Spike Lee, the Knicks, and the NYC Spirit

So you can tell how big of a sports fan Mr NYC is by the fact that I failed to mention earlier that the Knicks made it to the NBA playoffs this year -- and won their first playoff game since 2013.

Unlike the Giants and Yankees who dominate NYC and national football and baseball -- with the Jets and the Mets always showing promise early in their seasons before flaming out -- the Knicks have rarely come close to the ultimate in basketball glory. As a youngster I remember the strong Patrick Ewing years and, more recently, "Linsanity", but otherwise the Knicks have been mediocre or worse. Their ownership and coaching have also, over the years, generated lots of drama and attracted much negative attention.

So, as you might imagine, it's great to see the Knicks doing so well this year even if they fail to advance in the playoffs. It's a reminder of the city's spirit -- never quitting.

And whether or not the Knicks are doing well or not, you can be sure that Oscar-winning filmmaker and #1 Knicks fan Spike Lee will be on the sidelines cheering them on ... and occasionally offering his own commentary of the team's performance. Recently he gave a big interview on WNYC about his love of the Knicks as well as his upcoming multi-part documentary about NYC since 9/11. I can't wait for this.

Lest anyone thought otherwise, the spirit of this city is very much alive -- and never went away. 

Remembering "Chess" on Broadway

Recently I blogged about a failed Broadway musical called Teddy & Alice. It ran for about two months in late 1987 and early 1988 and has been forgotten and never revived since. Another show that also had a brief run around that time has had a more interesting afterlife -- Chess.

Chess was the brainchild of the musical savant Tim Rice (former partner of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the scribes of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita) who wrote it with Bjorn Ulvaeus, the genius who wrote most of ABBA's big hit songs. The concept of Chess was certainly of its time: set in the depths of the 1980s Cold War, it's about American and Soviet chess masters, facing each other down in world-wide competitions, with money, women, and international politics getting in their way. 

Summarizing the plot is hard because originally the musical started out as a concept album in 1984 and, once staged, apparently the 1986 London stage show in the West End had a different story than the 1988 Broadway version. The plot was constantly being re-written and revised. In its original previews on Broadway in 1988, Chess had running time of 4 hours and then was cut-down to 3 hours 15 minutes when it finally opened in late April. Needless to say the length made it less than appealing to ticket-buyers. Chess also failed quickly because it cost a fortune to stage, full of fancy lighting and special effects and moving stages. It needed to gross a ton of money each week to stay afloat -- and didn't. The 1980s was the era of spectacle musicals like Starlight Express that aimed to dazzle the auidences' eyes as much as satisfy their ears. Chess was another entry in this genre that has mostly faded away -- people just didn't want to spend their time seeing a show of German opera-like legnth that assaulted their senses all night long. 

The reviews in London in '86 had been mixed but the reviews in NYC in 1988 were scathing -- Frank Rich in the Times said it had an "ostensible story ... the evening has the threatrical consistency of quicksand", and that the show just hammers home the analogy that the world is basically one big chess game and we are all its pawns. The show-stopping song is called "Nobody's Side" where the heroic lady chessmaster manager, who works for the American player but is in love with the Russian player (c'est la guerre!), croons away "And when he gives me reasons/To justify each move ... Everbody's playing the games/But nobody's rules are the same/Nobody's on nobody's side."

Ya' dig?

Some other deep meaning, powerful lyrics: "I cross over borders but I'm still there now ... Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart/My land's only borders lie around my heart." 

Huh? (Still, you get chills when you actually hear it sung.)

In the 30+ years since Chess bombed on Broadway, it has actually had a rich afterlife with revivals and "concert musicals" done around the world. In 2009 I saw a concert version on TV that had been recorded in London in 2008, featuring Idina Menzel, Josh Groban and Adam Pascal from Rent. They were brilliant but my impression, even from this version, was that while the show had some powerful, beautiful, really great songs, the story was a confusing boring mess. 

I can't resist: musically, Chess is great; plotwise, Chess is ... a mess!

So far Chess has never been revived on Broadway -- besides its story problems, the show became immeadiately and painfully dated in the 1990s when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Maybe one day it'll come back to Broadway, if the plot can be brought under control and if there is interest in a show about something that clearly is now a historical era.

And it does have some great songs that stand the test of time so, in many ways, Chess will continue playing (haha get it?) for decades to come.  

P.S. The big opening song to the second act, "One Night in Bangkok" was actually turned into a music video that got some play on MTV and as a radio single. That was always the problem with the show -- it was a bunch of singles strung together to tell some kind of story ... that no one understands to this day. 

Kathryn Garcia for NYC Mayor

For a long time I had no idea who I would rank first in next month's primary but, as times goes on, it's clear that Kathryn Garcia should be the next mayor of NYC.

One reason and one reason only: experience. She has lots of it. She's worked in city government nearly her entire life, she knows how it operates, and she knows the city inside-out. Right now the city needs a real manager and a real hands-on tactician -- and that's her. She's not flashy, she's not looking to be a celebrity, she's not in it for her ego -- she just wants to run the city well.

That's enough for me -- as well as for The New York Times and the Daily News.

So please vote for her!

Immersive Van Gogh NYC

Learn more about this interesting exhibit here.  

Gotta Love New Yorkers

Ladies and Gentleman, from the streets of Brooklyn in New York City, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer! 

