***THIS TRANSCRIPT WAS GENERATED ON ADOBE PREMIERE PRO AND MAY NOT BE 100% ACCURATE***

00;00;00;09 - 00;00;24;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
This is death by DVD and you are listening to Harry Scott Sullivan, your host. I recently went to the theater and I saw a play and it brought me so much joy, so much happiness that I wanted to come and share it with all of you out there in radio land. And that is exactly what I am going to do on the following episode, hopefully.

00;00;24;14 - 00;00;48;27
Harry Scott Sullivan
So to kick things off, I'll tell you what play I saw. And then we are going to discuss the person that is responsible for bringing us this very play. I saw Psycho Beach Party and the person responsible, Charles Busch, who's Charles Busch. In my opinion, I think they are the definition of the word beautiful. They're beautiful person. They're a beautiful actor, they're beautiful actress, they're beautiful writer, they're beautiful singer.

00;00;48;28 - 00;01;07;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
The list just goes on and on and on and on and on. Now, to properly give the credit to Charles Busch, that I think is due, that would be an entire episode of death by DVD. And who knows, maybe sometime soon we'll come and do just that. But I'd really like to keep things more about my personal feelings and opinions for now.

00;01;07;02 - 00;01;33;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
So instead of reading from the Wikipedia article about Charles Busch. I'd like to say that their work as a writer, first off, is is one of those beautiful things that it happens, and it's very specific to just you as a person. But I'm sure you listening to this can relate that there might be a song or a movie or a book or a play that just feels so personal to you, to just feels like they're talking to you.

00;01;33;19 - 00;01;59;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
And the style, the humor, the construction of Charles Busch's work, the plays that they write, the two films that they are responsible for, which come from plays. We'll get to all that. It's just for me. It's just perfect. For me. It's. I laugh out loud, I feel something, and of course, all of these things are unique, as I said to every individual.

00;01;59;05 - 00;02;30;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
But just to let you know how I feel about this person, I think they're just beautiful. Throughout Charles Busch career, most of their roles have been performed in drag. Or, as Charles Pierce would say, a male actress. Just a an interesting term that as well as the term drag queen, I would love to discuss more pertaining to roles in theater and film, but unfortunately I don't think me alone.

00;02;30;15 - 00;02;53;00
Harry Scott Sullivan
I'm the best person to be having that discussion. Maybe someday in the future we'll be able to have a guest and we can delve deeper into those terms. Early on in their career, Charles Busch worked with the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, and that's something I want you listening to write down. It was a theatrical company that was founded by Charles Ludlam.

00;02;53;04 - 00;03;19;03
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's another name I really want you to write down, and a person that is completely deserving of their very own episode of death by DVD. One day, Charles Ludlam, to say the least, was just absolutely, completely pure art, embodiment of art, a brilliant playwright, a brilliant actor, just a pure, totally incomplete, true artist. Which is also another way that I would describe Charles Busch.

00;03;19;04 - 00;03;52;26
Harry Scott Sullivan
Charles Busch worked and wrote and starred in productions with the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, which I find really interesting, that all at the same time period, another person, another New Yorker, all of these people are authentically New Yorkers was working. I think they'd gotten out of plays. They had started in the off, off, off, off Broadway. And it's somebody whose name I, I hesitate to bring up when discussing people that I'm calling beautiful and some of the greatest, finest personifications of art in our century, in our lifetime.

00;03;52;28 - 00;04;14;24
Harry Scott Sullivan
I'm really building these people up. I'm talking about Charles Bush and Charles Ludlam in the highest, greatest capacity that I could. And the person that I really find interesting that I don't know if any of these people connected or possibly knew each other, but this person's name can sometimes offend people. A lot of people don't care for this person.

00;04;14;24 - 00;04;54;21
Harry Scott Sullivan
I do because I'm insane. But Andy Milligan, good old Andy Milligan began off, off, off off the off off off Broadway and was doing very avant garde and queer culture based plays in the late 50s, early 60s, and then moved into creating films with vapors and all at around the same time. And this era of art in New York City, I think now historically, is a bit overlooked when you're looking at the 60s and the early 70s, that so much focus is on the hippie culture in California, and then the development of the biker culture, the Manson murders.

