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Nigel Finch died last month of an Aids-related illness on Valentine's Day. He was 45. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:32 | |
As a director and co-editor of Arena with Anthony Wall, | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
he was one of the most original and brilliant talents in television. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
Nigel shot his first film when he was still in his teens, cajoling friends and neighbours | 0:00:39 | 0:00:44 | |
into taking roles for little or no financial reward. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
A talent he was to perfect in later life. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
He began his career at London Weekend Television but moved to the BBC in the mid 70s, | 0:00:50 | 0:00:55 | |
where he remained, mainly in music and arts, for the rest of his life. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:59 | |
His earliest films were about the visual arts, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
one of his passions, and even his earlier pieces have a distinctive style and look - | 0:01:01 | 0:01:07 | |
the hallmark of a unique eye. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:08 | |
At the BBC he became notorious for his humour, anarchy, ambition and dress sense. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:14 | |
The first time I saw Nigel, he was revving up a huge black motorcycle, | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
his leather jacket shining in the sun, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
his barking laugh audible half a mile away. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
"This man makes arts documentaries?" | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
I said to a friend. "Well, not exactly." | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
She lent me copies of My Way and The Private Life Of The Ford Cortina. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:31 | |
Suddenly it all made sense. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:33 | |
These early films for Arena completely broke the mould | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
of what an arts documentary was supposed to be. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
"Make a film about a song?" some bureaucrat complained, "Give me a break." | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
Such ideas are commonplace now. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
16 years ago they were considered outrageous. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
But although Nigel's ideas have been copied, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
no-one else has matched his wit or technical verve. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
And now he's gone, leaving behind a treasure house for us - | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
30 films packed with memorable ideas and images. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
Nigel had been living with Aids for years and, in his case, living was the operative word. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:06 | |
He worked to the end on his first feature film, Stonewall, | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
which will be released on both sides of the Atlantic this year. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:13 | |
Nigel wanted to complete a feature film before he died. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
It is somehow typical of him that he got what he wanted. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
Word is that the story of the 1969 gay riots in New York is Nigel's finest work. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:25 | |
We can't see Stonewall for a while but tonight there's a chance to re-view The Chelsea Hotel - | 0:02:25 | 0:02:31 | |
Nigel's personal favourite and, I have to say, mine too. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
Nigel celebrated difference in people and loved to get below the surface of things. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:39 | |
This project offered ample opportunity for both. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
The Chelsea Hotel in New York is famous for the exotic individualism of its inhabitants. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:47 | |
And, to the outsider, seems an enclosed Bohemia only for initiates. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
Nigel throws open the doors of its rarefied rooms, | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
capturing a hothouse world | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
with an enchanting mix of satire and affection. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
The roll call of avant-garde artists in the Chelsea Hotel | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
is one of the most wide ranging ever assembled on film. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
Andy Warhol, Viva, Nico, Quentin Crisp, | 0:03:06 | 0:03:09 | |
Virgil Thomson and William Burroughs all put in appearances. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:12 | |
Funnily, that wasn't the appeal for Nigel. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
He was equally interested, perhaps more interested, | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
in the struggling artists no-one had heard of, except mothers and lovers. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
The Chelsea is a haven for those who don't follow the normal rules. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
A place that nurtures non-conformity. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:28 | |
As a person, Nigel was as unconventional and surprising as his films. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:33 | |
With The Chelsea Hotel he created a magical world typical of himself and Arena at their very best. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:39 | |
SIRENS BLARE | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
# Every street's full of art in old New York | 0:05:00 | 0:05:07 | |
# Every street's a highway full of green | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
# Why, it's a thrill to shop on 34th Street | 0:05:12 | 0:05:18 | |
# Or down in Union Square | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
# All of the people you meet on Mulberry Street | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
# Have you ever been there? | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
# Every street's a boulevard in old New York | 0:05:27 | 0:05:32 | |
# So remember and you'll never wear a frown | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
# There's the East Side The West Side, Uptown and Down | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
# That's why I'm proud to be the mayor of this town. # | 0:05:41 | 0:05:46 | |
Thank you. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:50 | |
I'd like to welcome you to the Chelsea Hotel, | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
one of the most distinguished structures in all of New York. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
It takes its name from the area we're in. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
It's a centre of creativity | 0:05:59 | 0:06:00 | |
you might compare with Florence during the Renaissance. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
Some of the greatest talents of the 20th century have stayed here. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
You'll notice the plaques here refer to Dylan Thomas, Brendan Behan and Thomas Wolfe. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:12 | |
In fact, Thomas Wolfe wrote You Can't Go Home Again, most of it, in this hotel. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
And both Brendan Behan and Dylan Thomas stayed here when they came to New York. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
They drank themselves to death at the White Horse on 11th Street. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:24 | |
Then they'd come and collapse here. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
Later they were buried from St Lukes In The Field in Greenwich Village. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:30 | |
