Garbo Documentary Shows Why She Became Legendary and Why She Stepped Away

"There's something strange about the nature of "celebrity." Many young people dream of "making it" in the field of their dreams, but few really understand the hidden cost of being famous. It might be fun at first. But when you read between the lines of many stories, you see that the mystique is also a burden."
--Burden of the Public Eye

This weekend  I watched the Netflix documentary Garbo: Where Did You Go? What intrigued me was learning that at the height of her fame she withdrew from the limelight to live a private life of seclusion. I couldn't help but think of others who similarly pulled back in one way or another. J.D. Salinger came to mind, as did John Lennon in the mid-Seventies.

In his Chronicles: Volume One, Bob Dylan talks about the pre-eminent need to maintain a “normal” family somewhere away from the public eye. That task eventually took a toll on his first marriage. Some Dylan observers have gone so far as to speculate that his famous Woodstock motorcycle accident in the Sixties was staged as a mechanism for getting out of the public eye for a spell, some time to slow down and assess.

Greta Garbo was born in Sweden, 18 September 1905. Her birth name: Greta Lovisa Gustafsson. The youngest of three children, her childhood memories were not happy ones, growing up in a slum, long dark winters, an oppressive atmosphere in the home. 

At an early age she became quite interested in the theater and directed her friends in make believe stories. She finished school at age 13 like other working class girls and found work but when the Spanish Flu swept through Stockholm her father became ill and lost his job. Greta took him to hospital appointments and took care of him, but he died when she was 14, which was very dark time.

Greta's first jobs included soap-lathering in a barber shop, running errands in a department store and modeling hats, which led to her being filmed for a commercial, which then led to being in a silent film. She evidently sensed she's found her calling because she followed up with two years of training in the Royal Dramatic Training Academy.

In 1924 the Finnish director Mauritz Stiller recruited her for a film based on a story by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlof, and she was on her way. She had no idea that in a few years she would end up being the biggest name in Hollywood and one of its biggest international stars.

Illustration by the author.

The documentary showed clips from the numerous film she starred in (28 in all) and it was easy to see why she was such a compelling on-screen presence. In her very. first screen test she was described as "electrifying." The response to her films certified that she had what it takes and the studio milked it for all it was worth.

Many silent screen stars fell out of favor once audiences could hear them talk, but not Garbo. Her husky Swedish accent amplified her desirability and powers. She became the biggest box office draw in Hollywood.

Despite her fame, the human spirit within her was being smothered and strangled by contract pressures and the expectations of Louis B. Mayer. When her sister died, to whom Greta had been immensely close, the studio would not give her permission to fly to Sweden to attend the funeral. She was given two days to grieve then get back to work.

Living life in the public eye took its toll in other ways. Eventually she walked away, still in her early forties. Hollywood repeatedly attempted to coax her back but it was not to be. Nor would she share her reasons for this permanent voluntary hibernation, even with her friends. Four years before her death she opened up to her biographer Sven Broman. "I was tired of Hollywood. I did not like my work. There were many days when I had to force myself to go to the studio... I really wanted to live another life."^[1]

The documentary has its flaws, but it does succeed in giving us a deeper appreciation for this artist from Hollywood's early years and the price of fame. It also made me want to see some of those films that catapulted her to the top.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Garbo

Hemingway, Ken Burns and the Age Old Question

"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life."
--Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Ernest Hemingway

* * * 

Can an immense jerk be an important artist? How do we separate the artist from the art?

I have struggled with this many times over the years, most recently while reading Earle Labor's Jack London: An American Life. There are more than a few people in Hollywood whose bad behavior has tarnished their stars in my estimation. If you want to thoroughly enjoy their performances or what they've produced or directed, it's almost better not to know too much.

The same goes for rock stars. To enjoy their music it's almost best not to know too much about their personal lives. 

For this reason I was a bit surprised when I saw that Ken Burns had produced a six-hour documentary on the bigger-than-life Nobel Laureate Ernest Hemingway. His influence on literature was, and remains, undeniable. His reputation "off the screen" left something to be desired. Thus I was curious how Burns would present the man.

* * * 

I am more than a little familiar with Hemingway's story, having read most of his books and a few books about him. I was aware of his father's suicide, and the manner in which he burned through four wives -- Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gellhorn and Mary Welch. I was also keenly aware of his commitment to the craft of writing. And, of course, I was aware of his death by suicide at age 62 after years of struggle with personal demons.

In this last of three segments, it was painful to learn how much he verbally abused his sons and how much he hated his mother, whom he never saw yet supported till her death. 

