414
PARTISAN REVIEW
tripod a nd a pony . H e shrouded himself under the black clo th , held
up a fa ke bouquet nex t to the lens ("Look here a nd smil e"), clicked,
a nd dipped the pho togra ph in a liquid . I sat on the pony fo r one
shot. Then we did a nother , without the pony, o f just me a nd C lem
in a campy postdinner hug.
C amp. A bra nd new word used by Clem a nd J ohn M eyers,
whom I also met a t The R emo earl y tha t fa ll. J ohn came in alone
a nd j oined us a t our table full o f news about a gall ery he was starting
under the
EI
on 53 rd Stree t, eas t of Third in a brownstone ove r a n
ice suppli er. H e was exc ited about pla ns for a show whi ch he con–
ceived with M a rie Me nken :
*
bedshee t sizes of ra re lace tha t li t up in
the da rk , fluo resce nt. The idea was tha t a t intervals during the di xie–
cupped "wet" ope ning the li ghts would be turned out. Pure camp .
As that evening at the res taura nt progressed , the two men
(equ all y eage r on the subj ec t) di scussed C lem's sugges ti on tha t there
was a need fo r a mo re se ri ou s gallery tha t would show some inte res t–
ing a rt is ts who had no pl ace to show. M a ny o f the eve nts a nd names
that foll owed have been recorded a nd di ges ted in reruns o f the earl y
fifti es.
For me, a good picture of tha t adva nce gua rd was fo rmed then ,
a t the Sa n R emo .
• M arie was a la rge woma n ma rried to Will ard M aas , the poet. T hey lived in Brook–
lyn H eights and gave good pa ri ies. T he irs was o ne of many "undergrou nds" of the
ea rl y lifties; a "freq ue ncy" tha t included the la te J ohn LaTouche, who produced
The
Golden Apple
in the earl y days of the Phoe ni x T heater.
