Desire #25 Autumn 2007
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Transcript of Desire #25 Autumn 2007
observat ions and op in ions about new orleans au tumn 2007
2525
25
of the more jaded
of us in New Orleans seem to be increasingly skeptical of the city’s rank in any art form other than jazz. Who would have thought that New Orleans played such a prominent role in the history of motion pictures? In fact, Thomas Edison developed what is generally considered the first commercially viable motion picture projection system, the Vitascope, in 1896. In June of that very same year, the first theater in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to projecting motion pictures was established on Canal Street. Appropriately enough, it was called Vitascope Hall. Not as enduring as Preservation Hall, but certainly a more reassuring thought than our current City Hall.
All of which raises an interesting contrast between motion picture projection and life in New Orleans today. The illusion of motion resulting when a series of film images is displayed in quick succession is based upon the theory of persistence of vision… having to do with the interaction between the retina of the human eye and the brain. Unfortunately, in this post-Katrina landscape, a persistence of vision is lacking when it is needed most. We seem to be floundering about more than the third rewrite of the screenplay for the latest Adam Sandler disaster. Perhaps that is why it is more comforting than ever to lose yourself in the dark of the theater. Surely we find as much solace in Canal Place or The Prytania as did late 19th Century New Orleanians in Vitascope Hall and its flickering light.
by Michael Allday
From Tom Waits, Jockey full of Bourbon
Not
Anyw
here
Els
e. B
y A
nne G
isle
son
As
a te
enag
er g
rowi
ng u
p in
New
Orle
ans
in th
e ei
ghtie
s, I
was
very
con
scio
us o
f the
dis
conn
ect b
etwe
en th
e la
rger
cul
tura
l aes
thet
ic —
slic
k, b
right
and
syn
thet
ic a
nd th
e
mys
terio
us d
ecay
ing
world
aro
und
me.
Lis
teni
ng to
jazz
and
eng
agin
g in
slig
htly
unde
rage
fora
ys in
to v
ario
us d
ives
acr
oss
town
wer
e m
eant
to c
atap
ult m
e in
to th
e co
mpl
exiti
es o
f adu
lthoo
d wi
th fa
r mor
e al
acrit
y tha
n lis
teni
ng to
the
Go-G
os a
nd
watc
hing
John
Hug
hes
mov
ies
(whi
ch I
still
did
ple
nty o
f). Tw
o m
ovie
s ca
me
out d
urin
g th
is ti
me
that
pac
kage
d th
is ro
man
ticis
m a
nd s
old
it ba
ck to
my p
erm
eabl
e ad
oles
cent
imag
inat
ion:
Jim
Jarm
usch
’s Do
wn B
y Law
in 1
985
and
Alan
Par
ker’s
Ange
l Hea
rt in
198
7. A
noth
er N
ew O
rlean
s-ba
sed
mov
ie a
lso
prem
iere
d in
198
7, th
e em
barra
ssin
g De
nnis
Qua
id v
ehic
le T
he B
ig E
asy w
hich
did
n’t i
nflu
ence
me
exce
pt to
resi
st it
s ca
rtoon
ish
depi
ctio
ns o
f our
city
, its
acc
ents
and
aph
oris
ms.
¶ In
the
open
ing
sequ
ence
of D
own
By L
aw, J
arm
usch
reel
s ou
t a tr
acki
ng s
hot o
f row
afte
r row
of s
hotg
un h
ouse
s, e
ssen
tially
the
sam
e ba
ckse
at p
anor
ama
any k
id b
roug
ht u
p in
New
Orle
ans
woul
d be
num
b to
o, b
ut in
bla
ck a
nd w
hite
and
und
ersc
ored
by th
e m
uted
dan
ger o
f Tom
Wai
ts’ “
Jock
ey F
ull o
f Bou
rbon
,” it
was
reve
lato
ry, s
udde
nly
givi
ng o
ur to
o fa
mili
ar la
ndsc
ape
a su
rpris
ing,
bal
d lyr
icis
m. W
ith it
s id
iosy
ncra
tic d
ialo
gue
and
hips
teriz
atio
n of
the
crim
inal
ele
men
t, Do
wn B
y La
w wa
s a
tem
plat
e fo
r 90’
s in
die
film
s. Y
ears
late
r my l
ife w
ould
unw
ittin
gly c
onve
rge
with
var
ious
loca
tions
from
the
mov
ie. T
he d
ecre
pit g
as s
tatio
n wh
ere
Robe
rto B
enig
ni p
ract
iced
his
inde
x ca
rd E
nglis
h is
one
blo
ck fr
om w
here
I wo
rk a
nd a
few
bloc
ks
from
my h
ouse
. A L
ower
Gar
den
Dist
rict a
partm
ent I
onc
e liv
ed in
is th
e ba
ckdr
op fo
r ano
ther
sce
ne, a
nd t
he V
icto
rian-
trim
med
bui
ldin
g in
the
fore
grou
nd w
as c
ompl
etel
y tak
en o
ut b
y Hur
rican
e Ka
trina
, kne
e-hi
gh w
eeds
hav
ing
recl
aim
ed th
e lo
t.
