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‘San Francisco Street Fair 1959’: Rare film of Wallace Berman and occult artist Marjorie Cameron
04.22.2013
11:38 am
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Spencer Kansa, author of Wormwood Star: The Magickal Life of Marjorie Cameron, writes:

Towards the end of my research for the original version of Wormwood Star, I managed to track down the master copy of Ed Silverstone Taylor’s film of Cameron entitled San Francisco Street Fair 1959, to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. I impressed upon the archivist there, Jon Shibata, what a valuable document the film was of Cameron’s life and he thankfully agreed and said he would look into obtaining funds to have the film digitally transferred. Well, that funding came through at the end of last year, and the film has just been uploaded on to their website.

The film also features Wallace and Shirley Berman and Cameron’s daughter, Crystal.

It’s very likely that this is the first time that San Francisco Street Fair has been seen publicly for nearly 40 years. The last time it was shown was at the benefit for Cameron held at the Cinema Theatre back in 1964 which, as you’ll remember, turned into a debacle when Kenneth Anger and a couple of biker goons turned up and stormed the projection booth to grab the copy of Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome that had been screened that evening.

Wormwood Star, Kansa’s Cameron biography will soon be re-published in a new edition containing fresh eyewitness accounts of the above referenced night at the Cinema Theatre, as well as rarely seen images of Cameron and Jack Parsons.

The description of the film from the Pacific Film Archive Film and Video Collection:

This edited Ektachrome home movie with professional titles documents a 1959 street fair, upper Grant Avenue, San Francisco—the center of Beat culture. The film includes shots of filmmaker Dion Vigne and his wife Loreon, artist and occultist Marjorie Cameron, and artist Wallace Berman, displaying and selling their art works.

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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04.22.2013
11:38 am
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