Hollywood Babylon (Nigel Finch documentary)  

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Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon (1991) is a documentary by Nigel Finch based on Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon. It features Kenneth Anger himself.

It features Marianne Faithfull who talks about her relationship to Anger before singing "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams".

It is part of the Arena tv series.

It was reviewed favorably by Elizabeth Horkley and unfavorably by Paul Gallagher.

Subtitles

[Music]

[Music]

Hollywood

three magic syllables invoking the

wonder world of make believe

to the faithful it was more than a dream

factory where one young whole flood of a

million got a break

it was dreamland itself the home of the

heavenly bodies the glamour galaxy of

hollywood

Kenneth Anger their chronicler born

among them

who chose for his destiny not to record

hollywood heaven but to lift the veil on

hollywood babylon

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

kenneth anger was raised in beverly

hills and grew 1930s hollywood

he has written two books on the scandals

that have littered hollywood's history

and raised gossip to an art form

he called them hollywood babylon

likening the legendary decadence of the

ancient city to the unrestrained

excesses of hollywood's golden years

his own films have made him one of the

most influential figures of underground

cinema

both his books and films explore the

same subjects glamour illusion and human

frailty

anger the golden age began with d w

griffith the outrageously extravagant

director who dared to reconstruct the

colossal court of belshazzar for his

1916 epic intolerance

griffith riding high over illusion city

lording it over his vision of babylon a

mayor's nest mountains of scaffolding

hanging gardens chariot race ramparts

and sky-high elephants

pasteboard babylon

a make-believe mirage of mesopotamia a

gargantuan dream beside the dusty tin

lizzy trail called sunset boulevard

camera

[Applause]

griffiths babylon

something of a reproach and something of

a challenge to the burgeoning movie town

something to surpass

something to live down

the shadow of babylon had fallen over

hollywood

actions

[Music]

i confess

growing up in tinseltown

my childhood hobby was visiting

cemeteries

seeking the resting places of my heroes

those with the fabulous faces of

hollywood in the twenties who had passed

on

carmen miranda mario lonza

cecil b demille

well we had

um power and peter laurie

um and May Murray

may murray one of the most beautiful

rich stars of the 20s ended up derelict

on a park bench

tom had a rainbow-colored phone in his

dining room and died in his handheld

sports car two weeks after receiving it

we had Gene Harlow

jade harlow's husband shot himself in

1932 humiliated after trying to pleasure

the platinum star with a dildo

we did have marion davies mistress of

both charlie chaplin and william

randolph hurst simultaneously we had

norma talmage alcoholic marilyn monroe

suicide genius hill

decapitated the death of the screen's

great lover rudolph valentino on august

23 1926 released a flood of scandalous

rumors

the official cause of death was

peritonitis but some attributed it to an

arsenic revenge by a well-known new york

society woman

others took a shot from an irate husband

or that he was syphilitic

what was known was that both of the

women he married were lesbians and that

he married a second wife without

divorcing his first an oversight that

led to his arrest for bigamy

valentino's demise at 31 left

inconsolable paramours of both sexes to

judge by the tear-streaked testimonials

aside from the lady in black bearing

flowers annually to the mausoleum on the

anniversary of his death

the memory of rudy was cherished by

matinee idol ramon navarro who kept a

black-led art deco dildo embellished

with valentino's silver signature in a

bedroom shrine a present from rudy

[Music]

[Music]

okay

[Music]

after valentino died in august 1926

the cult of valentino has attracted

several

women

some of whom i think are on the fringe

of sanity

who uh appear regularly at his tomb

dressed in black and who fuss with it

and and to put flowers and things like

that

valentino i'm here every single day

to bring flowers to be pray

and to bring my love

your sweetheart

sing it later

oh goodbye

is no secret you feel better you cry

when waiting for the blue world that

sometimes

so lay your head down

and cry

[Music]

valentino

when i found valentino's tomb it proved

a disappointment

it was nothing special

just a space on the wall with two dinky

flower vases like those in an

old-fashioned limousine

with rudy's names spelled out in bronze

in the long version

still i was drawn back again and again

and again

these visits were charmed there was

never anyone else around

i had rudy all to myself

[Music]

