Fra Angelico

PART III-THE ANNUNCIATION
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a Virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The Virgin`s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." LUKE 1: 26-33

First, I will cede a mere modicum of divers postulations or anomalies, in order to give you better acumen as to my presence of mind. The story of the Annunciation is only told in the book of Luke, yet the portrayal of the Annunciation subject in art is ubiquitous for the timeframe discussed herein, the late Medieval and early Renaissance periods in Italy. Someone had a clear motive to propitiate the firmness of this account. Next, Fra Angelico was under the spell of a furious blast of winds, the zephyrs of Catholicism, truly blown by the Mendicant orders, the Franciscan and Benedictine, the latter of which he was a member. Expeditiously, Fra Angelico is in some measure Gothic, but at the same time, a practitioner of new ideas, accrued from the fresh insights of Masaccio! (Please note that Lorenzo Monaco was his chief mentor). Contemporary scholarship on Beato (Angel), exclusively for the recent Metropolitan exhibition, has been made ready by Laurence Kanter, the chief art historian for this prodigious panoply. Essential to ones collection is Fra Angelico by Laurence Kanter and Pia Palladino, and published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Yale University Press, New Haven and London. The principium of this text, and sharply in opposition to John Pope-Hennessy from the old school, is that Kanter upholds Fra Angelico`s position as an deviceful artist, in the Florentive Quattrocento, conspicuously after the death of Masaccio in 1428, and before the advent of Fra Filippo Lippi. Foremost, when I experienced this exhibition on December 27, 2005, and without herein unveiling indulgent rhapsodies, I was bestruck with its perfection and fragrance of beauty, never played back in prior romps! Beato had such a saintly inspired and steady hand! So delicate was his application of paint-zealously, I scrutinized the surfaces of these antiquated panels-that one may imagine that the temper paint was applied with a needle, rather than a brush! So with these theories as an underpinning, I will begin to mull over sundry executions of the Annunciation.

The earliest rendering of this subject by Fra Angelico was plausibly painted between 1413 and 1417 (see Laurence Kanter-pp. 22-24). It was done on two different panels, one as The Annunciatory Angel (11 3/8 x 12 ¼ in.) and one as The Virgin Annunciate (11 ¾ x 12 3/8 in.). In point of fact, I ogled these ethereal gems at the Metropolitan last December! Both are close models of Lorenzo Ghiberti`s bronze relief of the subject on the north door of the Baptistry in Florence. Even God the Father is shown in the top left hand corner of the Virgin piece with golden rays and the dove of the Holy Ghost. While the two medallion-like works are still primarily Gothic, the folds in the Virgin`s blue robes are true to nature. The wings of Gabriel are exquisitely articulated as he grasps a lily in his left hand. The Annunciation by Simone Martini painted some one-hundred years before, has a lily in Gabriel`s hand as well, yet it is the right hand. Angelico`s interpretation differs from Ghiberti`s in that the figures are discernible within the interior of the architectural structure. Throughout his tenure there is an apparent, increasing sculptural quality to his models-Donatello`s marbles and bronzes were very much an inspiration. The paint colors (tempera only) chosen are roses, blues, pinks, golds, and grays. Angelico employs bolder color choices than other artists from that time, with Lorenzo Monaco or Gentile da Fabriano as amenable guides. It is unknown what function the panels served, but they must have been part of a tabernacle or reliquary (Laurence Kanter-p. 23).
The two heavenly characters are also separated out in Giotto`s Annunciation, a most famous version in the Arena Chapel in Padua, painted around 1305, and not long after the chapel was built by its wealthy patron Scrovegni. Giotto`s Mary is matronly and more closely resembles an indigenous Italian of the Trecento. Angelico`s is to a greater extent innocent, perhaps younger, and more in tune with the other world. Duccio Buoninsegna`s Annunciation, in the National Gallery, London, and painted in Siena in the early Trecento, manifests a harbinger of modernity, with the central characters in motion, and a contemporary architectural backdrop. Duccio makes use of a lively application of color, and circumscribed command of the robes of Gabriel and Mary, in their shading and folds. Noteworthy too, are the mystical mastery of the vase of lilies and the descending dove of the Holy Spirit up in the arches. As to whether Fra Angelico ever saw Giotto or Duccio`s paintings, there is no surviving record, but it is believable that he did, when one examines his offerings.
I choose to discuss the next three principal versions of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico in ascending order (from the base of the mountain to its pinnacle), according to my predilection for the paintings. The Annunciation at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (1425-1426) is one piece associated with Fra Angelico`s early-middle period; that is, when he was still under the spell of Lorenzo Ghiberti and Gentile da Fabriano. He is especially informed by Fabriano in his use of color and his penchant for meticulous design. Please study Gentile da Fabriano`s perception of the Annunciation. It does appear as if Fra utilized Fabriano`s streaming diagonal beam of golden light, radiating from God. The small altarpiece for San Domenico at Fiesole by Fra Angelico is wrought with detail; just look at the Garden of Eden drama unfolding to the left side of the panel, with Adam and Eve, an angel, and vivid verdure coupled with the bountiful fruits of paradise. Moreover, there is much painstaking accessary in the Archangel`s wings and his gilded rose-colored garments. The edifice, enveloping Gabriel and Mary, and highlighting the miracle with tans and whites, exudes mathematical precision and harmony. Profoundly, Angelico projects out of the Gothic references of Fabriano and his recent past, and into the scientific cadences of a Fillippo Brunelleschi or a Ghiberti. Conjointly, observe the subtle shading of the back chamber behind Our Lady-perhaps the boudoir of the Virgin herself! Curiously examine the swallow (rondine) perched on an iron tie rod to the left, and just above the Virgin-no doubt, a pun referring to the patron Allessandro Rondinelli (Laurence Kanter-p. 83).
The real space depiction of the figures in its architectural context, as well as their more pronounced genuflection (Kanter`s word), is a departure from Fabriano`s mostly rigid models and flat spatial frame of reference. Both of the blessed models are humbly stooped, and their hands are folded in sacrosanct devotion. Their faces are gentle, soft, and rosily irreproachable, and magnanimous gilded halos radiate about their heads! Too, the draperies behind the Virgin echo the gold/ochre of Gabriel`s wings, as do the deep blues of her robe parallel in tone the upper arches cascading down to the columns. The pinks of the Virgin`s undergarments are appreciably lighter than the Archangel`s, and subtly act as bookends to the smaller angel in the paradise scene to the left of the panel.
The Annunciation altarpiece from the church of San Domenico in Cortona (1430 or 1431) is emblematic of the late-middle period of Fra Angelico. This stylistic shift is outlined by a pruning of excessive elements, along with a sharper focus on the thematic developing drama within the painting (Laurence Kanter-p. 24). That is, considerable more tribute is paid to Masaccio, who died in 1428 in Rome. Some of the cornerstones of Masaccio`s revolutionary vicissitudes include: figures that appear more sculpture-like (inspiration from Donatello), the depiction of real space, as it appears to the naked eye in nature, the use of foreshortening, the employment of chiaroscuro, and lastly, the simplification of particular peripheral elements. Moreover, a most significant breakthrough of Masaccio, is the illustration of personages in histrionic motion or expression. I am proffering, as an example, the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, in the Brancacci Chapel, which is within the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. And without the differentiating flagrancy of a bellowing braggadocio, I had the charmed occasion to visit this church in October of 2000, and could give testimony firsthand to the salient qualities of Masaccio`s revelations of technique.

With these new forms at his disposal, Fra Angelico begins to give birth to a number of compositions that betoken this new late-middle period style. In order to better grasp Beato`s newly acquired synthesis of the modus operandi of the one gifted Masaccio, I beseech you to look at The Apostle Saint James the Greater Freeing the Magician Hermogenes, painted in the late 1430s.This piece is in the permanent collection of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth-I shall make a point to feast my eyes on it with flagitous fanfare! Its creation coincides with a contiguous date to the Cortona Annunciation, as the figures also betray emotive action in their drawing. So then, as a result of the lessons gleaned from Masaccio, one may observe how much more motion is detectable in the Archangel and Mary of the Cortona piece, than in the Prado painting of about five or six years before. True also, the clothing reveals Masaccio`s influence notably, with the judicious use of chiaroscuro, and in the delineation of the folds of say, Mary`s blue robe or the rose skirt of Gabriel. One befuddlement, since his late-middle period is primarily associated with a bereavement of excessive ephemera, i.e. in apparent contradistinction-yet oddly the gilded wings of Gabriel are considerably embellished and thus distinguished from earlier productions, and the golden throne is almost Byzantine, with its geometric ornamentation! This can be made plain, perhaps, by the fact that these delicate touches give credence to the central drama of the calling up of Mary. As a consequence, they are not mere incidental minutiae that cast the eye away from the substrative vision, but contribute to the cardinal proceedings of the pictorial narrative-this too would be in deference to Masaccio!