"In The Heights" Movie Preview Clip

Review: "News From Home" (1977)

There are movies, there are documentaries, and then there are visual meditations -- films that don't tell a story, exactly, but that through images and words make you think and ponder them as well as wonder how they relate to your life. 

Such is the case with News from Home. 

In 1976, the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Ackerman came back to NYC after having lived here for a couple of years in the early 1970s. She wanted to document the city that had played an important part in her development as a director. Ackerman shot huge amounts of footage of Manhattan street scenes, starting in Tribeca, working upwards to Midtown, and then uptown and towards the Bronx. Eventually it ends on the Staten Island Ferry, pulling away from the mighty isle, the great buildings looming and moving away (including, of course, the World Trade Centers). The city moving away from her is clearly metaphoric. 

Most of the scenes are of people walking and cars rushing by on busy streets, at all hours of the day and night, with numerous forays into the subway. It is pure 1970s NYC, presented totally unfiltered and without sentimentality.

During the film, there are occasional voiceovers, done by Ackerman herself, reading from letters her mother sent to her while she was living in NYC a few years earlier -- the "news from home." The letters are about the mundane life her family is living back in Belgium and asking how she is enjoying life in the city. There are no shocking revelations from the letter, nothing dramatic. The film and letters are simply about how life passes by, both literally in the streets of the city and figuratively in the lives of people. Its simplicity is what makes News From Home so powerful. 

Chantal Ackerman was a fascinating and pioneering director who sadly died in 2015. Read more about her and her incredible work here and watch News From Home below. 

Little Island NYC @ Pier55 - The City's Newest Park

Who Was William Cullen Bryant?

William Cullen Bryant Park in Midtown is opening back up. William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens has over 2600 students. There's William Cullen Bryant Triangle Park in the Bronx. Out on Long Island there's even the William Cullent Bryant Preserve as well as a William Cullen Bryant Viaduct.

So who the hell was William Cullen Bryant?

He was a 19th century romantic poet, one of the first and most influential American poets. Among his fans and the writers he influenced were Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman. Originally from Massachusetts, he lived and worked most of his life in NYC and, in addition to artistic achievements, became leading citizen of the city. Amongst the projects he proposed and advocated for -- a big park in the middle of Manhattan and a big museum in that very same park. 

Yes, Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art were basically his brainchildren.

Greatly admired in his time, his legacy lives on in his poetry and the city he loved. He was even quoted by Martin Luther King in his speech "Give Us the Ballot": "Truth Crushed to Earth Shall Rise Again."

Truly a man for all ages. 

NYC is Back Baby!

As Spring descends on NYC, COVID-19 is in remission. So go get vaccinated, eat some Shake Shack and ride the subway 24/7!

Review: "The Ninth Gate" (1999)

Big movie directors and huge movie stars always have a few films on their resumes that fans and audiences generally overlook. Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate starring Johnny Depp probably qualifies. 

Yet it's an interesting movie and falls firmly into the category of New Yorkers who travel abroad and get into trouble.

Depp stars as Dean Corso, a ruthless and ethically dubious NYC rare book dealer, who is hired by a rich and strange man named Boris Balkan to authenticate one of his books -- supposedly written by Satan himself. Call The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, it's suppose to contain information about how to open "the Ninth Gate" and summon up the Devil himself. There are only three known copies of the book in existence, and Balkan tasks Corso to go to Portugal and France to examine the other two copies and verify his book's authenticity. Very early on, it becomes excruciatingly clear that this book is bad news -- it's previous owner killed himself the day after selling it to Balkan, and now his widow is harassing Corso, as he travels with it to Europe, to get it back. Corso meets with the other two copies' owners, only to find out later that they've been killed. Along the way he is trailed, and then joins forces, with a gorgeous woman who both helps and mystifies him. As Corso delves furthers into the legend of the Nine Gates, more and more craziness ensues.

Is the book genuine? Will Corso survive to find out? And can it or any copy of it open up ... the Ninth Gate!

If you like smart thrillers, this is your movie. If you like the occult and movies about dark creepy people then this is really your movie. And if you're a big Johnny Depp, it really really is your movie. For my money, the best performance is by Frank Langella as the creepy Balkan who is a sinister prescence in the film even when he's not on screen.

The Ninth Gate is very reminiscent of Polanski's other thrillers, the classic Chinatown and his later The Ghostwriter -- a cynical professional gets hired to figure something out and stumbles upon a scary mystery that threatens his life. Obviously recommending a movie with the problematic Polanski and Deep is perhaps a tad gauche these days but, as a work of cinematic art, it's worth checking out.

Sam Kinison & Lou Reed on "Saturday Night Live" -- November 15, 1986

It's hard to imagine that an episode of Saturday Night Live like this would ever air today -- one hosted by the most outrageous comedian of his time and, as the musical guest, one of the darkest and most groundbreaking musicians in rock history.

But this actually happened on the night of November 15, 1986 when bad boy comic Sam Kinison -- riding high as a comedy king and coming off the success of his movie Back to School -- hosted the show for the second time. He was his usual over-the-top self, jamming with the band, performing an over-the-top monologue, and yelling and blazing his way through several sketches. There was no comedian quite like Sam Kinison before or since. Sadly he died in 1992 in a car accident, but his comedic legacy lives on.

