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Sexplosion

Page 32

by Robert Hofler


  “Say something to Andy”: Mark Shivas, “ ‘Cowboy’ Director Had a Blind Spot,” Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1970.

  “There were a few”: Morrissey to author; Oct. 13, 2011.

  “It was amazing”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “six-day bacchanal”: Hellman to author, Oct. 16, 2011.

  “Darling, they’re so”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “What attracted me”: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 293.

  “terribly careful”: Frank Spotnitz, “John Schlesinger,” American Film, Jan. 1991, 36.

  “It was a book”: Kevin Thomas, “John Schlesinger,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1969, 22.

  “faggot stuff”: Peter Biskind, “Midnight Revolution,” Vanity Fair, March 2005, 314.

  “The book had”: Hellman to author, Oct. 16, 2011.

  a movie for Elvis Presley: Frank Spotnitz, “John Schlesinger,” American Film, Jan. 1991, 20.

  the name Sammy Davis Jr.: Ibid.

  stronger language, more nudity: Watson, Factory Made, 337.

  “It was the only studio”: Picker to author; Aug. 29, 2011.

  “commercial filmmakers”: Rosalyn Regelson, “Where Are ‘The Chelsea Girls’ Taking Us?,” New York Times, Sept. 24, 1967, D15.

  “My partners here”: Peter Biskind, “Midnight Revolution,” Vanity Fair, March 2005, 314.

  Julie Christie, who showed: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “It’s grim”: “Schlesinger Faces Pressure,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, June 22, 1970, A-3.

  “He was afraid”: Hellman to author, Oct. 16, 2011.

  “We’re ready, my queen”/“frivolity”: Hoffman to author, Oct. 19, 2012.

  “All of which changed”: Hellman to author, Oct. 16, 2011.

  “The crew were these”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “It depressed me”: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 313.

  “Neil Simon picture”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “some nebbish Mike Nichols”: Patrick Goldstein, “Midnight Cowboy,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 27, 2005.

  “So I hear”: Peter Biskind, “Midnight Revolution,” Vanity Fair, March 2005, 316.

  One day, Schlesinger gave: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 313-14, 318.

  “Dustin was prodding”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “What is my motivation”: Buruma, Conversations with John Schlesinger, 146.

  Then there was Brenda Vaccaro: Peter Biskind, “Midnight Revolution,” Vanity Fair, March 2005, 326.

  also played offscreen: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “Well, it’s in a movie”: Peter Biskind, “Midnight Revolution,” Vanity Fair, March 2005, 324.

  “Joe, the cowboy”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  When they’d completed: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 291.

  Elkins met Michael: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “Why didn’t they”/“How dare you”: Bockris, Warhol, 309.

  “I vaguely knew”: Morrissey to author, Oct. 13, 2011.

  “When you’re young”: Watson, Factory Made, 342.

  “There was always”: Dallesandro to author, Sept. 30, 2012.

  “He’d have these plants”: Highberger, Superstar in a Housedress, 101.

  “nine-to-fiver”: anonymous source to author.

  “Think of the millions”: Dick Lochte, “Conversations with Paul Morrissey,” Los Angeles Free Press, May 24, 1974.

  “I was making fun”: William Grimes, “A Warhol Director on What Is Sordid,” New York Times, Dec. 26, 1995, C13.

  Chapter Four: Autumn 1968, Revelry

  “teach Andy”/“Oh no, we can’t”: Bockris, The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, 153.

  “Do you honestly”: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 332.

  “youth adviser”: Walker, Hollywood UK, 416.

  “bit more solo”: David Del Valle, “Memo from Cammell,” Video Watchdog, No. 35, 1996, 32.

  “In Britain, the underworld”: Ibid., 31.

  “I idolized those”: John Powers, “Sympathy for the Devil,” L.A. Weekly, June 3, 1988, 39.

  “Just a few pages”: Lanza, Fragile Geometry, 37.

  “We would rehearse”: Salwolke, Nicolas Roeg, 2.

  “This ménage à trois”: Special Features, Performance DVD.

  “My first scene”: Ibid.

  “Donald could be quite”: Umland, Donald Cammell, 104.

  “Jagger simply took”: David Del Valle, “Memo from Cammell,” Video Watchdog, No. 35, 1996, 32.

  “But I smelled”: Richards and Fox, Life, 255.

  Richards was having sex: Ibid., 256.

  “twister and a manipulator”: Ibid., 253.

  “The Importance of Being Earnest”: Romany Bain, “The Changing Faces of James Fox,” She, 1972, 21.

