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 An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. Notable examples include: John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'', David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'', Andy Warhol's '' Blue Movie'', Rosa von Praunheim's '' ...

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 A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

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 In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in ...

'' on 16-mm film, starring

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

(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 apartmen ...

) with

James Russo James Vincent Russo (born April 23, 1953) is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in over 150 films in three decades. Early life Russo was born in New York City, New York, to an Italian father and German mother. A graduate of t ...

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 Haoui Montaug (1952 – June 7, 1991) was a doorman of the New York City nightclubs Hurrah, Mudd Club, Danceteria, Studio 54, and the Palladium. Montaug also ran the roving cabaret revue No Entiendes which showcased among others a young Madonn ...

Richard Prince Richard Prince (born 1949) is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image, ''Untitled (Cowboy)'', a rephotographing of a photograph by Sam Abell and ...

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 Li ...

, among others. Beth B is the daughter of painter

Ida Applebroog Ida Applebroog (born November 11, 1929) is an American multi-media artist who is best-known for her paintings and sculptures that explore the themes of gender, sexual identity, violence and politics. Applebroog has been the recipient of multiple ...

, 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 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 ...

typical of

postmodernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

. Beth studied art at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

and Scott was an exhibiting sculptor.Masters, Marc. ''No Wave''. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2007, p. 156 They married and became associated with

Colab Colab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. History Colab members came together as a collective in ...

(Collaborative Projects) and worked out of New York City's East Village area in conjunction with

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ists 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 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8 ...

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 de ...

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 Decem ...

. 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 "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

style of simulated 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 A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for inflic ...

. 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

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 In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

'', a man played by Bob Mason is imprisoned in one such box, where he is

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

d and the viewer endures his suffering. ''Black Box'' encapsulate all the Bs' major themes: crime,

mind control Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashin ...

, and

sexual repression Sexual repression is a state in which a person is prevented from expressing their own sexuality. Sexual repression is often linked with feelings of guilt or shame being associated with sexual impulses. Defining characteristics and practices ass ...

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 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 ...

-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",

, 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 (the hostage),

Kiki Smith Kiki Smith (born January 18, 1954) is a West German-born American artist whose work has addressed the themes of sex, birth and regeneration. Her figurative work of the late 1980s and early 1990s confronted subjects such as AIDS and gender, whil ...

, 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."

, 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

and the

. Appearing in ''The Offenders'' is

John Lurie John Lurie (born December 14, 1952) is an American musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. He co-founded the Lounge Lizards jazz ensemble; has acted in 19 films, including ''Stranger than Paradise'' and '' Down by Law''; has composed ...

G. H. Hovagimyan G. H. Hovagimyan (aka Gerry Hovagimyan) is an American experimental cross-media, new media art and performance artist who lives and works in New York City. Formation and early work Hovagimyan was born 1950 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1972, h ...

, Scott B,

Judy Nylon Judy Nylon is a widely influential multidisciplinary American artist who moved to London in 1970. She was half of the punk rock music group Snatch, which also featured fellow American expat Patti Palladin (who was later in The Flying Lizards). ...

, 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 li ...

, and

, among others. The full version was shown at

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Kare ...

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 The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

grant via

, 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 ''

'' contains

Richard Edson Richard Edson (born January 1, 1954) is an American actor and musician. Personal life Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York to a Jewish family. He has one brother, Steven, who resides in the Boston area, and two sisters, Andrea, who resides ...

, 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 Kristian Hoffman is an American musician. Biography and career Kristian Hoffman came into public consciousness as the best friend of Lance Loud in the PBS series ''An American Family.'' His sister is the writer Nina Kiriki Hoffman. During the ...

, and The Bs. ''Vortex'' has been called the last No Wave film made.

Post-Collaboration work history

*In 1987, Scott B and

Joseph Nechvatal Joseph Nechvatal (born January 15, 1951) is an American post-conceptual digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses. Life and work Joseph Ne ...

collaborated on an art performance at Hallwalls 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 Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

'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 ...

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

and Mark Boone Junior. * 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. Pr ...

''.

Scott B and Beth B filmography

*''G-Man'' (1978) *''

'' (1978) *''Letters to Dad'' (1979) *'' The Offenders'' (1980) *''The Trap Door'' (1981) *''

'' (1981)

Beth B solo filmography

*1987: ''

'' *1989: ''Belladonna'' (short) (actor, co-director with

) *1991: ''American Nightmare'' (short) *1991: ''Thanatopsis'' (short) *1991: ''Stigmata'' (short) *1991: ''Shut Up and Suffer'' (short) *1992: ''Amnesia'' (short) *1993: ''

'' (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