I could relate to his struggles as a writer on at least one level. As one who has achieved monumental heights, I can imagine it to be quite the burden to feel the weight of expectation to climb yet higher. He observed that Nobel Prize winners seldom produce anything better afterwards, though I suspect he was overstating the case due to his speculative fear that he was a has-been. (I've heard that Ishiguro's latest novel, post Nobel, is quite remarkable, which goes contrary to the dictum Hem pronounced.)

* * * 

Hemingway at 50

Here are a few observations I made on the third night of the Burns documentary.

I was unaware of how many concussions Hemingway experienced. The correlation to his mood swings is logical, though his lifelong alcoholism certainly played a role. And perhaps there was an underlying root of bitterness that infected him as well. 

Not all of his books were critically acclaimed. Across the River and Into the Trees received the worst reviews possible. And though Old Man and the Sea became an immediate bestseller, critics homed in on the mannered "Hemingway style" as if it had become a parody of himself.

Hemingway's injuries through the years were common occurrences it seems -- concussions, blurred vision, throbbing headaches, battered knees. He had more than his share of physical maladies, though simultaneously his choices helped put him in harm's way on some of those occasions.

I was unaware that he covered D-Day as a journalist from a landing transport, and his soon to be wife was taking photos right on the beach.

Some reporters admired him for his bravado, other couldn't stand it. He actually got involved in the fighting in the war itself (WW2), which was against the rules of journalism.

One of his favorite homes -- if not his favorite writing place -- was in the hills overlooking Havana. Eventually, after Castro took over Cuba, Hemingway had to abandon this idyllic place. 

Chief character traits used to describe Hemingway included masculinity, stoicism, idiocy, mortality, and drinking, drinking, drinking. He could be exceedingly hurtful in his letters. When his mother died, he said he hated his mother and she hated him. He inflicted 100,000 cruelties on people who were part of his life.

I found it interesting that the documentary cited Shakespeare's King Lear at one point, when he said, "What's going on here? Aren't I king?" This was a late in life development where others had to step in to keep. him from self-destruction. 

Another pair of incidents were somewhat unusual. During a trip to Africa with his wife the plane they were on faltered and crashed. The rescue plane failed to see them initially, so Hemingway was presumed dead and media all over the world published obituaries and tributes. As luck would have it, they were rescued after all, but on the return flight were involved in a second crash. His wife broke ribs and he cracked his skull using his body and head to smash his way out of the burning plane.

While recovering from the second crash he read the obituaries and tributes to his greatness and influence as a writer. (Have you ever wondered what they will say about you and your legacy when you die?)

His last years, after leaving Cuba, were spent in Ketchum, Idaho. It was not a happy time as he struggled with concentration and internal turbulence. He'd crossed too many boundaries, and as Dylan would one day sing, "You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way."

In his last days, he would write a sentence, cross it out, try another and quit. Later he would try again, wrote a sentence and quit yet again. "Unable to write a good sentence after four hours he gave up."

For what it's worth, the number of writers influenced by his stories and novels is impossibly great. I count myself as one of these, inspired to excel as a writer by his first book of short stories, In Our Time. He was a master of the craft, and his prose struck me like a punch to the solar plexus.  That's an experience I can never deny.  

* * *

YouTube Videos

Orson Welles on Hemingway

Ingrid Bergman on Hemingway

Andy Rooney on Hemingway

Interview with Hemingway in Havana, 1954
(EdNote: Read the comments to catch why their recitation from cue cards is so stilted.) 

* * * 
Related Links

Ernest Hemingway's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

PBS's Hemingway is an immersive portrait of the author's brilliance and cruelty

Channeling Papa: Scott Stavrou's Collected Blog Posts of Ernest Hemingway

A Visit with M Denise Costello: Hemingway Aficianado from Dallas

Throwback Thursday: For Whom the Bell Tolls

The Beatles First U.S. Visit Documentary Will Make You Smile

This week I have been watching a 1991 documentary about The Beatles first U.S. tour, aptly titled, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit. It begins with the Fab Four getting off a plane in New York and includes all the usual "moments" that we've seen briefly in other places, such as their Ed Sullivan Show appearances, screaming fans, traveling by train to DC and the performance there, press conferences and more.

The film was produced by Al and David Maysles, who produced 30 films including Gimme Shelter (1969 Rolling Stones tour that ended in tragedy at Altamont) and Grey Gardens, about the decay and decline of a once-wealthy mother and daughter in the Hamptons. There's nothing fancy about the films which almost seem like home movies, thus their effectiveness

A lot of the Beatles' success had to do with timing and serendipity. Events preceding the U.S. tour certainly helped set up their stunning reception. Did you know that on November 22, 1963 a young Mike Wallace did a news story on Beatlemania. It aired that morning and was scrapped for the evening news because of the much larger story that cast a dark shadow on everything, the assassination of JFK. 18 days later Walter Cromkite was looking for a positive story to add a lift to the evening's news and found this Mike Wallace bit. This and several other concurrent events helped put The Beatles in play.

