This issue of Musea is the latest draft of a movie, a very original movie, my movie, a movie decades in the making, a movie called MONDO TOM or
HOME MOVIES
(a conceptual art, film?). It's a type of film - an art exhibit, film - that's never been done before, and I doubt that after it's made, anyone else could do another like it. It's a culmination of all my work, a sampler of all my work, and a beginning to bringing all my work to the public. It's big, Big, BIG! And hopefully you'll have as much fun reading the screenplay and seeing it in your mind's eye, as I did writing it. Enjoy!
LIGHTS! CAMERA! ... ACTION! The scene opens on....
ACT ONE: Title: A black screen. A click is heard, and up pops a painting of a lightbulb that is yellow against a red background as Schubert's Landler #5 in Bm plays. When the piano piece finishes, the camera pulls back, and we see it pull back from the pupil of my eye to a full b/w photo of me. The light bulb was a light inside my head!
Overture Curtain Lights: Black and white concert footage of me and a small combo singing and playing the rock/jazz , fast version of The Bugs Bunny Theme.
The Welcoming: I come out from a curtain in formal wear, welcome the audience, and announce the movie: Ladies and Gentlemen, My name is Tom Hendricks, and on behalf of myself and the rest of the cast and crew, I would like to welcome you to my movie, Mondo Tom (screen adds writing in parentheses, Home Movies).
We've got some music and dances, some comedy and romances, and a surfeit of surprises too. So without further adieu... Let the show begin!" (Note: before each scene from here on out, the camera fades into a title card for that segment - yellow or blue writing on red background - then fades out )
Au-tom-bio, - Dressing Up and Stepping Out: Start with autobiographical photos of me leading up to my move to Dallas. Then incorporate my photos with locations in Dallas that may include: My Home, Inwood Theater, Fair Park, Kimball Museum, Downtown with a shot from Reunion Tower (the Microphone Tower), Favorite Bookstores, 500X, Bar of Soap, Love Field Antique Mall, Valley House,. Road across the bridge and into downtown etc. Music includes my songs, Musical History of TMH Aged 14-31, I Was A Gifted Child, But Nobody Noticed Till I Turned 50, etc. Plus other snippets of my music or others.
Photos - here and/or beyond ( all here together, or scattered throughout the film). Photo may include: collage of all my self portraits, In the Net, Light bulbs On, Solar System, Composers All Around,Tin Man, Whitman Reader, Towering Tom,. Photo collage of Sculpture Ideas, Mirror Twins, Singing to Photo Of..., Tommy On My Shoulder, Candle Lit Tommy, Boffo Tommy, Cuckoo Head, Photo collage of all my cartoons, etc.
Painting #1: A sample of my 2400 art works, are featured in this segment. Scene opens on a museum. A visitor steps up to a painting and it morphs to many paintings all in one style - ex. One painting morphs to show a series of landscapes, another into portraits, another still lifes, another abstracts, etc. These include works mostly done in acrylic with many colored pencil works, and some pastels.
Musea; 150 issues: As my voice over explains how and why I started the zine Musea, the camera shows each issue pop in front of the one before it, until the stack is 150 issues high. I stop the camera at some of the more notable issues to comment. Also I make a special note of all the talented contributors and the great cover photos.
Bagatelle #1: Simple set with a grand piano in front of a curtain. A classical pianist is sitting at the bench. He/she plays one or more of my short piano works, bagatelles.
Diner #1: Intro, then two slapstick comedy skits: "Menu Knucklehead" and "Loud Radio". Tommy has just paid his last installment on the mortgage to his dive of a diner. Unfortunately that's when all his troubles begin.