By way of comparison, the Deposition, originally in the sacristy of the Santa Trinita of Florence, is in like manner from Angelico`s middle period (early 1430s), and is stylistically aligned to the Cortona Annunciation (Laurence Kanter-p. 87). Further, the components of the Deposition are realistic, as in the wood grain of the cross, the lash wounds on Christ, the cypress trees, the city of Jerusalem, and as a final embroidery, the indigenous Florentine attire of the saints and sinners (Laurence Kanter-p. 87). The Adoration of the Magi by Gentile da Fabriano, finished in 1423, and in the same church, provides sustenance for Beato`s panoramic depiction of Christ`s removal from the cross (Laurence Kanter-p. 87). Both paintings are distinguished by jewel-like precision and are fairy-tale portrayals of two unique biblical events, construed, in both cases, with much detachment.

The last of Beato`s oeuvre that I will deliberate on, does emphatically bestow an optimum ravishment for my eyes, as do many of the frescoes from the Benedictine convent of San Marco in Florence. It is another Annunciation, painted in the 1440s, for the north corridor of the convent . The only other reference to the frescoes in San Marco that I can provide here, is Saint Dominic in Adoration before the Crucifix, that resides in the cloister of the convent, and is closest in style to the Annunciation. These two masterpieces, falling in the late years of his career, were painted by Beato only, as they reveal the hallmarks of his gentle hand. A considerable large quantity of these frescoes brandish the intervention of assistants (Laurence Kanter-pp. 184 and 185). This is primarily due to the fact that Fra Angelico depended on assistants to help him complete the considerable volume of work necessary to satisfy the demands of his patrons. Too, I am most fond of the fresco medium, and this contributes to my appreciation for this particular rendition. And another suggestion is the stark simplicity of this work, where ones eye is only focused on the blessed visitation of the Archangel Gabriel, as messenger, delivering the inevitable cosmic fate of the Virgin Mary.
Markedly, this painting is Masaccioesque-with the sweeping, agile genuflection of the models-they have body and presence, as they would in nature. Examine the Expulsion from Paradise to see how Masaccio captures Adam and Eve moving away in sorrow, after they have gravely disappointed their Maker! The stately edifice, in the San Marco fresco, is bathed in natural light, and this augments its religiosity and is proof of its simplicity; one can only see form in nature according to the conditions of light on that environment. This is a trait of Beato`s late phase, as he increasingly uses the effects of light on the models and the architecture; and this illumination as to the effects of light dictates his use of color, shading, and depth perception (Laurence Kanter-p. 184. note: some of this is my own idea). The cognition of the effects of light is an opulent divination for the Benedictine monk, as he more confidently grasps its true meaning!
As an opened-ended synopsis, I will just append some scant, yet canny inklings that visited my brain while I was partaking of my morn-peregrinations. First, and legitimately, Fra Angelico has not been given a befitting entitlement, as argued by Laurence Kanter, assuredly a preeminent authority on the subject of Beato. In some measure, the grounds for this are that the Dominican monk elevated or extended the revelations of Masaccio; this is principally a verity with regards to the three-dimensional depiction of models in real space. These factors include: motion, shading, and the use of light, utilized as rules or perhaps, as milestones, i.e. dictates, by which he could exactly position the lines and colors on the wood panel! The evidence that he put them in the exact befitting point and used the appropriate colors is, nothing short of a miracle! Next, Angelico`s creations are both religious and scientific at the same time-aye, most harmoniously balanced between these two zeitgeists! That is, he used traditional biblical stories, but projected them into the present with au courant buildings and people, and contempo clothing-yea, these outfits assume the quality of costumes to us today. Just to give proper credit, Giotto had initiated this trend in the early Trecento, then Gentile da Fabriano and others had upheld it. One clear aesthetic syndrome used by Beato is the idealization of models, such as the Virgin, Gabriel, and Jesus. And while others before him had inaugurated this, Beato did it most superbly, so the models appear as real saints-truly, they could reside in heaven itself! Lastly, the master Beato had the most graceful hand in the entire history of art-his central nevous system was wired to perfection; not even Leonardo had such a gentle touch!

GERHARD RICHTER

BRAVE NEW WORLD
February 16, 2006


I visited the Marian Goodman, at 24 West 57th, New York City, on two occasions-one on the 28th of December, and then again the next day, on the 29th.

I sat on the benches of the North Gallery (see my diagram) and studied the twelve Abstract Paintings-892 series (their actual titles). On the North wall there was one painted photograph with the title Mustangs Ed 131; the entire galleries of Marian Goodman are painted pure white, with only the paintings displayed. Each of the twelve works by Gerhard Richter-the 892 series-the newest of his oeuvre, and all painted in the spring of 2005, has the exact same dimensions, 77 3/8 x 52 inches (197 x 132 cm). All of them are oil paintings worked with a squeegee vigorously, in horizontal and vertical grids. The colors are varied from work to work, but they seem to function as a unit, one dependent on the other. The viewer can observe one, then another, and comparing them infinitely comes almost naturally!

892-5 is my favorite of the twelve Abstract Painting series. There is quite a bit of blue as patches in it. The squeegee has been worked up and down, and sideways. Streaks of green, red, pink, and yellow fleck the surface. Black bars partially separate the brighter tones, but the eye always returns to the blue patches. Some lighter streaks subdivide the surface in a horizontal fashion. I took a number of cell phone camera snaps of 892-5, and noticed how different the colors and patterns appeared when I compared them. I also compared them with the pristine prints in the exhibition catalog. I gazed at 892-5 from different angles, and the colors and patterns shimmered and mutated-an apparent optical illusion! The eye dances about the surface, and ones perception perpetually changes. It seems to vaguely mirror objects in nature, such as pond water, meadows, or chasms.

892-7 rests solely on the south wall of the North Gallery. A large arch bar dominates the surface. Another large arch occupies the left upper part of the canvas, in a kind of diagonal presentation. One other thick bar extends to the bottom, and is between the two arches. All of the large bar streaks appear as if the paint was manipulated with ones fingers, but maybe just a squeegee was employed. Patches of red in vertical motion run down the right side of the canvas, in grainy sporadic blotches! Light green and rainbow splotches project through the arch, light inflected! A deep vermillion or purple pulsates down the midsection of the canvas; the tones vibrate in grids down the canvas, and lighten or darken, according to how they hit your retina. With 892-7 it is as if you are pulling into St. Louis gazing from a riverboat on the mighty Mississippi!

This one comes very close to the most inspirational. 892-8 has a grainy, textured quality. The bottom left corner has some yellow/orange flourishes. There`s an undercurrent of green, especially on the whole right side. The tones are mostly combed in a horizontal direction. Some infrequent grey verticals create window panes to peer into. Rough layered textures of paint give it a depth and evasiveness. Some of the colors have run together and blend uniquely to form a profound deep purple. Sporadic patches of white free-up the eye to dwell on maroons and marbled-purples-and thus act as a ground. The eye searches toward the illusionary horizon for figures or the contours of landscape shapes, but all are phantasms of the eye. All strokes are purely abstract, but the viewer hallucinates form, yet nothing is there! Richter has a good sense of humor, but invents new vistas of painterly surface, new fodder for the eye, and Cartesian geometric patterns that that are a slap in the face for the philosophy of painting. Mainly by rejecting schools, isms, or rational platitudes, Richter approaches new unrealities that bath the eye of the bold and curious!

892-11 is more washed-out, atonal, and opaque. There is a preponderant white ground, as well as a sweeping horizontal fluidity. The left side has a few vertical, dark bars that lead the eye up and down; but mostly you`re swept sideways. There are sparse traces of red in the bottom left of the canvas. Again, new colors are created-mainly a light chartreuse or wistful lavender-almost colorless, white bars play throughout the surface-the gentle tones soothe and calm; your in a rainy Seattle morning. 892-11 is very complimentary to the louder works, such as 892-6. First you glance at a bright one, then you shift to a flat one, then you mellow out lightly. This seems to mirror nature. 892-11 is pinkish in tone, but it`s a contrived tone, and changes as you glance at another, then back to # 11. # 11 exudes placidity and would be a welcome friend on my condo wall. It could purge a body of stress in a nanosecond, bring peace of mind, free your soul to gentle, healing waters. 892-11 is the most transparent piece-the most feminine one too.