When The Beatles finally arrived in early February, the Top 100 list peppered with Beatles hits. The film here shows Brian Epstein receiving a phone call that The Beatles owned the top three slots of the Top 10. It doesn't get much better than that. The Ed Sullivan shows were just icing on the cake, certifying their legendary stature.

In the first Ed Sullivan show they did three songs in their opening set: All My Loving, Till There Was You and She Loves You. The screaming girls in the audience were as important to the cameramen as the performers themselves.

Before introducing them later in the show Sullivan read part of a telegram to The Beatles from Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker "wishing them tremendous success in our country." With a wave of the arm he turns as the curtain opens to I Want To Hold Your Hand. Screams erupt even before the arm gesture is complete and if you look close you can see the usually serious face is breaking into a grin. "This is just too over-the-top" one can imagine him thinking, all the while thinking of the ratings coup.

Once more we see the familiar camera closeups of girls ecstasy. Big smiles all around. Ed Sullivan can't contain himself. And even I couldn't remain indifferent.

Cigarets seem ubiquitous in this film. George smoking while the Beatles were being interviewed in a New York press conference. All of them smoking on the train. "Marlboro," John says, grinning.

Their easy-going charm, hamming it up in NY, hamming it up everywhere they go, certainly contributed to their fame.

I remember some of this footage from the Washington DC show. Despite the poor sound quality you could feel their energy, which no doubt was amplified by the fan energy. Look how small their sound equipment was. A few amps, speakers, drum kit and three guitars, skinny boys with tight slacks and Ringo on his pedestal. What a contrast to the McCartney shows several decades later with 25 million dollar laser light shows and SFX, or any Super Bowl Halftime Show for the last thirty years.

* * * *

Notes from the Washington DC show:
I Saw Her Standing There
Energy
Big bow after each song.
Ringo takes his turn singing I Wanna Be Your Man

Re-Arrange themselves on the stage.... "Thanks for buying this record."
She Loves You... More screams.
Compelling.
Four boys having a blast ......

* * * *

It was certainly a time of innocence. I borrowed it from the Duluth Public Library. If you can't find it elsewhere, you can read the reviews here, which will motivate you to try a little harder.

Tower Records: Another Example of How the Mighty Fall

Creative Commons

It was one of the greatest tragedies of my life, to be honest with you, when it closed down. It really, really upset me. I miss it. I miss that routine, you know, of going to buy my records or my CDs, whatever.--Elton John

This month I've been reading How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins. The book is a powerful analysis of how successful companies decline and fail.

I'd read two of Jim Collins' other books and found them both useful and personally rewarding. Built to Last illustrates the difference between founders seeking to create a legacy vs. entrepreneurs simply seeking to make a quick buck. Built to Last is a stark contrast to creative thinkers whose aim is simply to build companies they can flip into a big personal gain.

Good to Great's subtitle is pointed: "Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't." How do mediocre companies become superior and dominant in their industries? I couldn't help but think of  the New England Patriots as a team that transcended the ordinary when they hired Bill Belicheck. Exceptional leadership is definitely one of the features of great companies, Collins notes. A second feature, Collins notes, is "a culture of discipline."

The documentary All Things Must Pass is the story of Tower Records, its ascendancy and eventual decline. At its height this was a billion dollar record company with branches in 30 countries. A few short years later it was defunct. By watching this documentary you will vividly see the five steps process outlined in Jim Collins' How the Mighty Fall. These steps are as follows.

1. Hubris Born of Success
2. Undisciplined Pursuit of More
3. Denial of Risk and Peril
4. Grasping for Salvation
5. Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

It's almost startling how the history of Tower Records, as outlined in this documentary, so perfectly follows Jim Collins' outline.

Established in 1960, Tower Records became a retail powerhouse with two hundred stores, in 30 countries, on five continents. Its humble beginnings in a small town drugstore happened to take place at precisely the right time. As they say, timing is everything. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy.

* * * *

"It wasn't a job. It was just a way of life."

The documentary puts a positive spin on the story, but the realities of how it went down are pretty apparent. It was a party, and eventually there were people who got hurt. But while the party was going on, no one seemed to mind, I suppose. There was enough drugs, sex and rock 'n roll to satisfy those involved.

* * * *

At the core of Tower Records was this motto, which captured the essence of a generation: No Music, No Life. The emergence of radio at that time was also a phenomenon. The music was on the airwaves everywhere. AM superstations like WABC out of New York and others from the Deep South helped whet the appetite, marketing the new sounds. In the 60s FM radio bumped it to a new level.

