Biography

Efrain "Carlos" Tobalina was born on April 5, 1925 in Peru. Tobalina emigrated to Brazil prior to moving to the United States in the early 1950's and eventually settling in California in 1956. Carlos worked as a used car salesman at various automobile dealerships and had a second moonlight gig as an announcer on a Spanish language radio station. Tobalina started his own film business C. Tobalina Productions, Inc. as well as married bookkeeper Maria Tobalina in 1964. Tobalina was a stepfather to Maria's daughter Gloria. Maria gave birth to another daughter named Linda in 1966.

Carlos made his first adult movie with the softcore feature Infrasexum (1969). Tobalina became the owner of the Mayan Theater on Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles two years later (the Mayan Theater was the primary theatrical venue that Tobalina's films were shown at). Moreover, Carlos not only owned two homes in Corona Del Mar, but also owned both the Star Theater in La Puente and the X Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. A lot of Tobalina's explicit hardcore pictures were made at his house on 14930 Corona Del Mar. Carlos made well over forty X-rated movies starting from the early 1970's up until 1987. In addition, Carlos had several run-ins with the law about his constitutional right to make and distribute explicit hardcore fare and even went as far as to fight for his first amendment rights in court. Tobalina committed suicide at age 63 on March 31, 1989. He explained in a suicide note that the reason he took his own life was because he was suffering from terminal liver cancer.
- IMDb mini biography by: woodyanders

By the mid 1970's Tobalina was estimated to be earning over $10,000 per week and he accumulated a large real estate portfolio through all cash transactions. The murky nature of this substantial wealth resulted in the FBI compiling a 550 page file on his activities, but they were unable to identify any wrongdoing, beyond "unsubstantiated suspicions".

Carlos Tobalina often re-branded technical aspects with his own name; including "Tobascope Hi-Brilliance Wide Screen Cinematography" and "Tobaphonic Multi Channel Stereo Sound".

From the early 1970's through the late 1980's Tobalina owned a small chain of movie theaters. The crown jewel of his theater portfolio being the historic Mayan Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, which he purchased for $300,00 in 1971.

He often listed fictional awards and acclaim from critics in print media advertisements as a means of marketing his films; slightly altering the names of real awards, film festivals, and critics for this purpose.

[1975 quote on making explicit hardcore movies] I am not ashamed of the films I have made. I have made films that show the beauty of sex.