for a long time like grandmother i

didn't believe in death

it was just a transition a special

effect lap dissolve

i firmly intended to approach my idols

as their equal

after all i too had once acted in a

hollywood movie

[Music]

so

[Music]

i was on the fringe of the movie

industry

and i appeared in one film as a child a

midsummer night's dream

you can still smell the soundstage

because it it was

lit by very hot lights and everything

reeked of uh shellac because it was

sprayed over everything by

hal moore

so all the trees would glisten

and it's a rather intoxicating smell and

it was it was a wonderful

thing for a four-year-old kid to to work

in because for a four-year-old it was

gigantic

did you get to see a lot of movies oh a

lot yes my grandmother

was a movie buff and she'd take me once

or twice a week when i was really quite

small and then i when i started to go on

my own i

never missed a saturday matinee and she

told me many a story which maybe weren't

too suitable for children but at any

rate they were the equivalent of grim

fairy tales

of the silent days

and i began

keeping a diary of all the things that

happened when i was growing up helmet

todd's

murder or suicide

that happened when i was a little boy

lupi velez's

suicide that happened when i was in

beverly hills high school living a few

blocks away

these things made a tremendous

impression on me

and i

cut out all the press clippings about it

it was always looking forward to someday

i would do something with these and

years later they turned into the series

of hollywood babylon books

in 1921 fatty arbuckle was the most

popular wholesome family entertainer in

the movies

when he signed a new three million

dollar contract with paramount he got

straight into his custom-made pierce

arrow and headed for the luxurious hotel

saint francis in san francisco to

celebrate

[Music]

fatty booked three adjoining suites on

the 12th floor enough room for any

developments booze was still illegal in

california but fatty phoned his bootleg

connection tom tom the bell boy and the

party was on

seven years earlier fatty arbuckle had

been a hefty plumber's mate discovered

by max senate when he went to unclog the

comedy producers drain by the week of

the party he had six full-length

features and 27 two-wheelers showing he

was a generous party giver and a

good-sized crowd of his movie colony

cronies and assorted hangers on were

soon having a good time amongst them was

an obscure starlet

virginia rappe was a bit part actress at

max senate studios

fatty had had his roving eye in virginia

for some time and asked her to play the

lead in one of his films

she seemed to be on her way

unfortunately when she did find instant

renown

it was because of what happened that day

in suite 1221

and she was in no position to profit

from her fame

the party was in full swing when fatty

ended up in the bedroom with virginia

no one will ever know what really

happened but next thing fatty emerged

saying the girl was sick and needed help

[Music]

a week later virginia died

so

[Music]

oh my gosh uh i i don't think i should

talk to your news fellows anymore

the stories that interests me are not

just the

assorted little stories of holly but but

somehow they transcend into

uh

tragedy i mean they've got to have an

element of grandeur to them something

it's the

contrast of the

fame and glory and then

the all-too-human

tragedies that often

wipe them out

as headlines screamed the rumors flew of

a hideously unnatural rape arbuckle

enraged at his drunken impotence had

ravaged virginia with a coke bottle or a

champagne bottle then repeated the act

with a jagged piece of ice or wasn't it

common knowledge that arbuckle was

exceptionally well endowed how can hers

print this i mean this isn't news this

is totally unfounded gossip

i thought he liked me

or was it just a question of 266 pounds

too much of fatty flattening poor

virginia in a flying leap

what was certain was a leap in

circulation the tabloids had a field day

printing insinuation about arbuckle's

bottle party

when fatty was charged with virginia

rape's rape and murder all the world

knew the young actress's name

the state of california blamed to death

on external pressure applied by arbuckle

during sexual dalliance a forlorn fame

for virginia a heavy wrap for fatty

murder one he could go to the gallows

fatty suffered through three trials and

was found innocent each time but the

public found him guilty

arbuckle's films were withdrawn his

three million dollar contract was

cancelled and his unreleased films were

junked causing the studio a cool

million-dollar write-off

fatty the funny man never convicted of

any crime was finished the prince of

wales had been harpooned he died broke

drunk and broken at the age of 46.

