Kenneth Anger

Personal

Passions

Vocation

Lifestyle

American writer who admittedly has no interest in people who have no skeletons in their closet as they are "nothing but boring." His "Hollywood Babylon," which was first published in Paris in 1960, was deemed too racy for publication in America. Playing on the prurient interests of the movie-crazed public, the 28-year old California exile living in France put out a merciless expose of the film industry in its heyday with tales of kinky depravity so lurid they are scarcely believable. When the second volume was released years later, October 1984, it did not have the impact of the original. By then, Hollywood had reconciled itself to some of the human foibles of its stars and the scandal-based journalism of tabloid publications had educated a more blasé public. However, "Holy Baby II," as Anger called his book, did serve up some tasty dish. Residing in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Anger is surrounded by movie memorabilia, much of which has been exhibited in museums around the world. He denies that his books are malicious personal attacks but insists that they represent a battle against hypocrisy. He grew up in an upper middle class family in Santa Monica when the film industry reigned supreme. His grandmother was a wardrobe mistress in Hollywood and from the time he was a kid, Anger was fascinated by the occupants of this magic realm. His own appearance in film was limited to an appearance in a Max Reinhardt film at the age of five. After graduating from Beverly Hills High, he went on to become a filmmaker and won a reputation as one of the pioneers of avant-garde cinema with his experimental movies of the ‘60s. His first film cost him all of $200. With the praise given to his early films, it is surprising that he did not continue. His "Scorpio Rising," a 1963 documentary of Brooklyn’s motorcycle gangs, is required viewing for film students around the world and won Anger a public following unprecedented for an independent filmmaker. He was noted for his provocative, often violent films filled with Freudian and occult symbols, mystical rituals, sexual exhibitions, and personal visions. Anger made his first important film, "Fireworks," in 1947, completing it in two weekends. It was a highly personalized psychodrama featuring himself playing a guilt-filled gay man dreaming of being beaten by a group of sailors which leads him to sexual freedom. In 1949, the highly acclaimed film was shown to the public at Jean Cocteau's "Festival of the Damned" in Biarritz. His reputation rests on nine short films totaling only three hours' length. He was plagued by calamities that have included finance, threats, lost films, and seizure of footage by labs on grounds of obscenity. Anger's use of sound and image, rapid editing and evocative tableaux, are major influences on the commercials and music videos that permeate our culture today. Rumored to be a disciple of British mystic and magician Aleister Crowley, Anger is a devout advocate of ESP, and he admits that his central research tool is telepathic communication. To back up his hunches (and avoid costly lawsuits), he uses information from retired detectives, some of whom at age 70 and 80 are privy to secrets that they’ve held for decades. He takes the stance that a lack of privacy is the attendant price of fame. Anger moved from New York (where he had made Scorpio Rising) to the West Coast in late 1964 or early 1965. On 21 September 1967, Anger organized a celebration of the Equinox of the Gods at the Straight Theatre on Haight Street. The band played, Anger conducted magick rituals and the proceedings were filmed. By this time he was living in San Francisco in the mansion known as the Russian Embassy at 1198 Fulton Street. The Lucifer project began to take shape towards the end of 1966. Anger moved to New York with his rushes, and in 1973 edited a twenty-five minute version of "Lucifer Rising," with music by Jimmy Page. In 1975, Anger published the first English language edition of his book Hollywood Babylon, and toured the U.S. with a special film presentation to promote it. In 1976, he returned to London, to extricate the Lucifer Rising negatives from the receiver; while there, he publicly "fired" Jimmy Page from his work on the soundtrack. Back in New York, he prepared yet another version of "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome," (1978), this time with an Electric Light Orchestra soundtrack, and a seven minute version of "Rabbit’s Moon" 1979. He then resumed work on Lucifer, with the aid of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and released the present version in 1981. Link to Wikipedia biography