I can't find any clips of Lou Reed from this show but, according to the information I have, he perfomed the songs "I Love You, Suzanne" and "The Original Wrapper." I've posted those songs here. 

This was just one of many shows in the long, long history of SNL -- but it was also a moment in time when the rebels, the contrarians, the lunatics of comedy and music crashed the gates and ran the asylum ... at least for this one night.

First NYC Mayoral Debate -- May 13, 2021

Remembering "Head of the Class"

In retrospect it was a miracle that a show like Head of the Class ever aired on American television -- let alone for five seasons. A show about a bunch of New York City high schoolers, centered around their honors history class -- where learning and intellect along with the challenges of youth and personal growth were the main subjects, not teen cliches like parties and sex and "first love" -- doesn't exactly sound like the makings of a big hit.

Yet hit it was -- Head of the Class regularly appeared in the Top 25 most watch shows between 1986 and 1991, with an average audience of 14-17 million people. 

Set at the fictional Millard Filmore High School in Manhattan (apparently based on Washington Irving High School near Union Square), the show starred Howard Hesseman (from WKRP in Cincinnati) as Charlie Moore, an out of work actor working as a teacher who is especially good at motivating and helping his honors history students succeed. Other characters included the lovable if sometimes buffoonish Dr. Samuels as well as an assistant principal who Moore often flirts with. But the focus of the show was the students. Long before it was fashionable, the cast of students was highly diverse -- racially, ethnically, even different ages and body types were represented. Probably more than any other show set in NYC, Head of the Class truly reflected the city it was set it.

And the show emphasized the joys of learning along with the stresses of trying to achieve academically and develop into a well-rounded adult. The show enjoyed concentrating on the kids' minds and souls and not on their looks and groins. In its third season, they even did a very special episode in the then-Soviet Union, the first American show to do so.

I remember when this show was on the air. I didn't watch it regularly, the kids were a little older than me, but the times I saw it I thought it was funny. If I recall correctly, my brother watched it regularly -- a bunch of smart kids going to a special NYC high school at the same time as him certainly had its appeal. 

Head of the Class was one of those shows that was great -- until it wasn't. Eventually it hit a big wall in its last seasons. Cast member Robin Givens had a short, very public and tumultuous marriage to boxer Mike Tyson. Some cast members were replaced. And Howard Hesseman left after the fourth season because of "creative differences". He was replaced by Scottish comedian Billy Connolly which was an unconventional but doomed experiment. It also faced the problem all high school shows face -- eventually the kids grow up and either need to graduate (meaning other kids need to replace them) or the show has to cease being a high school show or the viewers need to suspend disbelief that these kids are spending the better part of a decade in high school. The final episode aired in the summer of 1991, almost 30 years ago.

And yet ... Head of the Class is coming back! A reboot is in the works at HBO Max although it's unclear when it will air. Hopefully it will retain the spirit and smarts of the original while also giving it a distinctly 21st centry edge. And, as  always, NYC will be the constant. 

The Forgotten Wars of NYC

New York City has, on occassion, been a literal battlefield.

Much of the Revolutionary War was fought here, and you can find remnants of it around the five boroughs if you know where to look. More than 200 years later, the 9/11 attacks on NYC (and DC) began the two-decade "war on terror" that we live with to this day. Those two very different wars in NYC, at two hugely different times, are etched clearly into history for a clear reason -- the first was a great victory by a scrappy collection of colonies against its Imperial masters, the second an attack against a global superpower, challenging its dominance.

In both cases, the battlefield of NYC represented the heroic spirit and power of the whole country. 

But there were other wars fought in the city that are largely forgotten today. These wars also tell the American story but in a dark way. And they are battles that roil the city and country to this day -- race relations and immigration. 

In 1741, more than 30 years before the first shots of the Revolutionary War, a series of fires broke out around NYC. Still a British colony, the city was suffering economically, and slaves and poor whites were hit especially hard. These fires led the white citizens to believe that the slaves were behind them, as part of a conspiracy to violently riot and overturn the city's power structure, stealing all of the white people's property and wealth in the process. Paranoia reigned. The result was that 200 hundred slaves (and a few whites) were rounded up, arrested, put on trial, and then burned at the stake (a few were also deported to Canada and the West Indies). Known today at the New York Conspiracy of 1741, it was an ugly race war, based on lies and conspiracy, that exacerbated the racial divisions for centuries to come.

Then, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are the Tong Wars. Rival Chinese immigrant gangs, or Tongs, fought viscious and bloody battles in the streets and alleys of Chinatown, jockeying for dominance in the neighborhood and city's criminal underground of opium dens, prostitution, and gambling. Some of the fights involved meat cleavers, hatchets, and torture, and implicated not only gang members but also crooked cops and politicians. There were Tong Wars in other American cities (most notably in San Francisco) but the history of the Tong Wars in NYC is especially fascinating -- and you can read more about it here.  

Some wars are remembered because they make us feel heroic but these forgotten wars of NYC need to be remembered as well -- to tell us where we came from and where we are today.

"Big Yellow Taxi" - Counting Crows w/ Vanessa Carlton (2003)

 

Wild Times at The Chelsea Hotel

Currently I'm reading the Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea Hotel by Sherill Tippins.