hollywood now meant more than dreamland

it was forever linked with scandal in

the minds of millions

[Music]

jurgens lotion and woodbury soap

presents the luella

show

it's the lotion that's preferred

[Music]

that girl who sent poison pen letters

from jamaica about errol flynn is in for

serious trouble errol has taught by

transatlantic telephone to his lawyer in

hollywood telling him to take immediate

action the bahamas post office

department is working in conjunction to

track down the anonymous letter writer

and i hope they get her

and here is last minute news

better next spicy hollywood headlines

have always been good for business and

the queens of gossip were the original

go-getting paganini of piffle luella i

saw what you did parsons and her

archrival had a hopper regularly

spilling the steaming beans on who was

hollywood inn and hollywood out they

have forgotten the name of lieutenant

but as harry carries suicide our own

hollywood star the public's craving for

a non-stop movie star titillation fix

was mainlined and byline day by day by

these two syndicated mutant saab sisters

the girls got so excited for hedda and

there was no better place than hollywood

reborn babylon

and their decent outraged voices

confirmed that behind every closed door

and window littering soulless women

wandered from wicked to wanton orgy on

the tuxedo arms vainglorious males

through a monied perfumed world of drink

dope and much much worse

virginia healed former girlfriend of

bugsy found last night

dressed in women's underwear hanging

from a shower rail at the park

off my hollywood wire merlot

to say she's off to mexico

last night until after she finished her

show it was early morning before she's

flying to los angeles

and how about lionel apple's 1940

christmas party he fancies an orgy after

dinner they even have a blind penis play

the blue danube as he strikes up that's

the start signal and off come the

tuxedos and adrian evening gowns sulka

shorts and antoinette lingerie just to

stay decent they keep their jewelry on

and then they watch some of lionel's

special films not many academy awards on

view

the original casting couch was a

piece of furniture in the office of max

senate

and it's where he

[Music]

interviewed

the various max senate bathing beauties

and they did

put out

and the other most famous casting couch

that was actually a separate bedroom

behind the office

of daryl zanik at fox

and he wasn't to be disturbed any

afternoon monday to friday from four to

five

that was the bedroom hour

it's what you call phallic power of the

producer

have you ever refused to do a publicity

stunt i mean is there a kind of

publicity you try and avoid i've never

done a publicity stunt in my entire life

and i never will if the time ever comes

when i will do a publicity stunt then

i'll be 150 years old

[Music]

glamour is something that you get

trapped in

the chinese

fled

from the cameras

in the back in the 19th century

i think they were on to something but i

think we have to deal with it i think we

have to have enough soul that we don't

mind having a little bit stolen

and i think what we see on the screen

that's fascinating is when we do see

some soul up there for instance i think

the mystery of garbo is that you were

seeing a bit of garbo's soul up there

but you did go as far as describing the

film medium as evil it's an evil i'm

perfectly prepared to deal with

because i i recognize that it has that

glamour in the old sense

but i love it

and so i feel safer working with it

since i recognize that

my family had a 16 millimeter

cine kodak and so i began making

my own little films with the family cine

kodak

but i

modeled myself

after hollywood professionalism in other

words i wanted good lighting and i

wanted

to make the camera

do things

like i'd seen in in professional films

even though what i was doing was quite

different

[Music]

it's a adolescent dream of

a terror

it's a bit of an initiation right i mean

the

the it has a dreamer

awaking and going out in the night and

meeting up with a bunch of

sailors or about 15 of them which looks

like a huge crowd in the film

how do you feel about it being seen as a

as a gay statement is that something you

object to it was made in 1947 and at

that time there were very few

statements of any kind

being made along those lines and uh

i don't disavow it in other words if

they if they if they want to

see it in that way it's fine with me

vision or dreams

their

daydreams

sometimes a nightmare

in other words you have your choice but

they're

like a reverie and i don't use dialogue

in other words it isn't a conventional

narrative but it does

tell a story

[Music]

you need the shadow in the contrast of

of good and evil and i find the vast

allegories of good and evil reflected in

a very vivid way in show business

so in a sense that kind of allegory run

through

hollywood babylon

have you taken a bottle of ninja tall

how many did you take

who found you

out what really happened on the night of

april 4th brother cheryl crane the 14

year old daughter of movie star lana

turner had killed her mother's gang land

lover johnny stampinato

[Music]

even a last-minute interruption in the

best of hollywood tradition took place

by a man who burst in yelling at the

pack of lies i want to testify then

rushed out

[Music]

