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kennethanger

Fireworks (Kenneth Anger, 1947)

Dec

8

National Christmas Tree Day

Fireworks (1947)

The Dreamer (Kenneth Anger) holding a tinsel-decked Christmas tree in front of his naked upper body. The scene appears to foreshadow Yvonne Marquis getting into her silver dress in Anger's Puce Moment (1949).

A Christmas tree for National Christmas Tree Day.
In August 1942, a Mexican-American man with a broken finger was found semiconscious near Sleepy Lagoon, Ca.. By association, a group of young Latinos was put on trial. This spark, mere months after Roosevelt sent thousands of Japanese Americans to concentration camps and fuelled by Cold War paranoia, eventually set off the Zoot Suit Riots.

 

Zoot Suiters or Pachucos and other “outsiders” like African, Italian and Filipino Americans, were viciously attacked by Anglo-American #sailors. Those suits, all that fabric, this colourful extravagance, they cried out, were hampering the war effort.

“Inflammable desires dampened by day under the cold water of consciousness are ignited that night by the libertarian matches of sleep, and burst forth in showers of shimmering incandescence.”

– The Dreamer

The Dreamer, Anger, dreams of a similar violent attack. The sadism is harrowing, filmed with such exquisite eye that it's impossible to look away. Blood finds its way out, pulsating and spurting. Ambiguous glances. A hand, no finger. A young man awakes, is born. The dreamer is still asleep.

The Big Shave [The Big Shave… or, Viet '67] (Martin Scorsese, 1967)

Dec

2

Safety Razor Day

The Big Shave (1967)

A young man (Peter Bernuth) shaving in front of a mirror. The bathroom is clean, white, with chrome fixtures. DP: Ares Demertzis.

Someone shaves on Safety Razor Day (USA).
Accompanied by the sweet tunes of Bunny Berigan and Ira Gershwin's I Can't Get Started, a young man shaves his face. The Big Shave is a short commissioned film which contains many of the hallmarks of Martin Scorsese's later, more accessible work.

“I've been consulted by Franklin D., Gretta Garbo has had me to tea, Still I'm broken hearted, Cause I can't get it started, With you”

–Ira Gershwin, I Can't Get Started (1936)

There's also the obvious influence of #KennethAnger to be found, in nostalgic show tunes, the fetishisation of chrome and clean lines, followed by lustful, by ways erotic, violence. #Scorsese theme here is not homoeroticism, not on the surface at least, but the carnage laid upon so many young men sent off to the smouldering battlefields of #Vietnam. There'd be another six years of that. And meanwhile, some young men came back. And some picked up a job, driving a cab.

Night Tide (Curtis Harrington, 1961)

May

22

National Maritime Day

Night Tide (1961)

Johnny Drake (Dennis Hopper) and Mora (Linda Lawson) in front of her joint that reads “MORA the MERMAID. ALIVE! LOVELY SIREN of the DEEP”. The sideshow's mural, and presumably the lettering too, were painted by Kenneth Anger associate Paul Mathison, both part of (Marjorie) Cameron's Magick Circle. DPs: Vilis Lapenieks & Floyd Crosby.

On the #SantaMonica pier, sailor Johnny falls in love with one of the attractions of the local #sideshow, Mora the Mermaid. As people warn Johnny about the faith of Mora's previous suitors, captivated, he becomes convinced that she is a real siren, planning his downfall.

– Yes, I love the sea most of all. But I'm afraid of it, too.

– I guess we're all a little afraid of what we love.

 

This, lost dreamlike L.A. is gone; a treasure like Night Tide serves as a reminder of a more spellbinding Hollywood.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) & The Wormwood Star (1956)

The Scarlet Woman (Marjorie Cameron) wearing a fantastic peacock-like robe and crown. DP: Kenneth Anger.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

March 26: someone wears purple on #PurpleDay / #InternationalEpilepsyDay

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954)

Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher than eyesight. — Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX

Both in The Wormwood Star (Curtis Harrington, 1956) and Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954) Marjorie Cameron wears shades of purple. Professionally known as Cameron, she was a follower of #Thelema, the philosophical movement founded by occultist Aleister Crowley.

Cameron as herself. Here too she wears references to the peacock Aiwass, who dictated The Book of the Law to Crowley.

The Wormwood Star (1956)

The Wormwood Star (Curtis Harrington, 1956)

Meanwhile in 1946, rocket scientist #JackParsons and (pre-Scientology) sci-fi author #LRonHubbard worked on a series of #Crowley-related magic ceremonies named Babalon Working. After Parsons declared the rituals a success, he encountered Cameron in his own house. She became the element required to continue the ceremonies, this resulting in her being declared Babalon, the #Scarlet Woman.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #KennethAnger #SamsonDeBrier #MarjorieCameron #AnaïsNin #CurtisHarrington #PaulMathison #colours #purple #occultism #Magick #ShortFilm #Avantgarde #USA #1950s ★★★★☆

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #CurtisHarrington #Cameron #PhilipHarland #LeonaWood #PaulMathison #documentary #occultism #FineArt #colours #purple #witches #USA #AleisterCrowley #1950s ★★★½

#todo