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Scott B and Beth B (also known as Scott and Beth B, Beth and Scott B or The Bs after B Movies) were among the best-known New York No Wave underground film makers of the late 1970s and early 1980s. They went on to form an
independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...
production company called B Movies (a pun on
B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
s), which made the feature film '' Vortex'' on 16-mm film, starring Lydia Lunch (of
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks Teenage Jesus and the Jerks were an influential American no wave band, based in New York City, who formed part of the city's no wave movement. Background Lydia Lunch met saxophonist James Chance at CBGB and moved into his two-room apartment. ...
) with James Russo,
Bill Rice Wilburn Steven Rice (born April 19, 1939 in Datto, Arkansas) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Rice charted six singles between 1971 and 1978, including the Top 40 hit "Travelin' Minstrel Man", but is better known for his songw ...
, Haoui Montaug, Richard Prince,
Brent Collins Brent Collins (October 31, 1941 – January 6, 1988) was an American actor who played the role of Mr. Big in the daytime soap opera ''As the World Turns'' from 1982 to 1983, and Wallingford on '' Another World'', from 1984 until his death. O ...
, and
Ann Magnuson Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by ''The New York Times'' in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as Lil ...
, among others. Beth B is the daughter of painter Ida Applebroog, who has collaborated on two of her films.


Study and work history

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Scott B and Beth B were among the most significant proponents of the punk bohemia, No Wave, no-budget style of underground punk filmmaking that was concerned with issues of simulation typical of
postmodernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...
. Beth studied art at the School of Visual Arts and Scott was an exhibiting sculptor.Masters, Marc. ''No Wave''. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007, p. 156 They married and became associated with Colab (Collaborative Projects) and worked out of New York City's East Village area in conjunction with performance artists and
noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...
ians. They created a series of noisy, scruffy, deeply personal short Super 8 mm films in which they combined violent themes and darkly
sinister Sinister commonly refers to: * Evil * Ominous Sinister may also refer to: Left side * Sinister, Latin for the direction " left" * Sinister, in heraldry, is the bearer's true left side (viewers' right side) of an escutcheon or coat of arms; see ...
images to explore the manner in which the individual is constrained by society. The Bs' 8mm films were full of downtown obsessions: terror politics, torture, sexual domination and submission, and punk rock music. The brief length of these films allows them to effectively assault the viewer in a hit-and-run, belt-in-the-gut manner. They would cast musicians and other popular downtown personalities in their films. The Bs cleverly used the scene's social energy with weekly film shoots that were quickly edited and then screened as film serial episodes at music clubs such as the
Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...
and
Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Decembe ...
. These films are at once contemplative and confrontational, penetrating and politically loaded. Films like this are virtually impossible to criticize because they glory in carefully DIY style of
simulate A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...
d amateurism. In G-Man, Scott B and Beth B attack society's power structures as they depict a cop who feels compelled to employ a dominatrix. No Wave Cinema maker and artist James Nares appears in it, among others. It developed out of the short video ''NYPD Arson and Explosions vs. FALN'' that was part of the Colab project of weekly aired television programs on cable called ''All Color News''. Black Box is the name of a torture contraption that was devised in the United States and used in foreign nations. In '' Black Box'', a man played by
Bob Mason Robert Thomas Mason (born April 22, 1961) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. During his career he played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Quebec Nordiques, and Vancouver C ...
is imprisoned in one such box, where he is tortured and the viewer endures his suffering. ''Black Box'' encapsulate all the Bs' major themes: crime, mind control, and sexual repression with the "minimal perfect-build" aesthetic of the man-sized vibrating containers Scott produced in his 1975 sculptor days. The plot is simple: a passive innocent leaves his tawdry room, neon
Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...
sign blinking ominously through the window, '' Mission: Impossible'' flickering on the TV, and amorous girlfriend draped across the bed, to be kidnapped
Patty Hearst Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found a ...
-style by a gang of punk thought-police. Menaced by an ogreish mad scientist, stripped, hung upside down, and tormented by surly, "shut up and suffer", Lydia Lunch, the passive innocent is finally crammed into the dread refrigerator, where he, and we, are bombarded by a 10-minute crescendo of sound and light. Appearing in Black Box is
Bob Mason Robert Thomas Mason (born April 22, 1961) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. During his career he played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, Quebec Nordiques, and Vancouver C ...
(the hostage), Kiki Smith, Lydia Lunch, Christof Kohlhofer, Harvey Robbins, and Ulli Rimkus. According to film scholar
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster Gwendolyn Audrey Foster is an experimental filmmaker, artist and author. She is Willa Cather Professor Emerita in Film Studies. Her work has focused on gender, race, ecofeminism, queer sexuality, eco-theory, and class studies. York College of ...
, ''Black Box'' is a "terrifying allegory of societal restriction of the individual."
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster Gwendolyn Audrey Foster is an experimental filmmaker, artist and author. She is Willa Cather Professor Emerita in Film Studies. Her work has focused on gender, race, ecofeminism, queer sexuality, eco-theory, and class studies. York College of ...
, 1995, Greenwood Press, Westport (CT) & London, ''Women Film Directors: An International Bio-Critical Dictionary'', Retrieved December 15, 2014, see page(s): 29
The Offenders, also shot in Super 8 mm, is a punk savage satire about a
kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
. '' The Offenders'' was originally presented as a series of serial screenings at
Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Decembe ...
and the
Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...
. Appearing in ''The Offenders'' is John Lurie, G. H. Hovagimyan, Scott B, Judy Nylon, art critic
Edit DeAk Edit DeAk (; formerly deAk; ; September 16, 1948 – June 9, 2017) was a Hungarian-born American art critic and writer, co-founder of the journal '' Art-Rite'' and the non-profit bookstore and artist book distributor, Printed Matter, Inc. Early l ...
, and Lydia Lunch, among others. The full version was shown at Film Forum and other film houses during the height of the New York City crime wave.Masters, Marc. ''No Wave''. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007, p. 160 Vortex, shot in 16 mm and made for $70,000 thanks to a National Endowment for the Arts grant via Colab, is a
film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
ish drama featuring frequent collaborator Lydia Lunch as a detective who becomes immersed in corporate chicanery and the exploitation of politicians by companies soliciting defense contracts. The soundtrack for '' Vortex'' contains
noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...
by Richard Edson, Lydia Lunch,
Adele Bertei Adele Maria Bertei (born 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, writer and director. Early life Bertei was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1955. She is the oldest of three children born to Katherine (née Murphy) and Umberto Bertei. Her father wa ...
, Kristian Hoffman, and The Bs. ''Vortex'' has been called the last No Wave film made.


