Joints #2
CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal (who passed away earlier this week at the age of 75) sweeps up after what could have been an average or a legendary night.
for the series:
Joints
August 31, 2007
They Were Collaborators #358
Edie Sedgwick, Gerard Malanga and The Velvet Undergound
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
August 30, 2007
The Ink & Paint Set #22
Martha Raye in The Autograph Hound
(Jack King, Disney, 1939)
for the series:
The Ink and Paint Set
Collect 'Em All #35
Norman Foster
No. 20 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes
Born in Richmond, Indiana, on December 13th, 1900, Norman Foster started his career as a newspaper reporter in his native town. Later, going to New York for a better position, he turned to the stage instead, and after a hard struggle, gradually won the position of a popular leading man. He had his first leading film role in Gentlemen of the Press, a talking made at Long Island. Later he was given a Hollywood contract. Among his recent films are State Fair, Orient Express and Strictly Dynamite. His real name is John Hoeffer and he is married to Claudette Colbert.
for the series:
Collect 'em All
August 27, 2007
P Is For Pulp #20
The Tiger in Summer
(by Michael Keon)
(Popular Library; 1954)
for the series:
P is for Pulp
Similar Images #6
Can You Take It
(Dave Fleischer; 1934)
La Belle et le Bete
(Jean Cocteau; 1946)
for the series:
Similar Images
The Friends of Milt Hinton #4
Gene Krupa plays in New York City in 1955.
for the series:
The Friends of Milt Hinton
When Legends Gather #290
Martin Sheen and Ava Gardner (and the poor shlub who has to drive them)
for the series:
When Legends Gather
The Native-Americana of Edward S. Curtis #8
Hesquiaht woman from the Central Nootka tribe; British Columbia (1916)
for the series:
The Native-Americana of Edward S. Curtis
August 25, 2007
Art of the London Underground #23
Untitled
By J. Hassall; 1908
for the series:
Art of the London Underground
Through the Lens of Cyril Arapoff #11
A second-hand bookstall. During the 1930's this street market became a mecca for bargain-hunters and antique collectors.
for the series:
Through the Lens of Cyril Arapoff
From the Sketch Book of Lawson Wood #18
A story without words
for the series:
From the Sketch Book of Lawson Wood
From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66 #6
First-Class passengers
Although comfortable enough, there is little sociability in a first-class carriage on a railway; everybody seems to have an idea that he is the only one who is really entitled, by payment and position, to a seat therein, and so is afraid of compromising his dignity by speaking. There is consequently no conversation: the heads of the four corner occupants are usually looking out of the windows, and the centre ones look at each other.
for the series:
From the Southern Travellers Handbook for 1965/66
August 24, 2007
Artists in Action #247
Louis B. Mayer presents a flag to Lon Chaney during filming of Tell It to the Marines.
for the series:
Artists in Action
They Were Collaborators #357
Ginger Rogers, Irving Berlin and Fred Astaire.
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
August 23, 2007
From The Black Panther Coloring Book #10
"The Pig trys to protect the White stores in Black communities that rob Black people"
for the series:
From the Black Panther Coloring Book
The Art of Cinema #249
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
(Elevator to the Gallows)
(Louis Malle; 1958)
for the series:
Art of Cinema
Poets are both clean and warm
And most are far above the norm
Whether here or on the roam
Have a poet in every home! #22
Vladimir Mayakovsky
for the series:
Poets are both clean and warm
August 22, 2007
They Were an Item #12
Buddy Rogers and Mary Pickford tie the knot.
for the series:
They Were an Item
Collect 'Em All #34
Douglas Fairbanks
No. 19 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes
"Born on May 23rd, 1883 in Denver, Colorado, Douglas Fairbanks studied to become a mining engineer, but changed his mind and went on the stage, leaving in 1915 for screen work. He soon won stardom, becoming famous for his vigourous personality and acrobatic feats upon the screen. Perhaps his most famous silent film was Robin Hood. His talkies include Mr. Robinson Crusoe and The Private Life of Don Juan. In 1920 he married Mary Pickford. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is his son by his first wife. His brother Robert manages his business affairs."
for the series:
Collect 'em All
Adventures in American Filmmaking #81
Today's Adventure: Leslie Howard, Basil Rathbone and John Barrymore confer on the set of George Cukor's 1936 production of Romeo and Juliet. Norma Shearer is nowhere to be seen.