Published in 2013, the book is an absorbing saga about how this one building, this distinctive residential hotel on West 23rd Street, became a mecca for some of the most brilliant and important artists (American and otherwise) who ever lived. Founded in 1884, and for more than a century afterwards, it has provided a communal haven for those who pursue a life of the mind, a life in the arts and culture, a life at odds with mainstream society. Inspired by the 19th-century socialist Fourierism movement that emphaized self-sufficient communinal living, the Chelsea Hotel was a place that embraced and accepted anyone -- all for a very cheap rent. 

The list of people who lived and worked at the Chelsea over the generations is mind-boggling. To name just a very few: Mark Twain, O. Henry, Dylan Thomas, Tennessee Williams, Alan Ginsburg, Arthur C. Clarke (who wrote 2001 there) as well as his collaborator Stanley Kubrick, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Sid Vicious (who infamously killed his girlfriend Nancy there in 1978), Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin (who hooked up there), Willem de Kooning, the notorious Robert Mapplethorpe, Diego Rivera, even the Divine Miss M (Bette Midler for you ignoramouses). And that's barely scratching the surface of the great talents that resided there many different times in the last 130+ year. 

The Chelsea Hotel has also been the subject of art itself: the groundbreaking Portrait of Jason was shot there in 1966 as well as part of the first-ever reality show, An American Family. Andy Warhol probably made it famous for the rest of the world with the movie he made there, Chelsea Girls. 

The cultural impact and legacy of the Chelsea Hotel cannot be overstated.

But, at the end of the day, it's a piece of NYC real estate, which means its had lots of different owners and been subject to various legal battles over the decades. And there still are to this day with the current owners and developers fighting the tenants who wish to maintain its Bohemian glory. It's a classic case of money vs. culture, the future vs. the past, crass taste vs. good taste, people who want to live in the past vs. people who could care less. Reading about it, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. 

Sounds like a drama that could have written at the Chelsea Hotel back in its hayday!

You can read the previous posts about the Chelsea Hotel here. 

Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" & Taylor Switft's "Cornelia Street": Two Great NYC Transplant Songs

If two singer-songwriters ever defined their respective generations, then they are Joni Mitchell and Taylor Swift. Both are brilliant lyricists and muscians with deeply distinct voices, their songs beloved by literally billions, and their careers and legacies are immense -- you sure don't need my dopey blog to tell you any of this and, if you do, you're more of a philistine than I can possibly comprehend. 

Interestingly, both were transplants to NYC at one time who wrote great songs about where they used to live in the city (I guess Ms. Swift still lives here but I digress).

For Canadian Joni Mitchell, it was the Chelsea neighborhood. For Pennsylvanian Taylor Swift, it was downtown on Cornelia Street. Such was their love for, and and fascination with, the city and their respective homsteads that they composed songs about them.

These songs were produced more than 50 years apart -- "Chelsea Morning" in 1966 and "Cornelia Street" in 2019. But despite being very different songs, in very different styles, by two very different singer-songwriters, and being about very different times in the life of NYC, both songs radiate with the spirit of the city and how special a neighborhood or even just a street in it remains, and how this is forever timeless. 

Sometimes in takes a transplant to NYC to best understand and communicate this as these two do. 

Mr NYC is Fully Vaxxed

Some good news -- yours truly got the second shot of the Moderna vaccine and, in two weeks, will be 95% protected from COVID-19.

Many thanks to the Kings Pharmacy on the Upper East Side for making it so easy. I strongly recommend using them if you can. Right now the side-effects are a very sore arm, sluggishness, and some body chills. Hopefully that'll be all and go away soon but who knows?

This is a singular moment in history for all of us.

Getting this vaccine not only protects ourselves but everyone else from the virus. It is our small fight, our sortee, in the greater world-wide war against this killer. If each of us does this one small thing, eventually one of the greatest achievements in humanity -- ending this pandemic -- will happen.

And we will all have been soliders in the fight!

I don't know about you but I felt, after getting the vaccine, that it's like graduating from school or losing your virginity -- it's something you imagine, dream about, think about, wonder about, for a long, long, long, long, long, long time before it happens and then ... when it does happen ... you're both releaved and grateful ... and then ... you experience a weird mental and emotional senstation -- you've done this big, life-altering thing, your status in the world has changed, but ... you're still the same person as before ... life goes on ... everything else is relatively the same ... the world hasn't exploded, the media isn't blaring your glorious victory to the masses, no one is handing you an award or pinning a medal to your chest ... you still have to do your laundry, go grocery shopping, the subway is still crowded, you gotta pay the bills, the weather changes as usual ... and then it becomes your new normal. 

So it's a small, quiet triumph for all of us to get fully vaxxed, an achievement that we don't see (although we feel it, oh boy!) but that will, in the time, improve our lives and change the whole world for the better! 

Empire State Building @ 90

 

Interview: Lynn Paula Russell, Legendary Artist and Performer - Sex, Learning, and Videotape

As an artist and performer whose main subject is erotica, it was perhaps inevitable that Lynn Paula Russell would move into adult films. She became not only an artist of lust but also its subject matter – the creator, muse, and work rolled up into one. A gorgeous, sexy, voracious woman, Lynn performed in several features during the twilight days of the NYC Golden Age of adult films.

