Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles

Van Peebles at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born August 21, 1932
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Other names Brer Soul
Occupation Actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, composer
Years active 1955–present

Melvin "Block"[1] Van Peebles (born August 21, 1932) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.

He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African-American focused films. He is the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles.

Early life

Born Melvin Peebles,[2] in Chicago, Illinois, to a black tailor, he joined the Air Force in 1954, thirteen days after graduating in literature (B.A., 1953) from Ohio Wesleyan University, staying for three and a half years in the Force.[3] He married the German actress and photographer, Maria Marx. They lived in Mexico for a brief period, where he painted portraits, before coming back to the United States, where he started driving cable cars in San Francisco.[3]

Career

Peebles began writing about his experiences as a cable car driver. What evolved from an initially small article and a series of photographs was Van Peebles' first book, The Big Heart.[3]

One day, a passenger suggested that Peebles should become a filmmaker. He shot his first short film, Pickup Men for Herrick, in 1957, and made two more short films during the same period. About these films, he says: "I thought they were features. Each one turned out to be eleven minutes long. I was trying to do features. I knew nothing ." As he learned more about the filmmaking process, he found out that "I could make a feature for five hundred dollars. That was the cost of ninety minutes of film. I didn't know a thing about shooting a film sixteen to one or ten to one or none of that shit. Then I forgot you had to develop film. And I didn't know you needed a work print. All I can say is that after I did one thing he would say, 'Well, aren't you gonna put sound on it?' and I would go, 'Oh shit!' That's all I could say."[3]

After Peebles completed his first short films, he took them with him to Hollywood to try to find work, but was unable to find anyone who wanted to hire him as a director. In New York City, he met a man who saw his films and wanted to screen them in France. In 1959 the family went to the Netherlands, where he worked for the Dutch National Theater. In the Netherlands, Peebles added the "Van" to his name.[2] The marriage dissolved, his wife and children went back to America, and Peebles was invited to Paris by Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinémathèque Française, on the strength of his short films. He learned French, and was hired to translate Mad magazine into French. He began to write plays in French, utilizing the sprechgesang form of songwriting, where the lyrics were spoken over the music. This style carried over to Van Peebles' debut album, Brer Soul.[3]

He published four novels and one story collection in French and made another short film, Cinq cent balles (1965). It was here that he made his first feature length film, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (La Permission) (1968), which caught the attention of Hollywood producers who mistook him for a French auteur.[4] His first Hollywood film was the 1970 Columbia Pictures comedy Watermelon Man, written by Herman Raucher. The movie told the story of a casually racist white man who suddenly wakes up black and finds himself alienated from his friends, family and job. In 1970 Van Peebles was also to direct filming of the Powder Ridge Rock Festival, which was banned by court injunction.

It was after the resulting bad experience directing Watermelon Man that Van Peebles became determined to have complete control over his next production, which became the groundbreaking Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), privately funded with his own money, and in part by a $50,000.00 loan from Bill Cosby. Van Peebles not only directed, scripted, and edited the film, but wrote the score and directed the marketing campaign. The film, which in the end grossed $10 million, was, among many others, acclaimed by the Black Panthers for its political resonance with the black struggle. His son Mario's 2003 film BAADASSSSS! tells the story behind the making of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song; father and son presented the film together as the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival 2004.

In the 1980s, Van Peebles became an options trader on the American Stock Exchange while continuing to work in theater and film.[5][6]

at the Zebulon in June 2011

In 2005, Van Peebles was the subject of a documentary entitled How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). Also in 2005, Van Peebles was the subject of the documentary Umstoppable, which also featured Ossie Davis and Gordon Parks in the same room. It was moderated by Warrington Hudlin.[7]

In 2005, it was announced that Van Peebles would collaborate with Madlib for a proposed double album titled Brer Soul Meets Quasimoto. However, nothing has been said about this project since it was announced.[8]

In 2008, Van Peebles completed the film Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha, which was the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival 2008, and appeared on All My Children as Melvin Woods, the father of Samuel Woods, a character portrayed by his son, Mario.[9][10]

In 2009 Van Peebles became involved with a project to make Sweet Sweetback a musical.[11] A preliminary version of this was staged at the Apollo on April 25–26, 2009. As well, he wrote and performed in a stage musical, Unmitigated Truth: Life, a Lavatory, Loves, and Ladies, which featured some of his previous songs as well as some new material.[12][13]

In 2011, Van Peebles started doing shows in NYC with members of Burnt Sugar, under the name Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative.[14] Van Peebles has said that the band is called Laxative because they "make shit happen".[15] At least one of their shows have been listed as "must-sees" by a blogger from Time Out New York.[16] In November, 2011, Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative performed his song "Love, that's America" at Zebulon Cafe Concert, two weeks after the venue showed the original video for this song involving Occupy Wall Street footage,[17] which was uploaded to YouTube in October 2011.[18]