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking
They Were Collaborators #355
Nelson Riddle, Eva Marie Saint and Paul Newman
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
The Golden Age of Prurience #42
I Feel It Coming
(Sidney Knight; 1969)
for the series:
The Golden Age of Prurience
August 20, 2007
When Legends Gather #289
Richard Wright, Paul Robeson and Count Basie
for the series:
When Legends Gather
August 19, 2007
The Art of Cinema #248
The Man in the White Suit
(Alexander Mackendrick; 1951)
for the series:
Art of Cinema
August 18, 2007
They Were Collaborators #353
Harry Nilsson and Gordon Jenkins
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Great Moments in Journalism #5
Muriel Gray interviews Scott Walker for Channel Four's The Tube, with limited success.
for the series:
Great Moments in Journalism
Adventures in European Filmmaking #30
Today's adventure Jean Renoir takes a break during filming.
for the series:
Adventures in European Filmmaking
Artists in Action #243
Peter Sellers is photographed by Roddy McDowall in Hollywood (1967)
for the series:
Artists in Action
August 17, 2007
Max Roach dies at 83
Sorry to interrupt the Presleyana, but this news fills me with profound
sadness. I'm gonna switch the Sun Sessions with Money Jungle for a while.
The Associated Press obituary.
for the series:
Obits
August 16, 2007
Great Moments in Journalism #4:
Elvis Presley Memorial Edition
With customary sobriety, Britain's Super Soar-away Sun covers the
passing of Elvis Presley 30 years ago today
for the series:
Great Moments in Journalism
Artists in Action #242:
Elvis Presley Memorial Edition
Elvis Presley points
for the series:
Artists in Action
When Legends Gather #287 (x 20):
Elvis Presley Memorial Edition
Elvis Presley and Bobby Darin
Elvis Presley and Faron Young
Elvis Presley and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (R-NY)
Elvis Presley and Jackie Wilson
Merle Kilgore and Elvis Presley
Billy Ward and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley and The Willburn Brothers
Nudie Cohen, Tex Williams and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley and Hank Snow
Gov. George C. Wallace (D-AL) and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley and Jim Brown
Eddy Arnold and Elvis Presley
Rufus Thomas and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley, Natalie Wood and Nick Adams
Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali
Elvis Presley and The Browns
Susan Hayward and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley and Johnny Horton
Elvis Presley and Mahalia Jackson
Merv Griffin, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley and Norm Crosby
for the series:
When Legends Gather
They Were Collaborators #352:
Elvis Presley Memorial Edition
Hal Wallis, Elvis Presley and Col. Tom Parker
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
August 15, 2007
Artists in Action #241
Al Jolson visits the Gargoyles at Notre Dame Cathedral
for the series:
Artists in Action
August 14, 2007
The Ink & Paint Set #21
Popeye meets Harpo in Sock-a-Bye, Baby.
(Fleischer Studios; Dave Fleischer; 1934)
for the series:
The Ink and Paint Set
Seminal Image #718
Man Bait (UK title: The Last Page)
(Terence Fisher; 1952)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Collect 'Em All #33
Ann Dvorak
(No. 18 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut Cigarettes)
Of Irish-Austrian descent, Ann Dvorak was born on August 2nd, 1912 in New York. Her real name is McKim, and she is the daughter of Anna Lehr, a famous American stage and silent screen actress. Ann began her career as a dancer and dance teacher with M.G.M. in whose films she first appeared as a dancer. For some time afterwards she did crowd work, a few larger roles, and then gained her great opportunity in Scarface, as the ill-fated sister. Her latest roles are in Massacre, with Richard Barthelmess, Heat Lightning, A Woman in Her Thirties and Midnight Alibi.
for the series:
Collect 'em All
August 13, 2007
Housekeeping Matter #22
Guest Contributor Week: Aftermath
Well . . . that's that.
If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger's first Guest Contributor Week enters the yellowed ledger of Blogospheric histoire and, not to put too fine a point on it, I can honestly say I am eternally chuffed both by the generosity of our contributors and their respective eyes for good, very very good material. Mere thanks is not sufficient, but it is all I can offer.
Yesterday, shahn of the amazing blog six martinis and the seventh art suggested we do this again, and we shall. I intend it. In fact, had it not been for my own schedule-from-hell and an unwillingness to exile my co-conspirators for the length of time required, I would have extended Guest Contributor Week at least a few more days, if not another week (at one point I'd resolved to do that very thing). That's how many contributions we still have left over. I'm not sure when we'll be throwing open the doors again, but it won't be too long. Rest assured, I'll send out another shout of 'Come one, come all' when it happens.
I want to thank Stephen Cooke and Richard Gibson for clearing out, as it were, these last seven days while our guests moved in. As for me, I'm taking (deliberately this time . . . usually it happens of its own volition) a day or two off from the cane field of images that is this blog. What with the Bergman and Antonioni tributes and Guest Contributor-a-Go-Go, I've probably posted more on this blog in the last nine days than I do in a month (maybe). Now, some of you might be saying "Is he kidding? All he does is post pictures; and he thinks that's work? Has this chump ever hammered out 5,000 words on Out 1, noli me tangere . . . all 800 minutes! . . . hours after seeing it!! . . . all while making sure it reads exactly like everybody else's 5,000 words?? That's what I call hard blog-work, you apostate jackass!"
