"Age isn't a problem if you don't mind it," once remarked the American literary giant
Mark Twain. The author of the masterpiece, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," made a lot of sense with a lot of things that he said during his lifetime and, for that matter, even after his death, with many witticisms attributed to him. Fame and celebrity keep going even when one's heartbeat stops.
I realize with getting older myself, so, too, are the many things that have shaped my own life (and some of you should also identify with the point that I'm making) and, more importantly, my own mind.
Recently, I wrote in this column two native sons of Pennsylvania and giants of the International art world, each in their own right, were getting older, if they lived that long. Sadly, neither did. Queer graffiti artist
Keith Haring would have been 50; queer King of Pop Art
Andy Warhol would have been 80.
During the 14th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, we screened "
Midnight Cowboy," as it marked its 40th anniversary. Talk about things shaping your own life, I remembered the film like it was yesterday.
Turning 50, "
The Leopard," the brilliant "key to Sicily," written by
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and a best-selling Italian novels of the 20th century, later became a classic 1963 film, brilliantly brought to the big screen by queer director,
Luchino Visconti, starring
Burt Lancaster and
Claudia Cardinale.
Back to Warhol and talking about things shaping your own mind and, ultimately, my always developing and reshaping of what I (and we) might call a "
queer sensibility," I also remember most of the films by Andy Warhol like it was yesterday.
Happily, the
Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens (it's definitely worth the trip for movie lovers) is honoring Andy Warhol, the filmmaker, with a retrospective of 33 titles, made from 1963-1968. It's titled "
Warhol's World."
In response to some of his critics, Warhol retorted, "
Our movies may have looked like home movies but then our 'home' wasn't like anybody else's." Like many queer folks, Warhol created his own extended family at his famous and infamous
Factory.
The museum's retrospective will offer such treats as some new prints of titles like "
The Chelsea Girls" (1966), "
Couch" (1964), "
Soap Opera" (1965), "
My Hustler" (1965), "
Empire" (1964), but only excerpts not the entire eight hours, "
Sleep" (1963), only some excerpts again but not the entire five hours and 21 minutes (it'll be enough to get the point of both of these "documentaries" in Warhol's sense.
They'll be some even rarer screenings of 472 "
Screen Tests" that Warhol shot of
Susan Sontag,
Lou Reed and other tastemakers of the period along with some "15 minutes of fame" long-forgotten celebrities, and "
Beautiful Darling," a work in progress of
Candy Darling, directed by Warhol.
"
A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory," a documentary about a filmmaker who had been one of Warhol's intimates will also be premiered.
"
Factory Girl"
Edie Sedgwick, his most famous superstar, will be well represented in "Warhol's World" with screenings of "
Vinyl," "
Kitchen," "
Beauty #2," "
Poor Little Rich Girl," "
Outer and Inner Space," and "
Lupe," a homage to the tragic life and suicide of Hollywood legend,
Lupe Velez.
Long before "
Brokeback Mountain," Warhol directed "
Lonesome Cowboys," offering plenty of male flesh and a healthy dose of sexual activity so that the cowpokes didn't get bored (Warhol's favorite pastime) out on the prairie.
In the end, I guess that age really doesn't matter so long as you've left a legacy for others to be reminded of where we've been and what we've done.
So, maybe I do want to live to be 100!
TLAvideo.com has announced that the award-winning creative force behind the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Carol Coombes, will be joining TLAvideo.com as a Managing Editor. Coombes will be working to develop and nurture TLAvideo's growing and popular lesbian catalogue. Her position begins in early October, 2008.
