SFAI & NYU Films 1976-82
From 1976 to 1979, when I wasn’t sparking up the welding torch at the San Francisco Art Institute, I was shooting kitschy films under the tutelage of my teacher, George Kuchar (John Waters of the West Coast). Club Alabam recreates a night in the 1930s in my student film from 1978. The original Club Alabam was the center of Los Angeles' jazz scene, located at S. Central Avenue and 42nd Street. When I made this film, I was working at the On Broadway Theater in San Francisco, dressing, living, and breathing the 1930s while serving cocktails at Jon Hendricks' Evolution of the Blues Show. My short black and white film featured Eric Hendricks (son of famous jazz singer Jon Hendricks) and legendary tap dancer Eddie Brown. Filmed at the On Broadway Theater and choreographed to the Fats Waller song "Crazy 'Bout My Baby," Club Alabam pre-dates music videos. Complete Love was my first sound picture. My film teacher George Kuchar (Hold Me While I'm Naked and Pussy on a Hot Tin Roof) explained, "You have this person talking on the phone and another person talking on the phone. Cut them back and forth, and for dialogue, pick up a 1940s romance comic book and dub in the conversation. Sync it to their lips as close as you can. Layer that with a B-movie soundtrack, and that's how you add sound and music to your film!"
A New York City experience is a rite of passage for every serious artist, so after graduation from art school, I applied to New York University Graduate Film School and surprised myself by being accepted. From 1979 to 1982, I earned an MFA in film directing. In the early 80s, the Lower East Side was the epicenter of graffiti art, hip-hop music, break dancing, and the exploding indie film movement. Following in the footsteps of successful alumni such as director Martin Scorsese, I was one of the few females in the NYU program, crashing an intensely competitive boys’ club. Being on the 7th Street campus along with classmates Spike Lee (She's Gotta Have It and Do the Right Thing), Ernest Dickerson (DP of Malcolm X and director of Juice), and Maryann Brandon (Academy award-nominated editor of Star Wars and Star Trek) was an exciting time.
My first-year NYU films included Taxi Girl, a music video about a hunky taxi driver edited to the beat of Donna Summer's "Bad Girl," and Escape to the Elkhorn, starring Patti Astor as bored socialite Mona Garrish, who has a romantic fling with her rifle instructor, Matt. In my second year, I made My Social Debut, about a young photographer who has a romance with politician Art Spring (based on my real-life fling with the mayor of Cincinnati, Jerry Springer). My thesis film was the cartoonish Bachelorette Pad, with animated Barbie dolls that came to life.
It is hard to imagine that not long ago, we used to write letters, but we did, and this handwritten letter on official First Run Features station from NYU classmate Spike Lee meant a lot. Film school was very competitive, and Spike's star was on the rise after graduation. I was really proud of him when I attended a screening of his film in Los Angeles, so I sent a note. Happily, he responded with a few notes and postcards over the years.
• • •
May 7, 1983
Dear Anita,
Thanks for the nice card and all the things you wrote, I really enjoyed seeing you and I'm glad you got a chance to see the film [Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads]. Here's something I've learned: you know we should all be rooting, pulling for each other because if one makes it, that's opening things up for everybody else. Too bad we didn't think like that in school instead of hoping that "that other persons film turned out a stinker." This was the first time me and you had ever really taken the time to sit down and talk and we were in the same building for 3 years. You probably thought I was a crazed Black radical who hates White people and I can honestly say I thought you were just a dizzy rich Jewish girl (but you're OK SMILE [smiley face]).
I'm happy things are going well for you, I still haven't seen Bachelorette Pad. While I was up in San Francisco I learned I'm a finalist for The Student Academy Awards. If I'm fortunate to win I'll be back out there in June (LA). Keep up the good work, we're pulling for you.
Love, Spike Lee
FORTY ACRES AND A MULE