In the early 80s Michael Jackson's Thriller and MTV gave the record industry another adrenaline rush. At the core, though, it was the same theme: No Music, No Life.

* * * *

The title of this documentary was borrowed from George Harrison's triple album released after the Beatles broke. In my own personal career I've often used this expression, All Things Must Pass. When things are going well, cherish it, because "this too shall pass."

The meteoric rise of Tower Records must have been a heady experience. Those who were there in the beginning talk about those days the way some might talk about a memorable event like Woodstock, except that this event lasted four decades. The astute viewer will observe that the seeds of their success were also their undoing. Things change, and the culture they created didn't.

Tower Records was not a victim. Many great companies do succeed in making difficult transitions.

* * * *

Today is Bob Dylan's 79th Birthday. He himself made many transitions during his career. With the advent of his Never Ending Tour in the late 1980's he began doing nearly 100 shows a year. COVID-19 succeeded in disrupting his schedule but hasn't interfered with his continuing to be relevant. His newest album of original material is due to be released in mid-June.

As I am oft fond of saying, there's a Dylan lyric or song for every situation. If you've read this for the marketing message sub-text woven into this blog post, then the Dylan line you'll want as your takeaway is, "He not busy being born is busy dying."

Life is about re-invention. Times change. Are you being renewed?

Related Links
Duluth Dylan Fest culminates today with three live streaming events at noon, 5 and 7:30 CST. Here is the Facebook Link to links for these three events.
Trivia: How many cover versions of Bob Dylan songs were recorded by other artists and sold via Tower Records from 1961-2006? 

A Visit with Local TV Producer Keith Hopkins About His Upcoming Film Gravedigger Dave’s Halfway House

In early 2018 our local TV station created a five week series called "A Night at the Armory" featuring several local musicians in this historic building where young Bob Dylan caught a look--a spark--from Buddy Holly just days before "the music died."

The concept for this show was ignited by a spark in the mind of producer Keith Hopkins as he drove past the historic site. The idea became a reality and the show produced a number of very special moments.

In 2019 the producer/filmmaker has been pursuing another passion, this time related to ghost stories. Over the past year he's been interviewing Northlanders about local paranormal occurrences for an upcoming feature film. Some of these spooky locations include the Duluth Depot, Greyhound Bus Museum, William A Irvin, and Ely Steakhouse are just a few of the locations appearing in the movie. The film blends documentary with narrative storytelling, and challenges the audience to determine which stories are true, which are fictions.

The film is titled Gravedigger Dave’s Halfway House, and what follows is an interview with its creator Keith Hopkins.

EN: How did you come to take an interest in film and television media? How long have you been involved with local television production?

Keith Hopkins: I've been working in TV and film production since 2005, and in Duluth since 2014. I initially wanted to be an illustrator. I grew up loving comic books (and still do). But reality set in when my drawing skills were obviously lackluster. So I began to think about where else I could apply my passion. I realized that what interested me about comics wasn't the illustrations necessarily, but the sequential storytelling, which you also see in film editing. Although movie making had always seemed like something unattainable, I decided to look into it and really fell in love.

EN: What prompted you to do a film about ghosts?

KH: My dad was an expert teller of ghost stories around the campfire. He and others would swear that some were true, and some were obviously made up. But the search for a REAL ghost story always excited me, and my dad is definitely where I got that interest. I don't tell a great verbal story, and sometimes my movie pitches come out as incoherent babble. But I do think I have a certain talent in the editing room to create a creepy ghost story. I'm always trying to mimic my dad's sense of pacing to create tension, even though I'm working in a different medium.

EN: Once you pay attention, Duluth does have quite a few “ghost stories.” Without giving away too much, what is Gravedigger Dave’s Halfway House about?

KH: Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House is about the ghost stories of St. Louis County. Between the Duluth Depot, William A Irvin, Ely Steakhouse, Greyhound Bus Museum, and plenty more, the area is rich with history of things that go bump in the night. But part of the fun of listening to a series of ghost stories is trying to figure out which are fact and which are fiction. So there is a mixture in this film. Some are shot in a documentary style but are not true. Others are shot in a narrative style and are absolutely true. The audience will need to pick up on the little clues that are dropped throughout the movie

EN: What were your biggest challenges with this project?

KH: The biggest challenge was finding the right plot for the film. I had been making paranormal short films for several years and wanting to put them in an anthology before I settled on the 'fact or fiction' angle. But once I committed to that plot device things really accelerated. This movie is being made with a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and my pitch in the application was to make a movie that blended entertainment with regional folk lore. However, crafting that pitch was far from easy. I wrote many other outlines for paranormal feature films that I never showed to anyone because I knew they weren't quite right. And to write a 100 page outline for a film just to throw it in the garbage can be a difficult thing. But it was important to me that I make the right movie, not just any movie.

