ira joel haber-cinemagebooks: March 2024

Louis Gossett Jr. 1936-2024

Three Coins In The Fountain 1954

From its restored opening in Cinemascope and color travelogue with Frank Sinatra's beautiful voice crooning the popular and Oscar winning song over views of Rome I knew I was in for trouble. “Coins” was a popular “women” movie of the year. It also got an Oscar nomination for best film along with nominations for best song and cinematography both of which it won. I was surprised to see that it not make it into one of the top grossing films of the year, no doubt due to its being known as a romantic womans movie keeping the men away.

The plot is thin, and it doesn't thicken as the movie goes on, in fact it gets even thinner. The film opens with a young woman played by Maggie McNamara arriving in Rome for a job at the United States Distribution Agency which business it seems is translating educational documents. she is met by Jean Peters who Maggie is going to replace because Jean is going back home to America to be married. They share a palatial apartment as big as the Colosseum with Dorothy McGuire who is the “mother” of the group and is working as a secretary girl friday for a reclusive American author played by Clifton Webb a gay man in real life here playing “straight” and who says gay men can't play straight.

The first thing they all do is go to the Trevi Fountain to do the tossing of coins in the fountain and are the only people there. Except for the opening scenes at the train station this film's Rome is devoid of people, no streets crowded with Romans or tourists. It is an odd and noticeable production flub as far as I'm concerned. Soon after the coin throwing as if by magic Maggie and Jean meet their heart throbs played by Louis Jourdan as a rich spoiled womanizer and Rossano Brazzi as a poor translator who also works at the agency.

Maggie goes after Louis with deceit and lies finding out his favorite things in music, art and food and passing them off as favorites of hers to warm him up. Jean also is deceitful. Lying about going home to get married and she starts an affair with Rosanio after they go on a day trip to visit his happy family of peasants in the hills outside of Rome. Cliches abound in this trifle and problems soon come up for Jean and Rosaario because it is forbidden by the agency, for Its American and Italian employees to fraternize and they fire Rossano. This is an odd bit of unpleasant business that rings loud of prejudice against Italians coming only after the end of the war 9 years earlier.

There are other crisis including a life threatening illness for one of the characters, but relax because everything works out fine and at the end they all meet up at the fountain again as the song swells up over the soundtrack and everyone embraces and lives happily ever after. A bountiful of nothingness. The 50's clothes designed by Dorothy Jenkins are beautiful and the direction by the veteran director Jean Negulesco is smooth and uneventful. His career both at Warner Bros. And 20^th Century Fox was long, lasting into the 60's. He did some harsh but good noir stuff including “Road House”, “Humoresque”, and his most acclaimed film “Johnny Belinda” that won an Oscar for Jane Wyman and was his only best director Oscar nomination. If you don't expect much, this penny coin might give you some enjoyment,

Richard Serra 1938-2024

Sadden to learn of Richard's passing. I knew him in the early late 60's early 70's meeting him for the first time in the late 60's probably at Max's sitting at Robert Smithson's table. He was formidable in statue and looks being like a worker off from his job, which he liked. He was strong and attractive and I was intimidated by him me being a young and unknown artist. He came on strong to me, kinda scaring me with his looks and pointed questions to me. I stood my crowd and although we never became close we respected each other. His work had a lot of meaning for me and in odd ways in his early work I took from it what I needed. In the late 70's I had a big show at Kent State and without my knowing the curators sent out letters to various artists asking what they thought of my work, these responses were to be published in the ugly catalog that they did. If I had known I would have forbidden it, but I didn't know. One day my phone rang and it was Richard. From my memory the conversation went something like this. "I'm very embarrassed Ira Joel because I got a letter from kent state asking me to write something about your art, I did it, but I forgot to put in the envelope and mailed an empty envelope to them." I laughed and told him it was ok. I sure would have liked to have known what he thought. I got my wish many years later when on my umptieth application for the Guggenheim I asked Richard via emails if you would write a letter of recommendation for me, which he did. I didn't get the Guggenheim, hell if Richard Serra couldn't get me the grant why bother which I haven't ever again. Anyway here is the letter which I treasure and sad good bye to a great artist.