  “He literally became”: David Del Valle, “Memo from Cammell,” Video Watchdog, No. 35, 1996, 33.

  “each of them”/“Neanderthal gangster”: Ibid., 32.

  “Mick is not acting”: Ibid.

  But he flat out: Lanza, Fragile Geometry, 37.

  “basically harmful”: Romany Bain, “The Changing Faces of James Fox,” She, 1972, 20.

  arrested on drug charges: Walker, Hollywood UK, 413.

  “very macho, violent”: David Del Valle, “Memo from Cammell,” Video Watchdog, No. 35, 1996, 33.

  went to South Africa: Walker, Hollywood UK, 423.

  “At the time”: Ibid., 424.

  “We screened everything”/“Bi”: Ibid., 417.

  “Even the bathwater”: David Del Valle, “Memo from Cammell,” Video Watchdog, No. 35, 1996, 31.

  “This film, for”: Walker, Hollywood UK, 418.

  had endured the usual mindless conversations: Mazursky to author; June 21, 2011; also, Mazursky, Show Me the Magic, 156; Special Features, Bob & Carol DVD.

  Gerber laughed: Gerber, Trippin’ with Terry Southern, 109.

  “It bears precious little resemblance”: Southern, The Candy Men, 319.

  “that something ought to be done”: Ibid., 320.

  Buck Henry sent Southern: Gerber, Trippin’ with Terry Southern, 110.

  “In spite of”: Hill, A Grand Guy, 168.

  “full vag-pen”: Southern, The Candy Men, 188.

  “There’s something so inappropriate”: Ibid.

  “I’m not aware”: Ibid., 267.

  “Since they are both”: Special features, If . . . DVD.

  “if we’re naked”: McDowell to author, Oct. 4, 2011.

  “one of the most animalistic”: Special features, If . . . DVD.

  Chapter Five: Winter 1969, Bonanza

  “It was research”: Sappington to author; June 23, 2010.

  “We just took”: White to author, Jan. 21, 2012.

  “Tynan made a hard”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “Oh! Calcutta!, he thought”: White to author, Jan. 21, 2012.

  “Ken had a lot”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  at least four skits: White to author, Jan. 21, 2012.

  “Tynan was a real”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  “such a dirty show”: White to author, Jan. 21, 2012.

  “It was a theater”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “tribute to a great English”: Jerry Talmer, “Tynan,” New York Post, April 9, 1969.

  “I was afraid”: Lewis Funke, “Tynan Plans a Stage Tribute to Eros,” New York Times, April 9, 1969, 54.

  “attract the killers”: Lewis Funke, “Tynan’s Elegant Erotica,” New York Times, Oct. 20, 1968, 1.

  “Harold Pinter was tempted”: White to author, Jan. 21, 2012.

  Hilly Elkins and Bill Liberman: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “nonorgiastic style”: Tynan, The Life of Kenneth Tynan, 364.

  “We’re disinfecting”: Craig Karpel, “No Penetration in Eden,” Village Voice, May 15, 1969, 41.

  “They were, indeed”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

 
“actors, and especially English”: Kael, “Victim,” For Keeps, 34.

  “some middle-aged urban”: Bloom, Leaving a Doll’s House, 128.

  “I don’t mind”: “Oh! Calcutta!,” Entertainment World, Oct. 24, 1969.

  “We wanted an attractive”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  “heterosexual fascists!”: Barrett, First Your Money, Then Your Clothes, 13.

  “When we take down”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  “Simultaneously with our”: Ibid.

  thirty helmeted, gas-masked: Tytell, The Living Theatre, 257.

  “What was great”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  including critic Richard Schechner: Tytell, The Living Theatre, 257.

  “to overcome violence”: Malina and Beck, Paradise Now, 80.

  “Jim had decided”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  $2,500 donation: Tytell, The Living Theatre, 257.

  “lewdly and lasciviously”: Herman, Rock ’n’ Roll Babylon, 60.

  “You’re all a bunch”: Ibid.

  “ivory shaft”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  Jeanne Baretich/“consensual sodomy”: “Show Must Go,” New York Post, March 25, 1969, 24.

  local clergyman who: Lewis Funke, “City Officials Consulting with ‘Oh! Calcutta!’ Staff,” New York Times, May 24, 1969.

  “rubbing of the genital”: John Mullane, “Vow to Keep ‘Che’ on After Second Arrest,” New York Post, May 8, 1969, 68.