Well, it's a decent-enough point on its face. I've never claimed to have a talent for automatic writing, and certainly my gifts for cinephilic verisimiltude and CriticSpeak are not what they were when I was a lad; but those who take this view do so, I think, with a bit of short sighted-ness, however fashionable in some circles it may be. Think what you will, but we do expend a measure of critical judgement here when it comes to selecting and sequencing and (a word I'm using advisedly) editing the images. They are, for better or worse, our content; and even if we moved to a more text-intensive format . . . in the event such a strategy would not turn our fellow film bloggers against us even more than they've already turned . . . I don't think this blog would be as good, at least not in the same manner of good-ness.
All of which is to say that I been working overtime the last nine days on this here railroad, and I need to re-charge my batteries. Messrs. Cooke and Gibson will, I have no doubt, pick up the standard and brandish it far more effectively than I, blog wearied as I am.
Again, I want to give my immense thanks to those of you who contributed images and text and all things Charlie Parker last week. Most of you I thanked individually, and the rest I will get to (I promise that much), but this is the collective thanks. May your tribes increase.
Tom Sutpen
for the series:
Guest Contributions
August 12, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #7
The Golden Age of Publicity #1
From the original caption supplied by Columbia Pictures:
"Interesting Company: Two Columbia contract beauties, Norma Randall, left, and Rosemarie Bowe, have little Tommy Rettig in tow as he prepares to leave on a cross-country tour to exploit his latest film, The Kramer Company's Technicolor The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. All are wearing official 'T' shirts and beanies."
Guest Contributor: Ray Young
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Golden Age of Publicity
Artists in Action #240
When Legends Gather #286
Weegee shows Stanley Kubrick his Rolleiflex camera
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Seminal Image #717
Lásky jedné plavovlásky
(Loves of a Blonde)
(Milos Forman; 1965)
Guest Contributor: David Parker
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
When Models Were Models #11
Penelope Tree
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Models Were Models
Poets are both clean and warm
And most are far above the norm
Whether here or on the roam
Have a poet in every home! #21
Alan Ansen (hung by William S. Burroughs)
Guest Contributor: Hannah
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Poets are both clean and warm
Tricky: Scenes from a Life #40
Tricky meets a man in black (1972)
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Tricky: Scenes from a Life
Seminal Image #716
The Thin Red Line
(Terence Malick; 1998)
Guest Contributor: Jason Comerford
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
Artists in Action #239
Jean-Paul Belmondo plays pinball
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
The Cool Hall of Fame #91
Frank Zappa
Guest Contributor: Theron Neel
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Cool Hall of Fame
They Were Collaborators #350
Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil with Big Ben
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
This Week's Weegee #30
Guest Contributor: Jeff Duncanson
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
This Week's Weegee
The Art of Communism #17
Guest Contributor: Pietro
for the series:
Art of Communism,
Guest Contributions
They Were an Item #9
Alain Delon and Romy Schneider
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were an Item
The Roots of Pop Art #10
Hot Rod and Speedway
(February-March, 1957)
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Roots of Pop Art
The Acid Eaters #2
Before and After #80:
Aldous Huxley
Before
After
Guest Contributor: Glyphjockey
for the series:
Before and After,
Guest Contributions,
The Acid Eaters
Old New York #9
32nd St. and 3rd. (1936)
Guest Contributor: Jeff Duncanson
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Old New York
Seminal Image #715
Au revoir, les enfants
(Goodbye, Children)
(Louis Malle; 1987)
Guest Contributor: shahn
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
When Legends Gather #285
Charles Chaplin, Ernst Lubitsch, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks
Guest Contributor: David Manning
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Sex Education #83
Natalie Wood
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Sex Education
Jack Delano's Trains #4
In the roundhouse at a Chicago and Northwestern Railroad yard
(Chicago, IL; December, 1942)
Guest Contributor: Abraham Hyatt
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Jack Delano's Trains
Artists in Action #238
The Mighty Sparrow wows some suits
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
When Legends Gather #284
Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog
Guest Contributor: Josh Krauter
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Adventures in American Filmmaking #80
Today's Adventure: On the set of Eraserhead, David Lynch makes up Laurel Near as the Lady in the Radiator (1977)
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking,
Guest Contributions
August 11, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #6
The Acid Eaters #1
Albert Hofmann
Guest Contributor: Glyphjockey
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Acid Eaters
Seminal Image #714
The Big Lebowski
(Joel Coen; 1997)
Guest Contributor: Stacia
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
They Were Collaborators #349
Merce Cunningham and John Cage
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
When Legends Gather #283
Ann Coulter and Rev. Al Sharpton
Guest Contributor: David Manning
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Artists in Action #237
Tom Stoppard is poised to write
Guest Contributor: Testify
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
They Were Collaborators #348
Ann-Margret and Ken Russell
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
The Golden Age of Prurience #41