Film #1: Setting: downstairs control booth at the Inwood. I guide the viewer through a path of machinery to look through the glass and see the upcoming previews. There's first a brief synopsis of some of my very special films: Mondo Tom ('You're looking at it!'), Moon, Osage Murders, Granddaughter, Micro/Macro, etc. Then I explain the idea of Short Story films and suggest some anthologies such as: O Henry Stories, Uncle Abner Mysteries, Saki, Alien Mysteries, all the myriad of assorted short story film ideas, etc.. Then I list my 'kids of all ages' films: Oaka The Judge, The Valiant Little Tailor, Bremen Town Musicians (the musical), Ready, Set, Go!, etc. Film breaks, and I put up a sign technical difficulties with dancing snacks. See part two. (#119)
Writings - Plays, Short Stories: Scene opens with a close up of a closed book. It opens to a title: Writings - Plays & Short Stories. Then it moves to the contents page. Then to the first play. It lists the title and script on the left side with an illustration on the right that comes to life and recites lines from that play. Then on to the next. When it gets to short stories there is one long list of all of them. A sampling of titles is chosen one by one. As they are picked , a related illustration pops up on the right. Also a voice over fills in the details. End of segment, a gust of windshuts the book.
Box Office Concert #1: Setting - the Inwood Theater Box Office, in Dallas Tx. Scene shows "Hunkasaurus and His Pet Dog Guitar" doing a live version of one of the 120 songs from the H. And P.D. songbook. (#134).
Sayings: A crowd of people in a row are passing down a message ear to ear (like the parlor game). But instead of repeating the same message, each states one of my sayings. The first person reads off a little book entitled, The Sayings of Editor Art (Art S Revolutionary - the editor of Musea).
Paintings #2: Here are more examples of my paintings (see #1). This time the scene opens on a single easel. Paintings appear and disappear. Soon another easel pops up. By the end there is a warehouse full of easels with my paintings on all of them.
Romeo & Juliet: Song - duet. Performance of my original song set to Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet Act 2 scene 2 lines 116-141. Sung by Romeo Tom and some, as yet to be determined, Juliet. Stage is a recreation of a modern day balcony - perhaps a fire escape.
Film #2: Setting: upstairs control booth at the Inwood. The technical difficulties are solved and I show more previews of my film scripts and film ideas. First an assortment of Tom Films including: Red Hot / Cool (It's steamy or dreamy), Manley - Songs, Songs, Songs, Mr & Mrs., Hotel Waldo, Two Men Who Loved Women (And the Women They Loved), Climb, Tommy Shorts, etc. And finally I explain my ideas for Big Event Films such as: Tycho's Hvreen, Whistler's Trial, 3 Saville Row, Spindletop, The Amory Show, Woodstock (From the Ground Up), etc. (#119).
End of Modern Art: This segment is a visual recreation of my essay on an event that I suggest ended modern art. It illustrates how a conceptual art event may have signaled the end of modern art abuses. The camera shows me walking home from a Dallas " taco place'. The voice over reads the essay. Interspersed with me walking and realizing the conceptual art moment, are assorted visuals from the art world to help illustrate the essay. All in all it's a reenactment of the "End of Modern Art" event of 1/08/02 at 1:30 - 1:40 PM. (#135)
Writings - Novels: Same scene set up as Writings - Plays and Short Stories. This time the magic book's contents go through each novel: Cendrillon, Portraits, (both finished) and ?, Writings in Science, 3 (all in stages of completion). End of segment , book closes shut again.
1300+ Songs: Scene opens on a very modern, very minimalistic, jukebox. On the left top is a number counter. Below it is a key pad. Some hand keys in a number. On the right the sheet music (my hand written version of the song) comes up, and that song begins. The segment spotlights a number of my songs including all those used in this movie. It showcases the amount and variation of music I've composed.
Intermission: Music over the scene is DAY, Piano Piece in Am (#693)
ACT TWO:
Intro Music in F: The music playing behind the "Act Two" intro card is my guitar piece titled F Intro.