[Music]

21 year old lionel williams of los

angeles was serving time in michigan

when he was charged with the actor's

murder

many overstabbed to death with a hunting

knife on february 12 1976

it was heard crying for help outside the

garage of his fashionable apartment

it has to be have an element of the

bizarre truly to interest me like in the

death of marie prevost she was a max

senate bathing beauty who then became a

star in the 30s and fell on hard times

but the fact that she died and was shut

up for two weeks in her little apartment

with her dog

and the dog survived by chewing on her

legs and eating them makes it

fascinating for me it makes it a

hollywood babylon story

[Music]

[Applause]

every scandal sent shivers to the

expensively clad charm circle

but the rebels went on

unabated

gonna take

a sentimental

[Music]

the new gods were determined to live

their own legends to the hilt whooping

it up in an atmosphere of staggering

luxury in dream castles like valentino's

falcon lair

the excesses of these stars developed a

cynicism and a defiance characteristic

of jazz age youth bitterness and

darkness often lay just beyond but their

attitudes seem to be so what they soaked

boudoirs in chalimar and a 3 000 ball

gown lasted the life of a party

any star could buy the key to a dream

paradise

as if dressing up under the klig lights

all week long wasn't enough a favorite

diverticement was the costume party here

is gloria swanson as helen hayes in the

white sister gloria swanson

spent a quarter of a million dollars a

year on her dresses alone

oh the parties we used to have

in those days the public wanted us to

live like kings and queens so we did and

why not

we were in love with life

we were making more money than we ever

dreamed existed and there was no reason

to believe it would ever stop

[Music]

she

[Music]

[Music]

i went out to

coney island one saturday and saw these

fellows bikers

on these elaborate show bikes

and um

i admired their machines and asked them

if i could photograph them and they said

yes sure

and that's was how scorpio rising got

made

[Music]

but in my heart they'll always be

[Music]

how'd you come to choose the music for

your films

well i use them in an ironic context

things like blue velvet

while i show

a biker getting dressed in

jeans and

putting on his black leather jacket so

it has an ironic comment on on his

narcissism which it is

[Music]

when i was cutting the film

a film was delivered to my house by

mistake

and it was left on my doorstep literally

and it was a sunday school film called

the last journey to jerusalem

well i

called it a sort of a

gift from the gods that it had dropped

down i ran it and i said well i'm just

going to work it right into my film and

so the whole sort of parallel cutting of

jesus traveling into jerusalem was

intercut with the the

bikers

i took it as an act of

magic that i i that it was delivered to

me at that time

[Music]

Well I was making films the way someone else would write a poem and these were personal artistic statements and so unless I found a some kind of patron I could hardly expect you know for studios to back this kind of film and I never did

there's no sense in which the books are

revenge on hollywood

no i don't consider them that at all and

as a matter of fact i love hollywood

where it's i don't know it's

it's provided me with a lifetime

entertainment

and wonderful little insights into the

human condition

it had many things

wrong with it i mean you know abusive

power and so forth but yet many things

were right with it and

hollywood made some wonderful films

along the way

that was the idea of the old picture

palaces to create a

dignified and rather awe-inspiring

atmosphere where the pictures were to be

shown

the tower was

designed as a talkie theater it opened

in 1927 with the jazz singers its very

first picture

and it lasted until

1989 and now it's a closed mart

so it's it's

fallen on harder times

shall we just have a cigarette on it

yes

i'm just a a chronicler of their foibles

follies and excesses

hello

[Music]

