Black-Eyed Susan

A short film about the actress Black-Eyed Susan

This musical is based on four short stories by Damon Runyon. In one tale, gambler Feet Samuels sells his body to science just as he realizes that Hortense loves him and that he would rather live than die. In another story, Harriet's parrot is killed, and she has problems dealing with her loss. Then, there is a gambler, "Regret", who has bloodhounds on his trail when he becomes a murder suspect. Finally, "The Brain" is bleeding profusely, and his friends search for a way to save his life through a blood transfusion.

Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she's sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it's not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.

Film recounts the madcap tale of sweet Dolores who, after being tortured by her sadistic mother, is thrown into the harsh city environs, innocent and alone. Chased by villains, abducted into white slavery, and ravaged by monstrous beasts, Dolores spirals deep into the underworld unable to find redemption.

“A witty send-up and a wise abstraction of the melodrama, combining elements of romantic mythology – songs, images, words and movements – to ask the question: where does myth end and life begin? Bill Rice ‘stars’ as a frustrated professor of romantic literature who reaches the end of his rope and resolves to be reunited with his deceased true love. When his attempt to hang himself fails, he finds renewed hope in the form of a nurse at his doctor’s office; newly married and still in love, she is nevertheless intrigued by his morbid romanticism. The action takes place on gigantic, expressionistic sets painted by artists Amy Sillman and Pamela Wilson; movements are exaggerated by being reduced to a minimum, and the dialogue, written by James Neu, calls up the romantic phraseology of the ages – from literature to TV – strung together into a musical refrain and set to Evan Lurie’s score.” –PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

Adapted from an obscure Guy de Maupassant novella, lifted from a paperback bought by Meaney as an undergrad for 99 cents. What’s evident is Horn’s fascination for squared-off blocking and choreography, including a glimpse at a performance of Orpheus and Eurydice in minature. Star Adam Macadam brought on other members of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theater Company, many of whom would return to work on DOOMED LOVE. Featuring ancient costumes on loan from the Metropolitan Opera (repurposed from early twentieth century productions of Tosca and La Traviata), ELAINE aspires to high gothic on a shoestring budget. Horn and Meaney shot at locations including the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights, the Frick, and the Carnegie Hall Cinema, then operated by Sid Geffen and Jackie Raynal – the programmers responsible for hosting the first-ever New York City screenings of films by Marguerite Duras, an influence on the filmmakers (alongside Daniel Schmid, Douglas Sirk and Alain Resnais.)