A sa
d an
d be
autif
ul w
orld
, ind
eed.
¶ A
ngel
Hea
rt’s
dark
er ta
ke o
n th
e ci
ty p
laye
d to
its
spoo
ky, s
oulfu
l rep
utat
ion,
as
did
the
visu
al rh
ythm
cre
ated
by c
erta
in re
curri
ng im
ages
: Mic
key R
ourk
e’s d
oom
ed d
etec
tive
Harry
Ang
el ru
nnin
g th
roug
h th
e ra
in
in Ja
ckso
n Sq
uare
. Slo
w-ch
urni
ng fa
ns.
Insc
ruta
ble
blac
k vo
odoo
ladi
es. S
treet
urc
hins
tap
danc
ing
unde
r cas
t iro
n ba
lcon
ies.
New
Orle
ans
was
Harry
Ang
el’s
final
, swe
aty
stop
bef
ore
his
inex
orab
le d
esce
nt in
to h
ell.
Bot
h fil
ms
disp
laye
d th
eir
own
styli
sh, v
inta
ge a
spira
tions
that
app
eale
d to
man
y of u
s—th
e nat
ty cl
othe
s and
cool
mus
ic. T
he lo
cale
s, th
ough
, wer
e our
s. A
lthou
gh n
ot h
ustle
rs, d
evil
wors
hipe
rs, d
etec
tives
or vo
odoo
pra
ctiti
oner
s we i
nhab
ited
a fle
sh a
nd b
lood
vers
ion
of th
ose
onsc
reen
wor
lds.
¶ In
Wal
ker P
ercy
’s Th
e Mov
iego
er, h
is N
ew O
rlean
ian n
arra
tor B
inx B
ollin
g cal
led t
his p
heno
men
on, t
he po
wer o
f the
mov
ies t
o tra
nsfo
rm re
ality
, “ce
rtific
atio
n.” “
Nowa
days
whe
n a pe
rson
lives
som
ewhe
re, in
a ne
ighb
orho
od, t
he pl
ace i
s not
certi
fied f
or hi
m. M
ore t
han l
ikel
y he w
ill liv
e the
re sa
dly a
nd th
e em
ptin
ess w
hich
is in
side
him
will
expa
nd un
til it
evac
uate
s the
entir
e nei
ghbo
rhoo
d. B
ut if
he se
es a
mov
ie w
hich
show
s his
very
neig
hbor
hood
, it be
com
es po
ssib
le fo
r him
to liv
e, fo
r a ti
me a
t
leas
t, as
a p
erso
n wh
o is S
omew
here
and
not
Any
wher
e.” B
etwe
en th
e yea
rs of
med
ia co
vera
ge a
nd th
e bur
geon
ing
loca
l mov
ie in
dust
ry, th
is w
hole
town
is d
ue to
be c
ertif
ied,
all
of u
s acu
tely,
at t
imes
pai
nful
ly, a
ware
of b
eing
Som
ewhe
re a
nd n
ot A
nywh
ere.
From Tom Waits, Jockey full of Bourbon
MULTIPLEX LINE UP
Illustration © 2007 Justin Shiels
MULTIPLEX LINE UP
Milk Duds Raisinets milk chocolate or dark Popcorn Small medium or large Coke Junior Mints M&M’s plain or peanut Whoppers Soft pretzels salted or unsalted Unsweetened fresh-brewed mango calypso iced-tea Sugar Sweet ‘n’ low Equal and Splenda are on the coffee table Sprite. Chocolate covered almonds Hot Tamales Vienna wafers Chocolate vanilla or hazelnut Hot coffee It’s self-serve Decaf is in the orange pot Skittles Sno Caps Caramel corn Gold Bears straight from Germany the good kind Bottled spring water Toblerone Shortbread cookies butter hazelnut choco-late chip or ginger spice Vienna Bagel Dogs 100% kosher beef Peanut M&M’s Dots Mr. Pibb Twizzlers Hot tea careful it steeps quickly Buttered popcorn Free refills on the large Diet Coke Lemonade Swiss chocolate bars Goobers Wasabi fruit and nut mix Cherry Coke Toblerone Gourmet chocolate covered caramel corn with white and dark chocolate Sour Patch Kids Barq’s Root Beer A medium is only twenty-five cents more
Let’s all go to the lobby and get ourselves a treat.