Taking the nom de plume Paula Meadows, Lynn’s beauty and acting talent made her a stand-out in films like Fashion Fantasies, Oddest Couple, New York Vice, Young Nympho and others. Her scenes with partners like Nina Hartley, Joey Silvera, Siobhan Hunter, Tom Byron, and others burned up the screen.

In the last part of our interview, Lynn tells us about her time in the 1980s NYC adult business, as well as her memories of some of its most notable characters like the notorious Al Goldstein. She also tells us why she left the business and what she’s learned about herself – and life – since.

In the 1980s, you had a career in the adult film business and made some movies in NYC. What led you to make adult films and what are your memories of the adult film scene in NYC back then? Do you have any favorite movies that you did?

After that ‘burst-out’ I described earlier, when I started modelling, I had a strong presentiment that this was part of a bigger issue … but not only for me. You have to remember the general hypocrisy surrounding sex that still prevailed back in 70s London, despite all the attempts to shift it. In erotica, women were the focus of attention as objects of arousal, but they did not have a voice of their own. Now the wave of change was upon us, driving us on inexorably, and looking back I can see that I was responding to this cultural surge, as well as to my own inner imperatives. There was an irrepressible desire to explore further and my career took off in a new direction. Erotica was MY subject and I needed to follow it through, wherever it led, and express it all in my art.

The adult film scene in the early 80s in the USA was just at the point where it was moving away from the so called ‘Golden Age’ when films such as The Devil in Miss Jones were seriously attempting to explore interesting erotic themes, and a professional actress like Georgina Spelvin brought a degree of reality to what she did, and genuine enthusiasm. One felt that she had consciously chosen to do it, rather than just drifted into it through exploitation. In the 80s there still were a few directors who were able to express their ideas in X rated films, but now they were aware that the industry was beginning to demand a formulaic approach. Having to stick to a formula makes it very difficult for directors to be creative. But the team I worked for were still trying. I was very lucky.

You worked with directors like Henri Pachard and some of the biggest adult stars at the time -- Danielle Martin, Joey Silvera, Siobhan Hunter, Tom Byron, even the legendary Nina Hartley! What are your memories of working with them? Was it a fun time or just work?

We were like a sort of porn repertory company. The same people turned up in different films and we became like a family, because of course we had shared intimate moments together on film. Henri Pachard was a very humorous character and had an infectious twinkle in his eye. Yes, he did make the work fun. It was he who explained to me that he always chose themes that sprang directly from an erotic situation, rather than trying to fit sex scenes around a complicated sort of plot.

Viewers will always fast forward the scenes that consist of just acting – usually bad acting – to get to the sexy bits. So, he constructed scenarios around ladies of the night and the hidden side of society. But speaking of bad acting – this wasn’t always the case in these films. I feel sure that Joey Silvera could have made his name in Hollywood movies. He was a very talented actor. Danielle had a delightful personality but seemed very young and vulnerable to me. She always brought her diminutive chihuahua with her at all times.

You mention Nina Hartley. I admired her a lot. She had deliberately chosen to make erotic films, as I had, and also spoke out enthusiastically where a pro-porn voice was needed. I too used to be interviewed on TV when I arrived home after my adventures in the US and sometimes had to hold my own with a disapproving feminist or member of a church group. Nina since devoted herself wholeheartedly to this work, but she was at the very beginning of her film career when I knew her. She took everything in her stride, and clearly enjoyed herself. We got along splendidly and became friends. I was intrigued when she told me about her ‘menage a trois.’ Having a husband and a wife seemed a very satisfactory arrangement if one happened to be bisexual, although marriage to one person can be complicated enough! I have kept in touch with her ever since.

You ask whether it was all fun – well, to begin with it was, probably mainly because I was enjoying exploring all my fantasies, but on my third visit, having to switch on the lust, regardless of how you felt, became onerous sometimes. Whenever something becomes repetitive, it begins to lose its spontaneity.

Is it true that you did an interview with the infamous Al Goldstein on his long-running show Midnight Blue? Tell us about that experience! 

Yes, that’s quite right, I did appear on Midnight Blue. I had met Al on one of his visits to London, in 1981. At that time, I knew nothing of his ‘infamous’ reputation and had never heard of Screw. The fact is, we really hit it off and became very good friends over the years. Later on I came to realize how abrasive and unpleasant he could be when rubbed up the wrong way, especially when haranguing certain people in his editorials, but from my perspective I always found him warm and affectionate – unbelievable though that may seem! I always joked with him that I would never let that secret out because it might destroy his reputation.

When you agreed to appear on Midnight Blue you took your life in your hands because you knew that Al was going to do his best to embarrass you by springing something on you out of the blue! He did not disappoint. I found myself reluctantly having to re-enact a scene from a video I made in London. When I looked at the tape afterwards I can see my hands shaking. But never mind – by Al’s standards I got off extremely lightly. However, it’s not something I would care to watch now. It seems a very distant memory, as if it happened in another lifetime. I look back on those years and am grateful for them, but would not care to revisit any of it. It was part of a journey that released creativity and brought new understanding. This would not be everyone’s way!

Al did not have a peaceful death, from what can be gathered, and I think he paid a heavy price for all the venom he directed at people. The fallout had to come, sooner or later, but it made me sad.

What eventually led you to leave adult films? Did you decide to dedicate yourself totally to your art? 

