#tally brown

[fatmagic]

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

Have you seen Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972)?

Yes

No

Haven’t even heard of this movie

Voting ended onMar 11

[pierppasolini]

Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972) // dir. Robert J. Kaplan

[ninibymidori]

[blankoutlines]

[gowns]

tally brown sings kurt weill and bertolt brecht's "surabaya johnny" -- these are not the original lyrics, but her own interpretation. it's one of the best things i've ever seen or heard. i keep coming back to it.

[bitter69uk]

Recently watched: Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972) – last night, in fact, in the Art Deco environs of the Rio Cinema in Dalston as part of their weekly LGBTQIA Pink Palace film club. This obscurity received limited distribution in the first place, dropped out of circulation decades ago and was widely presumed lost. Scarecrow only recently resurfaced courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA). Vivacious transgender Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn (in her biggest and best movie role outside of Paul Morrissey’s Trash (1970)) stars as small-town naïf Eve, who leaves Topeka, Kansas on a Greyhound bus in pursuit of stardom in New York. We then follow Eve’s quest for suitable accommodation (and a vaguely sane roommate) in the Big Apple. For context, Scarecrow came out the same year as John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, but it’s not dark or biting like a Waters, Warhol or Paul Morrissey movie. Instead, it’s a loose, good-natured and trippy LSD vision and anything goes slapstick comedy. Descriptions like “freewheeling”, “absurdist”, “freaky” and “wacky” are apt. It’s an early seventies time capsule featuring hippie acid rock on the soundtrack, fashion montages, groovy “happening”-style parties, musical numbers, pastiches of old movies and broad acting. Oh, and cab-driving nuns and wrestling dwarves. Scarecrow is a great “star vehicle” for the effervescent Woodlawn.  She’s a natural clown. One sequence follows Eve’s epic search for a functioning payphone: Woodlawn can’t cross the street without crossing her eyes, sticking out her tongue and doing a hilarious mincing walk, recalling the likes of Lucille Ball, Barbra Streisand and Amy Sedaris. Watch as well for Woodlawn’s fellow Warhol Superstar Tally Brown (pictured), an ultra-campy Fellini-esque presence (she even resembles Eddra Gale as La Saraghina in Fellini’s 8 ½ - and sounds like Eartha Kitt). Some of the action occurs at the Chelsea Hotel. Lily Tomlin is heard as a telephone operator. A very young Bette Midler sings on the soundtrack.

[valentinsylve]