Records: The Scene opens on a close up of an old record player. Sound over is assorted music from my recordings. As snippets and samples play, show the cover art work (and maybe some voice over comments). Includes the 3 'th" singles, the cast recording of the rock opera John and Martha with Karen Bella, all 12 X 12 recordings (including "Tom's Favorites from 12 By 12"), my first record (songwriter only) Your Love is True by the American Blues '67, Hunkasaurus and Pet Dog Guitar recordings, etc.
Drawings #1: This segment showcases samples of my drawings: portraits, landscapes, still lifes, abstracts, illustrations, cartoons, etc. with some (but not much) voice over comment. Some drawings are shown by themselves, some in series, some in rapid succession, some in groups. Showcases range and depth of drawings.
Diner #2: "If this donut was fresh". Laughs continue as a restaurant critic checks out Tommy's diner. (See above) The scene builds to a one upmanship food fight that starts with the critic saying, "If this donut was fresh would I do this (to you and your diner)?"
Home: The scene opens on the cardboard construction of my first model of my 'Dreamhouse'. Then it metamorphs to blueprints of it, then a dollhouse version of it. The voice over takes you on a tour of each of the 8 floors + basement . (#140)
Z - Puzzle: Camera shows a close up of a single sheet of paper with the "Z" puzzle on it. The sheet has lines and lines of "z's that are code for some message. Voice over asks if you can solve it - and warns you that no one has yet.
Guitar #1: Simple set with a classical guitarist sitting on a chair in front of a curtain. He/she plays one or more of my short guitar pieces for standard guitar.
Writings - Poems #1: This segment looks at a sampling of my 5,500 poems - specifically the longer pieces such as Day (#117), the story poems, the collections such as Bestiary, or The Moon, etc. Backdrop - photo of one of my old typewriters. AND/OR.The viewer sees my notebook version of the poem, then a readable translation with voice overs reciting the poems.
HouseDallas - Fashion: Scene opens on a clothes design shop called HouseDallas (HD). Take the Catwalk inside. It's Couture land - classy, but not just for the rich. On a worktable is my clothes design workbook and drawings for assorted clothes. The viewer sees a drawing, then a model wearing the finished work. May include jackets such as The Model T Jacket, The Lab Coat, No Sweat Sweatshirt, The Button Down World - Jacket, The Watch Jacket, and The Cozy Classy Pancho. Next - dresses, skirts, and blouses such as The Hippie Dress (and that line of designs for women and children), The Bowling Shirt, The Purr-fect Sports jacket, the Long Sleeve T, The "Its the American Uniform" T-shirt (to be worn with blue jeans); The Ideal Jumpsuit, the Prom Style formal dresses, etc. Finally - fun accessories such as The Dog Tag Line - afordable neck and pin jewelry, Chinese Hat, Cartoon Belt, and Tommy Knot ties. Lots to see at HouseDallas. (#126)
Tyger Tyger: Song. Performance of my original song set to the William Blake poem Tyger, Tyger. Note the strong drums throughout!
Essay on Education: This segment highlights my major essay on all aspects of educational reforms (#97) Plus a mention of the book Cogitology - The Art Of Thinking co-written with GKH Bryant (#90), and English
Spelling Reforms: (#42) I play a teacher in front of a vast group of students in a huge lecture hall. I write on the blackboard , "My Name is Mr. Hendricks" (erase). The first thing I do in my classes is dump lectures like this - dismissed! Then in front of all the other teachers I write, "If the student gets out of school and no longer loves to learn, the school has failed. Then I show them their report card, "F". Then back to the blackboard for a list of educational reforms. Voice over discusses some of the main ones before the final bell sounds.
Biz: Setting, a city street. Every skyscraper is a 100 stories tall and looks the same drab grey until we come to two cozy one-story small shops next to each other. The first Says "Guaranteed Review Service". We enter and see a sign "In back, ring bell". Then Look around as voice over explains what type of business it is: a guaranteed review service for all artists with reviews promptly and permanently posted on a website. (#109). Then we go next door to the 2nd shop called, "News - Land". We enter and see a sign "In back, ring bell". Then look around as voice over explains what type of business it is: a newspaper that gets back to basics of good solid journalism, and it does it without ads or sponsors. (#142).