It was during my final stay in NYC that I woke up and realized with a start that I had strayed from my original plan. I had only ever intended to dip my toe in the water, and now here I was neglecting my art work. Sexuality was beginning to lose its power and it occurred to me that the drive was never intended to be used this way. Women can do damage to themselves by forcing their bodies to perform. I had to return home and reflect.

Further thoughts.

Going back over the 80s has certainly brought it all back. Perhaps I have left out some of the darker side of the experience in adult films. [AIDS] ... was beginning to be a fear, and I didn't mention drugs. I never touched drugs myself, but I was aware that some of the actors did. One of the girls I worked with said it was the only way she could get through the day. And as for exploitation of women, the only person I ever met from the porn industry who complained bitterly was a man – Harry Reems of Deep Throat fame. He had retired from the business when I met him but was still deeply disturbed by the way he had been treated.

… One shouldn't give a sugar coated impression, but I think when you enter any business with a positive attitude, it tends to reflect back what you put into it. I may have been rather naive when I set out on my adventure, but experience has now shown me things that have widened my perspective considerably. Having allowed myself to explore all that sexual freedom, I now know the dangers that really exist. Going against one's natural instincts for too long and completely separating sex from love does not lead to fulfilment but makes erotic activity meaningless and empty – this is what I found. But people must discover this for themselves. Porn can be extremely liberating for viewers to watch, when it is needed. I don't want people who see my films to think that I felt negative about it, because I certainly didn't. These were only the conclusions I came to much later on when I reflected on all the things I had done.

Debates and controversies around sexual harassment and sex worker rights are much in the news these days. As a woman who has had a successful career in male-dominated fields, I'm sure you've dealt with and had thoughts about these subjects. Would you care to share them with us?

In the last forty years or so relations between men and women have become extremely strained and there is a sort of war going on. I think this is a great shame. Strangely enough, I never resented the exploitation and rather blamed myself for going along with it. There were times when I wonder why I hadn’t simply said ‘No’. I wasn’t a Hollywood actress whose career depended on not offending the important guys. Or maybe I was just lucky – I wasn’t badly treated and worked with directors who treated me with some respect. I know there are many others who have quite different stories and my heart goes out to them. The developments we’ve seen lately were inevitable. If the power struggle can settle to a new equilibrium between men and women that will be wonderful, but it will take time for real understanding to grow. All the hate and resentment needs to be let out first before this can happen.

The youngsters today will find a new way.

Thank you Lynn for talking to Mr NYC. You’ve had an amazing life and we can’t wait to hear more from you some day. Best of luck!

You can visit Lynn Paul Russell’s website and an exhibition of her work at:

www.lynnpaularussell.org

https://www.talismanfineart.com/product/cat/current-feature-4

Interview: Lynn Paula Russell, Legendary Artist and Performer - An Englishwoman in NYC

New York City in the 1970s and ’80s has become almost mythical -- like Paris in the 1920s or London in the 1960s. It was an era of great danger and temptation as well as a period of artistic revolution.

Andy Warhol, Jean Michel-Basquiat, Julian Schnable, and others ruled the art world; Saturday Night Live and David Letterman were changing television comedy from the NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center; on Broadway, shows like Pippin, Evita, A Chorus Line, Cats, Lez Miz and the musicals of Stephen Sondheim were reinventing the American musical; Woody Allen was making classic films like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah & Her Sisters, and Crimes and Misdemeanors; Studio 54 and disco culture captured the popular imagination; sex clubs like Plato’s Retreat and Hellfire were turning respectable middle-class couples into sexual adventurers; and the adult film scene in NYC still existed.

Lynn Paula Russell was part of it. 

Here Lynn tells us about her adventures with the Broadway theater and sexual underworld of NYC, and how her experiences in in the city changed her life.

You're an Englishwoman and, I assume, lived and worked in the UK most of your life. But you worked in NYC several times in the 1970s and 1980s. Tell us about your time as a children's theater actress in NYC in 1970 and as a painter of Broadway theater performers in 1979. What was it like, as an Englishwoman, to come to this big wild American city at such a crazy time in history? What do you remember most about the city back then?

Yes, let’s talk about NYC! My first visit in 1970 was really only a flying visit. As I mentioned earlier, I was part of a small troupe of actors who had been touring around England visiting schools and youth clubs. This group was part of a children’s theatre company that consisted of several groups so it was extremely exciting that ours was chosen for the first tour of the USA. And to add to this, it had been decided that the most economical way of transporting us, with all our props and costumes, was on the magnificent, newly built QE 2 liner. The fact that we travelled this way meant that I had one of the most memorable experiences of my young life, which has remained with me to this day. Sailing in to NYC past the famous Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty, I felt as if I were in a movie.

On that day in October 1970, the sky was unbelievably clear as the ship majestically made its way up the Hudson, sailing close to the West side of Manhattan. I had never seen such buildings before, and at that time the Twin Towers of World Trade Centre were just nearing completion. I couldn’t believe it! The height of it terrified me. It seemed to belong to another planet. We could even see the little figures walking around on scaffolding at the top. I felt dizzy just looking. That human beings could not only dream of creating such a building, but actually have the courage and skill to accomplish it, struck me as the big difference between my culture and the American way. Back home, everything was so much smaller and more tentative at that time. Whenever an ambitious idea was suggested, there would always be a hundred reasons why it couldn’t be done, whereas here in America, people would always find a way!

