REMEMBRANCE
Listening to ECHOES on PBS, remembering things past. I Googled "Alfred Leslie" – an artist of some renown – I remembered him from my "hippy-dippy daz" in the early 60's. Al was a friend of George Peters, and George was an friend – and teacher – of mine. George had introduced me to film making – it was the age of the underground and artists were moving into the realm that had been controlled by Hollywood. Al, George, Kenneth Anger, Jonas Mekas (Stan Brakhage might have been there - I need to check the roster, which I still have) and others, were discussing putting together a place where filmmakers could show their work to their peers and anyone who might be interested. It was then, that "Filmmakers Projection" was born.
I first met Al at the Cedar Tavern. It was a delightful place – all dark and woody ... or, at least, that’s how I remember it. It was an interesting period in our history. The underground was just coming above ground. We were inventing new language, a President had been assassinated only a year before, and we were just beginning serious opposition to the war in Viet Nam – a war they were still denying ... our soldiers were still called "advisors" ... the mobilization which ultimately killed many of those I was a child with had not really begun.
"Projection" was organized – we met at St. Marks on the Bowery. Membership cards were issued to filmmakers ... I received card number three ... everyone who was anyone in the New York film making community was a member – Andy Warhol exhibited several of his works. The Kuchar Brothers – George and Mike – were starting their careers. A very young, very short, character named Mike Sullivan was showing his enormous creativity and comic flair in a war commentary – "A Story for Another Easter". It was an interesting time.
Actually, to say George and Mike were just starting isn’t really true – they, like I, had started making 8mm films at, or before, puberty. But this was the period in which everything was becoming national, and it was about five years later, in 1967, that the boys were cited in Playboy – along with a number of our cohorts. I was not worthy of mention. I remember their "star" – Donna Kerness – a bosom that could drive any male wild ... and shapely legs with thick dancer’s calves ... she was moaned about having to slit expensive boots so her feet could get in; otherwise the thickness of her calves would only let them halfway down the length. Oh how I, and so many others, wanted to "ball" her.
Super-8 had just come out. It was an interesting medium and compromise between 8mm and 16mm. A Photography critic named Philip Lipton took credit for making the first underground super-8 movie. Soon everyone was doing it. Then there were the works – somewhat perverted works – of Bob Cowan; who made no bones about being breast obsessed.
Oh well, it’s 1:15 and I need my beauty sleep ... enough memory searching for one night.