hello

many of them came to rather sticky ends

like some of them

chose suicide and often rather dramatic

self-destruction like this will be my

last headline or my last

grabbing of the world's attention hello

that's what we're going on to get away

from business this is my two-time

honeymoon the first time we went on our

honeymoon we didn't go but this time the

only business is gonna be there's gonna

be nobody's business

well may we have a picture of you alone

oh oh certainly i'll check on the cabins

all right right over here if you don't

mind

i know what you want

is this it

beautiful oh thank you

[Music]

lupi velez had been part of the

hollywood scene since the late 20s when

the go-getting teenager had come up from

mexico city to conquer the movies

she made a film with cecil b demille

seduced gary cooper and tarzan himself

johnny weissmiller she soon earned the

name mexican spitfire and was living in

splendor in beverly hills

she was dead at 34.

this was discovered in my neighborhood

in beverly hills

and the maid let me in the kitchen door

and i was able to peek in the bedroom

that was full of all these flowers that

actually see

dead loopy among the flowers

i am very sorry all this has happened

dennis but this last time is the color

that broke the straw

maybe you're happy because i'm leading

that's right

you mean to say you don't want me to

stay of course not the sooner you get

out of my cabin a better goodbye

loopy's career skidded from a to b

pictures in which she served chili [ __ ]

loopy parodies of her own spicy persona

the mortgage was overdue in her outmoded

zorro era pile loopy was completely

zonked by debt and she realized she was

pregnant

harold ramond bit par player and father

of her unborn child had taken the news

with his get lost look his so what shrug

suicide was the way out for lupe an

old-fashioned star brainwashed and brain

damaged by her own beauty and glamour

for whom the loss of the public of fan

mail of image was a loss of self

she planned her last night as

punctiliously as an early demille

allegorical flashback

after a last supper of chili con carne

brandy and cigarillos she got ready for

her big scene

the bedroom was our lady of guadalupe's

chapel on a day of days flowers candles

everywhere everything a glow

Seconal sleeping pills had always

proved a popular hollywood exit and

loopy down 75 of the little beauties

stretched out on the satin bed crossed

her hands on her breast closed her eyes

and thought of the next day's headlines

and indeed in the next day's la times

louella had the story she described the

still life at casa felicias

lupi was never lovelier as she lay there

as if slumbering a faint smile like

secret dreams looking like a child

taking nappy like a good little girl

the actual scene had been something else

when juanita the chambermaid had opened

the bedroom door at nine the morning

after the suicide no lupe was in sight

the bed was empty the aroma of scented

candles the fragrance of two broses

almost but not quite masking the stench

recalling skid row derelicts

juanita traced the trail from the bed

over to the bathroom there she found her

mistress senorita velez

the huge dose of second all had not been

fatal in the expected fashion it had

mixed wretchedly with the spitfire's

mexi spice last supper

violently sick and ultimate

fastidiousness drove her to stagger

towards the sanitary sanctum of the cell

demand

where she slipped on the tiles and

plunged head first into her egyptian

chartreuse onyx hush flush model deluxe

don't you cause another scene there's

going to be a kingdom you're going to

listen to me right now that you live in

let's go

right now

every night i have hope and praise

[Music]

because

[Music]

this is sunset boulevard the fabled

highway of the stars

don't look now but isn't that jane

mansfield

could be she lives on this street

that is jane mansfield she had her hair

dyed for a picture

told me that day that he came to

hollywood in 1910 determined to make a

million dollars

well he made it

he was killed in this car two weeks

after this picture was taken

how fast will your car go

oh

and honest miles an hour

clocked right about

106 seven oh wait a minute jimmy um

one more question

do you have any special advice for the

young people who drive

take it easy driving the life you might

say might be mine

[Music]

well the griffith park observatory was

used as a background

by nick ray for the film rebel without a

cause

one of the very few films that james

dean made in his very short career

it's amazing that he's made such an

impact when he's really made only three

features

after dean died his tombstone in

fairmount indiana bore only his name in

the stark dates 1931

1955

a brief epitaph might have read

pretty much of a [ __ ]

