David Lynch: The Art Life (Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and Olivia Neergard-Holm, 2016)

A documentary covering the early years of David Lynch, from his childhood to the making of Eraserhead, as well as his artwork, past and present.

My cinematic holy trinity consists of Luis Buñuel, David Lynch, and Akira Kurosawa, in that order. Besides his amazing films, Lynch is also the co-creator of Twin Peaks, in this reviewer's opinion the greatest television series of all time, in either incarnation. Lynch's films are bizarre and show the dark underbelly of everyday life. Having seen much of it in this film, I can testify that so is his artwork. The man is a true Artist, no matter what his medium, and learning more about his life and his craft was a valuable experience for me. There are plenty of interesting factoids - did you know Lynch was once the roommate of future J. Geils Band lead vocalist Peter Wolf? Lynch himself narrates, both onscreen and in voiceover, in that distinctive voice we fans know so well. Clips are shown from his (awesome) early short films, such as The Grandmother and The Alphabet. Lynch is shown in the present day at work on his art, sometimes with the help of his toddler daughter Lula. Having seen this following Twin Peaks: The Return (which I adored, haters be damned), some of Lynch's drawings from his own life have been revealed to me. His mentor in art, Bushnell Keeler, is surely the source of Dougie Jones' boss Bushnell Mullins' first name. A drawing by Lynch of a man with black smoke where his head must be clearly presages the portrayal of Tulpas in The Return. Lynch's childhood as described by himself was much like his films: mundane suburbia with something darker and more surreal under the surface. Judging by the pictures we see, the elder Lynch was a dead ringer for the adult David, albeit with somewhat less unique a hairstyle. If I have one complaint about this film, it's that I would've been interested in hearing some of the folks Lynch knew in those early days' take on them and the auteur himself. However, as a fan, I nevertheless learned a lot about one of my creative heroes and his non-film work, and fans of the arts in general and Lynch in particular should check it out. Besides being available for Streaming on Amazon Prime, it's also for sale from the fine folks at the Criterion Collection. So quit worryin' and start scurryin' (to quote Shelly Johnson) to check it out!

Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)

Police and reporters gather at a Sunset Boulevard mansion, where a dead man is floating in a pool. The deceased Joe Gillis (The Wild Bunch's William Holden) narrates the story of the circumstances leading up to his death. Gillis, a struggling screenwriter, has to trick the creditors who seek to repossess his car by parking it in a lot behind a shoeshine stand. Going to Paramount Pictures, he tries to pitch a script to a producer, but he is unwilling to take it, and reader Betty Schaefer (The Absent-Minded Professor's Nancy Olson) criticizes it. Seeing the repo men are watching him, Joe drives into the garage of a mansion he thinks is deserted. A mature woman calls out to him, asking him to come in. The taciturn butler, Max (Erich von Stroheim), lets him in, saying something about a coffin. Joe discovers the woman thinks he is there to perform the burial for her dead chimpanzee, and recognizes her as silent film actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), whose career ended with the advent of sound in cinema. Finding that Joe is actually a writer, she asks him to take a look at her script for Salome, her comeback picture, though she detests that term. Although the script is horrible, Joe merely tells her it needs a little work. Norma hires him to help her punch it up, and convinces him to stay the night in. Waking up the following morning, Joe is furious to discover Max has moved all his things from his apartment to the mansion. Although Norma says she still gets fan letters constantly, Joe discovers Max himself is writing them to comfort her, and that Norma has suffered from depression and attempted suicide in the past. Norma is besotted with Joe, and buys him the finest things money can buy. At a New Year's Eve Party for just the two of them, Norma reveals her feelings to Joe, but he rejects her and leaves, heading for a party held by his friend assistant director Artie Green (Dragnet's Jack Webb), where he runs into Betty Schaefer, who turns out to be Artie's new girlfriend. Betty has read another of Joe's scripts, and thinks one scene in particular has potential. The two seem to become strongly attracted to one another, but Joe receives a call from Max, informing him that Norma has attempted to slit her own wrists, and feels he has no choice but to return.

It's hard for me to say anything about Sunset Boulevard that hasn't been said a million times before. It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and won for three: Screenplay, Art Direction, and Music, though amazingly Swanson lost Best Actress to Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday, which also featured Holden. Swanson's performance, though, is incredible, both pathetic and not a little horrifying at the same time. Many of her mannerisms scream "silent film character," and the famous ending and the immortal last line show perfectly how reality and film blur for Norma Desmond. Holden as screenwriter-turned-gigolo Joe Gillis is superb, and he exudes the same cynical air he would bring to later films such as Network. von Stroheim, who directed Swanson in Queen Kelly (a clip from which is shown as one of Norma's old films), is perfect as Max von Mayerling, Norma's enabling butler who turns out to have had a much closer connection to her once upon a time. Nancy Olson's chemistry with Holden is excellent, and one can't help but feel for her when she finds out the truth about Joe's relationship with Norma. It's also amusing to see dead-serious Joe Friday Jack Webb playing a wisecracker for a change. The film also features a number of Hollywood icons of yesteryear playing themselves, such as Cecil B. DeMille and Buster Keaton. I also have to note that Bert Moorhouse's character, Gordon Cole, was the namesake of David Lynch's character on Twin Peaks. I've heard vague rumors one of those Wold Newton guys proposed Moorhouse's Gordon Cole was the father of Lynch's, but I can't verify that. The script by director Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett (who also co-wrote The Lost Weekend) is as great a piece of film noir as Wilder's Double Indemnity, while also showing the darker side of stardom. Not every movie considered a classic is one I would consider as such myself, but this most definitely is one I would.