Dance: Scene, a dance studio. I am surrounded by a room full of dancers, and am holding in my hand my issue of Musea #129 that showcases a synopsis of 30 original dances in an anthology / film titled Terpsichore. The scene talks about new ideas in dance such as story dancing, and shows ideas from my original story dances such as : Tin Soldier, Tightrop Walker, Porcelain Figurines, Mannequin, Courtship of the Birds, Cyrano, Morning on the Beach, Hoedown Showdown, Jester, Jack In the Box, Daedalus and Icarus (in air), Mermaids (in water), Fur Elise, etc. (#129)
Bio Tom: The scene is a laboratory in black and white, with testubes and beakers of primordial soup bubbling over a bunsen burner - also tubes filled with lightning flashes. Overall a very gothic look. I have on a lab coat and am holding my book of notes, "Hendricks Health Theory". It has a single fold out sheet that goes through the entire hypothesis like a time line: sun heat cycle forces a chemical system into being that has the novel properties that allow it to adapt to the sun cycle, that sets up energy-in and waste-out, that sets up the 4 options, that leads to humans with their subconscious 4 options problems, that leads to my therapy to resolve them. Also add illustrations and notes along the way. These will be both in the margins of the text and/or on the screen where they fade in,then fade away. (#122).
TV & Radio: Setting: table with 3 TV sets - all on, all static. The middle one comes on with excerpts from the Tom Hendricks TV Show (6 episodes on cable access TV) and the other two come on with arrows on their screen pointing to the middle TV. Then like 3 card monte, the TV's alternate with TV show ideas. While one shows an idea - the other two show arrows to that TV. The 40+ show ideas include: Tugboat (Children's program)", Soapbox, "Musea Art Gallery, Stamp Collector, Theater World, Boris & Natasha, High Thinking and Super Thoughts, Scout Hour, Public Domain Theater, Fashion Hour and Model Life, etc. Then towards the end one radio shows up on TV. The other two show a radio tower beaming signals. The radio jumps around as it showcases my radio program ideas such as Sun and Moon radio, Monday Record Party, A Million in a Row, etc. (#61,#128).
Danny Rimshot: Drummer Danny is in a studio. Voice over asks him to play a rimshot after every joke - and "PLEASE don't laugh. This is very serious!" Voice over tells very corny jokes to try to break Danny up starting with "I just flew in from Chicago and boy are my arms tired....' Let's see if he can get through it without breaking up.
Published Books and Bookmarks: Setting, a quiet, cozy, corner of a library. It's the Hendricks shelf full of my published books and chapbooks. Facing out are Art Revolutionary's Handbook, The Best Of Musea - the First 50 Issues, Portraits (novel), Moon Tea( children's anthology), All About Nothing (essays by GKHB), Rating the 60's Concerts, Medusa (play), Library Planet (novella), Invaders (sci-fi novel in verse), etc. A voice over talks about the books, reads samples, and shows illustrations from them.
Guitar #2: Simple set with a classical guitarist sitting on a chair in front of a curtain. He/she plays one or more of my short guitar pieces for standard guitar. I may join in on the 2nd piece in this segment.
Datebook: Close up of a datebook. Pages are turned. Important dates come up and photos, articles, mementos, or excerpts appear. Some dates might include - Art Revolution Festival (co-founder), State of the Arts KNON radio series (co-host), Inwood Theater Box Office Concerts, Recordings at Cedar Valley CC, Art exhibit at Asel Art Center, Reviewer for Zine World, End of Modern Art Event, Musea publishing timeline, etc.
Writings - Poems #2: This segment looks at a sampling of my 5,500 poems - specifically the shorter poems, with a special emphasis on the 'Quatros' poems. See #1 above for details of scene.