You will want to refer to the Marian Goodman web page frequently, because you can see the Gerhard Richter exhibition, that ran there from November 17th, 2005-January 14th, 2006-immaculately displayed, albeit your viewing is vicarious. The show in its entirety is archived under current exhibitions, but by the time you read this it may be under past exhibitions. Nonetheless, you should be able to get to it from the artists category. All three of the galleries are included, and this came in handy when my memory faltered, as to which works were in which gallery. You may want to peruse it carefully, then reread my piece, although I do have some pictorial aids included with my review.

The North Gallery viewing room is really just some side niches or panels in the front of the main gallery. 891-3, oil on linen, is much smaller than the 892s (40 3/16 x 28 1/3 inches), but is more amorphous, light green in tone, but streaked with blues, pinks, and olive. 891-4 is lighter with whites on the right, yellow in the top middle, and green on the bottom. It`s like your dreaming on a placid pond-very transcendental and hypnotic! 802-7 is a blue/grey dual play, with sharp horizontal lines that look like Venetian blinds.

This first rendering from the Middle Gallery, 892-11 may be misnumbered, as that number was used previously in the North Gallery. Maybe Richter was just dealing us a lark. This one is a diffused, flat grey/green one-looks like clouds. 889-1 is brighter with reds, ochres, and horizontal rainbow bars. It has a happier, musical feel. 891-1 Waldhaus is a painted photograph of verdure and mountains. 889-1 (2004) is dripping greens on a light ground. Again, these are early examples of where Richter`s painting experiments would go with the very fresh 2005 series. The surface isn`t as manipulated as the newer stuff; it looks like a bucket of green paint was nonchalantly tossed on this aluminum plate!

The silicates were in the South Gallery, and many of them are enormous. 885-1 Silicate is 114 1/6 x 114 1/6 inches, perfectly square. This is a painted photograph of a extremely blown-up molecule, and looks like honey-combed Nouveau Op Art. It toys with the eye creating titillating geometric patterns. 885-2 Silicate has a more horizontal flow to it; these silicates (or silly Kays) might suggest that every molecule in the universe is secretly a potential work of art! A mind-numbing phenomenon of nature! 885-3 Silicate looks like a gigantic air conditioning filter. Yea, I know this stuff is not suppose to resemble anything from our past-personal or collective memories!

As I write this I try to simulate the sort of free associations that Gerhard Richter utilizes. Your soul must remain a tabla rosa, then original feeling will spring forth as if from a natural fountain. A disregard for Art History is a golden rule, and free expression will be born by a systematic de-tethering from everything. I created my own little 892 series in my North Gallery diagram. They are not simulations of Richter, but free-flowing pastel applications. His 2005 series is pure painting, and must have been conceived in a robotic trance-purely in the now, with no interference from the past, present, or future. This is what Ad Reinhardt tried to do-painting is a separate dimension-not tied in with daily life or history. It would be interesting to apply that same principal to writing! This is Zen Buddhism-you tune into the paints and canvas-you use your muscles, arms, and fingers to apply materials to a medium, then an optimum, never-before-seen creation will be born. This is the only possible task, the only conceivable challenge! You create something out of nothing-then when you create another one, it is begot of the last-continuous, but a blatant new expression, a brave new world!

CRAZE

October 22, 2005
PORTRAIT OF A DAPPER AFRICAN-IDOL-WORSHIPPING COVEN-MASTER!

Jack Palance plays a bisexual coven master, Neal Mottran, devoted to an African idol, Chuku, a daffyish, bug-eyed icon perched protrusively in his basement (see my image as a better choice for the deity of the Dark Continent). No hushing it up-This is a cookie-cutter, flim-flam, B-movie-template, a knock off, but a bucket of gobliny grins, choice for the witching season. And thus, veteran screenwriter Herman Cohen sagaciously plays the race card, mining Western fears of Africa, black magic, and/or voodoo-hocus-pocus (see movie poster). Some critics have rewarded the film with a zero rating, such as James J. Mulay, in “The Horror Film” (a bit dated) and British Horror Films web page, who have berated it with horsepower, but I would grant it a two & a half star rating if it were restored and issued on DVD, and perhaps a three star if it were ever re-released in theaters. One might have to grasp for straws to fend pizzazz from this balderdash in its rife, decomposed grade-a video tape yet still. But be zany and creative and play the song “Halloween” by the legendary Shaggs as ambience for the “Craze” celluloid, glimmering from your tube.
In the opening instance, after an expeditious jettisoning from the cult, the once head coven witch returns to reclaim her position, (“You know very well, I`m the witch of the coven.”) but is liquidated lickety-split. Neil Mottran (Jack Palance) owns a little antique shop in London and is flat-broke but finds some gold coins in his desk after depositing the aforementioned witch, and reckons them as a gift from the fearsome fickle figure. Congenitally throughout the film, he dispatches a jillion ladies as sacrifices to his dictatorial statuette. Without wantonly exposing the storyboard, one victim is skewered on the ignoble icon`s jagged claws, one burned to death, one unfathomably frightened- then with a brief, yet colossal image conjuration-interlude, impaled on a spike, and ultimately a chippy is throttled with Neil`s dynamic dynamite paw!
The supporting cast is commendatory, especially Diana Dors as Dolly Newman, a once flagrant flame of Neil Mottran. He uses her as an alibi in order to off his auntie for her well-heeled heirloom; ie he sleeps with her but douses her with micky fins lacing her beloved cherry brandy. Diana aptly portrays a cheeky British moll, with dumpy deportment, mellifluous, fake platinum silvery hair, loud beads, and chintzy, modish dresses that are a pick-up for the flick. During an interview with the keener detective, Dolly chimes in: “Hey, I don`t want you to think that I`m the sort who flops into bed with any Tom, Dick, or Harry.” Detective Sergeant Wall (Michael Jayston) comments: “One would have to be pretty desperate to sail into that port”, qualifying Neil`s chimerical fling with Dolly.
Other notables include Martin Potter, who portrays Ronnie, Neal`s obedient initiate and antique sales assistant, who eventually musters a semblance of ethics, and even applies an axe to the omnipotent holiness of brass and wood! Towards the end he pipes in: "Jane, I`ll have a double," when knocking back several at a pub- as he can see the writing on the wall. To boot, veteran actor Trevor Howard brings in a very smooth portrayal as Superintendent Bellamy, remaining within the prudent guidelines of police investigation. At the climax of the quest he nonchalantly drops: "There`s no law against witchcraft, if people think that they can fly on broomsticks, nobody can stop them." He remains cool as a cucumber for the duration of the flick!
Michael Jayston admirably executes the role of Detective Sergeant Wall, really the one who is surely privy to Neal`s sojourns into witchcraft, and he sniffs the cultist`s character: "I can`t buy that sir, I`ve studied the man; he has the smell of a lone wolf." Suzy Kendall takes the part of Sally, an ify masseuse, with a cockneyed accent and a puffy, black wig teeming with curls, and she salaciously entertains the dapper villain with cardigan sweaters. Doning green-thumbed salesmanship, Sally demonstrates her massaging instruments as pleasure or pain offerings. "Note what we have here: ultra-red lamp, double voltage vibrator, nerve-pump penetrator, muscle soother-you name it we have it, you need it we use it. Well? Huh…" From this interview with screenwriter, Herman Cohen, we learn that many of the cast were afraid of Jack Palance, especially the director Freddie Francis, and the actresses too. This truly explains why he could play such an immaculate knave! In fact, Jack went over the top with Julie Ege, one of the many victims, injuring her breast while shooting the scene.
Nonetheless, Jack Palance is what makes this B-flick rock ferociously; he exudes wickedness and cunning, but coasts through the shooting with prerogative and forbearance. And especially with his striking physical presence- a large mustache, coal-black hairpiece, fulsome-crooked- sprawling-wide/split nose, and athletic physique, he bandies about the cheapy sets or props performing his dastardly deeds and duties with ghoulish panache. But he always remains fastidious and business-like, and guards a cool demeanor-his cover as an antique dealer wheelin`and dealin` rare statues or Indian brass work.
The key to Neil`s psychology, or the corn of his character, is his absolute devotion to the ghastly golden-calf. Neil: "Do not forget one thing, Ronnie. Who made that fortune possible? Chuku! Ah yes, we can run away from the police, but never from Chuku. As long as we serve him we`re safe. He will always protect us." Ronnie: "How, on whose terms?" Neil: You know the answer to that." Ronnie: " That means what it has always meant: sacrifice, reward, then another bloody sacrifice. When does it all end?" Neil: "Never!" The antecedent of Neil (Jack Palance) is a highly focused tethering to and supplication for the catastrophic carved-figure, and a fondness for filthy luchre!
As the action builds up and Neal knocks off more and more gudgeons for the cockeyed Chuku, and as the police progressively smell a rat, the music acts as a befitting backdrop, and scrupulously syncs with the scenes. There are a couple of hip, discotheque episodes with energizing pop music and frenetic sixties dancing, just to break up the many a moon rampages of Neal. Some barely discernible lyrics at the discotheque seem to sing: "Where is the place to be now? What are the names that I should know? Who is the ruling queen now? Everything`s a phase to warlock (?) show!" The copious use of congo drums give the many iniquitous spectacles an African angle, and the use of telli-theme rifts accentuate the nadirs and peaks of infrequent plot flourishes. Too, vibraphones are sprinkled throughout the flick with crafty avail. The music was provided by veteran film music composer, John Scott, as clearly seen by his filmography, did many B horror flicks and beaucoup otro tuneish enterprises.
There is a great need for a restoration of "Craze", a conversion to a digital format, then a new release on DVD-for now it is an old haggard print; in its VHS state, as a Saturn Productions, Inc. Oddly, though Director Freddie Francis is a veteran cinematographer, the camera work is mostly shoddy and the lighting off. No doubt, the producers were in a huff to bring it to market as fuel for the lustful consumption of British horror (think of the Hammer films). It is very well suited for the Drive-In, but calamitously that is a moribund format in the market of today.
This B flick reeks of the theme of the evil of Third World culture, and more particularly Africa-a little spurt of Post Modern Neo-Colonialism, or Black Magic Voodoo spoofing! This theme has precedent, just view the Haitian hocus-pocus of Bela Lugosi in the 1932 classic "White Zombie"-with such stupefying, stonish zombie eyes and prevailing puffs of smoky magic powder! As Welch Everman points out in his book: "Cult Horror Films", Neal Mottran never provides the raison d` etre for such piquant devotion to the dusty, antique idol, thus underscoring the notion of "craze", a very sophistic canonization of an African effigy. Eureka!-I purchased a Roget Thesaurus, thus mushrooming my palaver ten-fold; not that this low-caliber film deserves my perfumy confabulation!