If you've had a tour, you've seen the church. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
Some of the other people were Charles James, the famous couturier, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
Lillian Russell - Diamond Jim Brady was her boyfriend. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:41 | |
Mark Twain. Henry Cartier-Bresson, he's the man who does | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
the wonderful photographs. When he comes to New York he stays here. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
Arthur Miller and his wife stay. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
Janis Joplin did stay here, that's right. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
A lot of people, famous people, have stayed here. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
Of course, Sid Vicious was here. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
You sign your name and from whence you cometh. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:30 | |
DOG BARKS | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
There are things that go on here that are very far from the norm. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:44 | |
They just... | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
I don't think most people realise how strange it is. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
Now, what is it you wanna know? | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
Wanna know all the good about the Chelsea Hotel? | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
I told you before, I'm not gonna tell. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
The Chelsea's the only place to work. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
If I don't say that I won't be working here much longer. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
What can I tell ya, I won't tell anything about anybody's life. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
It's my business, not yours! | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
It's good to have you here at the Chelsea, and welcome aboard. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
It's a little warmer in here, isn't it? | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
Yes, it was rather cold outside. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
Well, I'm very glad you all turned up on such a terrible day. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
Now, are we all here? | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
You're at the end, Mr Freisach. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
Now, we're in the lobby. This was built as an apartment, not a hotel, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
so this would have been the lobby. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
We are going to go in to see the managers office. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
Remember, the manager's office is not just the manager's office | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
but at one time it was the home of someone. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
Think of it at as someone's home. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
We're going to go into his office. Look at all of the art work. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
I'm going to walk over here. Here is Stanley Bard, the manager. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
Sorry to interrupt you. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
That's OK. How are you? | 0:10:00 | 0:10:01 | |
Very well! Nice to see you again. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
-Pleasure to see you. -Thank you. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
Why don't you all come in here? | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
Cluster around, so you can see the office. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
Is everybody in here...? | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
Everyone in the group? | 0:10:12 | 0:10:13 | |
I don't want to lose anybody. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:15 | |
OK, you can see this is Mr Bard's Office. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
They put up a partition but this would have been a Parlour. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
A front parlour, reception room, for someone's home... | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
My job never ends. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
I have an open line connection to the hotel 24 hours. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
I want it that way because I can keep in touch with the hotel 24 hours | 0:10:31 | 0:10:36 | |
and I know what's happening. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:38 | |
I believe in flexibility in management. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
I never believed in, um... tight policy-making. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:45 | |
I'd rather gear my policy making to fit the needs of the individual. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:50 | |
Suddenly a big bull frog hopped out of the water and sat down on a log beside him. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:56 | |
Ug! Ug! Ug! Ug! | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
Lovely evening. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:01 | |
Ug! Ug! Ug! Ug! | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
I said lovely evening. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
Ug! Ug! Ug! Ug! | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
I said bee-yoo-tee-full evening. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
Hello. Ug! Hello. Ug! | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
Hello. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
But Tubby just sat. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
"Oh well," said the Frog, "Oh well, if I'm not wanted. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
"Oh!" cried Tubby "Please, Mr Frog, come back. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
"I didn't mean to be impolite." | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
Back hopped the frog. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:29 | |
"Oh, that's all right, I'm used to it. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
"No one pays any attention to me either." | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
"Really?" said Tubby. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
"Why of course! | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
"Every night I sit here and sing my heart out, | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
"but does anyone listen? | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
"Oh, no." | 0:11:44 | 0:11:45 | |
"Can you sing?" asked Tubby. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
"Can I sing? Listen." | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
HE PLAYS THE PIANO | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
I moved into this hotel 24 years ago | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
because I got tired of walking eight flights every night in my tenement. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:40 | |
And, um... | 0:12:40 | 0:12:41 | |
I started to raise plants | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
because I was in the flower district, on 28th Street. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
And then I decided to put a canary in and this whole mess started of that. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:54 | |
They became pythons, tarantulas and...things like that. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:59 | |
And now the greatest animal of all happened to me recently. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
I met a lady, Susan, over there, | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
who loves plants and animals. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
I'm not sure how she likes pythons and boa constrictors. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:12 | |
And the hobby grew, and the hobby grew, and the hobby grew... | 0:13:13 | 0:13:17 | |
