(This is our contribution to this week's edition of Theme Thursday. Check out the others here.)
While making a tour of Mesoamerica, Abraham Lincoln and Grace Slick stop for tea at the ruins of Copan, Honduras, with their tour guide Sherman. We encourage you to guess the mysterious dialog that ensues as they sip their perfectly brewed matcha while Sherman suggests that they try the local yerba mate.
After her recent success of tending to Sonny Angel while his alpha mom was working on a big project, Grace Slick has been called in again to watch over the wee one of America's leading all female couple -- Julia Morgan and Edith Head. Here we see Grace hovering over both Sonny Angel and his buddy Bunny Angel. All seems to be going well.
Julia Morgan is working on a big deadline. She asked Grace Slick to drop over to help Edith Head to care for Sonny Angel. We have some concerns, but so far all seems to be going well.
Although in general I would say that I have lived my life with no regrets, I do have to admit that I have great sadness and regret around a film I almost starred in but never allowed to share with the public. In the summer of 1968, Grace Slick and I had the lead roles in O-Hell Dall-E. Filmed primarily on location on San Francisco's Embarcadero which was transformed to resemble a late 19th Century boardwalk. Sadly, a variety of forces never let this great work, directed by Luis Buñuel, to see the light of day.
Now, before you say "Oh, I bet it was because Grace was always high on drugs," let me vouch that I never saw the girl have anything stronger that Oolong tea. Things went south when Carol Channing, in town to shoot Skidoo, got wind of it and tried to shut the production down when she said, "They stole my Dolly!" Well, this was not an adaptation of Hello, Dolly! but of its 19th century source material Einen Jux will er sich machen by Johann Nestroy.
There was nothing but the highest level of talent involved. Script by Harold Pinter, lyrics by William S. Burroughs, music by John Cage. Set designs by Louis Sullivan and costumes by Cecil Beaton. Other cast members includedShashi Kapoor and Michael J. Pollard Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker. Jean Seberg and Jean Simmons as Irene and Minnie. Kate Smith was great as "The Ballad Singer", and Miles Davis was superb as the band leader at Delmonico's.
We first knew things were getting sticky when Seberg had to bail due to earlier contract obligations to appear in Paint Your Wagon (one of our favorite musicals). Then Channing brought legal action because we were filming her musical (and she got even angrier with Streisand starred in the actual adaptation). Then there was the night Doris Day -- in town to shoot the opening sequence for her TV show -- took Grace up to her room and was responsible for her first introduction to heavy narcotics.
Sadly, we were shut down five weeks into shooting. Who knows what happened to that footage? Buñuel claimed that he burned all the stock, but we've heard of it showing up in Bosnia. Alas, all I have to remember are a few stills and journal entries. Distraught, Grace went down to see her mom Virginia Wing with her daughter China. The closest thing you'll ever see that came close to this masterpiece, is this clip of Lee Marvin who should have sung the entire American Songbook. Clearly he is referencing our film when he sings "Hell is in Hello.'
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
JunkThief is your typical Gallic Jew boy born on the Great Plains, went to Gotham and Ouagadougou and Kathmandu before settling in San Francisco's Mission District. Now he searches the dark alleys of that city to find good conversation, Weimar culture and (but of course) the perfect door knob.
