Reading Response 5

J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Underground

1. What were some of the venues associated with the early underground film movement in New York City? What were some of the unique characteristics of the Charles Theater and its programming?

Amos Vogel's Cinema 16 was an organization that brought underground cineastes together. The beatnik manifesto Pull My Daisy was premiered at the Fashion Industries Auditorium in New York city; Walter Langstorn and Ed Stein acquired the Charles Theater for film exhibition; other theaters that played offbeat films included the Thalia, the New Yorker, and Bleeker Street Cinema. Mekas tried to present the Film Culture's annual Independant Filmmaker Award to Jack Smith at the Tivoli Theater, but the management canceled the show at the last minute.

2. Which filmmakers did Jonas Mekas associate with the “Baudelairean Cinema”? Why did Mekas use that term, and what were the distinguishing characteristics of the films?

The filmmakers Mekas associated with "Baudelairean Cinema" were Jack Smith, Ron Rice, and Ken Jacobs with the films "Flaming Creatures," "Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man," "Blonde Cobra," and "Little Stabs at Happiness." Mekas was trying to legitimize these new filmmakers by applying to them a quality only previously known in literature by the late French poet Baudilaire, whose critics cited him with many of the same sensibilities that modern, "uninformed" critics had called Mekas' proteges, like perverse, uninhibited, and daring. Mekas praised these filmmakers because they were exploring the art of cinema uninhibited by social convention and were thus saving the artistic filmmaker's soul or whatever.

3. Why did underground films run into legal trouble in New York City in 1964? What film encountered legal problems in Los Angeles almost on the same day as Mekas’s second arrest in New York City?

The first legan troubles Mekas ran into were during NYC's preparation for the 1964 World Fair where the city was trying to "clean" itself up. Mekas, Ken Jacobs, and two othes were arrested during a screening of Flaming Creatures, along with the rushes from Normal Love. Ten days later Mekas was arrested for screening Un Chant D'Amour. That same day, Mike Gets was arrested in LA for showing Scorpio Rising in the Cinema Theater. Mekas and Jacobs received suspended prison sentences.

4. What were some of the defining characteristics of Andy Warhol’s collaboration with Ronald Tavel? What were some of the unique characteristics of Vinyl? How does Edie Sedgewick end up "stealing" the scene in Vinyl?

Tavel adapted "A Clockwork Orange" in a matter of a few days, renamed the story as "Vinyl," and the script only followed the bare bones plot points of the novel. Many of Tavels screenplays were like this - bad on purpose. Some of his screenplays that were written for Warhol and were never produced made it to the stage as theater performances which usually chose tabboo subjects for farce. Until Warhol got Edie Sedgewick on camera, the film consisted of an all-male cast. Edie ended up stealing the show with her trance like film presence.

5. In what ways did the underground film begin to "crossover" into the mainstream in 1965-1966? What films and venues were associated with the crossover? How were the films received by the mainstream New York press?

The film that most successfully crossed over into the mainstream was "The Chelsea Girls." It showed all over Manhatten, not just in the undergound basement theaters. The film also played in many other cities like Cambridge, Buffalo, Houston, Atlanta, and St louis, and was banned in Chicago and Boston (how was it banned in Boston...the most liberal city in the US lol). Mike Getz played a crucial role in getting these films shown in conventional theaters due to his uncle owning a string of them. Films include Hold Me While Im Naked, Peyote Queen, and Breathdeath. One New York film critic, Bowsley Crowther, who hailed himself as America's most influential film critic, gave the underground films a wag of his finger, saying that it was okay for them to project their "naugty boy plays" onto basement walls, but bringing their films to "carpeted venues" was going too far. This publication stunted the growth of the underground movement but it survived nonetheless.

6. Why was John Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?

Because he (Mike Getz(?)) was able to distribute films through his business contact Louis Sher, who also happened to be his uncle, who owned a string of conventional movie houses.

7. How do Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films?

Warhol and The Factory took the baser aspects of the successful elements of their previous works and ran with it. Their films became increasingly shocking with their sexual and drug content, with taglines such as "Underground!! ...So You Think You've Seen Everything!" Everything aside, Rosenmbaum and Hoberman mark Warhol as a catalytic firgure in on-screen sexuality. After his attempted assassination, Warhol's influence in the art world and the underground film movement slowly waned.