Milk
Dud
s Ra
isin
ets
milk
cho
cola
te o
r dar
k Po
pcor
n Sm
all
med
ium
or l
arge
Cok
e Ju
nior
Min
ts M
&M’s
pla
in o
r pea
nut
Who
pper
s So
ft pr
etze
ls s
alte
d or
uns
alte
d Un
swee
tene
d
fres
h-br
ewed
man
go c
alyp
so ic
ed-t
ea S
ugar
Swe
et ‘n
’
low
Equa
l and
Spl
enda
are
on
the
coffe
e ta
ble
Sprit
e. C
hoco
late
cove
red
alm
onds
Hot
Tam
ales
Vie
nna
wafe
rs C
hoco
late
vani
lla
or h
azel
nut H
ot c
offe
e It’
s sel
f-ser
ve D
ecaf
is in
the
oran
ge p
ot
Skitt
les S
no C
aps C
aram
el c
orn
Gold
Bea
rs st
raig
ht fr
om
Germ
any t
he g
ood
kind
Bot
tled
sprin
g wa
ter T
oble
rone
Sho
rtbre
ad
cook
ies b
utte
r haz
elnu
t cho
cola
te c
hip
or g
inge
r spi
ce V
ienn
a Ba
gel D
ogs 1
00%
kos
her b
eef P
eanu
t M&M
’s Do
ts M
r. Pi
bb
Twizz
lers
Hot
tea
care
ful i
t ste
eps q
uick
ly Bu
ttere
d po
pcor
n Fr
ee re
fills
on th
e la
rge
Diet
Cok
e Le
mon
ade
Swiss
cho
cola
te
bars
Goo
bers
Was
abi f
ruit
and
nut m
ix Ch
erry
Cok
e To
bler
one
Gour
met
cho
cola
te c
over
ed c
aram
el c
orn
with
wh
ite a
nd d
ark
choc
olat
e So
ur P
atch
Kid
s Bar
q’s R
oot B
eer A
m
ediu
m is
onl
y twe
nty-
five
cent
s mor
e
concession menu by brian jones
Milk Duds Raisinets milk chocolate or dark Popcorn Small medium or large Coke Junior Mints M&M’s plain or peanut Whoppers Soft pretzels salted or unsalted Unsweetened fresh-brewed mango calypso iced-tea Sugar Sweet ‘n’ low Equal and Splenda are on the coffee table Sprite. Chocolate covered almonds Hot Tamales Vienna wafers Chocolate vanilla or hazelnut Hot coffee It’s self-serve Decaf is in the orange pot Skittles Sno Caps Caramel corn Gold Bears straight from Germany the good kind Bottled spring water Toblerone Shortbread cookies butter hazelnut choco-late chip or ginger spice Vienna Bagel Dogs 100% kosher beef Peanut M&M’s Dots Mr. Pibb Twizzlers Hot tea careful it steeps quickly Buttered popcorn Free refills on the large Diet Coke Lemonade Swiss chocolate bars Goobers Wasabi fruit and nut mix Cherry Coke Toblerone Gourmet chocolate covered caramel corn with white and dark chocolate Sour Patch Kids Barq’s Root Beer A medium is only twenty-five cents more
Let’s all go to the lobby and get ourselves a treat.