EN: What is the length and where will it be shown? I assume the DuSu Film Festival next spring… Will it be online?

KH: The movie is roughly an hour and fifteen minutes long. I'm going to hold a premiere at Zinema in Duluth on March 1st 2020, and then I will definitely be submitting to Duluth Superior Film Festival for a June 2020 screening.

EN: How many people were on your production team?

KH: About 50 people helped in the production of this film.

EN: Thanks for sharing. We'll be looking forward to Spring.

* * * *

Related Links
http://hexagonmotionpictures.weebly.com/
Duluth Armory Becomes Stage for CW Duluth Television Program
Trailer for Gravedigger Dave's Halfway House
If you're into paranormal and supernatural, you will enjoy my small volume of short stories titled Unremembered Histories: Six Stories with a Supernatural Twist.  It's a ilttle expensive online ($12 at Amazon) but if you want a copy and you see me locally, it's $5. Money back if you do not enjoy it.

A Visit with Award-Winning Film Maker Cy Dodson, Creator of Beneath the Ink

Many people are probably unaware of the scale of the Catalyst Content Festival, now in its 14th year, that took place in Duluth in mid-October. To give an idea of how big the event is, festival director Philip Gilpin said there were more than 800 films submitted for consideration from 25 countries this year. Nearly 90 films were screened and 26 scripts read during the five-day event.

One of the films I saw was an extremely powerful documentary called Beneath the Ink. It came as no surprise to me when it won Best Documentary. Even better  was hearing the news that Director Cy Dodson was signed by the Abrams Agency, a major sponsor of the festival.

What did surprise me--but shouldn't have--was discovering that Dodson and I both graduated from Ohio, University in Athens.

EN: How did you come to choose Ohio U in Athens and what was the focus of your studies?

Cy Dodson: I grew up in Zanesville, Ohio which is about an hour drive to OU. A lot of my high school friends went there. It's in the hills, nice location for a school. I was undecided for a while in college. I took a variety of classes, a lot of engineering and music classes. I ended up getting a communications degree with an emphasis on audio production. Not a whole lot of jobs for audio/music recording. I ended up working for my home town television station. I was in the news business for the next 8 years as a journalist, ended up moving to Minnesota in 2000, working for KSTP.

EN: How long have you been making films?

CD: I'm sort of a late bloomer. I made my first documentary My Last Breath in 2015, The Ragman in 2017, and Beneath the Ink in 2018. All short films. Short films are typically the entry point for first time filmmakers, so I've screened with filmmakers at festivals that are probably half my age. I wish I would have started 20 years ago, but times were different back then. You had to take out a second mortgage to be able to buy a camera and editing system.

EN: How did you come to take an interest in film? Did you grow up with a camera in your hand?

Billy, the central character in Beneath the Ink.

CD: I thought I wanted to have a career in music, that was about the only thing that I thought I was halfway decent at. So that was my path in college. I didn't pick up a camera until I started my first job after I graduated. It wasn't my first love, but eventually became my profession.

EN: Beneath the Ink is a powerful story. How long did you work on this project? Can you share how it came about?

Hiding a swastika beneath another design.

CD: My first two films were a process. It's like anything else, you have to a do it a few times, gain experience and learn what works. Beneath the Ink was filmed in less than a week’s time, mostly over a weekend with a couple pick up shots. More so than anything with the film, it was the subject matter and story. The story sold this. I didn't have a crew, the production value is good but it's not epic, but it's timely and it's redemption angle resonates with people.

EN: What’s the key to successfully telling a story in film?

CD: It's really all about the story. Is it universal, timely, and thought provoking? If the answer is yes to those questions, it would be worth pursuing. I see many filmmakers putting so much time and effort into films that really have no chance at success because the story isn't there. It's so hard to find unique stories that have a complete package, including surprises, layers, and emotion. There have been stories told on tattoo artists that cover up racists tattoos, I haven't seen any documentary films.

EN: Congrats on your Best Documentary award at Catalyst. There was a lot of competition. Now you’ve been selected to be represented by the Abrams Agency. Can you share how that came about and what’s next?

CD: Catalyst was a great experience. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I went to one of their intro meetings in Minneapolis to hear their spiel. At the time, I didn't know I would be pitching a series. I noticed something on social media about deadlines for submissions and 15 dollars, hit the submit button. I've spent a lot more for a lot less at festivals before. We won Best Documentary, met with several networks, and signed on the dotted line for representation with Abrams. That 15-dollar submission went a long way for us with Catalyst. I would recommend learning more about Catalyst, even if you don't have anything to pitch.

EN: Anything you’d like to say to future creators?

