Confessions of a Young American Cameraman
by Jim Hollenbaugh
Freelancing for New Jersey based Independent Film Company, Pop Cinema, is never a boring task. Throughout the past six years I have enjoyed traveling around the United States, lensing many of the special features often included on their Collector's Edition DVDs. I’m fresh back from our latest trip (along with my buddy, film historian Michael
Bowen), to that hillbilly-infested swampland known as Florida.
The purpose of our expedition was to meet up with the legendary Mary Mendum, a.k.a. Rebecca Brooke, for an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime interview that’s going to be included on an upcoming Retro-Seduction Cinema DVD release of Joe Sarno’s Abigail Lesley’s Back in Town / Laura’s Toys Sexploitation Double Feature. Fans probably know Mary best from her starring roles in Joe’s epics Laura's Toys, Confessions of a Young American Housewife, Abigail and others (all available from www.RetroSeductionCinema.com ).
Our trip began as we rendezvoused north of Orlando at the home of cult cinematographer C. Davis “Chuck” Smith. Chuck is known for his extraordinary camerawork on a plethora of Doris Wishman films, not to mention shooting countless adult features under the name “Charles Lamont” (many for notorious NYC smut producer Leonard Kirtman, as well as nearly all of the films directed by my personal favorite, actor-director Zebedy Colt). Chuck and his son, filmmaker Chris Smith, treated us to a fantastic homemade Italian dinner and lent us some lights and other essentials (easier than shlepping it down from Pennsylvania!).
After driving all night down to southern Florida and sleeping in a less-than-prestigious $30 motel room, we loaded our bladders with hot coffee and braved the nearly hundred-degree heat to hook up with Mary Mendum. After swearing for what seemed like an hour at Chuck Smith's GPS, we found our way to her residence and were treated like royalty. Mary is as lovely and pleasant and intelligent as we’d hoped for! We shot about an hour’s worth of interview footage in her living room and she was kind enough to give us many rare insights into her working relationship with the great Joe Sarno. A memorable interview. Afterwards, she insisted on making us lunch! Wow!
With our belly's stuffed full of Middle Eastern delicacies, we said our goodbyes and headed on to our next stop. You guessed it! We wouldn't dare enter the State of Florida without visiting our good friend and film auteur Eduardo Cemano! Maestro Cemano and his wife Amy greeted us at the door along with their two white Maltese dogs and invited us in to record a special commentary track for Eduardo’s cult classic Fongaluli. Ed and Michael had a detailed conversation about the film’s production, which will be included on the soon-to-be-released Eduardo Cemano Collection Volume Two (containing The Healers, Madame Zenobia and Fongaluli). We learned everything we ever needed to know about Ed's filmmaking techniques, his theories on sexuality, and even learned a little about the strange powers of the rare fongaluli leaf.
After a long afternoon with Eduardo, we took it easy that evening, hanging out with a six-pack at another cheap motel. The next day, we waited at least 20 minutes for Egg McMuffins and java at the world’s slowest McDonald’s, and then made a special trip down to Miami to visit the site of our memorable days working with Doris Wishman. Michael and I met working on Doris’s final film and we try to visit our old stomping grounds anytime we’re down there. It seems strange that seven years have past since that time (and, of course, since Doris’s death).
That night, we made a plan to hook up with another old friend who had worked on Doris’s last film – Scream Queen Linnea Quigley. We met at a Broward County Chinese restaurant for an evening of gossip, Szechuan Eggplant and Kung Pao Chicken (Linnea didn’t eat the chicken – she’s all veg). Linnea looked great and is always full of great stories about her career in low-budget horror films. (Be on the lookout, by the way, for the release of an amazing interview with Linnea conducted at the New Jersey Pop Cinema Studios this past July.)
After dinner, we had a rather unexpected adventure. We’d booked a room at a local motel – part of a well-known motel chain – but discovered after we arrived (around midnight) that the place was basically a crack house! After being given the keys to a room that had never even been cleaned, and after watching the police come flying into the parking lot and approach a nearby room with guns drawn, we decided that we should ask for our money back. The funniest part was how nonchalant the woman at the desk was about giving us a refund: also, while we were standing there, some dude came into the lobby and started talking about all the people who had been shot at the motel recently, etc. It took us a while to find another place to stay, but we didn’t regret getting the hell out of there.
The next day we had a long drive back up to Orlando. We had hoped to visit Vernon Becker, the producer of Joe Sarno’s Swedish Wildcats and The Seduction of Inga, whom Michael and I had interviewed on camera a few years earlier. Vernon had been living in a senior’s assisted-living apartment and we got a little worried when we found his phone was disconnected. Fearing the worst, we drove to his building and asked the receptionist if Mr. Becker still lived there. You can imagine how surprised (and relieved) we were when she told us that good old Vernon had gotten married and moved to California! Well, congratulations Vernon! Hope to see you next time we’re on the West Coast.
A little tired from all our driving – and all the detective work – we made our way back up to Ocala to return equipment and spend some quality time with Chuck Smith. While we were down there, we’d also been planning to shoot a little interview with Chuck, whose great comments have graced many a DVD in the past. We should have known things would not go as planned, however, when we arrived at Chuck’s and he met us at the door with the biggest Bloody Mary’s I’ve ever seen. Chuck’s son Chris and up-and-coming actor Bjorn Jiskoot were there too and, before you know it, we were feeling no pain. After taking Chuck out to Red Lobster, we wound up at the funkiest, raunchiest backwoods roadhouse in the world. Between the $1.25 drafts, the tattooed barmaid, and the ass-kicking jukebox (Ted Nugent, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kiss, you name it!), I’m afraid we pissed the night away (literally) getting bombed with the locals. I never saw Mike Bowen so loaded (he paid for it the next morning, I promise you). I don't think any of us are exactly sure how we got back to Chuck's that night (in a rented SUV!), but, as my photos prove, we made it back and pigged out on Chuck’s homemade potato salad at 2 AM. I can't believe we made it to the airport in one piece the next morning, but we managed to get there. All in all, a great adventure. One thing’s for certain – that Chuck Smith sure knows how to party! Not bad for 80 years old.
I hope you enjoy the snapshots I took during our trip. In the spirit of Pop Cinema President Michael Raso's continued support of real 35mm photography, I left the digital camera at home and took these with my Minolta Maxxum STsi. Enjoy!
Jim Hollenbaugh is a Director of Photographer based in Central Pennsylvania. He programs films for the Harrisburg Film Cooperative, “MOVIATE”. Check them out at www.moviate.org or contact Jim at: JimH@sr-pro.com
Click on photos above for additional info.
Michael Raso's film photography can be seen at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelraso/
Visit Alternative Cinema (the home of Retro-Seduction Cinema)
www.AlternativeCinema.com
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