Milk
Dud
s Ra
isin
ets
milk
cho
cola
te o
r dar
k Po
pcor
n Sm
all
med
ium
or l
arge
Cok
e Ju
nior
Min
ts M
&M’s
pla
in o
r pea
nut
Who
pper
s So
ft pr
etze
ls s
alte
d or
uns
alte
d Un
swee
tene
d
fres
h-br
ewed
man
go c
alyp
so ic
ed-t
ea S
ugar
Swe
et ‘n
’
low
Equa
l and
Spl
enda
are
on
the
coffe
e ta
ble
Sprit
e. C
hoco
late
cove
red
alm
onds
Hot
Tam
ales
Vie
nna
wafe
rs C
hoco
late
vani
lla
or h
azel
nut H
ot c
offe
e It’
s sel
f-ser
ve D
ecaf
is in
the
oran
ge p
ot
Skitt
les S
no C
aps C
aram
el c
orn
Gold
Bea
rs st
raig
ht fr
om
Germ
any t
he g
ood
kind
Bot
tled
sprin
g wa
ter T
oble
rone
Sho
rtbre
ad
cook
ies b
utte
r haz
elnu
t cho
cola
te c
hip
or g
inge
r spi
ce V
ienn
a Ba
gel D
ogs 1
00%
kos
her b
eef P
eanu
t M&M
’s Do
ts M
r. Pi
bb
Twizz
lers
Hot
tea
care
ful i
t ste
eps q
uick
ly Bu
ttere
d po
pcor
n Fr
ee re
fills
on th
e la
rge
Diet
Cok
e Le
mon
ade
Swiss
cho
cola
te
bars
Goo
bers
Was
abi f
ruit
and
nut m
ix Ch
erry
Cok
e To
bler
one
Gour
met
cho
cola
te c
over
ed c
aram
el c
orn
with
wh
ite a
nd d
ark
choc
olat
e So
ur P
atch
Kid
s Bar
q’s R
oot B
eer A
m
ediu
m is
onl
y twe
nty-
five
cent
s mor
e
concession menu by brian jones
Let’s all go to the lobby and get ourselves a treat.
Nobody embodied stylish decadence better than the actor George Sanders. Even when ask-ing a hatcheck girl for his coat, he conveyed the impression of a malevolent cat fas-tidiously licking its chops over the prospect of a particu-larly toothsome mouse.
The definitive Sanders cad is generally considered to be Addison DeWitt, the cold-blooded theater critic he played in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's superb "All About Eve" (1950). (The role won Sanders his only Oscar.) Some sense of DeWitt's personality can be gleaned from his self-description — although mere print can never do justice to the mellifluous Sanders voice, or the ironic hauteur of his delivery. "To those of you who do not read, attend the theater, listen to unsponsored radio programs or know anything of the world in which you live, it is perhaps necessary to in-troduce myself," he purrs. "My name is Addison De-Witt. My native habitat is the theater. In it I toil not, neither do I spin. I am a critic and commentator. I am essential to the theater — as ants to a picnic, as the boll weevil to a cotton field."
When I began to write about movies—I remember it well: I had made the acquaintance of Gutenberg (Jo-hann that is, not Steve) in a coffee klatch in Freiburg; he pulled me aside and, after glancing over his shoul-der, turned to me, his bushy moustache pressed against my ear, and whispered that he had perfected movable type and he was now looking for a film critic, would I be interested?—as I was saying, when I began to write about movies, the “profession” attracted men and women who displayed a highly individual cast of mind and a prose style to complement their particular, not
to say peculiar, aesthetic. (More skeptical observers commented
that the field was a haven for the otherwise unemployable.)
In the national press, in the early days of the Great Hippie Migrations, Andrew
Sarris was propounding the poli-tique des auteurs, a theory of film imported from La Belle France that proclaimed the di-
rector as a film’s true “author,” a notion that was still somewhat
novel during the Sixties and now, of course, wide-ly accepted as axiomatic.
Its adherents demanded respect for old guard Hollywood directors, the likes of Hitch- cock, Hawks, Capra, and Ford, prophets without honor in their own country and, at the time, cavalierly dismissed as mere pop- ular enter-tainers. In the opposite corner was P a u l i n e Kael (her acolytes came to be known as the Kaelites), fierce protectrix to the nascent generation of film school brats, such as Spiel-berg, Coppola, Scorsese, and (most contro-versial) DePalma. On the West Coast, lesser known but with a cadre of no less ardent supporters, was tough guy/film critic Manny Farber who construct- ed very dense sentences that for all their high art erudition still seem to sport a two-day old stubble. Farber applied his highly rarified crit- ical methods to poverty row productions that tended to appear on the bottom half of double bills, B-movie stuff like Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street and Shock Corridor.