00;04;54;25 - 00;05;20;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's very psychedelic, and I think a lot of the East Coast beauty is overlooked. And of course, Warhol's popularity and fame began rising in this exact same period. And I know a lot of people out there in radio land or not fans of Andy Warhol, but I am just like Andy Milligan. I think he's neat.

00;05;20;07 - 00;05;46;29
Harry Scott Sullivan
I think getting back to the point that it's a shame more people know about Andy Warhol than they do Charles Busch, or that they do Charles Ludlam, for that matter. I don't want to call the Ridiculous Theatrical Company specifically a absurdist theatrical company, but certainly you can throw that word around just to give yourself an idea of of where things are coming from.

00;05;47;00 - 00;06;13;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
I believe the first big production from Charles Ludlum career was Bluebeard, and then he rewrote a lot of plays, twisting in hammer esque gothic environments. And all of this information just plays into Charles Bush and the early part of their career, the experience of working with this titan of art, I think, on the broader spectrum of things, really helped Charles Bush become the person that they truly wanted to become.

00;06;13;09 - 00;06;35;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
Now, like I said, to really delve into the true history and to give the respect to Charles Bush that they deserve, it should be an entire episode. So I'm going to try and move on just to get my feelings and thought out. So in June of 1985, Charles Busch's first Off-Broadway work, Vampire Lesbians of Saddam. What a title, what a name doesn't it make you think of of Jess Franco?

00;06;35;15 - 00;07;00;26
Harry Scott Sullivan
Makes me think of Jess Franco and the vampire Lesbos soundtrack. God, it's such a good soundtrack. Might be better than the actual movie vampire lesbians of Saddam. According to Charles Bush's website, it became so popular it was moved to Off-Broadway in June of 1985. It ran five years at the Provincetown Playhouse and marks a beginning of a beautiful relationship with a person named Kenneth Eliot.

00;07;00;26 - 00;07;28;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
Kenneth Eliot would go on to direct many of Charles Bushs plays Theodora, She Bitch of Bison Team, Another Wonderful title, Times Square, Angel, Sleeping Beauty or Coma, Gidget Goes Psycho, which we will pause on. We're going to come back to that, but let me further mix things up by taking a moment to discuss Kenneth Eliot. The word prolific may be the word of the night here on this episode.

00;07;28;07 - 00;08;00;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
Kenneth Eliot I would describe as absolutely prolific. Between directing regional theater and Off-Broadway, co-founder of Charles Busch's Theater and Limbo Company, professor at Rutgers. And my favorite thing, apart from their work with Charles Bush, is Kenneth Eliot is the person responsible for bringing Mark Crowley's The Boys in the band back to the stage. They directed the 1996 New York revival at the Lucille Lortel Theater, and then again another production in 1997.

00;08;00;04 - 00;08;23;29
Harry Scott Sullivan
Just to pause all this stuff real quick to talk about The Boys in the band by Mark Crowley. One of the greatest things I've ever seen when it comes to the film iterations. I'm not the biggest fan of the second film iteration, but it's good. It's not bad, it's not bad. But the William Friedkin one wow. It's just really might be my my favorite William Friedkin movie.

00;08;24;02 - 00;09;09;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's just phenomenal. It's a brilliant story. You can read it. You, you, you could buy it and read it and you can buy the film version, I believe recently through the cinematography label via Vinegar Syndrome, you can get a gorgeous 4K copy of the Boys in the band. I can't recommend it enough. There's a wonderful episode of death by DVD about that movie, featuring the Linus Fitness Center and James Ellis of Weeping Tudor Productions, and you can go listen to that to start your journey on Mart Crowley, Kenneth Elliot, though the list goes on and on and on of the wonderful productions that they are responsible for directing.

00;09;09;02 - 00;09;49;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
And back to Charles Busch. Kenneth Elliott brought the play that I saw to life for the very first time as the director. Originally titled Gidget Goes Psycho, it was performed at the Limbo Lounge from October 10th to 26, according to Charles Busch's website, Charles Bush and then it was transferred Off-Broadway at the Players Theater under its closed historic title, Psycho Beach Party.

