William Klein (1926 – 2022) was an American-French photographer and film director.
He is known for such photos as Broadway and 103rd Street, New York, 1954–1955 and films such as Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? (1966), Mr. Freedom (1969) and The Model Couple (1977).
Klein was unassuming, unpretentious and had a healthy dose of humor. Here at Jahsonic we have lots of sympathy for mr. Klein. He strikes us as a nobrow artist, a category we hold in high esteem.
Jean-Luc Godard was a French-Swiss film director.
Godard rose to prominence as a pioneer of the ‘Nouvelle Vague’ in European cinema. He is best known for his jump cuts in À bout de souffle (1960).
Of the same period and in the same style are other films that defied audience expectations: Vivre sa vie (1962), Bande à part (1964), and Pierrot le Fou (1965).
Also of interest are his lesser known political films during his communist period. There is for example his use of stills such as the Freudo/Marx pinup in Le gai savoir (1969).
We at Jahsonic have little sympathy for the humorless pretentiousness of mr. Godard. He is, however symptomatic of the ‘épater les bourgeois’ tradition of Baudelaire, Brecht and Beckett. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. We have nothing against going against the grain, but if you do it, do it good, like Debord, who gave the jacket of his mémoires sandpaper covers to damage the books in their vicinity maximally.
Ramsey Lewis was an American pianist and occasional composer working in the smooth jazz idiom. Lewis recorded over 80 albums, most of them featuring cover songs. He is known for such recordings as “The ‘In’ Crowd” (1965), “Wade in the Water” (1966), “Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)” (1968), “Sun Goddess” (1974) and “Les Fleurs” (1983).
Diane Noomin was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as feminism, female masturbation, body image, and miscarriages.
Here she is in a Video West Zippy the Pinhead episode broadcast in 1980 starring Jim Turner as Zippy and Diane Noomin as DiDi Glitz.
Noomin was married to Bill Griffith, the man who created the character of Zippy.
Queen Elizabeth II was a British monarch known in pop culture for being the subject of the Sex Pistols song “God Save the Queen” (1977).
Just Jaeckin was a French film director known for his soft porn films during what is known as the golden age of porn in the 1970s.
He directed Emmanuelle (1974), Story of O (1975) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1981).
His film adaptation of Lady Chatterley was produced by Cannon, the story of which is told in Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014).
He can be seen in that documentary from 17:10 for a minute or two.
The story of Cannon is interesting, the docu well made.
Peter Straub was an American novelist best known for horror and supernatural fiction novels such Julia (1975), Ghost Story (1979) and The Talisman (1984), which he co-wrote with Stephen King.
Mark Shreeve was a British songwriter best-known for co-writing “Touch Me (I Want Your Body)” (1986) interpreted by Samantha Fox. It was a worldwide hit.
Unrelated, except by title, is Touch Me (All Night Long) (1984), written by Patrick Adams two years earlier, not a worldwide hit.
Gorbachev died. Normally I don’t do anything about politicians. But Gorbachev was important as one of the last great communist leaders. Yet I can’t find a clip showing the man in question. I do have one where Ronald “we don’t need no rerun” Reagan exhorts Gorbachev to urgently tear down the Berlin wall.
Stating that out loud seems rather bold, but the Soviet Union was probably already on its last legs at the time, a corpse on the verge of death, and Reagan was just kicking in some open doors.
Helen Grayco was an American singer and actress famous for appearances with her husband Spike Jones.
She is known for interpreting “Lilly’s Lament” (1956) and appearing in A Night at the Opera (1935).