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
(by Lewis Carroll; aka, The Rev. Charles Dodgson)
(MacMillan and Co., 1865)
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Golden Age of Prurience
The Present Day Composer #49
Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997)
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Present Day Composer
Artists in Action #236
Klaus Kinski publishes his memoirs
Guest Contributor: Jürgen Fauth of jürgen fauth’s muckworld
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
They Were an Item #8
Spade and Ella Mae Cooley
Guest Contributor: Testify
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were an Item
Before and After #79:
Eric Burdon
Before
After
Guest Contributor: Glyphjockey
for the series:
Before and After,
Guest Contributions
The Art of Cinema #246
Dick Tracy
(William A. Berke; 1945)
Guest Contributor: Hannan Levin of grow-a-brain
for the series:
Art of Cinema,
Guest Contributions
When Legends Gather #282
Terence Stamp and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Seminal Image #713
The Hustler
(Robert Rossen; 1961)
Guest Contributor: Ryan Sarnowski of Made Out of Mouth
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
Jack Delano's Trains #3
Switchman throwing a switch at C & NW RR's Proviso yard
(Chicago, IL; April, 1943)
Guest Contributor: Abraham Hyatt
for the series:
Guest Contributions
Self Portrait #4
Andrea (Andy) Warhol
Guest Contributor: Glyphjockey
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Self Portrait
The Cool Hall of Fame #90
Johnny Ray
Guest Contributor: Peteski of Nevver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Cool Hall of Fame
They Were Collaborators #347
Guest Contributor: Testify
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
When Legends Gather #281
Errol Flynn and Brigitte Bardot
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
The Art of Travel #10
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Art of Travel,
Guest Contributions
August 10, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #5
Adventures in American Filmmaking #79
Today's Adventure: Lars von Trier gives Lauren Bacall direction and a hard time on the set of Manderlay (2005)
Guest Contributor: Steve Carlson of The Ongoing Cinematic Education of Steven Carlson
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking,
Guest Contributions
Artists in Action #235
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir get arrested for distributing
La Cause du Peuple (1971)
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
Seminal Image #712
Phantom Lady
(Robert Siodmak; 1944)
Guest Contributor: Ray Young
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
Great Canadians of the 20th Century #9
Emily Carr in her studio with Sunshine and Tumult, c. 1936
(photo: Harold Mortimer-Lamb; courtesy: National Gallery of Canada).
Guest Contributor: Trish Turliuk
for the series:
Great Canadians of the 20th Century,
Guest Contributions
Jack Delano's Trains #2
Indiana Harbor Belt RR switchman, demonstrating signal with a 'fusee' --
used at twilight and dawn -- when visibility is poor. This signal means 'stop.'
(Calumet City, IL; January, 1943)
Guest Contributor: Abraham Hyatt
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Jack Delano's Trains
A Who's Who of Swinging London #9
Marsha Hunt
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
A Who's Who of Swinging London,
Guest Contributions
The Art of Cinema #245
Tanned Legs
(Marshall Neilan; 1929)
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Art of Cinema,
Guest Contributions
When Legends Gather #280
Jack Nicholson, Lauren Bacall and Warren Beatty
Guest Contributor: Mark of Movie Masterworks
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
They Were Collaborators #346
Nick Adams and Natalie Wood
Guest Contributor: Peter L. Winkler of Precious Cargo
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
Seminal Image #711
Ariel
(Aki Kaurismäki; 1988)
Guest Contributor: Paul Duane
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
When Legends Gather #279
Noam Chomsky and Fidel Castro
Guest Contributor: David Manning
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Before and After #78:
Dorothy Parker
Before
After
Guest Contributor: Theron Neel
for the series:
Before and After,
Guest Contributions
Great Moments in Marketing #13
Cornel Wilde sells Schenley Whiskey
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Great Moments in Marketing,
Guest Contributions
The Present Day Composer #48
Juan Garcia Esquivel (1918-2002)
Guest Contributor: Testify
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Present Day Composer
August 09, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #4
They Were Collaborators #345
Buster Keaton and Samuel Beckett
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
Adventures in American Filmmaking #78
Today's Adventure: Ralph Levy and Marlon Brando discuss pratfalls
for Bedtime Story (1964)
Guest Contributor: Ray Young
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking,
Guest Contributions
The Cool Hall of Fame #89
Lon Chaney
Guest Contributor: Stacia
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Cool Hall of Fame
The Golden Age of Prurience #40
Homo Hill
(Matt Bradley; 1963)
Guest Contributor: Dave Cash
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Golden Age of Prurience
They Were Collaborators #344
John Ford and George O'Brien
Guest Contributor: name lastname
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
Yé-Yé #5
Marie Laforet
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Ye-ye
When Legends Gather #278
Ringo Starr and Marc Bolan
Guest Contributor: Theron Neel
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
The Art of Communism #16
Guest Contributor: Pietro
for the series:
Art of Communism,
Guest Contributions
Great Canadians of the 20th Century #8
Gordon Lightfoot
Guest Contributor: Jeff Duncanson
for the series:
Great Canadians of the 20th Century,
Guest Contributions
El Cine Del Oro #36
El Gato sin botas
(A Puss Without Boots)
(Fernando Cortés; 1957)
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
El Cine Del Oro,
Guest Contributions
Seminal Image #710
Portrait of Jennie
(William Dieterle; 1948)