In 1979, I came with my partner to spend 2 months exploring and doing some painting. I had originally been encouraged to come by Martin Charnin, the director of Annie and through my connections with the production I was able to go backstage at the Alvin Theatre [now the Neil Simon Theater] where it was still playing. You asked about my observations of the city – well, here I have to say that there was a disappointment regarding the ‘Great White Way’ as portrayed in Hollywood movies. When we finally got to see it, it wasn’t very white at all! And when I was shown the slightly antiquated backstage equipment at the Alvin, I was amazed – compared to the lighting board I had operated for Annie, the American version looked utterly primitive!

But apart from this, we loved the city, it’s good humor, and the fact that everyone working in the service industry treated you to a broad smile and a sardonic quip. They were all entertainers! We had heard so many stories about NY being dangerous. There were dire warnings about going into Central Park after a certain hour, but nothing ever happened to us and we ignored the doom mongers.

How had the city changed, in your experience, between the 1970s and 1980s?

Not easy for me to compare experiences of the city because in the 80s I was seeing a completely different side of it. In the earlier visit, we explored 42nd Street and marveled at its lights and adult movie houses, but in the 80s I remember actually going into one of them to meet Henri Pachard, who had his office in the backstage area. It was a curious experience. Back then 42nd Street was still alive with those same cinemas, but had I visited in the next decade, most of them would have vanished.

Interesting that London’s so called ‘Red Light’ district, Soho, began to be ‘cleaned up’ at about the same time. If you go to Soho now you won’t see a single strip joint, sex shop or prostitute. All consigned to the past. But back in 80s NYC, it was all still very much alive on the legendary 42nd Street. Also alive and flourishing, in another part of the city, were the offices of Screw magazine, which I visited on several occasions and met the editorial team. During the last of my visits I did a couple of illustrations for High Society and was able to glimpse the inside of a plush office on 5th Avenue. This was a much more up-market publication.

Now I am remembering visiting Plato’s Retreat – a large night club, designed especially for swingers. We had nowhere like this in London. I remember being invited to be part of a little cabaret there, but have to say that during the day, when we were rehearsing, and the interior was not seen in sexy subdued artificial light, it looked decidedly run down. The man who had started it, Larry Levinson, had just come out of prison so probably in his absence, the vitality had begun to drain out of the place.

Does anyone remember Plato’s Retreat now?

Oh, people remember it -- and miss it! 

Before I leave this subject, I must also mention The Hellfire Club. In this case, being run down was quite deliberate. This place specialized in being dark, grubby and un-salubrious. I was invited to go there by a couple who were fascinated by the S/M scene and knew that I had an interest at the time too. They collected me from my hotel in a huge stretch limo, in which champagne was served as we made our stately way to the Club. When the chauffeur drew up at a shabby address in the Meatpacking District, I was utterly horrified, and even more horrified by the club itself. But I was there to experience it, so experienced it I did – having got myself decked out in a skimpy leather outfit specially for the occasion. I was led around the dark dungeons on a lead, and we were able to watch all the other slaves with their masters and mistresses.

Apart from these outings, most of the time we were filming and I saw plenty of interiors of huge loft apartments in the city or beautiful houses with swimming pools out on Long Island. However, to sum up, I have to say that being in NYC filled me with such a special sort of energy. I cannot begin to express the difference it made to my personality. I became more confident and more extrovert as a person.

In the final part of our interview, Lynn tells about her time in the NYC adult film world at the end of its Golden Age and what she learned from it.

You can visit Lynn Paul Russell’s website and an exhibition of her work at:

www.lynnpaularussell.org
https://www.talismanfineart.com/product/cat/current-feature-4 

Interview: Lynn Paula Russell, Legendary Artist and Performer - Creating an Artistic Career

Somebody should make a movie or, better yet, a mini-series about the life of Lynn Paula Russell. Her story has had a number of fascinating chapters that would translate into equally exciting episodes. Lynn has worked as a stage actress, model, and adult film star. But that’s not even what she’s best known for! Lynn has mainly had a long and very successful career as a portraiture and erotic artist. She has used her body, mind, intelligence, emotions, and overwhelming talent to forge a long, unique, and multi-varied artistic career, an amazing professional achievement.

If the biggest thing on Lynn’s resume was appearing in the revolutionary musical Hair, that would be enough. But after years on the stage, she moved into erotic modeling before starting her career as a graphic designer and illustrator. Lynn is best known for her highly explicit, charged, and extremely beautiful erotic art in addition to her portraits of the rich and famous. But whether she’s illustrating people or subjects that are naughty, nice, or both, her work blazes with color, sensuality, confidence, and a true appreciation of the beauty of the human form. To see her work is to see an explosion of love for people, for nature, for sex, and for the gloriousness of life.

Lynn is British and still lives in the United Kingdom but, from the late 1960s to the 1980s, she came to NYC several times. She had, to say the least, many interesting adventures and experiences in the city that most of us can only dream about. In this three-part interview, Lynn shares her memories and thoughts on her career of performing, art, sex, and, of course, New York City. 

Tell us briefly about your upbringing and what led you to pursue an artistic career.