WHY VIETNAM?

WHY VIETNAM?
October 02, 2005
A VITAL RECORD OF THE EMERGING U.S. POLICY FOR VIETNAM A 30 MINUTE DOCUMENTARY DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE A CLASSIC STUDY IN POLITICAL PERSUASION-THE ARGUMENT FOR ESCALATING A GROUND WAR IN VIETNAM-LATE SUMMER-1965

This documentary was produced by the Department of Defense, circa fall of 1965, in order to rally American support for the newly growing build-up of U.S. ground combat troops in Vietnam. It is thirty minutes long and in black and white, but frame by frame pulls a punch (though less noxious) not witnessed since "The Triumph of the Will", directed and produced by Leni Rietenstahl. It begins with LBJ speaking and having to answer a mother`s difficult question of why her son has to serve in Vietnam, since it is so far away from the free United States. The entire documentary is a rationale for a perceived need, by the government, for military support to aid the South Vietnamese government and people from the aggressive incursions by the communist North. The government offering is a combination of speeches and footage of Vietnam, with a volatile invective from the commentator defending the need of the U.S. to cut off the poison of communism. It projects a persuasive voice filled with immediacy and despair-and even smacks of the inevitable demise of western freedom.

THE ROCOCO COLD WAR PHASE

I am granting this documentary a five star rating because it efficiently makes the case for why the communists are so nefarious. In short, the film portrays them with ambitions as vast as world domination. The stately icons of Chairman Mao and Ho Chi Minh are mesmerizing, and if one can project oneself back to 1965, they might sense the immediacy for the call to arms against the red menace. I have thought of a crystalized phrase to capture this period, but I believe it to be an apt one-The Rococo Cold War Phase! This was really the overripe time period for the Cold War, its decaying stage, the apples on the ground-in metaphor. Red paranoia was at its apogee of expression; we had been through the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the unexplained shooting of JFK, and it appeared as if we must religiously hold the line in Vietnam, at all costs, or the systematic undoing of freedom and democracy in the world was a timely given! I believe that the viewing of this succinct film is an absolute must for all Americans, especially since it was produced before the long and tragic war; yet the seeds of tragedy are present, and Rusk, McNamara, and LBJ are all reluctant participants in the inevitable decision to accelerate involvement in a hazily-defined guerrilla conflict in Vietnam. We did not understand the history or the nature of the struggle there, the political tactics of the Vietcong, for example, or the zealous motive of nationalism against colonialism, that gave Ho Chi Minh the advantage there, after decades of oppression.

"AGGRESSION UNCHALLENGED IS AGGRESSION UNLEASHED" LBJ

The argument begins with the hard lessons of WWII; that Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler in 1938 in Munich. Moreover, Mussolini was unopposed in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, despite Hailie Selassie`s pleas to the United Nations. Then there was the Nazi Anschluss in Austria, and "nothing was done". But with the communist aggression across the 38th parallel in Korea "free men begin learning the lesson", as LBJ says: "aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed". Then again LBJ asks the question: "Why should free men suffer in a remote land?" As we look back on this parallel drawn, between WWII and Vietnam, we see clearly that it was the U.S. who invaded Vietnam, whereas Ho was just defending and attempting to unify his country, and trying to purge his nation of foreign invaders. So thus this analogy falls on its face.

"PAY ANY PRICE, BEAR ANY BURDEN…" JFK

LBJ then gives us the approach that will be implemented. "Retreat does not bring safety and weakness does not bring peace. It`s this lesson that has brought us to Vietnam." Then the documentary goes into the post-Dienbienphu period, after the French had been defeated in 1954, and the Geneva Conference that followed, dividing Vietnam into the North and South at the 17th parallel. This division was only intended as a temporary one until elections could be held. Yet the administrations of the U.S., from Truman to Eisenhower, then Kennedy to LBJ, hung their hat on this division of Vietnam, as arbitrated by the Geneva Conference, as if the North was wholly communist and the South was free and democratic. This then is a fundamental flaw in the perceptions of the U.S., shaping our policy and coloring our decision-making for two full error-prone decades.

Now there is footage of fleeing refugees going to South Vietnam, where "a free people support sovereignty". This deceptively makes it appear as if there is an exodus from the North to the South, when it was really just a handful of Catholics. The Diem regime was anti-communist but was hardly a democracy. Now we see footage of Ho-Chi-Minh smiling and playing with children, and the narrator says: "but behind the smile is a mind that is planning a reign of terror in South Vietnam, where children and adults alike will be the victims." Afterwards the narrator says that free elections were held, but actually Diem had arranged the elections, for if Ho had been on the ballot it would have been a landslide in his favor. Next it says that Diem is initiating land reforms so that farmers own their own land. This never happened! But as the narrator says, the North was making inroads into the villages of the South, creating political action centers, and successfully forging Ho Chi Minh`s "War of Liberation." The documentary uses an insidious, raking, quasi-oriental type of music as a backdrop, as it shows assassinated villagers and posters of Ho with the yellow communist star. Then it points out that the communists are using a new plan, guerrilla warfare, and discarding traditional infantry warfare, such as they used in Korea. It is too bad that the U.S. never addressed this major change in tactics!

"A GRAIN OF RICE IS WORTH A DROP OF BLOOD"

The U.S. perceived that the communists were after the wealthy resources of South Vietnam-such as coal, phosphate, zinc, tin, and manganese. These resources would aid industrialization and "feed a war machine". The most important products were surely rubber and rice; the need for these products, should the communists not be stopped, would fuel their aggression to other Indonesian nations, such as the rice rich nations of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, and East Pakistan. The phrase: "a grain of rice is worth a drop of blood" summarizes the dramatic measures employed by the communists in order to secure South Vietnam. The film then projects a map of these countries, and then defines the domino theory-that the countries will fall one by one, like dominoes, if we do not hold the line at the 17th Parallel of Vietnam. This simple, yet befuddling political philosophy is essentially why the U.S. entered and escalated the "Vietnam Conflict", because the administration never called it a war. In 1959 President Eisenhower said: "Unassisted Vietnam can not, at this time, produce and support the military coordinates essential to it-military as well as economic help is essential." Ie the U.S. would have to go in themselves and take care of the job.

