Jack Smith
Birth:
Nov. 14, 1932 (Columbus, Ohio)
Death:
Sept. 25, 1989
Official Website:
None
Major Works:
No President (1967)
Normal Love (1963)
Flaming Creatures (1963)
Scotch Tape (1961)
Overstimulated (1960)
Buzzards over Baghdad (1951-56) (never completed)
Years Working:
1951 — 1956
1960 — 1966
Notes:
Although making a splash in the NYC underground film scene in 1963 with the work that he’s most associated with, Flaming Creatures, Smith continued to work on films throughout his life, but feared to complete one and instead incorporated pieces of them into his avant-garde theater performances.
As of 2008, Smith’s artistic works, including his films, are tied up in litigation between his sister, Sue Slater, and the Plaster Foundation, a group formed by Smith acolyte Penny Arcade and film critic J. Hoberman that is actively working on the restoration of Smith’s movies.
Director Mary Jordan has made a feature-length documentary called Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis that provides an in-depth examination of the artist’s life and work.
Online Resources:
IMDB: Profile
Bad Lit: Posts
Bright Lights Film Journal: Profile
Film Books About Jack Smith:
An Introduction to the American Underground Film by Sheldon Renan (E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1967) (Published simultaneously in Canada by Clarke, Irwin and Company, Limited, Toronto and Vancouver) (pp. 181-183.)
Video:
None
[...] foremost authority on the 1963 underground film classic Flaming Creatures, directed by Jack Smith. Preceding a screening of the film, Hoberman will discuss the film’s creative origins and the [...]
[...] Come see the Winnipeg premiere of Guy Maddin’s latest film The Little White Cloud That Cried at the AceArtInc. gallery as part of their Winter Warmer annual members show. I can’t find much info on the film on the web, but it is a short and, according to the Cineflyer website, it is an “explicit tribute to legendary underground filmmaker Jack Smith.” [...]
[...] such as Gerard Malanga. Born Rene Rivera, Montez previously starred in two underground films by Jack Smith, the legendary Flaming Creatures and Normal Love, as well as several off-off-Broadway plays. The [...]
[...] an audio interview, embedded above, with actress Judith Malina about her experience appearing in Jack Smith’s seminal 1963 underground film Flaming Creatures. Although the film was made close to 50 [...]
[...] for the Timeline — Nick Zedd writes that his biggest influence was the performance artist Jack Smith. Zedd used to hang out in and paint Smith’s apartment that also doubled as a performance [...]