next eighteen months. The film surpassed expectations, grossing more than $500,000 in the test markets. Private Lessons was released simultaneously in Hawaii, which was considered “easy money, but not predictive as a test market.” The first six-week box-office gross in Hawaii was $45,000, with an advertising cost of $14,000. The film was considered too successful to release as originally planned, and the test market results interested major distributors in the film. However, Efraim and Ridges made a distribution deal with Jensen Farley Pictures, Inc. (JFP), successor to Sunn Classic Pictures, a distribution company founded by Mike Ridges twelve years earlier. Private Lessons was JFP’s first acquisition, and a “speeded-up” region by region release was implemented, starting with San Antonio, TX, on 21 Aug 1981. The film was released in Southern California, New York, and Detroit, MI, on 28 Aug 1981.
       The 18 Sep 1981 HR stated that foreign distribution had recouped almost one hundred percent of the film’s production cost prior to its domestic distribution. The first two-week domestic box-office gross was $3,397,322 from 180 theaters, representing seventeen percent of the domestic market. The 9-15 Dec 1981 Village Voice list of “Fall 1981 Releases” stated that Private Lessons was a “hit” with box-office grosses of $12-$15 million. An item in the 23 Apr 1982 HR stated the film had grossed $24.5 million to date, and announced a “swing of national re-openings” starting on 23 Apr 1982. The 17 May 1993 HR stated the film’s box-office gross was $70 million.
       An article in the 3 Jun 1981 Var reported that Vision Features Corp. filed a $15 million lawsuit against Barry & Enright Films and R. Ben Efraim in U.S. District Court in New York. Breach of contract claims included non-payment of fees and expenses, failure to consult with Vision’s president Irving Oshman on the film, and lack of proper credit. The outcome of the suit has not been determined.
       The 1 Sep 1981 DV noted that Barry & Enright planned a sequel, titled Higher Education. to be written by Greenburg. However, that project did not come to fruition. The 17 May 1993 HR stated that the Carnegie Film Group was promoting More Private Lessons, featuring actress Joanna Pacula and Japanese pop star Goro Inagaki, at the Cannes Film Festival. Dan Greenburg wrote the screenplay and R. Ben Efraim was credited as a producer on the sequel, also known as Private Lessons II. It filmed in Japan and was released by Warner Bros. in that country in 1993. There is no indication Private Lessons II was distributed domestically in theaters or on video.