Since it is virtually impossible to be brief when it comes to discussing one’s upbringing I will try not to get too deeply into this subject. I grew up in a small seaside town in the South of England. My mother was a gifted artist who had never been given the opportunity to pursue a career of her own, so she was determined that this should not happen to her four daughters. From a very young age, we all took dancing classes and appeared onstage in musical shows. These were the highlights of my young life. But in the early years I also loved to draw all the time and knew this was one of my best subjects at school. When it was time to choose a career direction, I was torn between my two loves – Art and Theatre. Eventually it seemed more sensible to go to Art School, and I specialized in Graphic design. But nothing is straightforward and soon after leaving college I found myself being propelled towards a career treading the boards.

You have acted and danced but also have spent most of your career as a painter and illustrator. Tell us about your experiences as a stage performer and why you decided finally to devote yourself to creating art.

Well, in my hometown I had become closely associated with a writer who was planning a musical production for the London stage. He had seen my appearances in the local amateur dramatics and wanted me to be in his production. This sounds mad, when I look back, because I had had no professional experience – and as it happened, I never did appear in that show, but it did provide me with a huge impetus to come to London. I was taken on by an agent who sent me up for all kinds of jobs. The very first one brought me to the US. What luck that was! Then the second job granted me the unique experience of appearing in the musical Hair, which had come over from Broadway to the West End in 1968 and caused a sensation. I had seen it as an 18-year old student and been quite shocked by its openness, and then three years later, in the National Tour of the show, there I was, the erstwhile prim, provincial girl, stripping off on stage and feeling proud to do so!

The breakthrough of these early days didn’t last unfortunately and although there had been a few high spots that were exciting, after 6 year’s work began to dwindle. It was as if some inner reserve was holding me back from fully engaging with my true feelings. My trouble was that I could only play emotionally inhibited girls, like myself, and couldn’t get beyond a certain inner block. But when doors start closing, others open to new possibilities.

You have had a long and successful career as an erotic artist. What inspired you to start creating erotic art and what are your favorite books that you've created and worked on?

The answer to this springs out of what I said about feeling blocked. I guess we all have to work within our limitations, but something was pushing me from inside to burst out and release myself. This burst-out finally happened when I was 30 – well, they say that hitting this age makes you review your life and take stock. It certainly heralded a change of direction for me. This is when I took the plunge and decided to model for soft-core porn magazines in England. I did not see this at first as a career move – it was more like accepting a dare. I viewed it as a sort of therapy. To my great surprise, I took to it like a duck to water. Being able to be honest at last and get my clothes off was a massive relief, and for a few weeks the modeling sessions took over my life. Since the things that move us deeply have to be expressed in art, I soon found myself drawing on my experiences to create new work. Then I started illustrating a magazine called Janus, which specialized in a very British subject – erotic corporal punishment. This also expressed my own area of interest since S/M was something that had intrigued me ever since discovering The Story of O.

Several collections of my work were published in the early 2000s by the Erotic Print Society, and I think my favorite is A Sexual Odyssey. That is the most comprehensive cross-section of illustrations and paintings.

Your erotic art is very explicit but it is also visually stunning -- colorful, elegant, sensual, and confident. It feels like you are both trying to arouse the viewers while also proclaiming the beauty and power of human sexuality. Is that a good way to describe your work or would you describe it differently?

I am glad that is how you see my work. Yes, beauty, and power are very relevant. That is what hit me when I started my adventures – sex is the fundamental power of life, which is always motivating people, whether they are aware of it or not. The expression of power, both negative and positive, is always related to the sex drive, which is why we have to be careful how we use it in our relationships. And yes, the beauty is there too. Orgasm is a way of connecting with the universe, with the very core of our being. Excuse me for waxing lyrical, but it is about time that we started to see and evaluate our sexuality in a new way and stop thinking in terms of ‘dirt’ and ‘smut’.

You're most known for your erotic artwork but have also done non-erotic art like portraitures. What is some of your most notable or favorite non-erotic art that you've created?

Before I entered the erotic scene my work was largely centered around the theatre. When I was no longer an actor, I illustrated a children’s book and painted some posters of vintage film stars. Then there was a stint working backstage, mainly on the show Annie, which was a huge hit in London. Andrea McArdle who created the part of Annie in the original production, had come over from Broadway to open the show, and it was her mother Phyllis who first commissioned a portrait from me. Thereafter, I received other commissions from the cast and production team, like Sheila Hancock, who played Miss Hannigan, and Charles Strouse, the composer of the music. Then other shows followed. A Chorus Line was one of these. Of course, since most of my paintings were supposed to be surprise presentations, I wasn’t able to paint from life. Two of my favorites were the portraits of Tommy Steele in many of his various roles, and of Monty Berman, the famous London costumier.

In 1979 I was once more in New York, painting such people as Liberace, TV chat-show host Merv Griffin and theatre producer Lewis Allen. Much later on, in NY, I met the publicist of "Masterpiece Theatre" and was asked to provide publicity portraits of actors in British TV shows that were widely shown in the States. The most memorable one of these showed the young Colin Firth heading the cast in his first appearance in a TV series. Remembering back, there was also a calendar to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Charles and Di in 1981. That really was miles away from my erotic creations!

Thanks Lynn! In the next part of our interview, Lynn tells us about working and having fun in NYC in the 1970s and ‘80s.

You can visit Lynn Paul Russell’s website and an exhibition of her work at:

www.lynnpaularussell.org
https://www.talismanfineart.com/product/cat/current-feature-4