the promiscuous dope smoker had trouble

remembering his lines fluffed his

dialogue and fumed on the set

he was basically gay and had taken to

hanging out at the club an east

hollywood leather bar specializing in

the magic world of s m sex

dean was into beating boots belts and

bondage

when stoned he would bear his chest and

beg his masters to stub their cigarette

butts out on him they responded by

tagging him the human ashtray

after his fatal car crash the coroner

made note of the constellation of burns

across his torso

but if richard gere matt dillon or any

of the other boring dean clones were to

suffer his fate would cults arise fans

commit suicide love notes turn up 30

years after his death

doubtful jimmy may have had crabs but he

had durable charisma

dean died at 24 valentino died at 31

and others had their careers over

and in a sense never recovered from the

fact that they were once at the top

even though they may have lived on for

years because uh

raymond navarro died at 69

but

he never got over the fact that

he was once a top matinee idol

and so his later years were quite

quite sad

i have very few friends

and i'm glad of it too

because there are you never have many

friends

you just can't

you just can't

you just can't

ramon navarro's ghastly death by beating

in 1968 brought to mind the bizarre

crimes of hollywood's past here was a

man dying as he had lived extravagantly

choked in his own blood

the lead art deco dildo which valentino

had given him 45 years earlier thrust

down his throat by two small-time

hustlers looking for his petty cash

[Music]

star system survived scandal after

scandal

mgm launched the motto

more stars than there are in heaven

although the stars themselves wondered

how long they could stay in orbit

as may murray said from the perspective

of 20 years

we were like dragonflies we seem to be

suspended effortlessly in the air but in

reality

our wings were beating very very

[Music]

fast that may never

fade from our side

there's a new start home

in that far starry dome

shining bright on its loved ones tonight

there's a voice singing sweets fine

delights

with a smile that has

[Music]

there's a new start

in heaven

[Music]

she knew what old hollywood was all

about didn't she sydney sheldon

we're getting hotter and baxter

i just get hornier and horners we go

closer don't you

oh sherry lewis cheers

[Music]

hollywood

hey

i think marilyn everybody would have

shook in their grave to learn how filthy

and dirty this place is turned out

such a tourist trap did james dean love

to get beat to fill james dean is the

human ashtray

they just take big cigars and put them

out on him bash your cigarettes out and

then ring his neck

that makes me sick i mean that thing

looks horrible

and whoever did her wigs was the most

horrible thing that was ever let out

loose with a hairbrush can you believe

it i couldn't believe those big old wigs

she used to wear her dynasty with a full

wig line

she would hot glue those wigs on and was

horrible does she need to talk to jose

she sure does

marilyn i've always wanted to ask you do

you just

hate your life

she loves her life honey i don't think

she loved her life at all that's why she

hopped in the grave over to she made it

down you think she was murdered yes i

refused it i think she murdered herself

greta gabo and monroe dietrich and

dimaggio

marlon brando jimmy dean

on the cover of a magazine

they had style they had grace rita

hayworth gave good face

lawrence catherine lanatu betty davis we

love you

ladies with an attitude fellas that were

in the mood don't just stand there let's

get to it strike a pose there's nothing

to it vogue

[Music]

850 of hollywood's most lavishly dressed

extras are trying to press the preferred

list

but the sad truth is that hollywood is

swamped by hundreds of feminine

applicants for every job

so these judges have a wide choice the

dream of the crop is theirs for 15 a day

if and when they

work remember only a few extras ever

earn as much as 45 dollars a month

hello this one should make good in

comedy don't you think

your dad forgot man

[Applause]

meet the winners they hail from every

town and city from coast to coast many

are from foreign land but all with one

dream stardom few make the grave that

big break seldom comes they have looks

perhaps talent and clothes but take it

from us

girls who go hollywood

sometimes go hungry

[Music]