00;09;49;14 - 00;10;18;04
Harry Scott Sullivan
In July 1987. Psycho Beach Party premieres, directed by Kenneth Elliott, written by Charles Busch, with Charles Busch playing the lead role of Chick Lit. At the turn of the century, the year 2000 Psycho Beach Party was made into a film directed by Robert Lee King, with Lauren Ambrose playing the lead role of chick lit. And I hesitate really to dive into the difference between the film and the play because it doesn't really matter.

00;10;18;05 - 00;10;39;21
Harry Scott Sullivan
The movie is a movie for the sake of runtime and watch ability. A lot was added new characters, new plots, new stories, but either version that you could see there is no I don't know. I just don't feel there's a point you could do a whole thing about. Here's the difference between this and that. But each thing is unique completely on its own accord.

00;10;39;21 - 00;11;01;06
Harry Scott Sullivan
I think the film is wonderful. I think from start to finish it's pure joy. It was my introduction. Well, that's not true. I thought it was. I believed this to be my introduction to Charles Busch until quite recently. And by quite recently, I mean, just a few days ago when I saw the play Psycho Beach Party and I was just I was so immersed by it.

00;11;01;06 - 00;11;34;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
But I don't want to get into that part quite yet because I still I'm all over the place. It's a deathbed DVD. I'm sure you're used to it, but I'm just enamored with Charles Busch as a person, as an artist, as as an icon, I mean, celebrity. Sure, you can use that word star. I just think that they are so interesting and and there's, I don't know, they have not gotten the flowers I think they deserve, especially by the horror community, which I think is somewhat puzzling.

00;11;34;12 - 00;11;59;04
Harry Scott Sullivan
And I you can find tons of reviews and people that compare Charles Busch to the likes of John Waters, which I don't think is appropriate at all. They're not very similar people. A lot of people use the term campy to describe Charles Bush, and I'm famous here at death by DVD for just being no fun and hating, I guess that free thing.

00;11;59;04 - 00;12;24;15
Harry Scott Sullivan
But there's certain terms I hate. I hate body horror, I hate campy, I hate kitsch, and like, sure, I catch is a great term. I have a lot of kitsch stuff in my house. I collect stuff from the 40s and 50s etc. but to describe a play, to describe a film as kitsch, as campy. I mean, like Laurel and Hardy campy.

00;12;24;17 - 00;12;54;25
Harry Scott Sullivan
I don't, I don't, I don't feel that vibe. And you can do that with John Waters, especially something like Hairspray. Very campy, but I don't agree with that terminology being used to discuss Charles Bush in the least bit satirical? Very much so. But everything is incredibly multi-layered and not inherently political, but it's something I feel their work, their work in general, is something I feel that everyone can communicate with.

00;12;54;27 - 00;13;26;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
Everyone under the sun can feel something, can laugh, can enjoy what they're seeing. It's not made for one specific audience. It's art made for the sake of art. And I may be wrong, I always am. That's fine. You can direct your complaints to death by DVD, by DVD. And I said something around the effects of I just don't think Charles Bush has gotten their flowers as as an artist and in the horror community.

00;13;26;05 - 00;13;52;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
And I don't mean any disrespect to anybody, because I'm sure that there's a lot of people out there that love Charles Bush just as much as I do, but it's not a name here enough, I feel, and it's not a pissing contest. This isn't something between John Waters and Charles Bush, but maybe there's something more palatable. I, I really digress with this one about the work of John Waters.

00;13;52;08 - 00;14;22;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
But then again, I think a lot of people are more familiar with things like Pecker and Serial Mom and Hairspray than they are with Pink flamingos. And then, of course, I suppose what could be considered a problem with the work of Charles Busch's career is, for the most part, it's plays. And this. Before we get into my feelings and how I felt when I saw the play and all that good stuff, this was a big point of contention for me, and one of the reasons I really wanted to record this episode.

00;14;22;02 - 00;14;38;04
Harry Scott Sullivan
And of course, I wanted to for my audience, for all of you out there that listen to this show and support death by DVD and want to learn more about cinema and art in general. I wanted you all to go, oh, okay, I'm going to Google. I'm going to go watch a movie. I'm going to go look this person up.