CD: Be bold, take chances, and learn from mistakes. The competition is fierce, there are more content creators now than there's ever been. I had a great run and still got a pile of rejections from festivals with each starting, "we had a record number of submissions this year." Even if your film doesn't win awards and get a distribution offer, that doesn't mean you failed. Build on what you learn from each project.

Covering a Klansman with an American Eagle.

Catalyst Documentary Features Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art Founder Jeffrey Larson

Great Lakes Academy--Main hall.

The Catalyst Content Festival is approaching fast, now under three weeks away. In addition to meetings, training workshops and networking, a central feature of events of this type is the screening of films, or in this case, films and podcasts, scripts and pitches. Everything from drama series, short film, documentary and comedy will be showcased.

As I looked through the offerings I noticed there's a short documentary about Jeffrey T. Larson, the artist who with his son co-founded the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art. (GLAFA) The school has now entered its fourth year and its students have been producing phenomenal work. (Here is link to their third Student/Instructor Exhibition last spring.)

Painting by Larson

The short film is titled, simply Jeffrey T. Larson. You can watch the trailer here.

I believe I first met Jeffrey Larson when he gave a talk at the Tweed Museum of Art the summer before the GLAFA was opened. In retrospect it seemed clearly designed to raise awareness that something big was emerging on the West Hillside here in Duluth. At the end of their first year they held an open house weekend in which their first year students were showcased. This practice has continued each spring.

Detail from larger piece.

Detail from painting "Heidi"

In similar fashion, artist Jeffrey T. Larson has reproduced a passion for painting in his son Brock and together they have undertaken an enterprise that goes far beyond making art. After much deliberation they have undertaken to start a world-class art school here in the Twin Ports on Duluth's West Central Hillside.

The photos on the page feature Larson's painting, the school and students at work. Between the GLAFA, the Homegrown Music Festival, Duluth Dylan Fest, DuSu Film Festival, Grandma's Marathon, Blues Fest, and now the Catalyst Content Festival--not to mention the exceptional beauty of our lake and region--we've got some seriously great foundations being laid to make Duluth a premiere cultural center of sorts.

Thank you to all of the artists and people who have worked to make these things possible. We, the community, are the beneficiaries. How cool is that?

Larson is fascinated with objects....

* * * *

Detail

...and Light, and People.

Related Links
Megan McGarvey and Katie Lindow Discuss Outsourced, Their Documentary Film About a Decision at UWS
The Changing Face of Post-Production for Movie Makers
Catalyst Content Documentary Selections
Catalyst Festival Home Page
Jeffrey T Larson Documentary Trailer 

1964: No Question About It, The Times Were A-Changin'

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
--the prescient Bob Dylan
First performed live: 26 Oct 1963

We were just kids.

I just finished watching the American Experience documentary about 1964, the year America split. It was a year of racial conflicts, generational conflicts, gender conflicts and political conflicts. It was a year in which significant changes were beginning to take place, foreshadowing the turbulence to come. What follows are some notes I jotted as the program covered events from January to December of that year.

“People who grew up with outhouses in their back yard are now taking their children to vacations on a lake,” said Rick Pearlstein in the documentary. This was my experience precisely. 

When the year opened, it had only been five weeks since the Kennedy assassination. LBJ had only been sworn into office weeks earlier, but at the outset he was determined to take advantage of the office, declaring an unconditional war on poverty in his January 8 State of the Union address.

On January 20 my family moved from Cleveland to New Jersey, an incident without any media notice whatsoever, but it was a move that made a significant impact on my life personally.

18 days later, on February 7, the Beatles planted their feet on American soil bringing a sense of joy and hopefulness, while simultaneously sowing seeds of rebellion in a somewhat harmless way as boys began avoiding barbershops. Parents didn't like it.

The documentary showed a photo shoot that brought together the Beatles and Cassius Clay. Clay, who would soon become a Muslim and change his name to Muhammed Ali was not yet champion of the world. The Beatles' handlers sought to pair them up with Sonny Liston, but Liston was too serious and declined the distraction. Cassius Clay found it to be just another audacious "day in the life."

The Clay vs Liston fight took place on Feb 25, and we all know what happened next. Clay, who had won Olympic Gold in 1960, scored an upset.

* * * *
1964 was a presidential election year which ultimately pitted Barry Goldwater against LBJ. Goldwater's rise was considered the birth of the modern conservative movement.

* * * *

Photo released into public domain by Ron White.

The World's Fair in New York was given a brief nod, in part for having been the launching pad for the Mustang. Many people remember the Unisphere as symbol of the World's Fair. My neighbor's father was a union welder who worked on the construction of that iconic symbol. What many people forget is how it was a two-year World's Fair. Because of our proximity, we hosted a family reunion in our new home, which became a springboard for many relatives to attend the Fair.

