Tag Archives: American avant garde

RIP Henry Jacobs (1924 – 2015)

Via the death of Ken Nordine I find out that Henry Jacobs died.

“Interview with Dr. Sholem Stein” (1955)

Henry Jacobs was an American sound artist and humorist, known for the radio program Music and Folklore, the TV program The Fine Art of Goofing Off (1971–1972) and compositions such as “Sonata For Loudspeakers” (1955).

“Sonata For Loudspeakers” (1955), it’s hard to tell whether this is serious or comical.

He also invented the fictional characters Sixt Von Arnim, Sholem Stein and Shorty Petterstein.

The Fine Art of Goofing Off 

Of these three, Sholem Stein is my favorite. I used him as a mystification in my book on the history of erotica in which I put the following words into his mouth:

“Man reveals his true nature in his fears and desires. Show me what he is afraid of, show me what excites him, I will tell you who he is.”

I use Sholem Stein off and on nowadays, I usually have him cite dicta I don’t know who to ascribe to.