Tally Brown
Encyclopedia
Tally Brown was a singer and actress who was known to be part of the New York underground performance scene and who appeared in or was the subject of films by Andy Warhol
and Rosa von Praunheim
.
at Tanglewood
in 1947.
Along with Ruth W. Greenfield, Brown was one of the founders in 1951 of the Fine Arts Conservatory, in Miami, which The New York Times described as, "one of the first racially integrated theaters and art schools in the South."
By the 1950s, Brown had developed a rhythm-and-blues style akin to such performers as Ma Rainey
and Bessie Smith
, and during this time, she released an album entitled, A Torch for Tally, with the Jimmy Diamond Quartet. The album featured the songs Limehouse Blues
, Honeysuckle Rose
, and My Man
.
Brown was also cast in productions of Mame, The Pajama Game
, Medea
, and other shows, which were staged on and off Broadway.
In the 1960s and 70's, Brown sang in notable New York City nightclubs such as Reno Sweeney's and S.N.A.F.U. She also provided entertainment at the Continental Baths
, a gay bathhouse
in New York City. Following her death, The New York Times published an obituary in which Brown and her singing style were thus described: "A short, stout singer with wild black hair, Ms. Brown was known for her intense, dramatic renditions of songs by Kurt Weill
, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie
."
" and the 1965 film "Camp," both directed by Warhol. In one scene from "Camp
," Brown mimicked Yma Sumac
.
Brown appeared in such experimental films as "Brand X
" and "The Illiac Passion." She was also featured in the 1974 horror film "Silent Night, Bloody Night
."
In 1970, she was among a panel of guests who participated in a discussion on the David Susskind Show
about Warhol's 1969 underground film, "Trash
." Also interviewed were other members of Warhol's “Factory.”
and others...." Released in 1979 in the former West Germany, "Tally Brown, New York" was a portrait of Brown’s singing and acting career. Distinguished cameo appearances in the film included that of Divine and Holly Woodlawn
.
In the same year of its release, the documentary won the Film Award in Silver at the German Film Awards for Outstanding Non-Feature Film. The documentary was also noteworthy for its use of cinéma vérité
in its opening shot by depicting New York's gritty street life in and around Times Square
in the 1970s, before it was later cleaned up.
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and Rosa von Praunheim
Rosa von Praunheim
Rosa von Praunheim , in Riga, Latvia. His given name is Holger Mischwitzky. He is a German film director, author, painter and gay rights activist. Openly gay, he is one of the initiators of the gay rights movement in Germany....
.
Musical and singing career
Brown received classical musical training at Juilliard; however, she later took up the genres of jazz and the blues after having met Leonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
in 1947.
Along with Ruth W. Greenfield, Brown was one of the founders in 1951 of the Fine Arts Conservatory, in Miami, which The New York Times described as, "one of the first racially integrated theaters and art schools in the South."
By the 1950s, Brown had developed a rhythm-and-blues style akin to such performers as Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues....
and Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
, and during this time, she released an album entitled, A Torch for Tally, with the Jimmy Diamond Quartet. The album featured the songs Limehouse Blues
Limehouse Blues
Limehouse Blues is a world famous jazz standard , as well as a 1934 crime film is set in London's Chinese district and starring George Raft and Anna May Wong. The film is named after the tune...
, Honeysuckle Rose
Honeysuckle Rose (song)
"Honeysuckle Rose" is a 1928 song composed by Fats Waller, whose lyrics were written by Andy Razaf. Fats Waller's 1934 recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999....
, and My Man
Mon Homme
"Mon Homme" is a popular song known by its English translation, My Man. The song was originally composed by Jacques Charles, Channing Pollack, Albert Willemetz, and Maurice Yvain.-History:...
.
Brown was also cast in productions of Mame, The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
, Medea
Medea
Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
, and other shows, which were staged on and off Broadway.
In the 1960s and 70's, Brown sang in notable New York City nightclubs such as Reno Sweeney's and S.N.A.F.U. She also provided entertainment at the Continental Baths
Continental Baths
In 1968, Steve Ostrow opened the Continental Baths in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel in New York City. Continental Baths was advertised as reminiscent of "the glory of ancient Rome."-Facilities:...
, a gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
in New York City. Following her death, The New York Times published an obituary in which Brown and her singing style were thus described: "A short, stout singer with wild black hair, Ms. Brown was known for her intense, dramatic renditions of songs by Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
."
Acting career
Brown began her film acting career by appearing in the 1964 film "Batman DraculaBatman Dracula
Batman Dracula is a American film that was produced and directed by Andy Warhol, without the permission of DC Comics.-Production background:The film was screened only at his art exhibits...
" and the 1965 film "Camp," both directed by Warhol. In one scene from "Camp
Camp (film)
Camp is a 2003 American independent musical film written and directed by Todd Graff, about an upstate New York performing arts summer camp. The film is based on Graff's own experiences at a similar camp called Stagedoor Manor. The film was released in 2003 by IFC Films.-Plot:The film centers on the...
," Brown mimicked Yma Sumac
Yma Súmac
Yma Sumac was a noted Peruvian soprano. In the 1950s, she was one of the most famous proponents of exotica music. She became an international success based on her extreme vocal range, which was said to be "well over four octaves" and was sometimes claimed to span even five octaves at her peak.Yma...
.