and now I've found that we in New York City can create, | 0:13:17 | 0:13:21 | |
in this concrete jungle, a place of happiness, of greenery and plants. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:26 | |
So I've been very happy here, | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
thanks to you. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
Lucky man, lucky man, lucky man! | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
I actually met George before... I met him on the elevator | 0:13:39 | 0:13:44 | |
and I fell in love when I heard him laugh. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
I was going down on a Monday to work in a very grouchy mood | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
and said something about the elevator, which had broken down. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
George laughed with his great big belly laugh of his... That's funny! | 0:13:53 | 0:13:58 | |
All of a sudden, I warmed up and the day seemed beautiful. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
I said, "That man has the most wonderful laugh in the world." | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
I had no idea who he was and didn't meet him again for two months, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
when I met him down at the good old bar downstairs. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:12 | |
At which point, he immediately asked me to come up | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
and see his jungle, not his etchings! | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
My biggest theatrical success in New York | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
was a story about a cockroach... | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
and an alley cat, Mehitabel. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:35 | |
And here she is. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
You see, Mehitabel is always being scolded | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
by Archie the cockroach | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
because he wants her to turn into a nice, tame house cat. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:50 | |
Mehitabel says, "Oh Archie, why do I want to be a tame house cat?" | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
And, er... "I have my problems and I don't try to change you. | 0:14:55 | 0:15:00 | |
"Why do you try to change me?" | 0:15:00 | 0:15:02 | |
She said, "Don't change me, Archie." | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
And this is the story of my life and all of our lives. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:09 | |
Everyone is always trying to change us. And Mehitable sings. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
# My youth I shall never forget | 0:15:12 | 0:15:16 | |
# And there's nothing I really regret | 0:15:17 | 0:15:21 | |
# The years I have poured down the drain | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
# Have sparkled like golden champagne | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
# I don't care to dance with a king | 0:15:30 | 0:15:35 | |
# But with any old beggar I'll sing | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
# I'll dance in the sun or the shade | 0:15:39 | 0:15:44 | |
# To any old tune that is played | 0:15:44 | 0:15:48 | |
# It's cheerio, deario Prance and pirouette | 0:15:48 | 0:15:53 | |
# It's cheerio, my deario | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
# There's life in me yet... # | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
# ..I'll sing all my troubles away... # | 0:16:07 | 0:16:12 | |
On the very first time I ever came here, | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
I think I only stayed five days | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
and there was a robbery, a fire and a murder. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
I came here to try to become a resident alien. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
That's my fundamental object. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
I've had my photograph taken | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
and I've filled in the forms and now I can't do anymore except wait. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:39 | |
All people who come back to England from America, | 0:16:41 | 0:16:45 | |
the first thing they say is, | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
"It's more like the movies than you would ever dream." | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
And it is. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
From the moment I saw New York, I wanted it. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
Apart from the beauty of the place, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
in New York there are no strangers. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
People warned me that I would be robbed with violence | 0:17:05 | 0:17:09 | |
and I don't know whether this is so or not, | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
but I can safely say that all the people who are not hitting you over the head, are your friends. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:18 | |
They talk to you in the street, | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
they turn back having passed you in order to say, "Welcome to America." | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
Can't ask for more than that. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:27 | |
SIRENS BLARE | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
First of all, I unpack... | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
..and I unpack quickly | 0:17:36 | 0:17:38 | |
because almost all my luggage is bottles | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
and it's bottles of witch hazel | 0:17:42 | 0:17:44 | |
and it's bottles of peroxide | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
and it's bottles of this, that and the other. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
And one is terrified... | 0:17:49 | 0:17:50 | |
Most of all, one is terrified that the dye with which I do my hair will have broken. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:57 | |
In that case, everything in the suitcase will be bright purple... | 0:17:57 | 0:18:01 | |
forever. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:02 | |
Style, as I would define it, is never, of course, elegant. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:08 | |
It is simply an idiom which arose spontaneously from you | 0:18:08 | 0:18:13 | |
and everybody has an individuality. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
All you have to do is to learn how to present it | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
because you've nothing else to give the world | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
which no-one else can give, except yourself. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
Of all the cities I've ever visited, | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
the one most totally given over to the idea of success | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
is New York. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
All those people down there | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
are either hurrying or sauntering | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
towards what they call the big time. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
If my voice were loud enough, I would now shout down | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
to explain all they need | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
is to have a lifestyle of their very own | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
and it's appropriate that I should be standing on this balcony | 0:19:04 | 0:19:09 | |
to discuss this matter, | 0:19:09 | 0:19:11 | |
because this is the hotel where the great stylists have lived. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:16 | |
Also, when Brendan Behan stayed here, he was outrageous. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:21 | |
He wrote a play called Borstal Boy and he was rather a drunk, | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