* * * *
The documentary zeroes in on the impact youth were beginning to make. More kids, and more kids with Money. The theme of Youth would be woven into the fabric of this documentary several times.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

* * * *
It was in 1964 that President Johnson introduced new phrase: The Great Society, which would included a promise to end racial injustice and bring an end to poverty.

Civil Rights protests were continuing in the South where civil rights activists were striving to register black voters. There was new legislation to end Jim Crowe rules in the South, but efforts to pass a Civil Rights Bill in Congress was met with the longest filibuster in U.S. history, two months duration. Ultimately the revolutionary Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.

* * * *
Snippets in passing included young fans' extreme emotional craziness for Ringo, Andy Warhol's Cambell's Soup cans and Ken Kesey's LSD-infused madcap cross-country adventure with the Merry Pranksters.

* * * *
Freedom Summer in 1964 brought manifold college students to the Deep South as part of the effort to end discrimination against blacks. On June 21 three young Civil Rights workers --Andrew Goodman, James Cheney, Mickey Schwerner -- came to Mississippi as volunteers in this effort. When they came South they had been warned to be careful about being out after dark. When they got arrested, purportedly for speeding, they were held and then released... after dark, never to be seen again alive.

* * * *
Republican National Convention took place at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. In his acceptance of the nomination he famously stated, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice..." Mad Magazine would soon feature a mushroom cloud in one of its cartoons expressing concern about what this really could mean.

* * * *
"Summer's right for Dancing in the Streets" -- Martha Reeves and the Vandellas hit song played against scenes of violence in the streets. It was apparent something was cooking...

* * * *
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident puts Viet Nam on front page of newspapers. In truth, Johnson and high government officials distorted the facts in order to escalate his powers. Johnson retaliated against the North Viet Nam by seeking and obtaining from Congress a blank check to expand the war in Viet Nam. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution or the Southeast Asia Resolution, Pub.L. 88–408, 78 Stat. 384, enacted August 10, 1964, was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

This legislation was of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of conventional military force in Southeast Asia.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

* * * *
Under Johnson there was an emerging sense of betrayal by our own government, -- faultlines around politics, race, gender, and what is status quo began to appear. When the Warren Report declared Lee Harvey Oswald to be the sole gunman in the Kennedy Assassination it only exacerbated our sense of distrust in our government.

* * * *
Free Speech Movement in Berkeley led to a campus demonstration that would foreshadow many years of student protests. In Berkeley 800 demonstrators arrested. Though charges were dropped it was labeled as the beginning of the Student Movement, which would shape American politics for years to come.

* * * *

The Johnson vs Goldwater election in November pitted to very different visions.

Johnson made this promise: "Everyone can have a job. Every kid can have an education... in time we can have the Great Society we're all entitled to."

Goldwater came back with: "We can prevent depression. We ca have full employment. I've heard there pipe dreams for the mast 30 years and I've never seen one of them come true."

Johnson took his landslide as a mandate, but 27 million people voted for Goldwater and this became the foundation of a conservative movement that would find resurgence. Young Republicans regrouped...

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

Young people would grow to be a force. Sam Cooke's hit song at the end of '64 announced "Change is gonna come..."

The events of 1964 revealed a new mix of idealism and outrage. Though hindsight is 20/20, very few people at the time really saw what was about to come down.

If you get a chance, it's a surprisingly insightful assessment of the time...

Telling Stories: Phil Spector's Agony & Ecstasy

Yesterday I finished the audio book Changing My Mind, a wonderfully rich collection of essays by Zadie Smith. What impressed me was the honesty of her perceptions. When reviewing movies she doesn't go with the crowd, she goes with the way she sees it. And her breadth of experience gives a good vantage point for these perceptions. Even stronger are her insights on the various books and writers she assesses. Being a novelist herself, she shares not only what is happening on the page, but shines a light into the corners of what she suspects was happening in the minds and souls of those who were doing the writing.

Though her essays on Liberia, Katharine Hepburn or going to the Oscars make for great (by which I mean insightful, thought-provoking) reading, Smith's at her best when dissecting the problems of storytelling.

Storytelling takes on such a variety of forms. This week's Sound Unseen/Duluth International Film Festival is full of stories. Thursday night we were introduced to Harry Belafonte's story in the documentary film Sing Your Song, which could just as easily been sub-titled, "Don't Give Up the Fight." Last night, we saw a portrait of Phil Spector titled The Agony & Ecstasy of Phil Spector. It's a remarkable accomplishment by director Vikram Jayanti because the camera never blinks.

