'' Tally Brown, New York '' is a 1979 documentary film directed, written and produced by

Rosa von Praunheim Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky (born Holger Radtke; 25 November 1942), known professionally as Rosa von Praunheim, is a German film director, author, painter and one of the most famous gay rights activists in the German-speaking world. In ov ...

. The film received international attention and was shown, for example, at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1979.

Plot

The film follows the singing and acting career of Tally Brown, a classically trained opera and blues singer who became a star of the New York

underground scene Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...

in the late 1960s. In this documentary, von Praunheim draws on extensive interviews with Brown, in which she shares her collaborations with

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

Taylor Mead Taylor Mead (December 31, 1924 – May 8, 2013) was an American writer, actor and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films filmed at Warhol's Factory, including ''Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of'' (1963) and ...

and other artists, and friendships with Ching Ho Cheng,

Holly Woodlawn Holly Woodlawn (October 26, 1946 – December 6, 2015) was a transgender Puerto Rican actress and Warhol superstar who appeared in the films ''Trash'' (1970) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971). She is also known as the Holly in Lou Reed's hit glam r ...

and

Divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

. Brown opens the film with a cover of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's ''Heroes'' and closes with ''Rock 'n' Roll Suicide''. The film not only captures Tally Brown's career, but also a certain New York milieu of the 1970s.

Production notes

The documentary is also notable for being the first of Praunheim's many portraits of women, mostly aging legendary performers, who have become iconic figures in the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

community.

Awards

* 1979: German Film Award (for best non-feature film) * 1979: Nominated for the Gold Hugo at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

Reception

The

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

wrote: "In its way, ''Tally Brown, New York'' is the best documentary about New York since Chantal Akerman's '' News From Home''", and "a must-see for all those interested in performance and the cultural history of New York in the ’70s."

Notes

External links

References

*Murray, Raymond. ''Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Guide''. TLA Publications, 1994, {{DEFAULTSORT:Tally Brown, New York 1979 films West German films 1970s German-language films 1979 documentary films German documentary films Documentary films about New York City Documentary films about actors Documentary films about singers Films directed by Rosa von Praunheim Documentary films about LGBT topics Historiography of LGBT in New York City Documentary films about the cinema of the United States 1979 LGBT-related films Documentary films about women in music American documentary films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1970s German films