so they say, and he used to stand in the halls | 0:19:24 | 0:19:28 | |
and holler up the staircase. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
He used to like to hear the echo, the hollering. Arrhhh. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
And loved to hear echoes. You could hear the echoes. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
Hello, there! | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
This is one of the tenants coming down... | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
And he also had a habit of chasing chambermaids. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:44 | |
I understand he was rather a sensuous man | 0:19:44 | 0:19:47 | |
and finally got to the point that all the chambermaids, | 0:19:47 | 0:19:50 | |
when they straightened up his room, made sure he was dressed. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
I gather he was an exhibitionist. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
I don't know what to say, except I absolutely must decline | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
to dance through the streets like Gertrude Stein. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
As for Alice, I'd sooner shake a beer in a great big box of chocolates. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:09 | |
She said when she was dying, "What is the answer?" | 0:20:09 | 0:20:12 | |
Then she said, "What is the question?" | 0:20:12 | 0:20:16 | |
# I will give you a golden balls | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
# Off with the children in the hall | 0:20:22 | 0:20:25 | |
# If you'll marry, marry, Marry marry, | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
# If you'll marry me. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:30 | |
# I will give you the keys of my chest | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
# And all the money that I possess | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
# If you'll marry, marry Marry, marry | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
# If you'll marry me. # | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
Brendan was in New York, was being thrown out of one hotel after another | 0:20:43 | 0:20:47 | |
and just wasn't able to write. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
And Bernard, who I had known from other writers and from other poets, | 0:20:49 | 0:20:54 | |
called me up and said, "Stanley, I wonder if you can help me out. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:58 | |
"We have a real problem with Brendan Behan, | 0:20:58 | 0:21:00 | |
"I'm sure you're aware of what's happening with him in his life." And I said, "I really am." | 0:21:00 | 0:21:05 | |
"I tell you, Bernard, I don't know if we can manage that, | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
"because what I hear about him, or what I read about him, he's in a sad, sad shape." | 0:21:08 | 0:21:13 | |
He says, "Would you do me a favour and give it a shot? | 0:21:13 | 0:21:16 | |
"I mean, if there's any place he could possibly put himself together, it would be The Chelsea. | 0:21:16 | 0:21:20 | |
"Would you do me a favour?" | 0:21:20 | 0:21:22 | |
And reluctantly - because he was in the papers almost every other day | 0:21:22 | 0:21:28 | |
getting in trouble with the police, | 0:21:28 | 0:21:31 | |
with just a lot of different people - I said OK. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
# I will give you a watch and chain | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
# To show the children in the lane | 0:21:40 | 0:21:43 | |
# If you'll marry, marry Marry, marry, | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
# If you'll marry me. # | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
Brendan thought that he could not have children, | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
that his wife was infinite, his wife could not conceive. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:55 | |
His wife thought he was impotent and he couldn't conceive. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
No-one knew what the situation was but his wife came over, | 0:21:58 | 0:22:02 | |
Bernard brought his wife over | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
and wanted to make his life, sort of, a homely type atmosphere | 0:22:04 | 0:22:08 | |
to finish these last two books. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
Beatrice spent one year here | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
and the ironic part of that is, she conceived here in the hotel. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:17 | |
And I always shocked and kidded Brendan about it, see, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:20 | |
The Chelsea is so creative, we can do these miracles. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
The shopper can use this place as a place to rest. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
A lady could be shopping, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
cos this is the height of the shopping district, | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
it was where the ladies mall was, and where Coopers was | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
and they could stop here for a breath of fresh air. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
OK, now we're going to go to one of the many floors. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
We'll work our way down and talk about people on the floors. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
On this floor, at one time, Brendan Behan lived, | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
and Virgil Thompson lives on this floor right now. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:52 | |
I'm sure you've heard of Virgil Thompson. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
In fact, there was a spread about his apartment in the New York Times. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:59 | |
Well, I write music here, | 0:23:39 | 0:23:41 | |
or somewhere else if I happen to be travelling. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
Things having to do with theatre or a public appearance... | 0:23:49 | 0:23:54 | |
that involves rehearsals and performances in other places. | 0:23:54 | 0:24:00 | |
I have rehearsals here for say, chamber music, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
but I can't have a full orchestra rehearsal here. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
It's a photograph of Gertrude Stein, taken in Florence, I think. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:23 | |
Alice Topliss gave it to me some years ago. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
I knew Gertrude Stein for 20 years and Alice for 40. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
When I was a student, Alice B Topliss's recipe for cake was famous. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
Oh, marijuana brownies! | 0:24:39 | 0:24:41 | |
Well, there's another recipe that came out in the English edition of her cookbook, | 0:24:41 | 0:24:46 | |
which was suppressed in America... | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
for hashish fudge. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:53 | |
Hashish is normally eaten with chocolate. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:57 | |
The classical pot smokers will eat a chocolate with each cigarette. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
Did you ever eat Alice B Topliss's cookies? | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
No! I don't think she ever made them. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
I think she put it in for fun. | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
This apartment was lived in, before I took it, | 0:25:21 | 0:25:27 | |
by the manager of the hotel. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
He had been careful about the flat | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
and hadn't had the woodwork painted over. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:37 | |
This is the original woodwork. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
The mantelpieces in the building, bookcases and all that. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:44 | |
It's period stuff and it's very handsome. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