Post-Collaboration work history

*In 1987, Scott B and Joseph Nechvatal collaborated on an art performance at
Hallwalls Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (aka Hallwalls) is a non-profit art organization located in Buffalo, New York. Since 1974, Hallwalls has shown and shows the work of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds who work in film, video, literature ...
based on the poetry of
St. John of the Cross John of the Cross, OCD ( es, link=no, Juan de la Cruz; la, Ioannes a Cruce; born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and a Carmelite friar of converso origin. He is a major figu ...
, Flaubert's ''Temptation of St. Anthony'' and works of
Jean Genet Jean Genet (; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels ''The Thief's ...
and
Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...
called ''Not a Door: A Spectacle'', which featured the actors Richard Edson and
Mark Boone Junior Mark Boone Junior (born Mark Heidrich; March 17, 1955) is an American character actor, best known for his TV roles as Bobby Munson in ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–14) and Patrick "Pat" Brown in '' Last Man On Earth'', and film roles in Christopher ...
. * Beth B went on to direct such films as ''
Salvation! ''Salvation!'' (also known as ''Salvation!: Have You Said Your Prayers Today?'') is a 1987 American black comedy film directed by Beth B, and starring Viggo Mortensen, Exene Cervenka, and Stephen McHattie. The film is a parody of televangelism ...
'' and ''
Two Small Bodies ''Two Small Bodies'' is a 1993 thriller directed by Beth B and starring Fred Ward and Suzy Amis. The film is based on the 1977 American stage play ''Two Small Bodies'' by Neal Bell. The film was screened at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival ...
''.


Scott B and Beth B filmography

*''G-Man'' (1978) *'' Black Box'' (1978) *''Letters to Dad'' (1979) *'' The Offenders'' (1980) *''The Trap Door'' (1981) *'' Vortex'' (1981)


Beth B solo filmography

*1987: ''
Salvation! ''Salvation!'' (also known as ''Salvation!: Have You Said Your Prayers Today?'') is a 1987 American black comedy film directed by Beth B, and starring Viggo Mortensen, Exene Cervenka, and Stephen McHattie. The film is a parody of televangelism ...
'' *1989: ''Belladonna'' (short) (actor, co-director with Ida Applebroog) *1991: ''American Nightmare'' (short) *1991: ''Thanatopsis'' (short) *1991: ''Stigmata'' (short) *1991: ''Shut Up and Suffer'' (short) *1992: ''Amnesia'' (short) *1993: ''
Two Small Bodies ''Two Small Bodies'' is a 1993 thriller directed by Beth B and starring Fred Ward and Suzy Amis. The film is based on the 1977 American stage play ''Two Small Bodies'' by Neal Bell. The film was screened at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival ...
'' (co-writer, co-producer) *1993: ''Under Lock and Key'' (short) *1994: ''High Heel Nights'' (short) *1995: ”Out of Sight/Out of Mind” (short) *1996: ''Visiting Desire'' (documentary) (cinematographer, producer, sound) *2013: ''
Exposed Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * ''The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...
'' *2016: ''Call Her Applebroog'' *2019: '' Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over''


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott B and Beth B Living people Postmodern artists Artists from New York (state) American conceptual artists American experimental filmmakers American film producers American screenwriters American film directors American theatre directors Women theatre directors New Wave Punk people American male actors American actresses American women film producers Women experimental filmmakers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Women in punk