May 10

Kenneth Anger
Gay actor, underground filmmaker & author

California born Kenneth Anglemeyer (b. 1927, name later shortened to “Anger”) made his first short film, the 14-minute long “Fireworks,” when he was twenty years old. Its experimental, surreal style enhanced the film’s overt homoeroticism, leading to Anger’s arrest on obscenity charges. In 1959 the California Supreme Court ruled that the film was not, after all, obscene. “Fireworks” revolves around a young man (played by Anger himself) who associates with Navy sailors. They turn on him, stripping him naked and beating him to death, then rip open his chest to find a clock ticking inside. Naked, he comes back to life in a public restroom. The virile sailor returns and unbuttons his fly to reveal a roman candle which shoots fireworks in all directions, as a Christmas tree burns. The final shot shows the young man lying in bed next to another topless man. Of this film, Anger would later state, “This flick is all I have to say about being 17, the United States Navy, American Christmas and the Fourth of July.” Anger shot "Fireworks" over one weekend in his parents' house while the family was attending the funeral of an uncle in Philadelphia, and they never found out.

So there you have it. Shortly thereafter Anger (shown in a 2008 photo at top of post) moved to France and Italy, where he made several short films during the 1950s. After returning to the United States in 1963, Anger made the film “Scorpio Rising,” which dealt with the emerging gay leather scene (photo at left). There is not one word of dialog in the film, but the sound track features pop standards by Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Bobby Vinton, Ray Charles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, as well as the Surfaris (Wipe Out). Scorpio Rising depicts Nazis, bikers, heavy S/M, bisexual actors, Jesus, drugs, Dracula, etc., – spread among thirteen discrete scenes.

One of his other films, which depicted Aztec human sacrifice, was destroyed by the lab technicians, who deemed the subject matter and excessive nudity obscene. He has a personal involvement in the world of the occult, and many of his short films explore that subject. Most of his films were shown only in underground cinema venues and film festivals.

But Anger is best known for his “Hollywood Babylon” books, which have reached a broad audience and were among the first to acknowledge the presence of gay men and lesbians in Hollywood, both open and closeted. The lurid photos, often wildly unflattering to their subjects, added to the cult following of these volumes. This book repeats Hollywood gossip circulating at the time, with little if any regard for accuracy. The first volume sold two million copies in the 1960s alone.

In 1968 he traveled to London, where he met J. Paul Getty, who would subsequently become Anger's patron. It was also in London that he befriended Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, members of The Rolling Stones. He made a new short film, “Invocation of My Demon Brother” (1969), starring Jagger and Richards, as well as Anger himself. The soundtrack was composed by Jagger.

Anger continued to befriend the rich and famous of the entertainment industry, and by 1980, he was seen on holiday with playwright Tennessee Williams. “Hollywood Babylon II” was published in 1984, rescuing Anger from certain bankruptcy. In 2009 his work was featured in a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art PS1 in New York City, and last year a similar exhibition took place in London.

Anger has finished writing “Hollywood Babylon III,” but has not yet published it, fearing legal repercussions, since it features an entire section on Tom Cruise and other Scientologists, who are known to exact legal revenge on detractors.