Hotels are extremely good working places because you can cut off the telephones. | 0:25:54 | 0:26:00 | |
Just tell the operator not to ring you. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:04 | |
A lot of people here have said that they get a lot of excitement | 0:26:04 | 0:26:07 | |
from being in a building where other people worked before them. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
-Could be. -Do you get that yourself? Is that important? -Not at my age. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:15 | |
They're more likely to get a thrill out of the fact that I'm here | 0:26:15 | 0:26:20 | |
than I get a thrill of their being here. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
How are you, Larry? | 0:26:25 | 0:26:26 | |
-I'm all right. Will you fill out that form? -I'll fill out this form. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:30 | |
The reason why I I asked you down is because I'm having great difficulty. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:34 | |
I never knew the actual title of the painting. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
The title out in the lobby. The title is Dutch Masters And Cigars - | 0:26:37 | 0:26:43 | |
Shaped I. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
1964. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
-OK, I see this signature. -Where? | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
I see Dutch Masters. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
Dutch Masters is not a signature. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
I saw Rivers. Oh, here. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
Where? | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
You're blind. In other words, the signature must be on the back. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
Unless you want me to sign it now, on camera. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
Yeah, I'd like you to sign it. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:13 | |
-Right there. -I finally got you to sign this, after all these years. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:18 | |
All right... Larry. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:19 | |
Now I sign with two names. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:21 | |
At the time, I would have signed it Rivers. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:24 | |
I don't know what had got into me. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
Somewhere along the line, I think Peter Beard said... | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
Should I put 64? | 0:27:29 | 0:27:31 | |
Peter Beard said, "You know, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:34 | |
"Barney Newman, he doesn't sign Newman." Barnett Newman, so... | 0:27:34 | 0:27:38 | |
-So, since about 1975, I've been signing... -"Larry Rivers." | 0:27:38 | 0:27:43 | |
There it is, Stanley. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
Now it's official. This proves I really did it. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
-OK. -Here in the Chelsea Hotel. My home away from home. -What? | 0:27:48 | 0:27:52 | |
I liked the days that I stayed here, Stanley. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
It was a nice time. It was funny. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
It was sexy. It was interesting. | 0:27:57 | 0:28:00 | |
A lot of time has passed. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
I still feel this. | 0:28:02 | 0:28:03 | |
Arthur Miller is coming back. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:05 | |
-Viva is back now. Remember Viva? -I certainly remember Viva. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:09 | |
In that chair, she was breast feeding her child and there was a commotion. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:13 | |
I had to grab her into the office. | 0:28:13 | 0:28:15 | |
-What, somebody objected to it? -Yes. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
-Breast feeding was not permitted in those days. -That's what I mean. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:20 | |
A lot of people think the Chelsea is full of freaks. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:23 | |
At the point that I was here, it had a very substantial, | 0:28:23 | 0:28:26 | |
conservative element in this hotel, | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
-mixed with the bohemian... -It was the avant-garde. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:34 | |
The Chelsea was avant-garde. | 0:28:34 | 0:28:35 | |
The forefront of every kind of creative.... | 0:28:35 | 0:28:38 | |
-Why do think it all took place? Cheap rooms? No? -Cheap rooms. | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
-Fun people. Flexible management. -That's what I meant. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:45 | |
-Viva also... -Will I have fun, if I come back? -Larry, I promise. -Can I knock on any...? | 0:28:45 | 0:28:50 | |
Walk down the hallway, knock on any door and get a welcome? | 0:28:50 | 0:28:53 | |
-Only if I go first. -All right. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
Good afternoon and welcome, | 0:28:55 | 0:28:59 | |
British viewers and cosmic viewers, to the Chelsea Hotel short story hour. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:05 | |
My name is Bernard Lyce. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:09 | |
Room 822, Chelsea Hotel. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:13 | |
Our story today involves a snake. | 0:29:13 | 0:29:18 | |
SINGING IN DIALECT | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
Once upon a time, | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
a snake descended to the earth from the heavens. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:59 | |
It took the form of a beautiful man in order to be more at ease with the inhabitants of earth. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:06 | |
Besides the art of disguise, the snake had many, many powers. | 0:30:06 | 0:30:12 | |
The snake moved with magic, | 0:30:12 | 0:30:16 | |
allowing the earth people to see many things they had forgotten. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:22 | |
I think that, myself being a dancer, | 0:30:58 | 0:31:02 | |
I'm probably the sum total | 0:31:03 | 0:31:05 | |
of all the teachers and other dancers that have made definite influences on me. | 0:31:05 | 0:31:10 | |
This is my way of making a personal tribute to all those people | 0:31:12 | 0:31:17 | |
who have been influential, as far as my career goes. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:21 | |
And so I, would like to mention George Balanchine, | 0:31:21 | 0:31:26 | |
Doris Novikof, Mary Staton, Diane Doretti, Rodney Swan, | 0:31:26 | 0:31:30 | |
Mary Lewis, Muriel Stuart, Walter Nicks, Irene Larsen, Charles Wideman. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:36 | |
They're all here in me somewhere. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:39 | |
On this floor, at one time, Oscar Wilde stayed here. He didn't live here, of course. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
He stayed here when he was visiting. | 0:31:59 | 0:32:01 | |
I've a wonderful story about Oscar Wilde. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:03 | |
When Oscar Wilde was going through American Customs, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:06 | |
someone asked him, what did he have to declare. He said, "I have nothing to declare but my genius." | 0:32:06 | 0:32:11 | |
Another person who lived on this floor, was Sarah Bernhardt. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:15 | |
When Mark Twain came here he'd frequently stay at the Chelsea Hotel. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:20 | |
On the next floor, one of America's greatest playwrights lived at one point. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:24 | |
That was Tennessee Williams. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:26 | |
He stayed here, probably when he first came to New York. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:30 | |
Notice the painting. It looks like a Jackson Pollock. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
