Jack Smith (14 November 1932 in Columbus, Ohio - 25 September 1989 in New York) was a US-American film director and one of the pioneers of American underground cinema.

Smith was one of the first exponents of the aesthetics which came to be known as Camp and Trash, using cheap and spartan means of production (e.g. using discarded color reversal film stock) to create a visual cosmos heavily influenced by Hollywood kitsch, orientalism and drag culture. His style influenced the film work of Andy Warhol as well as the early work of John Waters. Smith has also been referenced by artists such as Laurie Anderson, Cindy Sherman and Mike Kelley, photographer Nan Goldin, musicians Lou Reed and David Byrne, and theatre director Robert Wilson.

The most famous (and arguably the most notorious) of Smith's productions is Flaming Creatures of 1961. The movie is basically a travesty on Hollywood B movies and tribute to actress Maria Montez, who starred in many such productions. However, authorities considered some scenes to be pornographic, copies of the movie were confiscated at the premiere and it was subsequently banned (technically, it still is to this day). Despite not being viewable, the movie gained some notoriety when footage was screened during Congressional hearings and right-wing politician Strom Thurmond mentioned it in anti-porn speeches.

Mario Montez starred in Smith's next movie Normal Love, the only work in Smith's oeuvre with an almost conventional length (80 mins.). The rest of his productions consists mainly of short movies, many of them never to be screened in a cinema, but to feature in performances and constantly re-edited to fit the stage needs.

Apart from his own work Smith has also worked as an actor himself: He played the lead in Andy Warhol's unfinished Batman Dracula and appeared in several productions by Robert Wilson.

He also worked as a photographer and founded the Hyperbole Photographic Studio in New York. In 1962 he released The Beautiful Book, a collection of pictures of New York artists, which has recently been rereleased.

Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2006) is a film portrait of Jack Smith directed by Mary Jordan which includes clips of Smith's films, images of his still photography, and interview with people who knew him and artists influenced by his work.

Selected Filmography

• 1961 Flaming Creatures (b/w, 46 min.)
• 1963 Normal Love (80 min.)
• 1968 No President (a/k/a The Kidnapping of Wendell Wilkie by The Love Bandit, ca. 50 min.)

Books

• By Jack Smith:
  • 1962 The Beautiful Book (Dead Language Press, republished 2001 Granary Books)
• About Jack Smith
  • Leffingwell/Kismaric/Heiferman (eds.), Flaming Creature: Jack Smith - His Amazing Life and Times, Serpent's Tail (London) unknown year
  • J. Hoberman, On Jack Smith's 'Flaming Creatures' (And Other Secret-Flix of Cinemaroc), Granary Books, 2001

References

• An unofficial Jack Smith page
• Biography at WarholStars.com
• Loren, Cary (August 2002). I was a Jack Smith Love Zombie. Blastitude.
• Underground movie flip book of Jack Smith's Buzzards Over Bagdad from Aspen magazine
• Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis website for film portrait of Jack Smith.

American experimental filmmakers | American actors | 1932 births | 1989 deaths | AIDS-related deaths

Jack Smith | Jack Smith