Guest Contributor: David Parker
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
Artists in Action #234
The Jackson 5ive strut their stuff on The Ed Sullivan Show
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
They Were an Item #7
Jean-Paul Belmondo and Ursula Andress
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were an Item
Seminal Image #709
Blue Velvet
(David Lynch; 1986)
Guest Contributor: Stacia
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
August 08, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #3
Artists in Action #233
Leo Tolstoy spins a yarn
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
They Were Collaborators #343
John Waters and Harris Glenn Milstead (aka Divine)
Guest Contributor: Andrew Mazur of Transmissions from Wintermute
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
When Legends Gather #277
Bud Abbott, Donald O'Connor, Eddie Cantor, James Durante and Lou Costello
Guest Contributor: David Manning
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Seminal Image #708
Imitation of Life
(Douglas Sirk; 1959)
Guest Contributor: Patrick Ciccone
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
Self Portrait #3
Stanley Kubrick
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Self Portrait
The Art of Technological Advance #3
Guest Contributor: Stacia
for the series:
Art of Technological Advance,
Guest Contributions
When Models Were Models #10
Marisa Berenson
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Models Were Models
The Roots of Pop Art #9
Mister Mystery
(July-August, 1955)
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Roots of Pop Art
Before and After #77:
Montgomery Clift
Before
After
Guest Contributor: Testify
for the series:
Before and After,
Guest Contributions
Artists in Action #232
Fritz Lang puts Peter to bed
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
They Were Collaborators #342
The Three Stooges (Jerry Howard, Larry Fine and Moe Howard)
Guest Contributor: Lex10 of Glyphjockey
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
August 07, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #2
Jack Delano's Trains #1
C&NW RR, working on a locomotive at the 40th street railroad shops
(Chicago, IL; December, 1942)
Guest Contributor: Abraham Hyatt
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Jack Delano's Trains
The Art of Travel #9
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Art of Travel,
Guest Contributions
Artists in Action #231
Paul Anka knots his tie
Guest Contributor: Testify of Testify
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
Sex Education #82
Elizabeth Taylor
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Sex Education
The Art of Jazz #42
Unit Structures
(Cecil Taylor)
(Blue Note Records; 1966)
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Art of Jazz,
Guest Contributions
Adventures in American Filmmaking #77
Today's Adventure: Anthony Cardoza, William C. Thompson, Harry Thomas, Tor Johnson and Edward D. Wood take an existential break from filming Night of the Ghouls (1959)
Guest Contributor: Ray Young
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking,
Guest Contributions
When Legends Gather #276
Bill Haley and Elvis Presley
Guest Contributor: David Manning
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
The Cool Hall of Fame #88
Ann-Margret
Guest Contributor: Theron Neel
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
The Cool Hall of Fame
Seminal Image #707
Soy Cuba
(I Am Cuba)
(Mikhail Kalatozov; 1964)
Guest Contributor: Jeff Duncanson
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
Seminal Images
A Who's Who of Swinging London #8
Michael Caine struts down a London street
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
A Who's Who of Swinging London,
Guest Contributions
Artists in Action #230
The Monks get their tonsures touched up
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
The Art of the Gig #6
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Art of the Gig,
Guest Contributions
August 06, 2007
Guest Contributor Week: Day #1
When Legends Gather #275
Marvin Hamlisch, Mike Douglas, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Guest Contributor: David Manning of The Ridgefield Press
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Adventures in the Fight Racket #7
Today's Adventure: Marcel Cerdan smiles confidently before his title defense
against Jake LaMotta (1949)
Guest Contributor: Jeff Duncanson of Filmscreed
for the series:
Adventures in the Fight Racket,
Guest Contributions
When Legends Gather #274
Brian Jones, Yoko Ono, Roger Daltrey, Julian Lennon, John Lennon and Eric Clapton
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
When Legends Gather
Artists in Action #229
Toots Hibbert inhales
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
Great Moments in Marketing #12
Jack Palance endorses Heublein Cocktails
Guest Contributor: Kimberly Lindbergs of Cinebeats
for the series:
Great Moments in Marketing,
Guest Contributions
They Were Collaborators #341
Michel Legrand and Jean-Luc Godard
Guest Contributor: Galen Young
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
The Art of Cinema #244
Man Bait
(Terence Fisher; 1952)
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Art of Cinema,
Guest Contributions
The Art of American Amusement #9
A Ku Klux Klan carnival somewhere in the Midwest
Guest Contributor: Stacia of Food & Movies
for the series:
Art of American Amusement,
Guest Contributions
Academy of the Underrated #8
Brother Theodore
Guest Contributor: Ray Young of Flickhead
for the series:
Academy of the Underrated,
Guest Contributions
Before and After #76:
Lotte Lenya
Before
After
Guest Contributor: Rob Carver
for the series:
Before and After,
Guest Contributions
They Were Collaborators #340
The Benny Goodman Trio (Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa)
Guest Contributor: Shahn of six martinis and the seventh art
for the series:
Guest Contributions,
They Were Collaborators
Artists in Action #228
Daniel Johnston gives Yip! Jump Music the hard sell
Guest Contributor: Mike Daly
for the series:
Artists in Action,
Guest Contributions
August 05, 2007
The Director of the Moment
It's an appropriate image, don't you think?