At one time, Jackson Pollock stayed here. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
So, all the immortals of the 20th century, at one time or another, have probably stayed at the Chelsea. | 0:32:36 | 0:32:41 | |
Mr Cole, what do you think of modern art? | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
Yes. I'm not modern arts drawn. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:29 | |
No more modern art. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
What's wrong with modern art? | 0:33:35 | 0:33:37 | |
WHAT'S WRONG WITH MODERN ART? | 0:33:39 | 0:33:42 | |
Everything. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:45 | |
It makes me laugh. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:51 | |
You think modern art's funny, do you? | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
It is, all over. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
Its day is over. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:01 | |
What they call modern art. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:04 | |
Who is your favourite artist? | 0:34:08 | 0:34:10 | |
Sargent. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
I am so old that I don't care really about any art. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:22 | |
How old are you? | 0:34:24 | 0:34:25 | |
104. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:29 | |
PIANO PLAYS | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
# Join us for the feast | 0:34:55 | 0:34:57 | |
# New York is a | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
# Sunday brunch | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
# East, young man, go east | 0:35:03 | 0:35:06 | |
# We're having | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
# A Sunday brunch | 0:35:08 | 0:35:10 | |
# Wine and dine your dreams until they all come true | 0:35:12 | 0:35:16 | |
# Romance 'em, in a handsome, down Fifth Avenue | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
# At St Patrick's buy 'em diamond rosaries | 0:35:20 | 0:35:24 | |
# Hence a confession up at Tiffany's | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
# Pleased ease into New York and join us for Sunday brunch | 0:35:28 | 0:35:36 | |
# Drop your knife and fork, it's only a naked lunch | 0:35:36 | 0:35:43 | |
# You can have your fairy-tale and eat it too | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
# Happily ever after hours All night through | 0:35:48 | 0:35:52 | |
# Drop in any time | 0:35:52 | 0:35:53 | |
# We just love having you for | 0:35:53 | 0:35:57 | |
# Sunday brunch. # | 0:35:57 | 0:36:00 | |
What's it like, living in a pyramid? | 0:36:02 | 0:36:04 | |
My razor blades stay very sharp. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
I have incredible flashes of creativity, just sitting, right here on the second floor of this house. | 0:36:08 | 0:36:15 | |
What do they say? One-third of the way up in a pyramid | 0:36:17 | 0:36:22 | |
in the centre is where the most energy is concentrated. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
So, I have my working chair here, I have my piano here, I have my desk over there. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:30 | |
I come out with things that I can't even believe are coming out of me when I'm writing or composing. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:35 | |
Sunday Brunch is the theme song for my latest play. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:38 | |
It's about a tourist who comes to New York and he meets all these outrageous people. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:43 | |
It's...semi-cannibalistic. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
He becomes eaten alive in the streets of New York. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:49 | |
-Is that your own experience? -What? | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
My own experience! Oh, every day. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:55 | |
# Please ease into New York and join us for | 0:36:55 | 0:37:01 | |
# Sunday brunch | 0:37:01 | 0:37:03 | |
# Drop your knife and fork It's only a | 0:37:03 | 0:37:08 | |
# Naked lunch | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
# You can have your fairy-tale and eat it too | 0:37:12 | 0:37:16 | |
# Happily ever after hours All night through | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
# Drop in any time We just love having you for | 0:37:19 | 0:37:24 | |
# Sunday brunch | 0:37:24 | 0:37:27 | |
# Sunday brunch | 0:37:27 | 0:37:30 | |
# We'd love having you for Sunday brunch | 0:37:31 | 0:37:34 | |
# You'd be delicious for Sunday brunch | 0:37:36 | 0:37:40 | |
# We're so hungry | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
# We love having you | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
# For Sunday brunch. # | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
It's cream sauce. | 0:37:58 | 0:38:00 | |
Come on, don't you know the colour between mustard and cream? | 0:38:00 | 0:38:05 | |
This is the first time I've ever had hare. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
-Hare? -Yeah, it's really good. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
-It's unusual. -It's a rabbit, isn't that a hare? | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
What is the official name of the meal? | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
It's supposed to be lapin a la moutarde. | 0:38:17 | 0:38:19 | |
There's a lot more cream than anything. | 0:38:19 | 0:38:22 | |
Where did you find a rabbit? | 0:38:22 | 0:38:24 | |
They order it. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
'And on this floor,' | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
this is where Andy Warhol made his classic, the Chelsea Girls. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
Andy Warhol was originally a woman's shoe illustrator. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
Then, he painted some tomato soup cans and went on to fame and fortune and glory. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:40 | |
This man is making repairs. There's wet paint. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:44 | |
The other favourite food is Texan food, though. | 0:38:44 | 0:38:46 | |
You like that food or not? | 0:38:46 | 0:38:49 | |
I do like that type of food. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:51 | |
-Not chilli but the chicken fried steaks... -Not chilli. Sort of.... -I had one the other night. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:56 | |
What is a chicken-fried...? | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
'And on the next floor,' | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
we're going to see the apartment where William Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:05 | |
Naked Lunch was quite an important seminal writing. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:08 | |
When it came out, it was considered very scandalous. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:11 | |
Today, a book like that hardly raises a blush on the cheek of your aunt from Debuke. | 0:39:11 | 0:39:17 | |
What is chicken-fried steak actually made out of? | 0:39:17 | 0:39:20 | |
It's just a thin slice of steak... | 0:39:20 | 0:39:24 | |
breaded and fried very quickly. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:27 | |
Why does it taste like mush? | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
It depends on what they serve it with, how it tastes. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
What I particularly like is the, erm... | 0:39:34 | 0:39:38 | |
-biscuits and gravy. -Right. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
Gee, I never had a chicken-fried steak. | 0:39:40 | 0:39:43 | |
We can do it any time you want. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
Really? It's actually a steak. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:47 | |
-It's not a tenderised steak. -Really? Oh! | 0:39:47 | 0:39:51 | |
They give you a big chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes and beans or peas and stuff. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:57 | |
That's sounds really great. Mashed potato and beans are my favourite. | 0:39:57 | 0:40:01 | |
-But you can eat the steaks. -Yep. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:04 | |