Brown appeared in such experimental films as "Brand X
Brand X
Brand X was a jazz fusion band active between 1975–1980 and 1992-1999. Noted members included Phil Collins , Percy Jones , John Goodsall and Robin Lumley ....
" and "The Illiac Passion." She was also featured in the 1974 horror film "Silent Night, Bloody Night
Silent Night, Bloody Night
Not to be confused with a more controversial and popular film called Silent Night, Deadly Night.Silent Night, Bloody Night is a low-budget 1974 psychological horror film directed by Theodore Gershuny. It stars Patrick O'Neal and cult actress Mary Woronov in leading roles, with John Carradine in a...
."
The New York underground performance scene
Brown was "prominent in the underground performance world of the 1960's and 70's." In the summer of 1964, Brown first met Warhol at a benefit for the Living Theatre, the alternative theatre in New York City of which she was a member. Brown would later be featured in at least two of Warhol's films.In 1970, she was among a panel of guests who participated in a discussion on the David Susskind Show
David Susskind Show
The David Susskind Show was an American television talk show hosted by David Susskind. The program began its existence in 1958 as Open End, and was broadcast by WNTA-TV in New York City...
about Warhol's 1969 underground film, "Trash
Trash (film)
Trash is a 1970 American film directed and written by filmmaker Paul Morrissey.The movie stars Joe Dallesandro, transsexual Holly Woodlawn and Jane Forth. Dallesandro had previously starred in several other Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey films such as The Loves of Ondine, Lonesome Cowboys, and Flesh...
." Also interviewed were other members of Warhol's “Factory.”
Tally Brown, New York
German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim directed a documentary based on the life of Brown entitled "Tally Brown, New York" in which he relied on "extensive interviews with Brown, as she recounts her collaboration with Warhol, Taylor MeadTaylor Mead
Taylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....
and others...." Released in 1979 in the former West Germany, "Tally Brown, New York" was a portrait of Brown’s singing and acting career. Distinguished cameo appearances in the film included that of Divine and Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
.
In the same year of its release, the documentary won the Film Award in Silver at the German Film Awards for Outstanding Non-Feature Film. The documentary was also noteworthy for its use of cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
in its opening shot by depicting New York's gritty street life in and around Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
in the 1970s, before it was later cleaned up.
Filmography
- Batman DraculaBatman DraculaBatman Dracula is a American film that was produced and directed by Andy Warhol, without the permission of DC Comics.-Production background:The film was screened only at his art exhibits...
(1964) - CampCamp (film)Camp is a 2003 American independent musical film written and directed by Todd Graff, about an upstate New York performing arts summer camp. The film is based on Graff's own experiences at a similar camp called Stagedoor Manor. The film was released in 2003 by IFC Films.-Plot:The film centers on the...
(1965) - **** (1967)
- The Illiac Passion (1967) as Venus
- Brand XBrand XBrand X was a jazz fusion band active between 1975–1980 and 1992-1999. Noted members included Phil Collins , Percy Jones , John Goodsall and Robin Lumley ....
(1970) as Talk Show Hostess - Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers (1972) as Mary Poppins
- Leidenschaften (1972) as Herself
- 1 Berlin-Harlem (1974)
- Silent Night, Bloody NightSilent Night, Bloody NightNot to be confused with a more controversial and popular film called Silent Night, Deadly Night.Silent Night, Bloody Night is a low-budget 1974 psychological horror film directed by Theodore Gershuny. It stars Patrick O'Neal and cult actress Mary Woronov in leading roles, with John Carradine in a...
(1974) as Inmate - The Art of Crime (1975) (TV) as Cedie
- Now or Never (1979) as Herself
- Night of the JugglerNight of the Juggler-Plot summary:A former New York City cop searches for his daughter who is kidnapped by a psychopath after being mistaken for a wealthy man's daughter. His search is met with obstacles as he runs afoul of the police in his pursuit, including a former corrupt colleague bent on revenge against him...
(1980) as Peep Show Owner - Tally Brown, New York (1979) as Herself
- Mein New York (1982) (TV) as Herself
Trivia
- Brown shared billing on "Silent Night, Bloody NightSilent Night, Bloody NightNot to be confused with a more controversial and popular film called Silent Night, Deadly Night.Silent Night, Bloody Night is a low-budget 1974 psychological horror film directed by Theodore Gershuny. It stars Patrick O'Neal and cult actress Mary Woronov in leading roles, with John Carradine in a...
" with many actors from Warhol's "Factory" years: Mary WoronovMary WoronovMary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
, Ondine, Candy DarlingCandy DarlingCandy Darling was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt , and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.-Early life:Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest...
, Kristen Steen, Lewis Love, director Jack SmithJack Smith-In sport:*Jack Smith , 19th century footballer in 1892–1895*Jack Smith , English player with Wolverhampton Wanderers and others* Jack Smith , English international footballer...
, and artist Susan RothenbergSusan RothenbergSusan Rothenberg is a contemporary painter who lives and works in New Mexico, USA.-Background:Rothenberg was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1945...
.
External links
- http://movies.amctv.com/person/198851/Tally-Brown/synopsis
- Tally Brown singing "Heroes"
- "Lady grinning soul", vocal by Tally Brown
- http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A15F63E5E157493C7AB1788D85F418785F9&scp=2&sq=tally%20brown&st=cse