Happy Birthday, Harry Smith! Born today in 1923 as Harry Everett Smith, this American ethnographer, visual artist and experimental filmmaker was also a record collector, bohemian, mystic, and largely self-taught student of anthropology.
His activities, such as his use of mind-altering substances and interest in esoteric spirituality, anticipated aspects of the Hippie movement.
Besides his films, he is most notable for editing, producing and directing his one-hour 1962 American black and white avant-garde cutout animation/experimental film 'Heaven and Earth Magic'.
The film is also called 'Number 12', 'The Magic Feature' or 'Heaven and Earth Magic Feature'. It is a sequence of surreal cut-out animation imagery, largely without a discernible narrative.
The film is also called 'Number 12', 'The Magic Feature' or 'Heaven and Earth Magic Feature'. It is a sequence of surreal cut-out animation imagery, largely without a discernible narrative.
According to Smith: "The first part depicts the heroine's toothache consequent to the loss of a very valuable watermelon, her dentistry and transportation to heaven.
Next follows an elaborate exposition of the heavenly land, in terms of Israel, Montreal and the second part depicts the return to Earth from being eaten by Max Müller on the day Edward the Seventh dedicated the Great Sewer of London".
Next follows an elaborate exposition of the heavenly land, in terms of Israel, Montreal and the second part depicts the return to Earth from being eaten by Max Müller on the day Edward the Seventh dedicated the Great Sewer of London".
Originally released in 1957, 'Heaven and Earth Magic' was re-edited several times and the final version was released in 1962.
The film primarily uses cut-out-animated photographs. It is sometimes screened at one-time cinema events, often with some kind of live music instead of the film's soundtrack (which consists solely of sound effects).
The film primarily uses cut-out-animated photographs. It is sometimes screened at one-time cinema events, often with some kind of live music instead of the film's soundtrack (which consists solely of sound effects).
Fred Camper from Chicago Reader praised the film's artistic style, calling it "a mysterious world of alchemical transformations in which objects suggest a multitude of possibilities."
Time Out Magazine offered the film similar praise, comparing it to the works of German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet Max Ernst and French illusionist and film director Georges Méliès ('A Trip to the Moon').
Smith is also widely known for his influential 1952 six-album compilation Anthology of American Folk Music. These were drawn from his extensive collection of out-of-print commercial 78 rpm recordings.
Throughout his life, Smith was an inveterate collector. In addition to records, artifacts he collected included string figures, paper airplanes, Seminole textiles, and Ukrainian Easter eggs (pysankas).
Smith is a well-known figure in several fields. People who know him as a filmmaker often do not know of his 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, while folk music enthusiasts often do not know he was "the greatest living magician" according to Kenneth Anger ('Scorpio Rising').
Smith passed of cardiac arrest while singing in Italian poet, writer, photographer, essayist and publisher Paola Igliori's arms. This occurred in Room 328 at the Hotel Chelsea in New York City, New York on November 27, 1991. Smith was 68.
Smith's ashes are in the care of his wife, Rose "Rosebud" Feliu-Pettet. She was a muse of the Beats and avant-garde, a fixture of downtown Bohemia, and a gifted memoirist.
Smith had been active from 1939–1987.
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