  “There have been seventy”: Ibid.

  “If I were afraid: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  A flamboyant showman: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “faux-Napoleonic grandeur”: Bloom, Leaving a Doll’s House, 126.

  “the unmentionable”: Ibid., 127.

  “I was a little”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “There’s a good chance”: Barrett, First Your Money, Then Your Clothes, 15.

  “The worst that could”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  “I think all”/“guide”: Enten to author; Jan. 4, 2011.

  “no-fuck law”: Barrett, First Your Money, Then Your Clothes, 17.

  “How can you touch”: Peter Hellman, “Arriving at the Naked Truth,” New York, June 30,, 1969, 57.

  “I’d like to”: Barrett, First Your Money, Then Your Clothes, 25.

  multimedia work/“inhibitions”: Childers to author, June 12, 2010.

  Chapter Six: Spring 1969, Fetishes

  censors at the Gray Lady: Craig Karpel, “No Penetration in Eden,” Village Voice, May 15, 1969, 40.

  “subject matter of pornography”: Intelligent Puritan, “Tynan: And Is That Bad?,” New York Times, June 15, 1969, 10.

  “To scotch most”: Leo Mishkin, “A Peek at ‘Oh! Calcutta!,’ ” Morning Telegraph, May 5, 1969.

  “Will sexual intercourse”: Ibid.

  “No. We’re not”: Mishkin, “A Peek at ‘Oh! Calcutta!’ ”

  “include actual sexual”: Henry Raymont, “ ‘Che!’ Tests the Limits,” New York Times, March 24, 1969.

  “done it”: Tytell, The Living Theatre, 259.

  “I personally would”: Jerry Tallmer, “Tynan,” New York Post, April 9, 1969.

  “Recommended for mature”: Lewis Funke, “City Officials Consulting with ‘Oh! Calcutta!’ Staff,” New York Times, May 24, 1969.

  “unofficially inviting”: “Waiting for Calcutta,” Newsweek, June 16, 1969, 107.

  “Well, can I”: Sappington to author, June 23, 2010.

  “They offered extremely”: “Waiting for Calcutta,” Newsweek, June 16, 1969, 107.

  “Tynan threatened”: White to author, Jan. 21, 2012.

  “Tynan’s skits”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “There is no theatrical”: “Waiting for Calcutta,” Newsweek, June 16, 1969, 107.

  actor Leon Rossom/actress Nancy Tribush exchange: Ibid.

  “A few times”: Sappington to author, June 23, 2010.

  Nureyev/Dempsey exchange: Barrett, First Your Money, Then Your Clothes, 37.

  “full-length play”/“Tynan cast”: Feiffer to author, Dec. 7, 2010.

  world premier: Earl Wilson, “A Night of Nudity,” New York Post, June 18, 1969.

  “Opening night was”: Sappington to author, June 23, 2010.

  “People who had”: Liberman to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  Sardi’s party: Wilson, “A Night of Nudity.”

  “Break a member”: Feiffer to author, Dec. 7, 2010.

  “You’re a very nice”: Sex in ’69: The Sexual Revolution in America, History Channel, 2009.

  “They were disastrous”: Ibid.

  “A police official”: Earl Wilson, “ ‘Calcutta’ Rolls On,” New York Post, June 25, 1969.

  $234,969/“Scalpers were”: “$15 Top for ‘Calcutta,’ ” New York Times, May 30, 1969.

  Elkins liked to give: Bloom, Leaving a Doll’s House, 127.

  two million copies/“greatest blow”: Laura Bergquist, “Gore Vidal,” Look, July 29, 1969, 73.

  “We were stunned”: “ ‘Midnight Cowboy’ Almost Didn’t Make It,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Aug. 13, 1969. B-6.

  “There would be seventy-five”: Hoffman to author, Oct. 19, 2012.

  “We felt the X”: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 332.

  “I didn’t like”: Gregory King, “Herlihy’s Modified ‘Cowboy’ Rapture,” Variety, May 4, 1971.

  “We filmed two”: Mann, Edge of Midnight, 314.

  “I’m afraid I”: King, “Herlihy’s Modified ‘Cowboy’ Rapture.”

  “I want to do”: Frank Spotnitz, “John Schlesinger,” American Film, January 1991, 37.

  “Well, we don’t”: Ibid.

  “I met him”/“I told Columbia”: Kramer to author; June 23, 2010.

  “We’re paid to”: Trevelyan, What the Censor Saw, 22.

  “Trevelyan told us”: Kramer, Women in Love and Other Dramatic Writings, 64.