"THIS IS A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR" LBJ

As the conflict entered the 1960s the communists increased their incursions into the South. As LBJ said: "This is a different kind of war-the goal is to conquer the South and extend the Asiatic dominion of communism." Here the documentary emphasizes the perceived role of Red China in spurring the Vietnamese communists. We now know that this was greatly exaggerated, but at this time, the fear of Red China, after the Korean stalemate, was perhaps the greatest ingredient for the domino theory. The film says that the Vietnam people cried out for our help, but now we know it was really just the insecure Diem regime, that wanted to protect their archaic colonial regime in Saigon. Kennedy increased the presence of Americans in the way of technical and military advisers. The commentator of the film tints the scenario: "We find men whose freedom is at stake-eager and quick to learn, with instructors and advisors who are willing to teach." Then it is revealed that the communists had altered their tactics, from a conventional conflict, such as in Korea, to guerrilla warfare, in order to dominate small, unstable nations. It is puzzling that the U.S. never comprehended or mastered this lesson about the guerilla warfare; this underscores the reason we lost the war-our inability to adapt to a third world, jungle-type struggle.

Thus, the only way that communist aggression can be curtailed, is by increasing the presence of Americans, with equipment and advisers. The commentator says that the "Peoples Liberation" is not playing fair, kidnapping inductees, and harassing citizenry, while the U.S. is protecting the villagers. Deceptively, the documentary then portrays the South as quick to respond to the Vietcong threat, but we now know this to be a falsehood. In fact, Diem commanded his generals to avoid fights in order to have the troops available to counter an ever recurring perception of an imminent military coup. Ironically, this would come to pass on November 1, 1963, in spite of that preventative maintenance. Again, oddly it was Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, along with the CIA who okayed the coup, who assumed the role of Deus Ex Machina. Once more, the ill-defined nature of the war is shown, with no front lines, and the Vietcong coming and going as they please. Little did the makers of this film know that those methods would continue throughout the whole war. The taking of land was an absurd practice, since the minute U.S. combat troops vacated that land, the communists would infiltrate it again. Yet, this is the reality of what was happening in Vietnam, a far cry from the scenario portrayed in this government production!

"WE SEEK NO WIDER WAR"- ROBERT MCNAMARA

In the Kennedy years the intensity of American presence mounts; especially the new technique of helicopter mobility, and the moving about of infantry. The ominous footage of captured Chinese munitions seems to add a greater threat of Red China, but what the film does not tell you, is that most of the captured weapons were American made, and were easily captured at old unprotected French outposts. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August of 1964 is covered at this point in the presentation; it was shortly thereafter that the intense bombing of the North began. Thus, despite McNamara`s intentions, the war was widened then, and would greatly expand throughout 1965.

"OUR WAR AIM IN SOUTH VIETNAM IS PEACE."-DEAN RUSK

This segment of the documentary exhibits a speech by then Secretary of State, Dean Rusk. It is a polemic defending the administration`s position, that they have made every effort to solve the Vietnam issue peaceably and through diplomacy. The bottom line is that Hanoi has refused to come to the negotiation table with the U.S. Here is the final lines of the speech that reveal the domino theory yet again: "And so the record seems clear to us, Hanoi is presently resisting the road to peace. Peiping even more so, to declare that doctrine and purpose of the Chinese communists remain clear: the domination of all of Southeast Asia. And indeed if we listen to what they are saying to us, the domination of the great world beyond." Actually, the Red Chinese and the North Vietnamese were not really unified in their purpose. Traditionally, China and Vietnam were enemies, but U.S. Intelligence never processed this germane illumination. Our intelligence gathering was flawed, as was our interpretation of evidence, but this is not all too different from some of the techniques employed today!

"WE DO NOT WANT AN EXPANDING STRUGGLE…" LBJ

In this speech LBJ emphasizes that we are defending South Vietnam`s freedom of choice, "the right to shape their own destiny in free elections in the South…" But this was a sham, free elections never existed in Saigon or the South. If this was the reason why Americans died in Vietnam, then it is an empty one! After the coup in November of 1963, that got Ngo Dinh Diem shot, the government of Saigon changed many times. The local surrounding villagers often sided with the Vietcong as a better alternative to the corrupt South. On December 24th, 1964 the Vietcong got high explosives into the barracks of the American Embassy in Saigon. The narration then takes a threatening tone, and with that the footage passes by of bombings, dead civilians killed by the Vietcong, and American flag-draped coffins moving on trucks. There is a backdrop of LBJ`s words: "Half a world away is our front door. If freedom is to survive in any American hometown, then the Communists must be stopped in South Vietnam." Therefore, it is up to the U.S. alone to curtail the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.

"MOST OF THE NON-COMMUNIST NATIONS OF ASIA, CANNOT BY THEMSELVES AND ALONE, RESIST THE GROWING MIGHT AND THE GRASPING AMBITION OF ASIAN COMMUNISM." LBJ

Please read over carefully the bottom of page 3 and page 4 of the transcriptions of "Why Vietnam?"; it is a good idea to soberly measure LBJ`s words, for an epiphany will transpire, and you can see the build-up of American commitment right before your very eyes! "I have asked General Westmoreland what more he needs to meet this mounting aggression. He has told me, and we will meet his needs." LBJ - The black and white footage now registers the American troops landing in Vietnam, exiting the landing craft, and the American flag is shown blowing in the wind. The narrator then says this is the first active combat zone since Korea, and that the present and future needs for the fight for freedom will be met. The so called "War of Liberation" must be defeated; but little did we know that the will of the communists was ironclad. The final comment is that if men can hope to realize freedom tomarrow, then those people will face hard realities today. How prophetic, as the days of confrontation would persist for another decade (1965-1975)!

"I DO NOT FIND IT EASY TO SEND THE FLOWER OF OUR YOUTH, OUR FINEST YOUNG MEN, INTO BATTLE." LBJ

The final part of the documentary has LBJ`s sentimental words about sending our young to war, and many photographs of the new inductees are displayed in a slideshow format. These heroes will stop the reds off at the pass, or more precisely, the Ho Chi Minh Trail that is. Again, the theme is hammered home; LBJ`s fresh take on The Truman Doctrine with his domestic programs of The Great Society as his model. " We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else. Nor would surrender in Vietnam bring peace. We learned from Hitler at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of aggression." (LBJ) He then goes on to say that three presidents over eleven years have committed to defending the small, valiant nation of Vietnam. Johnson then reiterates how hard the South has fought to defend themselves from the communists. We now know that that is false; ARVN really went out of their way to avoid conflict, to minimize casualties, and to survive in a civil war with no end in sight!

HO CHI MINH IS A SON-OF-A-BITCH… "FULL METAL JACKET

The last celluloid footage captures Chairman Mao and Ho Chi Minh with the communist star, then a U.S. aircraft carrier with B-52s taking off for North Vietnam. Next in the sequence massive carpet bombing flashes in graphic, syncopated explosions, many tanks, and U.S. combat troops unloading from landing craft. GIs are fighting in live action riveted with angst in the jungle, then much echo is put on LBJ`s voice with the words: "This, my fellow Americans, is why we are in Vietnam". The film ends with the logo of the Department of Defense; apparently, the producers and directors of this influential documentary.

This was shown in the public schools throughout the country; you know the routine, the principal calls all the classes on the intercom to the auditorium, gives a short introduction, and then starts the 16 mm film so that we will know why all our boys are making a beeline for those remote American staging bases in Southeast Asia. Additionally, the film was offered as educational fodder to new inductees in the early days of their basic training; this bit of propaganda could perhaps make them feel better, and provide them with a rationale for their Vietnam tour; for in short order they would be tossed into this ineffable part of the world-with steamy jungles, rice paddies, and elephant grass.

It is unnerving to watch this piece of celluloid over and over again, as I have done so over the last few months. I may be able to share it with you some time, because I doubt you will be able to locate this rare gem at any video store. Mysteriously, I will convert my unkempt flat, for the flagrantly curious, to a proper viewing room for your exacting inspection. Its conception really came at a time when the wounds were just beginning to open; the leaders could not see the albatross on the horizon. The first major confrontation with the enemy came in November of 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley, where more than 300 Americans lost there lives. This level of casualties was not something counted on by the administration, and as we went into 1966 many people could already see the grueling ordeal that we faced. Indeed, the final moments of the film are somber when LBJ sincerely says that he does not like to send "the flower of our youth" into battle. Images of Americans are flashed-black, white, students, and steel workers all heeded the call to duty, to fight the evil communists and keep Asia free. But Ho Chi Minh was trying to unify and free his country from the "yoke of western colonialism"-that was something that we little understood. Oh yes, he was relentless, ruthless, an S-O-B for the liberation of Indochina from the chains of western oppression!

