arts & life

FASHION from page 123

museum work, making perfume, all kinds
of off-beat things they wouldn't think of."
Maysles, who directed Gimme Shelter
and Grey Gardens with his late brother,
David Maysles, called her and she turned
him down flat.
"I wasn't interested:' she says. "I had
nothing to sell and no ego problems."
A close friend in the industry told her
she was crazy to say no. So she got back in
touch and said yes. She hasn't regretted the
change of heart.
"We got on very well; she says of the
filmmaker.
"Everybody thinks we knew each other
forever; she says of Maysles. "We never
laid eyes on each other until we started to
work. He didn't work like everybody else;
he said he would just follow me around,"
in keeping with the filmmaker's brand of
direct-cinema documentaries.
More than a fashion film, the documen-
tary is a story about creativity and how, at
any age, a soaring free spirit continues to
inspire. Enjoying the trip — and screen
time — with her is Carl, her husband of
65 years.
The end product is a pure dizzying
delight. In short, it is a perfect reflection
of Iris.

FULL CIRCLE from page 123

received a passport-sized digital video
camera from Sony that he found
somewhat fascinating. I'm not sure if
even he knew how much this technol-
ogy would shift the culture of docu-
mentary film making. Albert, like me,
was allergic to violence — a possible
problem for a filmmaker of the direct
cinema style and potential issues of
exploitation.
The rigid defining terms of cinema
verite would soon be blurred by
accessible and affordable filming and
editing. Boundaries of connection to
subjects changed as reality television
exploded in a mess of human carnage
and created personalities designed to
propel a vehicle, show or concept.
Albert, however, with his camera,
told big stories about little people and
little stories about big people.

❑

In Grey Gardens, for
example, he introduced you
to people who became your
friends. Albert's camera
made them beloved.
Albert and Gillian taught
me how to live in New York,
how to create a lovely little
universe of beloved people who come
over to your house for dinner.
I set the table and prepared that
dinner and did those dishes, often
with Al, and so was able to have him
at my table, sharing espresso from a
tiny pot.
Gillian was good friends with
author and editor Jean Stein, who at
the time edited Grand Street, an arts
and literature magazine that lived on
their expansive bookshelf. Hilton Als,
the New Yorker's theater critic who
also wrote for Grand Street, wrote a
fabulous, celebratory article in the
New Yorker about the late Dorothy
Dean, a seminal player in Andy
Warhol's films and person of interest
in mid-century gay New York. This
article connected me with my friend
Scott, as it opened an expanse of New
York that we idealized. Scott later
introduced me to Hilton, who was

interested in my thoughts about work-
ing for the Maysles.
Gillian and her late brother John
Walker were present at Warhol's fac-
tory and John had a relationship
with Edie Sedgwick, accounted for in
George Plimpton's biography of her.
Albert and Gillian were friends with
Plimpton, Norman Mailer and Norris
Church, his "last wife she has said.
Leonard Bernstein had lived just
above them. Yoko Ono owned a quar-
ter of the building and was a constant
presence about the expansive hall-
ways.
I met them all.
Albert created his new film, Iris,
because Albert had this amazing,
unique heart and Albert wants us to
see Iris as she is. In return, Iris saw
Albert. Because all that is beloved to
him, can become beloved to us all.

❑

Michigan-native Brian Kay was the vocalist

and curator for Shiksa Goddess, studied

creative writing at the New School in New

York City, is a bon vivant, yogi bike rider

and international man of style. He recently

left his longtime home in New York City

to raise his new son, Eli, with his fiancée,

Anna, in Washington, D.C.

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