Not that he was any more at home in the treacherous expanse of Death Valley than Erich von Stroheim had been forty-five years earlier. Nor would I say that he emerged from that red-gold desert with a film anyone would call a triumph in the art of the motion picture (it was, in fact, the worst of his films; though not without its moments). No, I merely make this observation to point out that Michelangelo Antonioni, who passed away last week at the age of 94, could find more in empty spaces and relative silences than any filmmaker in history. "I want my characters to suggest the background in themselves, even when it is not visible." he once said, "I want them to be so powerfully realized that we cannot imagine them apart from their physical and social context even when we see them in empty space."
It was Antonioni's limning of that social context, his greater or lesser understanding of it, that enabled these realizations, gave them breath. Unlike Federico Fellini, the director he was so often and so foolishly pitted against by movie reviewers in the early 1960s, Antonioni had little interest in cramming his frames to their edges with human bric-a-brac (beauties, grotesques, endless, endless talkers) and a filming style unhinged yet, at its core, severely disciplined. He instead stripped the universe his narratives dwelled in of everything they (and, by extension, we) didn't need, making all he left in that much more stark and forbidding. With its awful history and abundant life-force, Italy is a country whose arts were never easily dispassionate, and no medium practiced there was ever more manic than its cinema (it's the one crucial, unbreakable link between that country's commercial filmmaking and its so-called Art cinema), yet Antonioni's work, at first glance, seemed oddly cold-blooded in comparison with . . . just about everyone's. But that was only their surface. His films were, in fact, intensely dramatic at their best, though totally bereft of the thousand manipulations of melodrama; and they could be excruciating in the utter persistence with which the background, as he put it, of his characters made itself known to us.
Michelangelo Antonioni was, if nothing else, a director of moments. This is not to say that he excelled at individual sequences at the expense of the whole, or even that he had an abiding gift for dramatic, carefully constructed epiphanies. His unique gift, his genius (to use a word pressed into backbreaking service this week) lay in depicting with immense precision the most agonizing hours of inner torment, documenting on film that which cannot be documented so directly: The moment when an artist begins to know the limits of art; the moment when a marriage can no longer go on; the moment when a man's inanition of will finally reduces every personal illusion to dust; the moment when a revolutionary impulse dies; the moment when loss becomes irretrievable. It was something no other filmmaker, then or now, was capable of. It was literally like photographing heartbreak.
In New York magazine earlier this week, Bilge Ebiri squeezed out the standard, reflexive teardrop; lamenting the passing of Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, placing these doubly sad events in contrast to the foul success of someone like Brett Ratner, then reading into it all the usual, sinister implications. Doesn't bode well for us, does it? Well, who knows. I won't go the Cassandra route (not this time) and foretell a dour and detestable future for those of us who are hopelessly obsessed with cinema. Frankly, I'm of the opinion (sometimes) that we cinephiles only rarely deserve to have artists like Antonioni . . . or Bergman . . . or whatever giant falls next (Godard? Rivette? Kenneth Anger??) walk among us and bring forth their works.
Let's just be thankful we have them for as long as they're around.
for the series:
Obits
Movie of the Week #20
Sette Canne, un vestito
(Seven Reeds, One Suit)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1949)
The industrialization of Northern Italy after the Second World War, and all its hideous consequences, was only one of the subtexts that informed, to one degree or another, a huge amount of Post-war Italian Cinema (not just the Neorealist cycle). In one of his early documentaries, Sette Canne, un vestito, Michelangelo Antonioni took his camera to a Rayon factory near Trieste and, through his determined emphasis on soulless machinery (almost to the exclusion of the workers) created the first of his oppressive environments without sacrificing the essential documentary character of the enterprise. Almost a decade later, Alain Resnais and Raymond Queneau would take this a step (or two) further with their plastic molding epic, Le Chant du Styrène, but Antonioni's film, even with the sumptuousness of its imagery, remains the more everlasting triumph in this small corner of the documentary canon.
