The Rejection is Mutual (1971)

 

The Rejection is Mutual (Edited)

By Nick Kazan

The San Francisco Chronicle

July 11, 1971

This is part of a larger article about independent filmmakers in San Francisco in the early 1970s.  The part  about the letter filmmaker Bruce Conner received from John Lennon is of interest to this site, so that is the part I am reproducing.  

 

    Bruce Connor, who has a gentle face, stringy hair, and beard, describes himself as 73 years old and is hoping to move on from his home movies. "I want to make movies in Hollywood. I want to make technicolor epics in stereophonic sound."  He realizes he will lose some freedom, but seems to welcome the challenge. "You don't try to play canasta in a hard poker game."

     An example of how meticulous Connor is, and of the artistic freedom he will lose if he goes big, is a film called Looking for Mushrooms, which Connor shot in 1961 in Mexico. He cut the film from 15 to three minutes. Three years later, he added sound. In 1967, he heard The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", and re-edited his movie to fit that song. The film, which now lasts a little over two minutes, was six years in production.

     On its completion, Connor mailed copies to all the Beatles and asked John Lennon for a fan letter. Lennon replied, in part:

 Dear Bruce Conner, you don't know me, but I know you, and you are my fave rave, and I'd like a Fab Gear photo of you, and your family, and all your hogs, and cats. You must keep being such a world famous, and I'm not just saying that becaz you are so, as I said, known, and don't just think of me as some little, well, you know, CONNER MANIAC.  I'm a truly introverted admimmeror, and it's my sister what likes the monkees, even though you are old and hairy. I love you, even though you are married tell your wife not to worry, it's not a deep down mother-- greasy knicker kind of love, it's a warmhighkneeholdDaveClarkkindoftruebluesort of thing, John Lennon.

     "It was so weird", Connor said, "writing him and getting the letter, you know, trying to relate to these people who are in your life all the time.

     "After I got the letter, I suffered from an acute attack of Beatlemania; I got very drunk and sent John a gushy letter, and never heard from him again."