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The Young American

The Making of the Cracked Actor Documentary

At that particular time I was chopping and changing quite dramatically. The music that I was listening to was definitely the soul music that was really, really big in the clubs in America at that particular time. So, I kind of, you know, I tried to do my own version of that kind of music which was the basis of the Young Americans album. I’d become Soul Man.

Carlos had been able to introduce me to a lot of fantastic new musicians - one of whom was Luther Vandross.

There was no point in doing a straightforward take on American soul music because that’s been done already so I just wanted to put this spin on it. Eventually, of course, when the album came out it was very well received and it became… Young Americans became a very big album for me. I mean, I really sort of advanced myself. I was sort of… I was tumbling over myself with ideas.

In September 1974, Alan Yentob flew to Los Angeles to make a documentary on David for the BBC. Yentob did not take a BBC film crew with him but opted to recruit locals to assist in the task. He engaged Mike Murphy and Dave Myers as camera operators and Pat Darrin as the sound recordist. However, Darrin also acted as cameraman for the recording of concert footage. Following some months of negotiations with MainMan, venues and musicians unions, it had been decided to make a 90 minute documentary for broadcast in the UK in December 1974. The tentative title for the documentary was “The Collector” based upon something David had said the previous year in a television interview with Russell Harty. However, all of these intentions were soon to change. Filming the documentary centred on the following: • The concert at Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre on 5 September 1974. • Interviews with David. • Interviews with band members. • Interviews with fans. • Show rehearsals. • General footage shot around Los Angeles and Universal Studios. Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre 5 September 1974 The concert at the Amphitheatre was filmed by all 3 camera operators using 16mm film. Mike Murphy shot from a central position, Dave Myers shot from left of stage focussing mostly on close-ups and Pat Darrin concentrated on wider shots and closer footage from left of stage. Darrin also filmed the sound check on the day. Most songs were filmed to some extent although not all 3 cameras operated simultaneously. For instance, all 3 cameras stopped filming at different points during ‘1984’ and filming recommenced by just Murphy and Myers 30 seconds into ‘Rebel Rebel’. For some reason, ‘Knock On Wood’ wasn’t filmed at all. Murphy and Myers each shot 6 rolls of film during the concert and Darrin shot 5 rolls which included the sound check. In addition, a further 3 rolls of film were used for “mute” shots from a helicopter above the venue. MainMan commissioned Wally Heider Recording to professionally record the audio for the concert on behalf of the BBC - see “Cracked Actor” Album for further details. As well as the concert footage, the crew also filmed other activities inside the venue including a CBS team interviewing David backstage (part of the broadcasted interview was used at the beginning of the ‘Cracked Actor’ documentary). Band members were filmed after the concert watching TV and a clip from this of gossip columnist Rona Barrett was also used in the final documentary. Although the actual date isn’t documented, David had the life mask cast in his dressing room at the Amphitheatre. San Diego Sports Arena 11 September 1974 Yentob and crew followed David to San Diego to continue filming. This focussed on backstage activities such as Jac ironing David’s clothes as well as speaking to fans queuing for the show (including the guy who says, “I like people who are AC/DC…”). However, some concert footage was also shot including ‘1984’, ‘Sweet Thing’ and ‘Rock’n’Roll With Me’ - possibly only short clips. Tucson Convention Center 13 September 1974 The next stop on the tour was Tucson where the crew continued to film in a similar manner to San Diego. Here, Yentob spoke to the fan with the yellow painted face who said, “I’m from Phoenix and I just… came!” More concert footage was shot including ‘Sweet Thing’. ‘Aladdin Sane’, ‘All The Young Dudes’, ‘Cracked Actor’, ‘Space Oddity’ and others - including ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’. Phoenix Arizona Coliseum 14 September 1974 Yentob joined David for the car ride from Tucson to Phoenix and this is where David gave the analogy of having a fly in his milk. The Phoenix concert wasn’t filmed but David was interviewed in his dressing room whilst making up for the show. Anaheim Convention Center 16 September 1974 For the final Californian show, Yentob and crew captured Elizabeth Taylor arriving for the concert. Filming also focussed on backstage movements, eg Tony Defries and Toni Basil, and audience. Additionally, there was some concert footage including ‘Cracked Actor’ (where David gave away his cape to a girl in the audience), ‘Space Oddity’, ‘The Jean Genie’ and ‘Rock’n’Roll Suicide’. Interviews Although Yentob had been given the green light, he still found it difficult to command David’s time for interviewing. Therefore, he had to wait around for hours on end and grab opportunities as and when they were presented. This meant time in the back of cars, hotel rooms and backstage at concerts. In addition to the instances above, there was one further interview given in the back of a car at night but the remaining interviews took place in David’s hotel room. In these, David spoke about the cut-up technique, Kabuki, Japanese clothes, literary heroes, travelling through Russia and Poland, Orwell and James Dean who he described as the visual Kerouac. Incidentally, David was also filmed watching a James Dean film in a movie theatre. Extensive interviews were conducted with Mike Garson and Geoff MacCormack. The former spoke about his working relationship with David whilst MacCormack discussed his personal friendship. Yentob also searched out “superfan” Jeff Gold and interviewed him (along with some of his friends) at Gold’s grandmother’s house in Brentwood, Los Angeles to gain a fan’s perspective of David’s work.

Click on the image below to view a fan-made video using the rehearsal footage:

Right (Nacho’s Redux mix)

“Initially, I flew out to New York to meet David and he said to come on board. I got him to agree to having the face mask made – a death mask or life mask, however you see it. He trusted me enough to let me do that.  I had planned to call it “The Collector” but then realised that he was a character who kept changing, that’s what happened. I had a certain amount of money to spend and tracked down cameraman Mike Murphy – whose work I was aware of - in Malibu who agreed to work with me. This film was a kind of early rock ‘n’ roll film. The thing about this was David’s generosity in allowing me to make the film. I had to wait around a lot and, as you see in the documentary, most of the filming took place in the back of cars and in hotel rooms in the early hours. David was frank and honest. It was a difficult time for him and he was very fragile but somehow he was prepared to share his concerns. That tour was amazing because you could see these characters he had created who shortly he was going to dispense with.” Alan Yentob 5 April 2013

The BBC documentary “Five Years” broadcast in 2013 used some of this footage along with commentary by David:

Incidentally, legendary saxophonist Charlie Brown can be seen in the footage as he was due to replace Richard Grando. However, he never did join the tour.

Rehearsals A rehearsal session was also filmed by Yentob’s crew - believed to have been at Studio Instrument Rentals in Hollywood. The session included ‘Rebel Rebel’, ‘Changes’, ‘1984’, ‘Rock’n’Roll With Me’, ‘The Jean Genie’, ‘Right’ and ‘Can You Hear Me’. Terry O’Neill was also on hand taking photographs and can be seen in the footage. It has often been assumed that this footage was recorded in Sigma Sound in Philadelphia - an assumption compounded by Melody Maker’s use of some of O’Neill’s pictures in their edition dated 12 October 1974.

Ed Driscoll, Jon Abell, Jeff Gold and Danny Benair.

Before filming, Gold visited Yentob at his hotel room at the Sunset Marquis hotel in Hollywood. One of David’s Japanese costumes was lying on the bed and Gold asked if he could try it on. There’s a photo of him wearing it on his blog - https://recordmecca.com/news/meeting-david-bowie-a-personal-tribute/.