"WE BLEW IT, MAN." CAPTAIN AMERICA-EASY RIDER

I do remember having butterflies in my stomach as my family moved from Houston to "Friendly Dallas", in August of 1965. Little did I know that I was moving into a hostile environment, a hotbed of conservatism, where tolerance for those opposed to the war was blocked by a "cement edifice of hate", not all that dissimilar to the Wall of China-Dixieland style! Yes, our country was venturing off to a remote Indonesian country, one that we knew nothing about, and into a trap, a quagmire of indecisive grief that left permanent scars on our collective memory, even unto today. The primary culprit was our inflated fear of communism, a sort of cancerous side-effect of the Cold War. Vietnam and China were traditional enemies, but the U.S. policy makers never bothered to study the historical relations of these countries. Also, communism came in many shapes and textures; The Soviet Union and Red China had very different configurations and agendas. There never was a communist monolithic policy, such as espoused by Vladimir Lenin. Just recently, in Errol Morris`s The Fog of War, Robert McNamara has acknowledged the fissures in our thinking. In truth, Ho Chi Minh `s movement to unify Vietnam was actually a nationalist effort against western colonialism and less a communist strategy. More accurately, Ho`s nationalism mirrors the Thirteen Colonies of America defying England, and the U.S. recalls the redcoats as they persevere in an effort to snuff the rebellious NVA and Vietcong. I would argue with my neighbors about Vietnam, especially the high level of noncombatant casualties, but the domino theory was always tossed in my face. It was as if the 17th parallel in Vietnam was a substitute for the Alamo, and we had to hold the line at all costs. Profoundly, the words of Captain America in "Easy Rider" replay in spasms through the make-believe movie screen of my mind: "We blew it, Man!"

"WILL I LIVE TOMARROW…WELL I JUST CAN`T SAY." JIMI

As I watch this black and white footage I am transported back to those times; the American flag-draped coffins are especially triggers for memories, and the compassionate drone of LBJ`s voice puts me back into that day. It was rock and roll, let`s go over and kick those commies asses! … Almost like a football game. But after a few years of many young men dying, untold deaths of peasants, - the rat-a-tat-tat of AK-47s or the whirling maelstrom of the Huey helicopters on the evening news- the enthusiasm, the will to search and destroy deteriorated. Perhaps Vietnam was not a microcosm for the struggle of contrary ideas-democratic freedom verses the evil of communism-it was all in our minds, a delusion, a paranoid nightmare-but nonetheless real-an over-ripening of the Cold War-the domino theory was the rotten remnants of McCarthyism! Yes, the butterflies, the fear factor does return when I view this little film. I have not bothered to think about the war since the Fall of Saigon in 1975; but the remnants have remained latent, festering, and I struggle to purge myself of these demons. And now with more distance, objectivity, I am able to begin to amass an archive of ephemera on the conflict by way of books, photos, DVDs, and web pages; I may even visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and view some of the evening news footage of that is stored there. But for now I intend to forget about it, as the demons reappear, even as I did in the spring of 1975!

THE BUTTERFLIES RETURN

As I watched this film, and as I studied many other documents, the butterflies returned in my stomach, and I felt great guilt once again that I did not serve, and so many young men were never allowed to come home. This is dramatically portrayed in the book "We Were Soldiers Once…And Young" by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway. It is a testament of the Ia Drang battles that first brought attention to just how serious the fighting was to be in Vietnam. I just kept staring at the snapshots of the soldiers with their families shortly before they were deployed to Vietnam. Two in particular, Tom Metsker and Jack Geoghegan, are heroically portrayed in the book, and this account brings needed details to the actual intense jungle fighting that characterized those unusual guerrilla-type, belligerent encounters. I was able to get a deferment from serving in 1971, because of an allergic reaction to bee stings.

A GUILTY CONSCIENCE STILL

By this time the war was already lost (1971); the will of Americans to exterminate the communists was sapped! I just wanted to forget about it, as most did, and escaped in chronic cannabis usage. This anodyne did help me to forget; after the fall of Saigon I have never read anything or watched any specials on Vietnam…just wanted to forget about it forever! So as I bombard myself now with the material of this highly recorded conflict, and thirty years have transpired, I feel as if it was just yesterday, and all of these more than 58,000 Americans are still alive, and you can just go over to their houses and drink a beer and watch a Yankee game. The guilt is that severe-but history repeats itself, especially as we see our nation continuing in the same vein of foreign policy.

LBJ EXHIBIT-SIGN OF THE TIMES: LIFE IN THE SWINGIN` SIXTIES

July 4, 2005
FANTASMAGORICAL! ENCHANTING REANIMATIONS!-A VIRTUAL MAGIC CARPET RIDE-A TRIP BACK IN A TIME MACHINE! THE BLOODY REAL THING-A MIDWAY RIDE SO NAMED: THE SPIRIT OF ROCK AND ROLL!
EVERYTHING IS POPPIN` UP DAISIES!
MUSINGS ON THE LBJ EXHIBIT-SIGN OF THE TIMES: LIFE IN THE SWINGIN` SIXTIES.
Sign Of The Times: Life In The Swingin` Sixties will run at the LBJ Library until September 5th. If you have forgotten many of the people and ephemera, this exhibit will bring them back in magnificent clarity. I lived in Houston, Texas (1959-1965) in the first half of the sixties, and in Dallas, Texas (1965-1969) the second half of the sixties. The whole time was charged with creativity and discovery, for me, but with struggle comes some pain. I seemed to reinvent myself daily in those days; I changed my priorities from sports to music. Strong forces seemed to seduce me over the line. This particular show focuses just on the aesthetic angle of the sixties. LBJ had established the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, as part of his Great Society plan, and it enhanced the arts throughout the nation. Even the Public Broadcasting Corporation ( PBS ) was a sibling of the Great Society. This exhibit does not touch on Vietnam, Civil Rights, assassinations, or class warfare. Those albatrosses remain in the back of your mind, but rather the show provides you with plentiful examples of the music, art, film, TV, and fashion from this era of zest.

LBJ`s Great Society promised much, and in essence, delivered much. Creativity abounded; no dearth of heroes existed-the times were all about POP ! The heroes that populate those times embody this notion. So load up your astro-bright Volkswagen bus with urchins and revisit the cutely, cobwebbed Summer of Love. Oh yea mate, everything is poppin` up daisies!

BRITISH INVASION
As you enter the exhibit, opaque black and white wallpaper pics of many of the British Invasion bands plaster the walls. Familiar tunes waft from the speakers: “Glad All Over” “Twist and Shout”, and “There`s A Place”. And to think that at one time, The Dave Clark Five competed neck-to-neck with The Fab Four, for the crown, king of the rockers. Rare footage of The Beatles plays on the wall, from their 1964 worldwind tour of the USA. Paul tosses clothes in a suitcase, Ringo and John mock the camera, and George too, defiantly grimaces at the lens, Also, on a gigantic screen, caged go-go-girls ( go-go-boots-yea ) dance kinetically to the Brit pop! Haven`t seen the Froog, Twist, Mashed Potato, or Watusi in lightyears. The Animals, Hermit`s Hermits, Gerry and The Pacemakers, and even The Hollies, all electrified our daily lives-in the wink of an eye. Hey, Dave Clark is a versatile chap, and a successful businessman. Early on he bought the rights to The Ready Steady Go! series, and has been racking up royalties for a good while!

GEAR FASHION
It is sheer bliss to see all of these fashion-plates again; many of the celebrated wearables are here: bell bottoms, a Nehru jacket, wire-rimmed glasses, and an electric shirt, all displayed as if one is peering through a boutique window ! A video monitor runs Carnaby Street footage and there is Twiggy walking the rug once again. Even some jewelry of Kenneth Lane can be viewed. Mary Quaint was the inventor of the mini-skirt, the optimum wear for liberated girls.