pagant whistles started a trend with her

fall from grace

peg was in a couple of broadway plays

but thought she'd try hollywood when the

crash came in the 30s she lived with an

uncle on beechwood drive and was in one

film Thirteen Women in which the young blonde

is haunted by the fear of committing

suicide

exactly

a man i've never seen

he has the nerve to tell me that i'm

going to kill myself

oh are you going to bear yes so late

we'll be in los angeles in the morning

i'll see you at breakfast farm

if i were you i would please

don't worry no stars are going to

twinkle twinkle me into committing

suicide

when the parts dried up pegg became more

depressed hollywood's a lonely place for

those who haven't made it the handshakes

are reserved for those who have the nine

tawdry letters on the hill above her

house started to haunt her and one night

she found the way up in her own fashion

not an easy task in high heel shoes and

evening dress

it was a shame that in her one film

peg had watched someone plunge to her

death

these ideas stick

[Music]

she left her clothes and purse on the

ground and climbed the 50-foot h

[Music]

no one will ever know how long she gazed

down at hollywood that night or better

thoughts

she could see several of the studios

from her privileged position

[Music]

then she left to her death

she didn't know that at that moment in

the post was an offer of a job

the juicy role of a girl who commits

suicide at the end of the third act

me

[Music]

[Music]

i was frightened of him when i first met

him he used to

leave books around and give me things to

read and he really wanted me to get into

it you know his crowley obsession and i

didn't want to do it and i didn't

and i i was scared of kenneth later i

got to really love him and i became fond

[Music]

i've studied magic and magic is not

illusionist magic like pulling rabbits

out of hats i mean that's an art that i

i respect

but this is

supposedly the real thing

and i've seen it work enough times i

know it's there it's like a background

it's like a wavelength

a little bit like

radio waves

it was very difficult to work on that

film for everyone who was involved

because he never told anyone anything

and one of the worst things was this

scene in the in the cemetery it was

really quite weird and it was a sunrise

and i was sort of crawling around in my

hands and knees among all these

this cemetery life you know with max

factor blood everywhere

but he was very sweet

and

he would tell me what he wanted me to do

and i'm

of course i'm not a real actress so i

didn't

have the

skills to say

what is the meaning of this thing you

know i didn't know how to do that

i played lilith

[Music]

very bad

lilith was the first wife of adam the

non-human wife the demonic wife

we're dealing without Aleister Crowley's

idea of a ritual which is called the

dramatic ritual where you

impersonate a god and then become that

god so you you meditate on a god say

like

the god of love and then you become the

you become love

or maybe you meditate on the god of war

mars and become mars

and the idea is to control it to feel

the god force come through you

and to manifest

my my vision of hollywood was very

colored by kenneth's book you know

um

i found it absolutely fascinating

and

it brought it all to life for me somehow

and i understood

more about glamour and illusion and

it's something to do with going as far

away from from truth as you can possibly

get

but that's hollywood i suppose that's

our image

my image of what it's all about

[Music]

i walk along the street
the boulevard of broken dream
where she got low
can take a kiss without regret
till they forget their broken dream
you laugh tonight and cry
tomorrow
when you behold your shattered skin
the gigolo when she go let wake

certainly hollywood still has scandals i

mean they range from everything when

from john Belushi's

overdose in a bungalow at the chateau

marmot hotel

to

david Bagelman a top producer forging

checks even though he was a rich man

no one has yet figured out why he did it

but somehow they don't quite

measure up to the old

scandals of which was in a more innocent

age

it was

more shocking because these were more

idealized people

[Music]

the joy that you find here you
are all you cannot keep it long with sea
still sing a song and dance

[Music]

dreams

[Music]

by the 60s old hollywood had died

the battlements of those feudal kingdoms

the studios fell one by one to the enemy

television

on the empty stages at Columbia they

host game shows these days

the mansions of the stars have crumbled

the swimming pools are empty the tennis

courts overgrown

sarah bernhardt believed the movies

promised immortality but in truth they

disappoint like any mere mortal

they grow old and wrinkled get folded

spindled and mutilated

their blooming colors fade like the

people do

and like lovers many explode into flames

and disappear without a trace

[Music]

babylon

[Music]

[Music]

and yet sometimes in hollywood

after fierce rains and winds have swept

the skies clean

the egyptian blue appears over the palm

trees like a vision

the hulking obsolete sound stages like

secretive tombs ever present

and we can't imagine what drew the

ambitious and reckless men here an age ago

See also

• "Vogue" (1990) by Madonna