Need I add that feuds were endemic among the v a r i -ous critical factions — Trotsky’s break with Lenin pales by comparison with Kael’s savage attacks on Sarris
Illustration © 2007 Mark Andresen
and the disciples of the auteur theory. (Sarris’s inordinate fondess for “ten best” compila-tions afforded Kael an opportunity to gleefully proclaim the poor man “a list
queen.”) At press screenings, the au-
gust critics would arrange themselves so as to avoid any eye contact while strate-
gically situating themselves to maintain enough peripheral vision to keep tabs on the enemy camp. A loud guffaw up front would frequently be fol-lowed by a deep groan in the back.
Closer to home, Jon Newlin was making h i s fledgling appearance in The Drift-wood , the UNO (well, LSUNO at the time) stu- dent newspaper. At a time when reviewers were falling all over themselves with ful- some praise for Easy Rider, a sort of Crosby and Hope road pic-ture but with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hop-per taking themselves verrrrrry seriously, Mr. Newlin expressed grave res- e r v a t i o n s , remarking that the film was —and I’ve never forgotten these words— “neither s e n s u o u s nor encyclopedic enough.” Well, there I was, sitting in the LSUNO cafeteria. I put down my cheeseburger, left my copy of Newton’s Principia on the table, stag- gered over to the seawall, and sat staring at the horizon along Lake Ponchartrain till a levee board officer instructed me to “move on.”
About this time, Laura Di Vincent, an as-piring writer (and legend has it, a Melville scholar ) from upstate New York breezed into town and, after a brief
stint at something called the Saint Bernard Linotype, became an assistant
to Mr Newlin, who by now was running (more or less) the arts and entertainment section at the old
Figaro, New Orleans’s own contribution to the then- proliferating “alternative week-
lies,” and the potting soil for an entire generation of local media talent
( cf Bunny Matthews, Tom Fitzmorris, Ellen Johnson —the list goes on and on). Ms Di Vincent would rise quickly under the Newlin tutelage and go on to be Lagniappe’s first full-tilt, in-house film critic. Ms. Di Vincent was inordinately fond of food metaphors and her reviews read less like Aristotelian dia-logues and more like recipes off packages of Kraft Velveeta.
Elsewhere from the bowels of Howard Av-enue, before the days when it would become de rigueur for a daily newspaper to actu-ally pay someone to do nothing but watch mov-ies and give out stars, Frank Gagnard would, on occasion, be pressed into writing a few well-considered para- graphs about a film deemed worthy of column space. His eminently sensible reviews were actu- ally a tonic to the heavy-breathing criticism that would spread like kudzu during the sev- enties and eighties.
And who could ever forget the time that the Picayune’s Jim Perry, tak- ing a break from toiling in the vast wasteland of television reportage, startled the lo- cal film colony when he declared Dog Day Afternoon the best mystery since The Hound of the Basker-villes!?! Whaaaaaaaa?
Technically-speaking, those cur- rently writ-ing about movies are, I suppose, m o r e …mmmm…efficient at what they do; even more “insightful.” But still, dare I say, “ne i the r sensuous nor encyclopedic enough.”
By John Desplas
Illustration © 2007 Mark Andresen
PR Blurb from Fox Televison Network
It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and a select few still remain at the NOPD. These special cops are bound and determined to bring back the life to New Orleans, otherwise known to most as K-Ville (Katrinaville), and clean up the crime and damage that still remains.
Marlin Boulet, a veteran of the NOPD's Felony Action Squad, was left stranded in the waters by his partner, but still attempted to keep some little bit of order to all the chaos that was going on during the hurricane. He now has a new partner with ulterior motives, Trevor Cobb, who is fresh back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Together the two work the streets of New Orleans, trying to make it a better place. Helping them on their crusade are fellow of-ficers Jeff Gooden, Captain James Embry, Billy Faust, and the lone female officer, Ginger LeBeau.
K-Ville was shot on location in New Orleans. Jonathan Lisco, the series writer and executive producer, toured parts of New Orleans with actual New Orleans Police Officers be-fore writing the pilot in hopes of making the series as real as possible.
Illus
tratio
n ©
200
7 M
ark
Andr
esen
Desire is the registered trade name of Desire, L.L.C.© 2007 Desire, L.L.C. 608 Baronne StreetNew Orleans, LA 70113 e-mail: [email protected]
CREDITSPublisher: Tom Varisco DesignsContributing Editor: Whitney StewartArt Direction, Design: Tom VariscoDesign, Production: Jeff Louviere, Rebecca B. CarrPrinting: Garrity PrintingPaper Stock: Accent OpaqueType Face: Trade Gothic
Phot
ogra
ph ©
200
7 To
m V
aris
co