00;14;38;04 - 00;14;58;25
Harry Scott Sullivan
I'm going to go check and see if I can find more out about this person, because the show I like to listen to talked about them. That's, you know, that's a that's a big point of one of the reasons I wanted to do this. But yeah, bear with me. I don't have a lot of original thoughts flickering around in the dull lit cave that is my brain.

00;14;58;25 - 00;15;03;29
Harry Scott Sullivan
But the horror community of today's very quick to talk about collect.

00;15;03;29 - 00;15;12;07

Physical media. Never let physical media die. Support independent labels by $70 Blu rays from this company.

00;15;12;09 - 00;15;23;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
That's neither here nor there, because I believe in supporting physical media and have an extensive physical media collection. But you hear about a lot. And then what else do you hear about the Drive-In, man?

00;15;23;13 - 00;15;28;13

The Drive-In will never die. Go see movies at the drive in. Go see movies at the theater. Theaters are.

00;15;28;13 - 00;15;49;16
Harry Scott Sullivan
Going to die. All of these things, they're very valid and they're very true. I go to the movie theater as often as I can. Are beautiful drive ins sprawling across the United States of America. Need your attention now more than ever to stay operating, and I believe you should completely support those things. But there's another art form. Well, there's a couple.

00;15;49;17 - 00;16;29;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's not just like there's one more. What about plays? What about books? What about zines? There are tons of independent zines still existing to this day. It's not just Fangoria and Rue Morgue. There are a great deal of other art forms in the horror sphere. Aside from the drive in the movie theaters and collecting physical media, and I think it's a shame that there's not more focus on a lot of the other art forms, including your local regional theaters, whether it's a traveling production or it's local dinner theater.

00;16;29;11 - 00;16;51;21
Harry Scott Sullivan
Go see the horror play in town. Support that. And I guess this is going to be the point where things dive into my feelings on what I saw when I experienced and saw Psycho Beach Party, but it really got into my brain. There's all this driven support and I agree with it. I'm not trying to say, don't support this and support this.

00;16;51;22 - 00;17;23;01
Harry Scott Sullivan
Instead, what I'm trying to do is maybe broaden the perspective and outlook that there's a lot more than just supporting indie movies and independent productions. That terminology can cover a lot more than just backyard films. By no means am I suggesting that the theater is dying or Broadway is suffering. But of course, the popularity, especially with independent productions, I'm sure has dwindled.

00;17;23;06 - 00;17;47;09
Harry Scott Sullivan
I don't live really near a town that takes me about an hour in any direction to get somewhere. So what? I want to do something. I got to put some effort into it, and I feel so much love and passion and effort is putting to supporting the drive in supporting theater, supporting physical media, that some things take the back seat and it could be scary.

00;17;47;09 - 00;18;14;21
Harry Scott Sullivan
The aspect of going to a play for the first time, you're not really sure what to expect. And that brings us full tilt here, because I come from a very film based mindset, and aside from a college production of The Nutcracker, I don't have any stage or theatrical experience. And I'm not saying I was in that. I was in the audience, I watched it, I mean, seeing and experiencing plays.

00;18;14;21 - 00;18;52;15
Harry Scott Sullivan
I've spent years. I think I'm on my third decade now of working in independent film and recording things about independent films. And more than that, we we here specifically just don't talk about indie films, talk about all sorts of stuff. It's been a career. It's been a life. And when you focus consistently on the, the, the camera angle, when you start seeing things that way, I will watch a movie and if I like it, I'll watch it again to figure out how it was made to to stare out and posit every few seconds if I'm at home to, oh, let's have I got that shot?

00;18;52;15 - 00;19;12;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
That's how they did that. This is how this was constructed, and it breaks the movie down. It ruins the fourth wall. It takes the reality away from what you're experiencing. And that's just years of doing something. That's how my mind works. I got to figure out how it was made so I can maybe do it. And that's not always the case.

00;19;12;19 - 00;19;46;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
But that tends to be a lot of filmmakers minds after you are. I don't want to use the word industry, but screw it, let's use it anyhow in the industry, in the environment, for an extended amount of time. It's like how people talk about video games desensitizing you to violence. Eventually you kind of get desensitized to the plot, the emotion, the actors, and you're watching something going, oh, I go, okay, I figured out how they did that shot or oh, I, they must have used the crane or it doesn't matter.