Perseus and the Night Sky / Jukebox: Two part scene starts with a view of the night sky from Bachman Lake near Love Field. I and my date are on a blanket watching the night sky and bantering back and forth with playful love talk. The scene switches to a bar/coffeehouse . I and my date enter, sit at the counter, order drinks, and while she's talking, I go to the Jukebox and dance to a sultry tune - then she joins me for a slow dance to end act two.
Intermission: Music over the scene is Tuning For Spring (#642).
ACT THREE
Intro Music: Jazzy Jazz: The music playing behind the "Act 3" intro card, is one of my Jazz compositions performed by a jazz combo: Dark Smoke, Soul Searching, Watching Her Walk From Behind, The Jazz Detective, The Happy Flea, etc.
Architecture: Rough drawings, first drafts, blueprints, and models of some of the 20+ buildings I've designed such as: Musead, Art de Triomphe, Book Building, Art Museum, Book Rocket, Pi Portal, HHT Museum, Bell Tower, Saturn Cafe; plus some assorted sculpture ideas. (#124)
Collage/ 4 Sided Cards/ Envelopes: Close up of a desk with my hands pasting the last piece on a collage. I toss it on the floor. Camera pulls back to look at the floor and we see a huge warehouse with the floor entirely covered by my collages. (Homage to the pull back scene from GWTW - for you film buffs). Then repeat the scene with my 4 sided cards, and then 'one of a kind' envelopes. Voice over talks about each art form.
Tommy: Scene, close up of hands flipping pages fast enough to show a cartoon character walking. This metamorphs into real film of comic character "Tommy" walking down the street. We hear a voice over that gives some goofy bio background. Then by following Tommy down the street we go through all his 'shorts' - short film script ideas that include: Time to Go To Work, Pop's Soda, My Favorite, I Dream of Genie, Lifeguard Tommy, A License to Fill, Roofers, Top of the World Ma, etc. (#130).
Bagatelle #2: Simple set with a grand piano in front of a curtain. A classical pianist is sitting at the bench. He/she plays one or more of my short piano works
Dictionary of New Words: Big dictionary on podium titled "Hear-me-and Head-stir's Dictionary". A breeze blows it open to pages of words that I've coined or redefined such as: Quatros, Constructions, Lawyer Morals, Global Music, Story Dancing, Short Story films, Guerilla Theater, Bagatelles, 4 Sided Cards, Afters, Energetics, etc.
Slice of Pi: Setting, fancy restaurant. Elegant couple is finishing their main course. Live string quartet playing in the background. Waiter Tommy approaches in fancy tux with tray and towel over his arm and ask them, "Would you like a slice of pie for dessert?" They agree. Tommy then recites from MEMORY (no editing tricks here) Pi to 81 places: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288693993751058209749445923078164062862089980280.
Board Game - Players: Scene opens on close up of the rulebook for my board game, 'Players, a Game of Twelves. Then we pull back camera to see a group of people playing the game. By watching them and listening to a voice over adding explanation, the viewer sees how the game is played. The scene shows a complete game from start to finish by compressing the action and showing the most important moments of the game. (#113)
Box Office Concert #2: Part two. This shows me and engineer Pam Irwin, recording a Hunkasaurus and His Pet Dog Guitar song in the Cedar Valley Recording Studio.
Drawing #2: More showcasing of drawings (see Drawing #1)
Musea Website: Scene opens on a blank computer with Musea's url on the subject line. http://Musea.digitalchainsaw.com. A hand pushes the button and we see the site. Screen clicks through the pages to show its special contents: Museas, Musea art guides (Best Movie Guides, Best Novels, etc.), 1000 reviews, e-mail club notes, contests, Musea review service,MP3's, link to hunkasaurus.com etc. Voice over explains what we're seeing. (Thanks to webmaster Donna (Musea) and Matthew (Hunkasaurus).