On August 21, 2012, he distributed a new album, on vinyl only, called Nahh... Nahh Mofo.[19][20][21][22] This album was distributed at his birthday celebration at Film Forum.[23] On November 10, 2012, he released a video for the song Lilly Done The Zampoughi Every Time I Pulled Her Coattail to go with the album,[24][25] which was announced on his Facebook page.[26]

On May 5, 2013 he returned to the Film Forum for a screening of The Kid (1921) and was a judge at the Charlie Chaplin Dress-Alike Contest that was after the screening. He wore a bowler hat and baggy pants in honor of Charlie Chaplin.

In September 2013, Van Peebles made his public debut as a visual artist, as a part of a gallery featured called “eMerge 2.0: Melvin Van Peebles & Artists on the Cusp".[27] It features “Ex-Voto Monochrome (A Ghetto Mother’s Prayer)," one of many pieces of art he created to be on display in his home.

Bibliography

Van Peebles in 2008

Filmography

Peebles' 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song received acclaim from black rights groups for its political resonance with the black struggle and grossed $10 million.

As director

Other writing credits

As Himself

Other acting-only credits

Plays

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtrack albums

See also

References

  1. ↑ Van Peebles, Melvin; Van Peebles, Mario (1990). No Identity Crisis: A Father and Son's Own Story of Working Together. New York: Fireside. ISBN 0-671-67358-0. OCLC 21226104.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Greasley, Philip A. (ed.) Dictionary of Midwestern Literature. Volume 1: The Authors. "Melvin Van Peebles", p. 505. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2001.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 James, Darius (1995). That's Blaxploitation!: Roots of the Baadasssss 'Tude (Rated X by an All-Whyte Jury. ISBN 0-312-13192-5.
  4. ↑ View a KPIX-TV interview with Melvin Van Peebles from 1967, in which he discusses his early film career: https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/191476.
  5. ↑ Booker, James (1984-03-27). "James Booker's N.Y.". The Washington Afro-American. p. 11. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Wylie, William H. (1986-03-11). "Movie director weighs his options". The Pittsburgh Press. p. D2. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  7. ↑ http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/unstoppable-a-conversation-w-melvin-van-peebles-gordon-parks-ossie-davis-a-documentary-in-need-of-a-re-release
  8. ↑ "Madlib & Melvin Van Peebles - Brer Soul meets Lord Quas". Stonesthrow.com. 2005-10-01. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  9. ↑ Melvin Van Peebles interview from Suicide Girls
  10. ↑ Village Voice: The MVP of Black Cinema
  11. ↑ ApolloTheater.org
  12. ↑ NYTheatre.com
  13. ↑ "Unmitigated Truth: Life, a Lavatory, Loves, and Ladies". Nytheatre.com. 2009-06-22. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  14. ↑ ""NYC: Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative", Uptown, January 2011". Uptown Magazine. 2011-01-03. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  15. ↑ "Melvin Van Peebles With Laxative, Zebulon Cafe Concert, May 12, 2011". Zebuloncafeconcert.com. 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  16. ↑ TONY Music (2012-01-26). "Thursday's must-see concerts". TimeOut New York. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  17. ↑ ""The winter of our discontent" - a benefit for Occupy wallstreet. Special screening, Melvin Van Peebles: LOVE, THAT’S AMERICA !!!". Zebuloncafeconcert.com. 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  18. ↑ "Occupy Wall Street montage to the song "Love, That's America" by Melvin Van Peebles #OWS, YouTube". YouTube.com. 2011-10-26. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  19. ↑ "WFMU RADIO: Give The Drummer Some 10/05/12". Wfmu.org. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  20. ↑ "The cat is out of...". Facebook. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  21. ↑ http://www.rbmaradio.com/shows/melvin-van-peebles-fireside-chat
  22. ↑ http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/melvin-van-peebles/bio/165797
  23. ↑ http://nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/tag/melvin-van-peebles/
  24. ↑ "(official video) Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative - Lilly Done The Zampoughi". YouTube. 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  25. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2605674/
  26. ↑ "We have a new video...". Facebook. 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  27. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/arts/design/melvin-van-peebles-headlines-a-group-art-show.html?_r=0
  28. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/title/aint-supposed-to-die-a-natural-death/oclc/595072&referer=brief_results
  29. ↑ "MVP @ 80 | #nothingtobegainedhere". Nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  30. ↑ "Melvin Van Peebles Biography". Tvguide.com. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  31. ↑ http://www.rappcats.com/heliocentrics-melvin-van-peebles-the-last-transmission/

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melvin Van Peebles.