Songwriter and record producer Phil Spector has been a major influence in modern music in part because he was striving for something more than just the next hit record. His concept of the "wall of sound" is now almost cliche, but was revolutionary in the Sixties. Hits like The Ronettes "Be My Baby" struck a nerve with audiences across the airwaves. Songs like "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" by The Righteous Brothers and "Da Doo Ron Ron" established his cred as someone who knew how to reach a mass market. When two years of recording songs for the Beatles' last album failed to produce a product, Spector was called in as Mr. Fix-It and in four months Let It Be was released. And no matter how much Sir Paul disliked the outcome, I for one consider it a favorite, recalling the very moment I heard it for the first time. After the break-up of the Beatles, Spector produced music for both Lennon and George Harrison.

But this is only backdrop for the documentary which used Spector's murder trial as a thread to weave all the pieces of his life story into a whole. Or was it the other way around? Maybe the trial is the backdrop and the real story is the man himself, in his own words, for that is what we get here... Spector spending a day in his home explaining the meaning of his life, Spector sitting on his couch talking, the camera rolling. In the background is the white piano he bought for his friend John Lennon with which the song "Imagine" was recorded.

There is no effort to conceal the size of his ego. At various points he compares himself to Galileo, DaVinci, Bach and Michaelangelo. And he is clearly bitter that someone like Tony Bennett, who was a coke head in the sixties, can get his past absolved, but Spector is treated like a leper. Or that Buddy Holly, who performed for only three years would be a legend and get his own postage stamp.

About the trial. Spector had been accused of having murdered B-movie actress Lana Clarkson in his home with a handgun. The defense points out that the angle at which the bullet entered was the angle a self-inflicted shot would be fired. They also showed that if Spector had fired while standing next to her with the gun in her mouth, the manner in which she was killed, it would have splattered blood and debris on his clothing, hands, face and hair... which did not occur.

Some of the reviews of this film describe Spector as creepy. His pasty skin and not so pretty sagging flesh repeatedly fill the screen. His flambouyant hair and attire give him an almost comical aspect at times. But I can't help feel pity for the man. As Jimi Hendrix once sang, "Loneliness is just a drag." In fact, early in the film Spector himself is asked why he lives alone in such a large castle. He said it's better than a single room with a toilet. Was he referring here to the jail cell he would eventually be occupying?

The first trial ended in a hung jury. The day-long interview with Spector takes place two weeks before the verdict. We follow much of the courtroom drama which is interspersed with Spector's candid rambling. We see palsied hands quivering through much of the film. And at one point John Lennon's poignant "Crippled Inside" becomes the soundtrack, another Spector-produced song. Spector knew the meaning of crippled because his father blew his own brains out with a gun.

To some extent we're all crippled inside and in this respect Phil Spector's story -- bizarre as it seems -- is our own story. To cite Goethe, our hearts are capable of all things from megalomania to murder. Whether Spector is innocent or guilty on the murder charge, to some extent one can only say, "There but for the grace of God go I."

Baseball

"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball." ~Jacques Barzun

Well, the season is underway. I myself have been underway watching the Ken Burns documentary Baseball, halfway through the eleven hour epic and drinking it up. More than one of my paintings feature people wearing baseball caps. And there will no doubt be more.

Baseball is nearly as interwoven with Americana as the notion of democracy. The dollars players get paid may have changed, but when all is said and done a ball game is nine innings and three strikes is still an out.

Burns appears to be a master of the documentary form. My first Burns series was his Civil War, a singular achievement and the highest rated mini-series in PBS history. A couple year ago I saw his ten inning series on Jazz, with its phenomenal insights into twentieth century black culture. Here again, in his ten inning offering on Baseball, Burns makes yet another contribution to our understanding of black culture. It's impressive how full-orbed his contribution is to our understanding of a theme we could easily take for granted.

What makes this a rich heritage piece is the great images and footage of those early days of baseball that are simply stats in the history books. Beginning with baseball's roots and Abner Doubleday, Burns takes us on a tour of baseball's influence through the 1800's and straight through to the unpleasant present with its scandals, walkouts and steroid use. But at its heart, there is still something pure, a game of not only skill or science but psychology.

Quite naturally, if you have a favorite ballplayer from the past, Burns will give you a glimpse and a handful of new insights. Naturally Babe Ruth get a lot of attention, but here's footage of Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio and my one-time favorite Ty Cobb.

Did you know that Jackie Robinson was not the first black pro baseball player? Did you know that there was a subset of the game called Shadowball in which black ballplayers would play ball with an invisible ball, as if something real were happening? What president turned on the lights with a push of a button for the first night game in Major League history? The game took place at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. (I fondly remember watching the Big Red Machine there on more than one occasion.)

As one Amazon.com reviewer puts it, Ken Burns' documentary is essential viewing for baseball fans and American history buffs. I would concur.