So, we're right in the middle of dinner. | 0:40:06 | 0:40:08 | |
'The tension in here is weird. Andy Warhol is wearing a pair of headphones which he brought with | 0:40:08 | 0:40:13 | |
'him and hasn't taken off since he sat down. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:15 | |
'William Burroughs is looking relaxed. He's wearing a beautiful suit and Warhol's telling him that' | 0:40:15 | 0:40:21 | |
he's the best-dressed man in New York. | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
Burroughs, slightly bemused by this chic approach, has given Warhol | 0:40:23 | 0:40:28 | |
a proof copy of his new book, Cities Of The Red Night. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:30 | |
-Can you do drawings? -Oh, yes. Sure. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
(Great.) | 0:40:35 | 0:40:37 | |
And has just signed in it and drawn a painting. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
Warhol's telling Burroughs he should be a painter. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:42 | |
My God! Oh! | 0:40:42 | 0:40:46 | |
More, more. On this side, right here. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
Here, here. My God! | 0:40:49 | 0:40:51 | |
There we are. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:55 | |
-Thanks a lot. -You're so lucky. | 0:40:55 | 0:40:57 | |
Great! | 0:40:57 | 0:40:59 | |
I'll get back to you in a few minutes and let you know what else is going on. | 0:40:59 | 0:41:03 | |
Tell Henry to come. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
Tell him it's really fun. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:07 | |
# What do I find? | 0:41:16 | 0:41:17 | |
# Oh, healthy balance | 0:41:19 | 0:41:22 | |
# On the credit side | 0:41:22 | 0:41:27 | |
# Got no diamonds, got no pearls | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
# Still I think I'm a lucky girl | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
# I've got sun in the morning and the moon at night... # | 0:41:32 | 0:41:35 | |
-Are you comfortable? -Yes. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:38 | |
I wasn't talking to you, pig face. | 0:41:38 | 0:41:41 | |
Yeah, OK. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:43 | |
Maybe she's kind of screwed up. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:46 | |
Oh, really. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:48 | |
I know pig face isn't being pretty. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:53 | |
What you mean is you have no taste. | 0:41:53 | 0:41:55 | |
Oh, do you like pig face? | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY MUSIC | 0:41:57 | 0:42:00 | |
You're not paying attention. | 0:42:03 | 0:42:05 | |
MUSIC: Chelsea Girls by Nico | 0:42:05 | 0:42:09 | |
# Here's room 506 | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
# It's enough to make you sick | 0:42:18 | 0:42:24 | |
# Bridget's all wrapped up in foil | 0:42:24 | 0:42:26 | |
# You want to heave | 0:42:26 | 0:42:28 | |
# She can uncoil | 0:42:30 | 0:42:32 | |
# Here they come now | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
# See them run now | 0:42:40 | 0:42:42 | |
# Here they come now | 0:42:44 | 0:42:46 | |
# Chelsea girls | 0:42:48 | 0:42:51 | |
# Pippa, she's having fun | 0:42:53 | 0:42:57 | |
# She thinks she's some man's son | 0:42:57 | 0:43:02 | |
# Her perfect loves don't last | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
# Her future died in someone's past | 0:43:05 | 0:43:12 | |
# Here they come now | 0:43:12 | 0:43:16 | |
# See them run now | 0:43:17 | 0:43:20 | |
# Here they come now | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
# Chelsea girls... # | 0:43:26 | 0:43:28 | |
I'm singing about my friends that were staying here with me. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:38 | |
That's why I keep coming back here, when I'm in the country. | 0:43:38 | 0:43:43 | |
You said to me, when we first met, "I am the person that made this hotel famous, for Chelsea girls. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:49 | |
I'm one of the persons. I mean, | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
aside from the people | 0:43:53 | 0:43:56 | |
that are now... | 0:43:56 | 0:43:58 | |
in heaven, | 0:43:58 | 0:44:01 | |
or in hell, | 0:44:01 | 0:44:04 | |
or... | 0:44:04 | 0:44:07 | |
not staying here, | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
I am, I would say, virtually, the only person that really | 0:44:10 | 0:44:16 | |
has something to do with | 0:44:16 | 0:44:19 | |
the hotel in the sense that we've done the movie. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:24 | |
We've done... | 0:44:24 | 0:44:26 | |
I've done the record. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
I'm still getting royalties from it. | 0:44:29 | 0:44:33 | |
So, I guess | 0:44:33 | 0:44:35 | |
I am the person - the Chelsea Girl, right? | 0:44:35 | 0:44:39 | |
# Dropout, she's in a fix | 0:44:47 | 0:44:51 | |
# Amphetamine has made her sick | 0:44:51 | 0:44:55 | |
# White powder in the air | 0:44:55 | 0:44:59 | |
# She's got no bones | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
# And can't be scared | 0:45:02 | 0:45:07 | |
# Here comes Johnny Bore | 0:45:26 | 0:45:28 | |
# He collapsed on the floor | 0:45:28 | 0:45:33 | |
# They shot him up with milk | 0:45:33 | 0:45:36 | |
# And when he died | 0:45:36 | 0:45:38 | |
# Sold him for silk | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
# Here they come now | 0:45:45 | 0:45:48 | |
# See them run now | 0:45:49 | 0:45:52 | |
# Here they come now | 0:45:52 | 0:45:54 | |
# Chelsea girls. # | 0:45:56 | 0:46:02 | |
'Well, there always seemed to be rivalling groups of alchemists and magicians, as I recall. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:41 | |
'At one point, there was a 15th century chemical manuscript that | 0:46:41 | 0:46:46 | |
'somehow was stolen or misplaced.' | 0:46:46 | 0:46:49 | |
There was a point where everyone was casting spells on everybody else and | 0:46:49 | 0:46:53 | |
throwing a tarot before they left their room... | 0:46:53 | 0:46:56 | |
It was hysterical. The magicians denouncing one another in the lobby. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:59 | |
That's right. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:01 | |
Because he really didn't give a damn. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
He must have seen the menu a thousand times. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:09 | |
# Night and day | 0:47:09 | 0:47:14 | |
# You are the one | 0:47:14 | 0:47:18 | |
# Only you beneath the moon | 0:47:20 | 0:47:25 | |
# Or under the sun | 0:47:25 | 0:47:27 | |
# Whether near to me or far | 0:47:30 | 0:47:35 | |
# It's no matter, darling, where you are | 0:47:35 | 0:47:40 | |
# I think of you day and night | 0:47:40 | 0:47:47 | |
# Night and day | 0:47:50 | 0:47:52 | |
# Why is it so | 0:47:53 | 0:47:56 | |
# That this longing for you | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
# Follows wherever I go... # | 0:48:03 | 0:48:09 | |
And the next floor is very exciting. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:12 | |
That's where Arthur Clarke wrote the Year 2001. | 0:48:12 | 0:48:15 | |
He's one of our most prominent space writers. | 0:48:15 | 0:48:18 | |
Remember that marvellous movie that Stanley Kubrick did, called 2001. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:23 | |
It's based on Arthur Clarke's particular book. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
We saw the model of Arthur Clarke outside, down the lobby. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
Remember, the little figure floating in space. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:33 | |
MUSIC: Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey | 0:48:33 | 0:48:38 | |
MUSIC: Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey | 0:48:47 | 0:48:52 | |
SHE PANTS | 0:49:54 | 0:49:58 | |
'Don't worry. Don't worry. Don't worry.' | 0:50:05 | 0:50:07 | |
Yeah. | 0:50:10 | 0:50:11 | |
Doctor...I can't. Ooh! | 0:50:11 | 0:50:15 | |
-Does that hurt? -Yeah, something hurts. Yeah. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:19 | |
SHE SCREAMS | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
All right, all right. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
