June 9 at 6:30-8PM
Let’s start at the beginning: when controversial underground cinema pioneer Jack Smith (1932-89) was shooting Normal Love (1963-64) (starring Tiny Tim, among others), Andy Warhol, who was very publicly abandoning visual art for filmmaking himself, shot his first film, a color short entitled, Andy Warhol Films Jack Smith Filming Normal Love, during a sequence where the cast danced on a huge birthday cake designed by Claes Oldenburg. A year later, both films were confiscated in a police raid at a screening at the Filmmakers’ Cinematheque, and organizer Jonas Mekas, along with projectionist Ken Jacobs were convicted of obscenity, and the Warhol film was never returned and is considered lost or destroyed.
Which brings us to today. Photographer and filmmaker Bruce Checefsky (who writes for CoolCleveland) has remade (image above) the lost Warhol film with local celebrities including the Happy Dog’s Sean Watterson as the Mummy, and is screening the Cleveland premiere at The Underdog at Happy Dog (in the basement of Happy Dog), complete with birthday cake by artist extraordinaire Kristin Cliffel. How could you possibly miss this! Just don’t tell the vice squad. More info here.
Cleveland, OH 44102