Five Act ,Illustrated Short Stories: Scene opens on a cast picture from my only recorded 5 Act illustrated short story (rock opera) John and Martha' starring Karen Bella and me. We hear some musical excerpts. Then voice over talks about this first opera, and the other 10 I've written but not recorded: 1. John & Martha (recorded), 2. 76th Street, 3. Charlie and Georgie, 4. Senlin, 5. Morgan's Wife, 6. The Eve of the Full Moon, 7.12-16 (Everything's Peachy, Everything's Ducky), 8. The Cheerleaders of Nathan High, 9. Cendrillon (a radio play) 10. Hearts and Flowers 11. Gifted (unfinished). Throughout the scene we see excerpts from the librettos and hear snippets from the songs.
Scrapbook: Big old scrapbook has lots of entries: Zine Hall Of Fame, Dot's Playhouse, Free Speech Hall, Triangle Town, Mass Market Painting Reproductions, Community Bank Accounts (trickle up theory), Musea Reading Fund, AACA emblem, People Power Generators, Museys - Arts Award, The Psychology of Musical Keys, Enough Rope Interviewing Technique, Musea Building Blocks (toy idea), Musea Gargoyle, Hum and Move Dance Technique, Neighborhood Buses, Tommy Comics, Pentalium, Art Olympics, 3 Symbols, Bad Art Gallery, LP Listening Libary, Musea Murals, MSND Ballet, 500X Dance Party, 4-Word Universal Language, A Film on a $5 budget , 3-Part Guitar Technique, Zine World Reviewer, Conceptual Art List, Traveling Art Exhibit, and all essays.
Musead: Show a drawing, then a model of the drydocked ship (art center) the USS Musead. Explain the concept of a world art center built in the shape of an ocean liner, set in the middle of the land locked prairie town, Dallas, Texas . Then go on a tour of the ship.
Musical Revue: Black and white concert footage featuring new songs from the Mondo Tom soundtrack with Tom and friends. After last song the picture freezes, the crowd noises stop, and the viewer hears a slow version of the intro song The Bugs Bunny Theme to end the film. 'THE END'.
Signature Credits: Setting, a red screen. Printed on it is this sentence, "Everything (blank) except". I enter and paint in the blank my intials 'th". Then the rest of the credits appear. Red Screen with printed category (director, sound guy, etc.) then that person signs his name. On some smaller categories many people come on all at once and sign in. Every person that helped work on the movie appears (or if they can't a photo of them). At the end I reappear and write, "Thanks" then I do the three part sign language for 'I Love You", and take a bow. End of film. Note: my rock instrumental Edgy plays over credits. Also in the credits, list all the songs on the soundtrack including those that only had snippets of them played such as Home Movies Theme #244".
Preview #1 a,b, and #2: There are two different previews for the film and two different versions of the first preview. Preview #1 (ala Dylanesque music video) shows Tommy in front of a red curtain with cue cards on an easel. There are two versions, one serious, one fun. No words are spoken no music is heard - very quiet... First card reads "My name is Tom Hendricks". I continue to pull cards away to tell this message "I just finished my first movie called / Mondo Tom/ Coming Soon!" In the funny version the last card is blank and slapsticky complications ensue to find the missing card! In Preview #2 Tommy steps up to a podium and leads an orchestra in Piano Song #1213 called "Pomp-ly - pantomime on a podium set to music.
Posters, etc.: There are not one but numerous posters/stills for the film. They include single big scene photos (a photo, or drawing, or scene), plus collages of many scenes. Note the double meaning in the title Mondo Tom - a take off of Italian "B' movie titles such as Mondo Cane ( thus 'World of Tom'), but also a Zen term meaning a master-student dialogue. Note: the numbers in parenthesis (#000) refer to the issue of Musea that has more info. And finally "What if a movie was conceptual Art?" .
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