"I have known Ira Joel Haber’s work since 1969 and I recall his early shows at the Fischbach Gallery which I took great interest in. His early floor pieces and constructed configurations later developed into three dimensional boxes, a mixture of Cornel, Schwitters and urban detritus lifted from arcane places: flower shops, flea markets, urban Americana. The scale of his work has always interested me in that he could describe discreet miniature volumes that implied an enormous scale. I can place Ira Joel Haber in an updated lineage from Cornel to Dove to Hartley. What is particular in his work is not only the scale in relation to part but the intensity of the interaction of color as well as the drawing in his constructions. Ira Joel Haber’s work has been present on the scene for over 40 years and has had considerable influence on the work of other sculptors, painters, photographers and interestingly enough, filmmakers. I would consider Ira an outsider who has retained the status of an artist’s artist.

I cannot think of anyone more deserving of a Guggenheim Foundation Grant. I would like to give the highest recommendation and it is my sincere hope that Ira Joel Haber will receive a Guggenheim Foundation Grant.

Richard Serra

M. Emmet Walsh 1935-2024

early spring 2024 mixed on cardboard

Experiment in Terror 1962

Directed by Blake Edwards in a no frills black and white fashion and like some of his fellow directors of the period ie Sidney Lumet and John Frankenheimer started out in the golden age of television which served them well. In “Experiment” (which might be seen as an experiment in movie making) the plot concerns a scary bad guy who tries to force a bank teller to steal a lot of money for him. The taunt screenplay was written by the The Gordons a husband and wife mystery writing pair who based it on their novel “Operation Terror” who also did stuff for t.v.

Over the memorable opening credits we see the bank teller driving home from downtown San Francisco over the bay bridge played by the late great Lee Remick who delivers the goods. This was her first film with Edwards in 1962, she would later that year make “The Days Of Wine and Roses” with him which got Remick her only Oscar nomination, This is a beautiful opening that sets up the story nicely and has Henry Mancini's great jazzy menacing score over it. We are already getting tense with worry and also expectation.

As soon as Kelly/Remick enters her garage she is assaulted gently and warned harshly by the scary guy who gives her his plans for the robbery. He scares her and us. The fine black and white cinematography by Philip Lathrop has a t.v. Look to it, not cheap but certainly economical and also did notable work in the early years of television including Peter Gunn, Rawhide and Mr. Lucky.

Remick is warned not to go to the police so of course she immediately gets in touch with the F.B.I., and her call is interrupted by the scary guy who is in her house and attacks her, once again warning her. The scary guy also has asthma and speaks in a creepy raspy voice which ads to the scares and gives the F.B.I. An important clue to who it might be.

The F.B.I. Agent is played by Glenn Ford as John Ripley( believe it or not) who is strictly straight up and down and all business as he starts an investigation into the case. There are some subtle hints of flirtation between him and Remick but nothing comes of it, and this lack of romance works well for the plot.

Edwards uses lots of close-ups and shock like cut aways to give the audience some jolts most of them work well, and his use of the city is strictly non touristy. Remick who shares her house and life with her teenage sister played by Stefanie Powers tries to go on with her life, but the power that the scary guy has over her is never far away. There are some well remembered sequences including a nightmarish scene in a mannequin designers studio, a stake out in a singles pick up bar, a bit in a ladies bathroom where the scary guy enters in old lady drag and the final showdown at a baseball game played in Candlestick park that “B” boy Don Siegel would lift for his “Dirty Harry” another San Francisco scary guy thriller 9 years later. Important to the film is Henry Mancini one of the great film composers of the last century who scored many of Blake Edwards films and television shows. Oh yes the scary guy is played by Ross Martin. One of the ten best films of 1962.