< SHE BREATHES HEAVILY | 0:50:33 | 0:50:38 | |
How are you? You're fabulous. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:42 | |
'Yeah.' | 0:50:48 | 0:50:51 | |
You recognise this? | 0:50:51 | 0:50:53 | |
When did you last see it? | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
A few weeks ago. What's that? | 0:50:55 | 0:50:57 | |
Your head coming out. | 0:50:57 | 0:51:00 | |
Did I feel you inside? | 0:51:00 | 0:51:02 | |
When I came out, did I feel my feet in you? | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
Yeah, you felt your feet in me, your skin against me. Your head. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:09 | |
You didn't know what it was. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:11 | |
You didn't say, "This is my mother." | 0:51:11 | 0:51:13 | |
But you felt... | 0:51:13 | 0:51:15 | |
me as you came out. You probably | 0:51:15 | 0:51:19 | |
wondered what was happening to you. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:21 | |
Oh! And were probably very scared, don't you think? | 0:51:21 | 0:51:26 | |
I don't know. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:27 | |
I think you were terrified, wondering what was happening to you, and felt like you couldn't breathe. | 0:51:27 | 0:51:33 | |
Oh no, you don't breathe until they cut the cord anyway. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:37 | |
You probably were afraid you were gonna die. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
With all that pressure in your head. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:42 | |
And then you saw this big room, all full of light. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:48 | |
It probably hurt your eyes. | 0:51:48 | 0:51:50 | |
It was probably the worst thing that ever happened to you so far. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
-It felt like a boy. -Yes, we're there. | 0:51:56 | 0:51:58 | |
It's a little girl baby. | 0:51:58 | 0:52:00 | |
Look at the way he's treating you. Isn't that awful? | 0:52:03 | 0:52:08 | |
Isn't that just awful? How did you turn out to be so un-neurotic after | 0:52:08 | 0:52:12 | |
an introduction to the world like that. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:15 | |
Look at the way he's treating you. | 0:52:15 | 0:52:18 | |
Isn't that disgusting? | 0:52:18 | 0:52:20 | |
God, look at that. From being in the womb to being thrown up in the air like a fish. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:25 | |
Just flung and then tossed down to somebody's body. | 0:52:25 | 0:52:28 | |
Isn't that awful? | 0:52:28 | 0:52:29 | |
We bought this Sony Portapack and I happened to be pregnant at the time. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
It turned into a whole idea of filming the pregnancy, the birth and Alexandra's life. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:43 | |
Plus, the life of the parents - a social document. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:47 | |
I thought it would be interesting to look back and, especially for her, | 0:52:47 | 0:52:51 | |
to look back and see herself being born. | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
See herself growing up, see her parents' arguments. | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
See where she lived. | 0:52:57 | 0:52:59 | |
And so on and so forth. | 0:52:59 | 0:53:02 | |
Besides, it's been fun doing. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:06 | |
I'm just thinking it must be quite strange for you to see yourself being born, Alex? | 0:53:09 | 0:53:13 | |
It's funny for me to look at photos of me when I was a little boy. | 0:53:13 | 0:53:16 | |
What's it like actually seeing yourself being born? | 0:53:16 | 0:53:20 | |
Um, it doesn't look like me. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:23 | |
I don't know. It seems boring now cos I don't remember, um... | 0:53:24 | 0:53:30 | |
what it was like when I first saw it. | 0:53:30 | 0:53:35 | |
Have you enjoyed doing all this videotaping with your dad? | 0:53:35 | 0:53:39 | |
Yes. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:41 | |
Which is your favourite piece of video tape that he's done? | 0:53:41 | 0:53:45 | |
Um... | 0:53:45 | 0:53:46 | |
The birth. | 0:53:52 | 0:53:54 | |
Because it's exciting. | 0:53:54 | 0:53:56 | |
It's fun to watch because... | 0:53:59 | 0:54:02 | |
you see how you and how you were born and everything. | 0:54:02 | 0:54:08 | |
Oh, you are so cute! | 0:54:17 | 0:54:20 | |
Such a cute little girl. | 0:54:20 | 0:54:22 | |
Look at that! So cute. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:26 | |
Look! Oo, doo, doo, doo! | 0:54:26 | 0:54:28 | |
'She became so used to being taped, she would start demanding to be taped. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:33 | |
'She would get an idea and say, "I'm going to do something, turn on the tape." | 0:54:33 | 0:54:37 | |
'She began asking questions.' | 0:54:37 | 0:54:38 | |
She came home from school and said to me, "These kids don't know anything." | 0:54:38 | 0:54:43 | |
"They think babies are born in cauliflowers. They think the storks bring them. | 0:54:43 | 0:54:47 | |
"I know everything cos I've seen it all on tape." | 0:54:47 | 0:54:49 | |
You know, you're going to ask me if I don't think I've dramatised. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
That's what my mother accuses me of. | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
When she looked at the tape of the birth, she said, "Oh, stop dramatising, oh, stop dramatising." | 0:55:04 | 0:55:09 | |
I never felt I was dramatising any more than I would feel... | 0:55:09 | 0:55:12 | |
-What's dramatising? -Making more out of something than it is. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:17 | |
-Oh. -Heightening it, like, you know how Barbara Steele talks. | 0:55:17 | 0:55:22 | |
"Oh, I had a perfectly horrendous day. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
"You can't imagine what happened to me." | 0:55:25 | 0:55:27 | |
That's called dramatising. | 0:55:27 | 0:55:29 | |
Oh! | 0:55:29 | 0:55:32 | |
I never felt that I was dramatising any more than I ordinarily do, being an actress, after all. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:39 | |
I've always been rather self-dramatic. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:43 | |
It's other people who say, "You are dramatising." | 0:55:43 | 0:55:45 | |
To me, I always seem to be telling a story exactly the way it happened or expressing. | 0:55:45 | 0:55:50 | |
I think it is not the time dramatising, it's that everyone else is depressed. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:55 | |
Repressed and constipated. | 0:55:56 | 0:55:59 | |
Everyone else gets no fun out of life. | 0:56:01 | 0:56:04 | |
So, I seem to be dramatising when in reality, I'm merely reacting to | 0:56:04 | 0:56:08 | |
an incredible world that I can't believe. | 0:56:08 | 0:56:12 | |
# The rug is in my hotel room is old but it's clean | 0:56:46 | 0:56:50 | |
# I make believe I'm living on a putting green | 0:56:50 | 0:56:55 | |
# My door has got a lock | 0:56:55 | 0:56:57 | |
# Only I have a key | 0:56:57 | 0:56:59 | |
# I keep it in my pocket | 0:57:00 | 0:57:02 | |
# Like a treasure | 0:57:02 | 0:57:04 | |
# Oh, the stories they tell | 0:57:06 | 0:57:09 | |
# Oh, the dream hotel | 0:57:10 | 0:57:15 | |
# Oh, the stories they tell | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 | |
# Oh, the dream hotel | 0:57:19 | 0:57:23 | |
# The maid, she so fragile I'm afraid to ask for towels | 0:57:31 | 0:57:34 | |
# The lady at the switchboard She's not answering now | 0:57:34 | 0:57:38 | |
# The playwright down the hall has just turned 83 | 0:57:40 | 0:57:45 | |
# Swears that at every moment is a pleasure | 0:57:45 | 0:57:50 | |
# Oh, the stories they tell | 0:57:51 | 0:57:54 | |
# Oh, the dream hotel | 0:57:55 | 0:57:58 | |
# Oh, the stories they tell | 0:57:59 | 0:58:04 | |
# Oh, the dream hotel | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
# Living in a dream | 0:58:14 | 0:58:18 | |
# The stories we tell | 0:58:24 | 0:58:27 | |
# The stories we tell | 0:58:29 | 0:58:31 | |
# The stories we tell | 0:58:34 | 0:58:35 | |
# The stories we tell. # | 0:58:38 | 0:58:40 | |
Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2005 | 0:59:09 | 0:59:11 | |
E-mail us at [email protected] | 0:59:11 | 0:59:14 |