  “It was very emotional”: Making the Boys documentary, 2011.

  “This scene is by far”: Algate and Robertson, Censorship in Theatre and Cinema, 126.

  “Certainly one lesbian”: Judith Crist, “Banned in Boston,” New York, March 30, 1969, 54.

  “I wasn’t quite out”: Special Features, Women in Love DVD.

  “The scene I wrote”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  Reed made an impromptu visit: Russell, Altered States, 67.

  “You’re going to be seen”: Special Features, Women in Love DVD.

  “one of the most exposed”: Spoto, Otherwise Engaged, 106.

  “full-frontal nudity”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  The night before: Russell, Altered States, 72.

  “Alan had very little”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  “Tumultuous applause”: Russell, Altered States, 72.

  losing twenty pounds: Special Features, Women in Love DVD.

  “It was a difficult scene”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  “The task was quite”: Spoto, Otherwise Engaged, 106.

  “The scenes in which”: Baxter, Glenda Jackson, 64.

  “But I wouldn’t budge”: Goodwin, Evil Spirits, 123.

  “Poor Ollie”: Baxter, Glenda Jackson, 63.

  Suddenly, Last Summer: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  “Trevelyan was a real”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  appropriately sterile/deciding vote: Philip Oakes, “Mister Bluenose,” Sunday Times Magazine, July 3, 1966.

  “How can you exercise”: Special Features, Women in Love DVD.

  “In the end”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  “This film included”: Trevelyan, What the Censor Saw, 117.

  “Trevelyan had that”: Bak
er, Director’s Cut, 93.

  “I remember that after Blow-Up”: Trevelyan, What the Censor Saw, 115.

  “Because it was the first”: Kramer to author, June 23, 2010.

  “It was known as”: Special Features, Women in Love DVD.

  Chapter Seven: Summer 1969, Revolution

  “This unpleasantness”: Crowley to author, Dec. 1, 2010.

  “You’re the producer!”: Making the Boys documentary, 2011.

  “We will replace”: Ibid.

  $1.6 million: Bruce Bahrenburg, “ ‘Boys in the Band’ Becomes Movie,” Newark Evening News, Aug. 24, 1969.

  “Crowley knew”: Making the Boys documentary, 2011.

  “No fags smoke”: Andy Humm, “ ‘Boys in the Band’ Hits 40,” Gay City News, June 26, 2008, 46.

  “There was a lot of crap”: Alfred Zelcer, “Cliff Gorman—Coitus Interrupted,” After Dark, December 1971, 18.

  “monkey house”: Thomas Quinn Curtis, “Parisians Hail Premiere of ‘The Boys in the Band,’ ” New York Times, Sept. 20, 1969.

  And down under: Raymond Stanley, “Actors in Aussie ‘Boys’ Convicted on Vice Squad Obscenity Charge,” Variety, Aug. 6, 1969. 2.

  Boris Karloff’s co-op: New York Post, Sept. 3, 1968, 43.

  “It’s a gigantic”: Arthur Bell, “Bell Tells,” Village Voice, undated clip.

  “As a straight man”: Friedkin, The Friedkin Connection, 137.

  “had gotten bored”: Making the Boys documentary, 2011.

  “consciously fag”: Bahrenburg, “ ‘Boys in the Band’ Becomes Movie.”

  “Is the country”: Katie Kelly, “The ‘Boys’ Are Having a Bit of a Party Again,” New York Times, July 13, 1969.

  “Who can predict”: Ibid.

  “bane of my existence”: Making the Boys documentary, 2011.

  “emotional strain”: “Los Angeles Judges Act on ‘Calcutta,’ ” New York Times, Dec. 19. 69.

  “genital contact”: “Cops Nab Frisco ‘Calcutta’ Actors,” Variety, Nov. 5, 1969, 63.

  management did suspend: Butler to author, Dec. 4, 2010.

  Warhol’s effort to combine: Colacello, Holy Terror, 5.

  “They don’t even dare”: Taylor Mead, “Lions Love,” Inter/VIEW, vol. 1, 1969, 16.

  “Jerry got totally”/“You’ve got to”/Ellen Stewart: Butler to author, Dec. 4, 2010.

  Chapter Eight: Autumn 1969, Trauma

  “The directors of”: Mazursky to author, June 21, 2011.

  “I’ve always thought”: Bernard Weinraub, “Hollywood Reigns as Film Fete Opens,” New York Times, Sept. 17, 1969, 50.

 

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