00;19;46;02 - 00;20;06;10
Harry Scott Sullivan
I don't need to keep making more examples into the situation. I think you've gotten the point. I knew out of seeing the film The Passion. Oh, I love Psycho Beach Party. This is really clever. This is really funny. It's laugh out loud funny. I love this movie. If you would like a legitimate review of Psycho Beach Party, it is pure joy.

00;20;06;13 - 00;20;34;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
The film, the 2000 film. I'm very well acquainted with it and I think I mentioned this earlier. I thought I believed it was my very first introduction to the work of Charles Busch. But I realized something, and it I was so tickled when I realized this to you may or may not know this if you're a regular listener at death by DVD, but I'm a really, really big fan of a show by a guy named Tom Fontana that ran on HBO.

00;20;34;08 - 00;20;44;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's called Oz, and it might be my favorite show. I definitely like it more than The Sopranos, but do I like it more than The Wire?

00;20;44;21 - 00;21;19;26
Harry Scott Sullivan
Oh god, I'm such a basic bitch. I love Oz to Death and there and I remember the seasons. I know the characters. I can tell you everybody's name. That Ginsberg. I had no idea that Charles Bush played Matt Ginsberg in Oz until very recently, and my heart just fluttered because it's such a terrific character in this, I we're not going to describe what Oz is about, but it's a very unique show, and I believe they appear it might be just two seasons spread throughout some episodes, but they have some of the greatest dialog in the show.

00;21;19;27 - 00;21;40;26
Harry Scott Sullivan
Spoilers A character, a mob boss somehow ends up with Aids inside this prison. Oz's taking place in a prison. I said I wasn't going to describe the show, but I got to set up the quote. So this mob boss is transferred to the Aids ward and their cellmate is named Nat Ginsberg. And the mob boss says something to the effect of Nat, what's that short for?

00;21;41;01 - 00;22;23;11
Harry Scott Sullivan
Nathaniel? And Charles Bush turns and goes, no, Natalie. And it's it's such a great scene in a morbid show, a show that is very wrought and heartache and sadness and brutality, and it's such a lively, beautiful scene. But that itself, getting us back to the point in the Psycho Beach party is Charles Busch. They light up every single thing they do, and that's what made this play so unique itself, and in its original production is Charles Bush is playing the female teenager lead role.

00;22;23;11 - 00;22;55;20
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's not that I'm avoiding the word drag or I'm avoiding that Charles Bush performs as a woman. It's that I don't think it's really important to it is. It truly is. But I don't really think it's important to what I'm discussing. So I'd like to just clarify. It's not like I'm inching around a certain subject matter. It's the person at hand and them as an artist, not how they create art and why they create art.

00;22;55;20 - 00;23;25;27
Harry Scott Sullivan
I care, I don't want to say I don't care, because then that's all people remember this guy said he doesn't care. I do care, but it's just not the conversation I'm having with myself for all of you to hear right now. Does that make sense? I hope it does, because let's move on.

00;23;25;29 - 00;23;56;27
Harry Scott Sullivan
So just briefly describe a rather surmise Psycho Beachbody. You've got Gidget, Frank, Ian, Annette, beach party epics, an itch cock psychological suspense thriller such as Spellbound and Marnie are given a shotgun marriage. I guess that works. Chick lit Forrest, a teenage tomboy, desperately wants to be part of the surf crowd on Malibu Beach in 1962. One thing getting in her way is her unfortunate tendency towards split personalities.

00;23;57;00 - 00;24;25;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
Among them is a black checkout girl, an elderly radio talk show host is a male model named Steve in the accounting firm of Edelman and Edelman. Her most dangerous alter ego is a sexually voracious vixen named an bowman who has nothing less than the world domination on her mind. Yeah, psycho beach party. Let's dive back into my babble about seeing things do the lens of the camera.

00;24;25;19 - 00;24;54;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
I thought that it was kind of ingrained into me recently. I've even struggled enjoying things that I thought film wise, I was really going to love, because I can't help but look at it through that lens of how was it made? How can you make it? How do you do it yourself? You don't focus on the performances, you don't focus on the integrity and soul of the production when you do things that way.