TV ROOM
“Winston tastes good like a…cigarette should.” The TV Room is set up just as many folks had there dens in the 1960s. The LP vinyl albums are in a metal rack near an old timey hi-fi-console, with an adjacent cone-tree-lamp-perceived as modern furniture! The RCA Victor plays many of those vintage commercials, and a night stand has a stack of Life, Popular Mechanic, and Mad magazines.

CUTTING EDGE COMEDY
This space has been set up like a little bare-bones Stand-up Comedy Club, and has a TV monitor running old Bill Cosby and Woody Allen routines. Suddenly, there was much risk-taking in comedy; jabbing at society and everything was subject to ridicule-race, sex, politics, The War! What`s cool is the stark simple staging- with just comedian, audience, and a pocketful of jibes!

TELEVISION
This section is broken up into various kiosks, that represent sundry program categories. There is Cool Camp; Gilligan`s Island, Mr. Ed, Batman, The Dating Game, and The Munsters-Breakthroughs; with Laugh-In, Star Trek, That Girl, and The Smother`s Brothers- AndCool Cops, Cool Spies; The Avengers, The Mod Squad, I Spy, and U.N.C.L.E. Oh, one other that I forgot to note, but it had comedy sitcoms such as: I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and The Beverly Hillbillies. You could turn on one of these shows and listen with headphones, but you could get bogged down, and bend your precious time, if you loitered latently at this locale! Here is an interesting site that has all the dribble that never made it big. Diana Rigg had me sweating sweet boy bullets with a rapturous, adolescent crush-delightful daydream dalliance though. All of these shows are massively imprinted on my cerebral cortex, and can be rerun with a wave of the wand to the telepathic television monitor in my mind.

BLACK MUSIC
The highlight of this section is the display of the Supremes` sequined butterfly dresses! There are also many black and white glossies of icons such as: Isaac Hays, James Brown, Rufus Thomas, and Ike and Tina Turner. It is a significant accomplishment that so many breakthroughs occurred in Black music. There is a nice photo of the Motown house, Hitsville USA and glossies of The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and The Four Tops. Powerful items indeed, were two pieces of sheet music: “I Hear a Symphony” and “You Keep Me Hangin` On”, both Holland-Dozier-Holland compositions. The only version I recall of the latter is Vanilla Fudge`s riveting rendition-an early suggestion of rock opera.

SPORTS
The sports area covered many of the larger-than-life figures, like “Broadway Joe,” arguably the greatest NFL quarterback ever, led the Jets to victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III-1/12/1969. Denny Laine, only foggily recalled, was a thirty game winner, pitching for the Detriot Tigers in 1968. He will be remembered mainly as an organ player, then for illegal gambling, fraud, and his lengthy jail sentences! Mohammed Ali is not only the greatest all time boxer, but also a champion for African American rights, as well as an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War.

GARAGE BANDS
The diorama of this life-size rock combo, complete with Marshal amps, Ludwig drums, and mop-topped kids, accurately simulates the garage band craze of the 1960s. The dreams of many kids were processed through iconic pop music stars; role models from sports were freely jettisoned! Free-form bands popped up on every suburban street corner.

PSYCHEDELIC SCENE
As one drifts into the psychedelic section, representing the crowning years of the 1960s (67,68, & 69), the Moody Blues` anthem Legends of a Mind plays: “Timothy Leary`s dead, no no he`s outside, looking in!” A light show is projected on the wall, as in oil and colors swirling on an overhead projector, and it twitters with strobes, rewinding you to that electric time. Timothy Leary`s primer, The Psychedelic Experience , is mounted on the wall at eye-view. There also, is the first Rolling Stone magazine, with a publishing date of November 9, 1967. A striking photo of John Lennon, from the movie How I Won The War, is on that original cover.

POSTER SCENE
This section has perhaps a more indigenous cross section of items ! Austin produced an amazing poster scene! That is becoming increasingly apparent. I recommend that you read, “The Maverick Tradition: Postering in Austin, Texas” by Nels Jacobson. A real spiritual beeline was established between San Francisco and Austin. The Avalon Ballroom, in San Francisco, provided the inspiration for quality poster and flyer art. In Austin, especially, the posters of Gilbert Shelton and Jim Franklin are tantalizing targets for collectors! Many of these were created in cahoots with the Vulcan Gas Co., 316 Congress Avenue. They grow in value as more people intuit their historical importance. Especially some of the posters verily simulate the psychedelic experience by way of the visual senses, with astro-bright colors and surreal images. The posters also help to document the music scene, with local bands such as the Conqueroos and The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and legendary touring marvels, Moby Grape, The Fugs, and The Velvet Underground. I could “turn on, tune in, and drop out” quite aptly in this section! I morphed once again to a flamboyant flower child for just a dash.

WRITERS
I was so inspired by this section, that I went out and bought Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer, and devoured it in a jiffy. It documents the march against the Pentagon by war protestors, on October 21, 1967, and is a full rave against the U.S.`increased commitment in Vietnam. Arguments for and against the war are provided, just in case you are hazy on it, after forty years.Armies won a Pulitzer prize, and used the literary device of history as literature, then literature as history. Do not forget Kurt Vonnegut`s Slaughterhouse Five; an odd blend of science fiction and some painful recollections of the Allies` bombing of Dresden in WWII. Tom Wolfe has a grab bag of insight into the far side of the American Experience, as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test chronicles the zany deeds of Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters. Also on display were Little Big Man by Thomas Berger, and Portney`s Complaint by Philip Roth. I never read the last two, but appeciated the movie, Little Big Man, with Dustin Hoffman. Truman Capote invented the genre of True Crime, and In Cold Blood has been thoroughly perused by yours truly.

POP ART
It emerged with meteoric spontaneity and freshness in the 1960s! Not very far from my side, for more than twenty years, a copy of Pop Art , edited by Lucy R. Lippard, has instructed me, and you would be wise to procure a copy for yourself. As I entered the Pop Art section I first saw a photo of LBJ and J. William Fulbright studying a piece of Op Art. They are unlikely advocates of this new art! Then I saw a photo of Yoko Ono bedecked in tattered rags, at her show Cut Pieces, from 1962-in fine form. People could come up and cut off a piece of her clothing; this is an early example of performance art.

Behind glass some works of the greatest pop-artists were displayed. One of Warhol`s silkscreens of Marilyn quickly comes into focus! These icons of starlets fetch a pretty penny these days. In fact, a silkscreen of Liz Taylor brought in 12.6 million at a Christie`s auction recently. One still has to scratch their head in marvel at the commanding pittance of these Warhols! Robert Rauschenberg experimented with the collage technique and multi-media, including photographs, utilized in many ways. Current events and history were interpreted effectively through the arrangement of images in a collage. Roy Lichtenstein would take an ad from a Sunday New York Times, isolate the girl from the ad, then greatly enlarge her- in this case to 60 ½ inches x 36 ½ inches. Just look at the gargantuan Girl With A Ball ; its billboard simplicity is striking, and sticks with you for eons of hour glass 180s. Jasper John`s flags and U.S. maps strike a chord with ones national sensibilities. Maybe his emblematic projections gave fodder to the rapacious rave for flag clothing and red, white, and blue rolling papers, that permeated the Woodstock Generation.

Included near to the end, was one piece by Larry Rivers, Dead Veteran; he too would take advertising ads, such as the Camel cigarette logo, slightly alter it, and replicate it on the canvas. The final piece in this section was Toulouse Lautrec by Peter Max. He is the consummate, quintessential, iconic representative of the 1960s; I know that I had many of his posters on my bedroom wall! I am currently looking for the Life Magazine of September 5, 1969 with Peter Max on the cover; a horded keepsake, I am mostly sure!

MOVIES
A Hard Days Night was included in the film section, and brought back the memory of taking the bus to downtown Houston with some elementary school friends, and feeling like we were a part of the event of the century. The songs were perfect and the black and white film gave it a documentary touch. All the Beatles were good, but Ringo walking along the river with an instrumental of “This Boy” was the mountaintop moment of the film.

Dr. Strangelove and 2001 A Space Odyssey are both Stanley Kubrick films, both are masterpieces, and sometimes I suspect that he is my favorite film-maker. I saw A Clockwork Orange at the Paramount a couple of summers ago, and I hadn`t seen it since 1971; I was riveted with the satire and wit. I worked as an usher at Northtown Six Theaters in Dallas in the late sixties, and saw Space Odyssey , maybe a thousand times. Its theme is the entire timeline of man, but modeled as circular rather than linear; ie history repeats itself continuously; it makes no difference if you reside in prehistoric times, or modernity. This was the theme that I was able to glean from Odyssey. Time matches Einstein`s Theory of Relativity, and the cosmic presence of the film moves freely about the past, present, and future! Dr. Strangelove is an anti-war film where comedy is a transparent veil for the sinister machinations of the Cold War, and the ease of atomic mishap, at the hands of berserko military generals.