Note: This film is presented in the original Italian, without English subtitles. Call it a poor guess or call it a shifty evasion, but it's my . . . belief . . . that the narration probably offers us little that the images can't handle on their own.
for the series:
Movies of the Week
Adventures in European Filmmaking #29
Today's Adventure: Michelangelo Antonioni sets up his camera for Chung Kuo: Cina, without representatives of the PRC breathing down his neck (1972)
for the series:
Adventures in European Filmmaking
Seminal Image #705
Cronaca di un amore
(Story of a Love Affair)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1950)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Adventures in American Filmmaking #76
Today's Adventure: On the set of Zabriskie Point, extras look on nervously as Michelangelo Antonioni contemplates a solution to his problems with MGM (1970)
for the series:
Adventures in American Filmmaking
Seminal Image #704
Identificazione di una donna
(Identification of a Woman)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1982)
for the series:
Seminal Images
They Were Collaborators #339
Monica Vitti and Michelangelo Antonioni
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Great Moments in Journalism #3
How the mighty BBC covered the passing of Michelangelo Antonioni
for the series:
Great Moments in Journalism
Seminal Image #703
L'Avventura
(The Adventure)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1960)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Adventures in European Filmmaking #28
Today's adventure: Michelangelo Antonioni the cast and crew of Professione: reporter (The Passenger; 1975) prepare for the final shots.
for the series:
Adventures in European Filmmaking
Seminal Image #702
L'Eclisse
(The Eclipse)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1962)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Artists in Action #226
When Legends Gather #273
Andrei Tarkovsky and Michelangelo Antonioni hang out, as Tonino Guerra stands watch
for the series:
Artists in Action,
When Legends Gather
They Were Collaborators #338
Wim Wenders and Michelangelo Antonioni
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Seminal Image #700
Professione: reporter
(The Passenger)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1975)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Artists in Action #225
Far away from home, Michelangelo Antonioni makes a home movie
for the series:
Artists in Action
Seminal Image #699
Le Amiche
(The Friends)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1955)
for the series:
Seminal Images
They Were Collaborators #337
Michelangelo Antonioni and the cast of La Notte
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
The Art of Cinema #241
L'Eclisse
(The Eclipse)
(Michelangelo Antonioni; 1962)
for the series:
Art of Cinema
August 04, 2007
The Most Happy Auteur
Ingmar Bergman, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 89, was already one of the most celebrated film artists on earth by the age of forty; and not without good cause. Over the preceding fifteen years (and more than one decade thereafter) he had, through the force of his will and his talent alone, accomplished a feat that was almost miraculous: He brought to bear upon narrative cinema the most directly personal vision it had ever witnessed. Think about it. Personal expression in film arguably goes all the way back to the Brothers Lumiere, and directors always, to greater or lesser degrees, used their work to cast perspective on matters of far more immediate concern to them than the audience or their putative colaborators. But when people speak (rightfully) of intensely private dimensions in the work of, say, Howard Hawks or Alfred Hitchcock, it has to be remembered that whatever core of inward reflection these directors sought could not have been achieved without the protective armor of comercially-viable genres. Inside the contours of a Western or a Suspense number they were, very often, poets; outside them, they were considered unemployable.
After a half-decade of slugging it out in the trenches of Sweden's film industry, Bergman had truck with genres only rarely, and when he did they never adhered to anyone's conventions. His was a process, almost from the start, of striking personal thematic chords again and again and again. With very few exceptions he wrote every film he directed, and not one could have been conceivable as the product of any other. His works were his, or they were no one's.
He was, in this sense, on the fast track of history. In 1948, just two years after Bergman commenced his directorial career, the novelist Alexandre Astruc thundered across the pages of L'Ecrain Francais with a piece that in its time was seen less an essay than a call to arms. In this article, "The Birth of a New Avant-Garde", he advanced the idea of 'Le camera-stylo', and argued that film artists could only realize the full potentialities of the medium by means of direct, singular authorship, an authorship at once similar to that of a novelist or a painter but wholly dissimilar in that its methods were exclusively those of cinema. It was idealism run rampant, but that only made its allure, for some, all the more alluring.
It's a proposition with which one can, of course, dispute endlessly, but in the realm of narrative filmmaking Ingmar Bergman consummated Astruc's ideal more completely than any director of his day. So it falls, then, as naturally as night falls upon day, that in the full flower of his creativity he would often find himself dismissed by the high tide of auteurist movie reviewers, usually American, whose critical mandate was virtually fueled by such outlandishly romantic proclamations as Astruc's. The reason for this had little to do with his movies and everything to do with the attitudes of a certain breed of reviewer: Auteurist criticism, as it came to be, was essentially a sport, one where each critic mined a body of work for the oft-hidden authorial hand of its director and then wrote their way (often poorly) to Olympus. It's an engaging preoccupation, always good for passing the time, but Bergman made it too easy.
No one, after all, had to look very far or for very long to find the evidence of his hand. It was manifest from first frame to last. What else was there to say? When Jonas Mekas (more gadfly than auteurist was he) once stated somewhat foolishly that there was more cinema in Hawks's Air Force than in the entirety of Ingmar Bergman's ouvre, it was not without a particle or two of real frustration. It was as if, by so closely incarnating the auteur model, Bergman was somehow playing dirty pool. If he'd been laboring in the charnel house of a severely regimented film industry such as Hollywood's, cranking out genre assignments and sneaking whatever he could of himself into the most rote, impersonal material, then he'd be presenting critics with a challenge, something they could work with. But the way he was doing it, the way he always did it, there was nothing for them to write about. It was no fair; no fun.