00;24;54;19 - 00;25;19;07
Harry Scott Sullivan
And it was something completely revitalizing and beautiful to me, sitting down to see Psycho Beach Party and it at multiple times made me cry. And it was a semi packed house. Unfortunately, I saw the very last showing of a two week production. I really wish in hindsight now that I had seen the very first day and then the last day.

00;25;19;07 - 00;25;40;11
Harry Scott Sullivan
But I can say in happiness that from what I saw, I don't think there was any difference in the performances. Not one actor was weak, and I will make a point to talk about the company and cast of the showing of Psycho Beach Party showing. I don't think that's the right word, whatever that I saw. It's definitely not a screening.

00;25;40;13 - 00;26;01;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
I feel like we're bouncing around a lot and all over the place here. Thankfully, some editing might help that out, but who knows? Regardless, a whole point of this is my feelings being extended to you. So I think I'm doing an okay job. Let me know. We love feedback unless it's negative, and then you can keep that to yourself.

00;26;01;20 - 00;26;30;27
Harry Scott Sullivan
Something I don't want to. The word I want to use, I think is offensive to anyone that's ever worked in theater or been on a stage. So I pretense what I'm about to say by saying I don't mean it in an offensive nature. And that's why I set things up by trying to describe how my mind works when I'm watching something that I've become so invested in filmmaking, I become so interested in how things are creative.

00;26;30;29 - 00;26;57;15
Harry Scott Sullivan
It sometimes blocks me from being able to enjoy the art of what I'm seeing, because I'm just so enthralled by how it's made. But there is something beautifully simplistic about a play, and about seeing something on stage that allowed me to actually see something for the first time that suddenly the four walls, quote unquote, that are are up when you're watching a movie truly existed for me.

00;26;57;15 - 00;27;21;00
Harry Scott Sullivan
And I was transported to the beach. I was in Malibu, 1962. I was experiencing I was feeling it. I was so enthralled and immersed by what I was seeing. I felt like I was in a completely empty theater and that it was just me experience it. And I've not felt something like that in so many years. Even going to shows.

00;27;21;00 - 00;27;42;28
Harry Scott Sullivan
I saw the Rolling Stones a couple years ago before Charlie Watts died, and these massive stadium shows. You're so far away there, it doesn't seem real. It didn't seem like you were actually there. This felt like I was on acid. I felt this just warm wave of joy that wrapped over me like a blanket, like a hug from my mother.

00;27;42;28 - 00;28;04;00
Harry Scott Sullivan
It was just tremendous. It was so comforting. It reinvigorated my love for what I do. It made me want to talk about things again. It made me want to talk about movies and art and film and plays and beautiful people like Charles Bush. It made me feel invigorated to create again. It made me want to start writing again, and I've been in a dump.

00;28;04;02 - 00;28;41;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
I recently have moved and it's been a horrible, horrible experience. Anything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. There haven't even been many episodes of the show because of that. In the last few years, I worked with a handful of different independent producers and directors, and some of the people that I experienced with I found to be so soul crushingly anti-art that it just hurt me and has made me feel like I'm not capable of doing what I've done for years, which I hesitate to call myself a critic anymore.

00;28;41;02 - 00;29;05;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
I think that's a very ugly, awful thing to be in any, any instance of the word, from an art critic to a film critic to criticizing your wife. I don't know, just don't do it. Don't be a critic. Anything else? Anything else is possibly what is a critic offer to society? What is it that that critics do that is so important?

00;29;05;14 - 00;29;23;09
Harry Scott Sullivan
You can come up with you like something or not, right? You should be able to. You don't need somebody else to do that for you. That's neither here nor there, though, because that's not what the subject matter is about. I hesitate to refer to myself as something like that, but talking, being a DJ, I've done that. Hey, there's a good word.

00;29;23;09 - 00;29;43;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
From podcasting to the ways of the interviews rolling on. I've been behind a microphone and behind a camera and in front of a camera, going on 2 to 3 decades. Now, two and a half might have said three at the beginning of the show, but it's more like two. And after the last few years, it's really made me question.

