Film di Jack Smith

The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man

The Secret of Rented Island

Presents Jack Smith in a perfomance entitled Rented Island, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts.

Seven Wonders of the West

This nature documentary focuses on the American West, looking intently on the mountains, deserts and redwood country on display.

Bowery Dawn

Shadrack's in a world of trouble: his girl-friend, Daisey, wants him and his rock 'n' roll band to supply the entertainment for her upcoming party - but the band's members are clearly out of control, arguing at every rehearsal. To make matters worse, Daisey wants to marry Shadrack. What's a fellow to do?

Filmmakers

Iimura creates a short self-portrait as well as brief portraits of five of his peers: Brakhage, Vanderbeek, Smith, Mekas and Warhol. In each portrait, Iimura attempts to copy the styles and traits of each artist (Vanderbeek's constantly moving camera; Mekas' experiments with film speed; Warhol's use of flashes of white against a black background), while briefly commenting on the images being shown. The film serves effectively as an introduction to the film styles of these artists.

Song for Rent

During its 1969 showings at the Elgin Theater, No President was preceded by the color short filmed according to Smith’s direction by photographer Don Snyder (who also shot slides during the same session). Smith appeared as his red-wigged, plastic-jawed, alter ego Rose Courtyard, seated in a wheelchair amid the detritus of the Plaster Foundation. The film was accompanied by two rounds of Kate Smith singing “God Bless America”. Dressed in a red satin gown, clutching a bouquet of dead roses, Rose is finally moved to stand up and salute. The film was found in a can labeled “Song for Rent”, title of a 1971 mixed media production in which Smith appeared. (J. Hoberman)

Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

Also known as Walden, Jonas Mekas’s first diary film is a six-reel chronicle of his life in 1960s New York, interweaving moments with family, friends, lovers, and artistic idols. Blending everyday encounters with portraits of the avant-garde art scene, it forms an epic, personal meditation on community, creativity, and the passage of time.

I Was a Male Yvonne De Carlo for the Lucky Landlord.....

This is one of several films and slide shows that feature Smith as a mock celebrity. It opens with the excerpt from No President originally called "Marsh Gas of Flatulandia" - several minutes of black and white footage of steam escaping from manholes segues to an interior scene of various creatures emerging from dry ice vapors - then shifts to show the filmmaker, clad in a leopard skin jump suit, attended by a nurse as he sits amidst the detritus of his duplex loft. A fan presents him with a black-and-white glamour shot to autograph as Ondine, dressed entirely in black leather, snaps his picture. Violence erupts as the nurse takes out a whip to discipline the star's fans. When a female creature pulls out the same dagger depicted in the glamour shot, Smith jumps up and shakes the weapon from her hand. The action is post-scripted with footage of a steam shovel patrolling the rubble where the Broadway Central Hotel once stood.

Camp

Shot at Warhol's Silver Factory, Camp features a group of Superstars putting on a "summer camp" talent show complete with singing, dancing, jokes, poetry, and Gerard Malanga as master of ceremonies.

Electrolux Lover

16mm, color, silent

Jeremelu

A rapid montage collage featuring Jack Smith and a Warholian kiss.

The Devil is Dead

A phantasmagoric exploration into the violence we house within ourselves.

Batman Dracula – “Batman on Beach with Nymph”

One of four finished Batman Dracula shorts shown publicly by Warhol.

Screen Test: Jack Smith

Part of Andy Warhol's Screen Tests series. Filmmaker and performance artist Jack Smith.

The Soap Opera

A documentary on the beginnings of the cultural revolution on the Lower East Side, New York.

Chumlum

Ron Rice's Chumlum is one of those films in which the conditions of its construction are integral to the experience of watching it. It is a record of a cadre of creative people having fun on camera, playing dress-up, dancing, flirting, lazing around.

Andy Warhol Films Jack Smith Filming "Normal Love"

Andy Warhol film.

Little Stabs at Happiness

Little Stabs at Happiness is a collection of silent shorts Jacobs shot from the period of 1959-1963. Jaunty tunes (and a somber reflection) accompany the footage.

Top Deck

A white bus conductress is attracted by one of her regular passengers, a black serviceman, but then tires of him.

The Death of P'town

Shot in Provincetown in the summer of '61 with the goal of funding a larger project, the film was never completed due to a violent argument between actor Jack Smith and director Ken Jacobs shortly after the shooting began. A title card explains that Smith 'would've starred as the Fairy Vampire.'

Petrol

A man is strangled to death and then dumped in a car.

Saturday Afternoon Blood Sacrifice

Short film with Jack Smith as the mysterious leader of an even-more-mysterious cult, garbed in pseudo-papal regalia and adorned with jewelry and makeup. His followers do his bidding by abducting and cross-dressing an unsuspecting mailman. Smith launches a processional and is soon joined by real neighborhood children in the streets of Lower Manhattan. Eventually, the police came along and shooting ends, but Ken Jacobs gets an overhead shot of Smith trying to explain himself to the cops.

Little Cobra Dance

Jack Smith descends a fire escape in a makeshift "Arabian" costume and improvises increasingly frenetic choreography.

Vecchia America

Una ragazza, nonostante l'opposizione dei genitori, resta fedele all'amore per un coetaneo, che la sposerà prima di partire per il fronte allo scoppio della prima guerra mondiale.