In a 1972 interview with John Simon . . . published in Ingmar Bergman Directs; a book, by contrast, almost tumescent with admiration for its subject ("To be the most important man in the most important art must be a terrible responsibility. Does it bother you?") . . . he spoke of what inspired his works. "It starts with a sort of tension or a specific scene, some lines, a picture or something, a piece of music. It just starts as a very, very small scene. And from this little scene comes a trembling. I look at it and try to pull it out. And sometimes it remains just this little thing.. But sometimes it's more; I can't stop and suddenly I have a lot of material." If we warrant that this is so . . . and the thousand evasions movie directors employed in interviews could often be an art unto itself; one worthy of fuller exploration at another time . . . then what is remarkable about Ingmar Bergman is not that he would draw inspiration from seemingly odd and random elements, but that his engagement with his own sensibility, his supreme confidence in it, up to and including an acceptance of its unknowable corridors, was such that he could then construct, as he did, a wholly coherent, utterly compelling body of cinema.
By using his imagination to plumb the deepest recesses of himself, he in turn gave us something we could then use to see ourselves, thereby succeeding where so many navel-gazers (and film critics) fail.
for the series:
Obits
Seminal Image #698
Kvinnors väntan
(Secrets of Women)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1952)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Movie of the Week #19
Karins ansikte
(Karin's Face)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1984)
For a director who sought time and again to restate a past he could only have known from hearsay, 1984's Karin's ansikte, one of the director's few shorter works and one of his most moving, represents the one occasion when Ingmar Bergman allowed that past to speak for itself.
for the series:
Movies of the Week
Artists in Action #224
Ingmar Bergman looks into the jaws of the future
for the series:
Artists in Action
They Were Collaborators #336
Max Von Sydow, Liv Ullmann and Gunnar Bjornstrand
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Seminal Image #697
Vargtimmen
(Hour of the Wolf)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1968)
for the series:
Seminal Images
The Art of Cinema #240
Det Sjunde inseglet
(The Seventh Seal)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1957)
for the series:
Art of Cinema
They Were Collaborators #335
Ingmar Bergman and Victor Sjöström
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Adventures in European Filmmaking #27
Today's Adventure: Ingmar Bergman listens to Ingrid Bergman on the set of Höstsonaten (Autumn Sonata; 1978)
for the series:
Adventures in European Filmmaking
Seminal Image #696
Viskningar och rop
(Cries and Whispers)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1972)
for the series:
Seminal Images
Adventures in European Filmmaking #26
Today's Adventure: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullman, Sven Nykvist and Ingmar Bergman take a break during the filming of Persona in 1965.
for the series:
Adventures in European Filmmaking
The Art of Cinema #238
Sommaren med Monika
(Summer with Monika)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1953)
for the series:
Art of Cinema
They Were Collaborators #334
The cast of Gycklarnas afton (Sawdust and Tinsel; 1953)
(seismic thanks to Galen Young for this image)
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Before and After #73:
Ingmar Bergman Directs
Before (Såsom i en spegel; 1961)
After (Saraband; 2003)
(huge thanks to Jason Comerford of One Letter at a Time for the After image!)
for the series:
Before and After
Seminal Image #693
Jungfrukällan
(The Virgin Spring)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1960)
for the series:
Seminal Images
They Were Collaborators #333
Ingrid Thulin and Ingmar Bergman
(immense thanks to Galen Young for this image)
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
Adventures in European Filmmaking #25
Today's Adventure: Ingmar Bergman and Jörgen Lindström play with a toy train on the set of Tystnaden (The Silence; 1963).
for the series:
Adventures in European Filmmaking
The Art of Cinema #237
Vargtimmen
(Hour of the Wolf)
(Ingmar Bergman; 1968)
for the series:
Art of Cinema
Relevant Quote #92
"Say anything you want against The Seventh Seal. My fear of death — this infantile fixation of mine — was, at that moment, overwhelming. I felt myself in contact with death day and night, and my fear was tremendous. When I finished the picture, my fear went away. I have the feeling simply of having painted a canvas in an enormous hurry — with enormous pretension but without any arrogance. I said, 'Here is a painting; take it, please.'"
-- Ingmar Bergman
for the series:
Relevant Quotes
August 03, 2007
Intervista #3
Broadcasters #23
Everything that was good and everything that was ridiculous about Tom Snyder (who passed away earlier this week at the age of 71), is on display in this 1981 interview with Singer-Songwriter Charles Manson; recorded for NBC's Tomorrow show at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.
for the series:
Broadcasters,
Intervista,
Obits
They Were Collaborators #332
Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford
for the series:
They Were Collaborators
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