00;29;43;10 - 00;30;08;27
Harry Scott Sullivan
Am I my an artist? Am I am I good at any of the things that I actually do? And you really, really start doubting yourself. You get into the dumps. I had this guy I worked with. I won't describe what he did for a living other than a filmmaker. We were sitting down and having some drinks and they said to me, well, I'm not like you.

00;30;08;29 - 00;30;54;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
I don't watch movies, I make movies, and I'm looking at this guy. He's 59, 60 years old, working on $20,000 independent, straight to tube release movies. And I was offended. I was hurt by that. The hell does that even mean you watch movies? But I make them. I said, okay, okay. It just seemed like such an ugly, pretentious thing to say to somebody, especially under the pretense that I thought, in this situation that you're trying to become friends with somebody and it that itself an isolated event and many other things in the last few years have given me such a tremendous feeling of self-doubt.

00;30;54;12 - 00;31;16;04
Harry Scott Sullivan
I'm not good at this. I'm not going to be able to make a movie. I could never write a play. I could never perform. I am a loser and that's the end of it. Should get a job at Walmart and just go on with your life. And I saw a psycho beach party, and in the first 5 or 6 minutes I felt crushed.

00;31;16;04 - 00;31;26;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
And this wave of just fear and self-loathing and hatred washed over me.

00;31;26;15 - 00;31;48;27
Harry Scott Sullivan
I'm watching these actors come out on stage, and that I just was like, there's no way I could ever do this. I couldn't write this, I couldn't direct. There's just, I don't I don't get it. I just don't get it. I can't do it. And something changed. Something opened up the play itself, and suddenly the walls disappeared and everyone around me disappeared.

00;31;48;27 - 00;32;12;10
Harry Scott Sullivan
And I became so immersed and I believed so much. And what I was watching, it was so real. It was so tangible. And it it reinvigorated me in a way that I just, I don't know how to fully put it into words, how good I feel just about the fact that I can do whatever I want to, that I can write.

00;32;12;12 - 00;32;42;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
Sure I can. What is the concept of good and bad? And who cares whether something is good or bad? It's what you've got in you and what you want to show for yourself. I don't care about anybody else. I care about art and I love it so much. I love film, I love novels, books, zines, music. I don't care what the art form is, whether it is destruction, but certainly is art or just a beautiful sunset.

00;32;42;20 - 00;33;10;01
Harry Scott Sullivan
Anything and everything can be art. And I think that I. I just am revitalized. I, I can I. Charles Bush completely and totally and I would love to discuss and I will in just a little while. The cast and director of the iteration of Psycho Beach Party that I saw, because I have to ultimately thank them just as well for giving me the performance they gave me.

00;33;10;01 - 00;33;34;21
Harry Scott Sullivan
And the gift truly is a gift, which kind of brings me back to a point of contention I was discussing earlier, and I really want to clarify. It's not that I'm against physical media. That's all my house is. It's movies, records, CDs, books, VHS, DVD, Blu ray, everything that you can imagine. Cassettes. I'm not against it for it.

00;33;34;22 - 00;34;02;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
Go to the Drive-In and also support your local theater. If there's a horror movie you want to see, go see it at the theater. I'm all for it, but I'm also for expanding your mind, expanding your soul, your outlook on art. Go to a dinner theater, go to whatever production you can. But for me, the experience was was just devastating in the greatest ways possible.

00;34;02;19 - 00;34;26;06
Harry Scott Sullivan
Letting the work of Charles Busch wash over me and hug me tight and hold me close. And it has given me a deeper respect for this artist that I already appreciated in the first place. But now I just love him with with all my heart. Absolutely every piece of me and I don't. I'm a difficult person. I'm aware.

00;34;26;08 - 00;34;50;29
Harry Scott Sullivan
Listening to this show we get a lot of complaints. Namely, why can't you just name what your favorite movie is? Why can't you just name who your favorite director is? Well, it's ever changing. It's never the same thing. Dependent. Next Tuesday it could be something completely different. But I really love Douglas Sirk. I really love John Cassavetes. And by default, if you love Douglas Sirk, you gotta love Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

00;34;50;29 - 00;35;21;26
Harry Scott Sullivan
And I think that's what attracts me so much to the work of Charles Busch. I'm just I love melodramas, and I said I liked Douglas Sirk. Did I really need to say I like melodramas? It's this intensity and absurdist and skewed view of a melodrama presented from Charles Busch that I think has just reinvigorated me completely and fully and brought me back into I love this stuff.