Mike Nichol`s The Graduate best expressed the newly emerging phenomenon of the “Generation Gap”. Adultery, love, career, suburban sensibility, and youthful idealism are touched on artfully. The Simon and Garfunkel songs magnanimously compliment the film timbre, and Dustin Hoffman, Katherine Ross, and Anne Bancroft all emerged as superstars! Mike Nichols is recently back on top of his form, with Angels Over America and Closer. It is wise to review his filmography in order to realize how many really great films he has made.

In The Heat of the Night, directed by Norman Jewison, has a challenging who done it plot, and touched on racial issues in the deep south. Rod Steiger is fantastic and Sidney Poitier created a franchise playing Virgil Tibbs. Racial issues were finally out in the open in the 1960s.

There are also many other good choices for the very best films of the decade, such as Psycho, Bonnie and Clyde, or Woodstock. But one would best not be back-peddling `bout such enumerating trite.

CONCLUSION
So there it is, hope you had a pleasant journey! Not too much jet lag, or that bad brown acid that may still be going around! The best thing to do is to follow a more specific yellow brick road , and to bone-up on topics germane to this exhibit, that best accommodate your indulgences. This summer the Tate Liverpool is having a similar show, but naturally it covers the European connection to the arts in the sixties. Hope your dreams are not too clouded with musty, poisonous mushrooms and that everything is poppin` up daisies!

Z

June 12, 2005

INFINITELY APPROXIMATING PERFECTION-CAST, STORY, EDITING, SOUNDTRACK… A JAM-PACKED CONSPIRACY MARVEL!
Z is a 1969 thriller-a barely fictitious account of the 1963 assassination of Grigoris Lambrakis, a Greek charismatic zealot for peace; a populist, but a political figure who was a little to the right of the Communist Party. It has an all-star cast, with Yves Montand as the political saint, Irene Papas as his devoted wife, Louis Trinignant as the relentless, probing Investigator, and even Charles Denner, as one of his “unfortunate colleagues”. Oh, and Jacques Perrin plays The Photographer who manages to capture much significant evidence with his camera. The movie Z is based on a 1966 novel, of the same name, by Vassilis Vassilikos-a “fictional history” of Lambrakis`s demise; the film accurately follows the book, though it streamlines it with scientific editing. I just judiciously acquired the 1969 yellowing, Ballantine paperback, secured from Pandora`s Books LTD, Neche, ND. Z was directed by Constantin Costas-Gavras, who has made other films about abusive regimes, that should include The Confession and Missing, amongst others. Yet this film packs such a pungent punch, that it leaves you with a comparable eerie sensation, as if, say, you might possibly have been the first viewer of a pristine print of Abraham Zapruder`s Homeric home movie. Yes, you knew before anyone else! You have that type of stirring intimacy with the story, as you watch.
In a nutshell, the story starts with a meeting of The Generals, who liken Communism to a mildew that must be snuffed out, at all costs! Then it switches to a square in Salonika, Macedonia, where Z (Zi=he lives, or the “spirit of resistance”) is to deliver an anti-bomb speech to his affiliates. Yet, a throng of thugs sabotage the meeting hall, pulling down posters, and roughing up some of the Z initiates. Z, himself, is hit on the head, but still manages to deliver a charged, righteous speech, even though he has sustained a concussion. Tragically, as he exits the hall, he is assaulted by a thug who hits him over the head with a billy club; he completes this act of violence when driving past Z in a panel truck, striking him forcefully, then swiftly escaping the heavily policed crowd. The assault is very cunningly covered up by the “authorities”, and portrayed as a mere accident. Z lays in a coma for several days, but dies of this head-wound trauma. The entire remaining part of the film shows The Investigator (Louis Trinignant) gradually exposing the conspiracy by the military generals to intentionally do away with Z. However, the entire affair is surpressed, witnesses are intimidated, or eliminated entirely. Yes, many accidents erase them from the picture! The final frames of the film allude to the 1967 Coup di `Etat of the military generals, a factual allusion, and provides a checklist of censured items. I will repeat the list at the end of my piece, for it is a very blatant milestone of censorship.
Z was the first foreign film to be nominated for Best Picture by the Oscars. It did not win for that, but Z did win an Oscar for editing, and no wonder, as it continues to reconstruct the assassination from different points of view, thus illuminating the many nuances of the truth. The Investigator probes deeper into the “plot” as he interviews eye-witnesses, generals, and/or significant bystanders. As they tell their versions of events, Constantin Costas-Garras recreates the “pivotal moment” of Z`s assault, but each version is slightly altered. By stacking the details, cutting the tape, and repeating the identical event, but from variegated eyes, the scenario is magnified to epic proportions, and a crime of political murder comes into focus! Michelangelo Antonioni`s Blow Up uses similar devices. No, this was no accident! Moreover, as the evidence exposes the “plot”, witnesses disappear; eventually, through political strong-arming, the investigation is jettisoned altogether. The precision editing clips many of these convoluted events together, over a mere handful of frames. One will become more aware of this when they read the book; since I am reading Z after seeing the movie, I can better recall the “reductive capsulizing” utilized on the cutting room floor of Z. Brilliant!
The legacy of Z, similar to Vassilikos`s passionate novel, is preserving the saintliness of the political figure, Gregoris Lambrakis. He is elevated to the status of martyrdom, as he righteously stood up for peace, détente in the nuclear race, and even equality and opportunity for the sundry components of the common Greek populace. Obviously, the parallels with the Kennedys are omnipresent, both in the film and in the book. The connection of Lambrakis to Bobby Kennedy is, maybe, even more the perfect fit. Too, Greece would deteriorate to a military Junta in the later sixties. Thus, one may contrast that time with the emerging democratic ideals of the earlier 1960s. Furthermore, the wholesale slaughter of 34 student demonstrators, by the brute force of the army, at the Athens Polytechnic, on November 17th, 1973, tends to underscore the humanitarian message of Gregoris Lambrakis. Kent State comes to mind, but this Greek atrocity was much more severe! Many Greek rights were blatantly disregarded in the late 1960s and early 1970s.This may have fueled the cult-worship of Z. One fact remains in my mind … always, as I review these significant events. After WWII the U.S. had a persistent CIA presence in Greece, and in many other countries, for that matter, and they pulled the marionette strings of political favoritism, that is, they favored Right-Wing Puppet Regimes as the better of two evils over Communist hegemony in Greece.
Z truly was, or is, a protest film against the prevailing ideology of the U.S.; brazen and daring, it challenges the oppressive regime of Greece, that dominated its current events. On a more transcendent level, it roars against the Western Giant! It is as “a fictional documentary” that it secures a distinct legacy in film history, but this is due more to its religious adherence to the novel Z. I.e., the novelist, Vassilis Vassilikos is the true originator of this genre, or this version of it, the accurate writing of history, which is only thinly veiled in fiction. Clearly, as we view it today, it also induces parallels with todays` Global War On Terrorism-which is the current sub-in for the Struggle Against Communism by the West. But now it`s sacred Christian versus pagan Muslim, not unlike the Great Crusades of the Thirteenth Century! Not to be forgotten, the acting in this film is superb by any measure, and the soundtrack by Mikis Theodorakis kindles Greek Nationalism, just like his music for Zorba The Greek did, in 1964. No, do not short change the actors, music, story, structure, editing, and shear inspirational message! Z lives in all of us!
(Note: If you would like to delve more into modern Greek history, in order to better fathom this important topic, please look at this rare bibliography! I have already ordered five of these titles.)
THINGS BANNED BY THE JUNTA: PEACE MOVEMENTS, STRIKES, LABOR UNIONS, LONG HAIR ON MEN, THE BEATLES, OTHER MODERN AND POPULAR MUSIC (LA MUSIQUE POPULAIRE`), SOPHOCLES, TOLSTOY, AESCHYLUS, SOCRATES, EUGENE IONESCO, SATRE, CHEKHOV, MARK TWAIN, SAMUEL BECKETT, THE BAR ASSOCIATION, SOCIOLOGY, INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS, FREE PRESS, NEW MATH. ALSO BANNED IS THE LETTER Z WHICH = S “THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE LIVES” (ZI = HE LIVES) VIVA LE FILM CRITIQUE!