Twin Peeks: Another Short Piece of Creative Mythography

In recent years, the activities of the Lightman Institute headed by Dr. Cal Lightman have come to light. Dr. Lightman and his team are assigned by third parties to aid in investigations using applied psychology, most often discovering the truth through body language and other factors. While Lightman and his team are not the subject of this piece, one of the federal agents they worked with is.

Bill Steele was an FBI ASAC (Assistant Special Agent in Charge) who worked with the team when an allegedly bomb-bearing tractor driven by a down-on-his-luck farmer named Harold Clark was parked outside the Institute. In reality, this was a ruse designed to distract law enforcement from another bomb planted by domestic terrorist Ron Jackson. During the mission, Steele and Lightman butted heads over procedure.

We are given no biographical information about Steele in the televised account based on these events. However, my research has uncovered evidence that Steele was born in a small town in California around 1957. His mother was a local woman whose friend was murdered by a man who was wanted in several states (unfortunately, my records are vague as to who this may have been. Patient research continues). An FBI agent came to town, and during the investigation, an attraction sprang up between Ms. Steele and this agent, despite the latter having been married for a year and having a baby son back in Philadelphia. They had a brief torrid affair, and Bill was born nine months later. Never knowing his father personally, he at least came to know his name and occupation, and followed in his footsteps by joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Once the case closed, the agent returned to Philly and his wife and son. His wife never knew of the agent's affair, but the son learned of it after, like his half-brother, honoring his father by joining the Bureau, showing special expertise in forensics. Anger at his father's infidelity engendered in Albert Rosenfield a deep dislike of small towns and the people inhabiting them.

This aversion boiled over when Albert was sent to Twin Peaks, WA to assist his good friend and fellow Special Agent Dale Cooper by conducting tests on the body of 17-year-old Laura Palmer. Albert repeatedly treated the authorities and inhabitants of Twin Peaks with contempt, ultimately leading to Sheriff Harry S. Truman punching him in the face. Despite this, Albert revealed on a subsequent visit that despite his gruff, hostile tone he was at heart a pacifist, and during further trips to Twin Peaks he made his peace with Truman, if not the other natives. It is unknown whether Albert Rosenfield and Bill Steele ever met, but if so, I seriously doubt the meeting was cordial on Albert's part.

Sources:
Lie to Me - television series, particularly the episode "Tractor Man"
Twin Peaks - television series
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me - film
Twin Peaks Star Pics Cards - Trading cards, particularly #63, "Agent Rosenfield"

The Two Gordon Coles: A Short Piece of Woldnewtonry

In 1949, Gordon Cole was working in the props department at Paramount Studios when he saw Max von Mayerling drive his employer (and ex-wife) Norma Desmond's antique Isotta-Franchini car. Interested, Cole called her Sunset Boulevard mansion in the hopes of using it for the Bing Crosby film they were shooting. Max, knowing that Norma was vainly hoping to return to film after her career ended with the advent of talkies, told her instead that she herself was wanted for a Cecil B. DeMille film. Neither Max, DeMille, nor Norma's ghost-writer/boytoy Joe Gillis had the heart to tell her the truth, and DeMille insisted that Cole use a different car. (Joe later changed his mind, but his attempts to show her the truth and leave Norma once and for all cost him his life).

That's pretty much all we know about Gordon Cole from Sunset Boulevard, the film Billy Wilder based on these events. However, his life did not begin nor end with his dramatization by Bert Moorhouse. Cole was in his early '50s by this point, but had only a few years before taken a much younger wife, and had a son by her, also named Gordon. Unfortunately, Gordon Cole Jr. would have severe hearing trouble, requiring hearing aids and causing him to shout every sentence without realizing the fact and often inadvertently repeat what people had just said or asked him. Nevertheless, he eventually joined the F.B.I., and rose rapidly through the ranks, so that by 1988 he was a regional chief.


At that time, a young woman named Teresa Banks was murdered by Leland Palmer, a lawyer from Twin Peaks, Washington, who had been possessed since childhood by a demonic being named Bob. Recognizing this as what he called a "blue rose" case, Gordon sent agents Chester Desmond and Sam Stanley to investigate. Unfortunately, Desmond (who may have been a relative of Norma's) disappeared. When Leland's daughter Laura was murdered a year later, and the evidence pointed to the same killer, Gordon sent another agent, Dale Cooper (whom my fellow creative mythographer Henry Zeo Covert has identified as a descendant of the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes) to Twin Peaks. An increasingly bizarre series of events followed, which were dramatized by David Lynch (who would himself portray Gordon Cole Jr. all too accurately) and Mark Frost in their prime time television drama named for the Palmers' hometown.