00;35;21;29 - 00;35;38;20
Harry Scott Sullivan
Well, how can I get depressed about me not being a good artist when there's so much good art around for me to enjoy? And I'm not saying I'm not a good artist, but you'll never hear me say I'm a good one either. And in fact, I don't really like to call myself an artist either. I'm just a guy.

00;35;38;21 - 00;36;04;10
Harry Scott Sullivan
Just a person. I do stuff, you do stuff. We all do stuff. And you can put terms on anybody that you want to. Maybe Charles Busch doesn't like being called an artist, I don't know. And and that itself goes into the whole idea of criticism of who the who do you think you are that your view matters and that what you have to say is any more clever or more important than anybody else's personal view on what they saw?

00;36;04;11 - 00;36;40;16
Harry Scott Sullivan
Somebody might like something you love, somebody might hate, something that you love. What difference does it make? None. None whatsoever. Which now makes me question what I spent the last 17 years of my life doing. But every day is a boogie. You just got to get on your surfboard and ride.

00;36;40;19 - 00;37;09;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
Before I dive headfirst into the cast and crew of Psycho Beach Party, the iteration that I saw and where I saw it. I want to talk about one more Charles Busch production. The Off-Broadway premiere, According to Charles Busch, come by the Kenneth Elliott and Don Fairbanks Coast Playhouse in Los Angeles, California, July 1999. Dame on me. Die I would I would just give anything to see this on stage.

00;37;09;05 - 00;37;33;25
Harry Scott Sullivan
I'd give anything to see Charles Busch do anything on stage. It would be so divine. This is another play by Charles Busch that became a film, and I might have said it might have not. Please watch Psycho Beach Party. It's an absolute joy. And I don't want to say one movie is better than the other, but talking about melodramas and Douglas Sirk die, mommy die is just made for me.

00;37;33;25 - 00;38;02;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's it's just the most perfect film. It it's so delightful. It's. I don't want to use some tacky term like it's a throwback. It takes place in the sunny, beautifully lit, gorgeous neighborhood in these big manor houses. But it has this decadent gothic feel, and it's just so swooping drama and great jazz tones that overplay and just great overacting.

00;38;02;02 - 00;38;24;17
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's wonderful. Natasha Leone's in it, Jason Priestley, Philip Baker Hall and of course, Charles Busch playing the lead role of Angela Arden. It's such a delight. I gotta throw it in there. You gotta see it. It's just divine. It is the the perfect movie. I would love to do something like that. It's just wonderful.

00;38;24;20 - 00;38;45;26
Harry Scott Sullivan
And wonderful is a good word to lead us in to discussing the iteration of Psycho Beach Party that I had the pleasure of seeing and bringing us to an end of this episode. So I made the long, hard drive from deep within the woods where I got to see it the Cumberland Theater, Psycho Beach Party, directed by Kimberly Rowley.

00;38;45;27 - 00;39;12;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
Aside from comparing it to the film, I have no comparison to other iterations of the play. But regardless, what I saw was was a delight. I think I've made that clear, at least throughout this episode. The cast are the big people that I'd like to discuss because they were a great ensemble. And lucky me, I've got the playbill right in front of me so I can read directly from that.

00;39;12;11 - 00;39;45;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
Colin played chick lit, which is the lead role, and I think the most important role. And beginning with Colin, I have to say that they are spectacular. They were the standout, the greatest joy for this performance. So many lines of dialog that I recognize from the film float through so beautifully, and their cadence and their expulsion to say a weird way to say it of their dialog was precise and so perfect in their timing.

00;39;45;08 - 00;40;22;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
And when you're watching a film, you you tend to watch your lead character. Everything is so boxed in, you can see everyone standing right there. And when you're watching a film, you're not just watching your lead character. Everything's boxed in tightly and precise for you so you can see everything that's happening on screen. But when you're there in person, watching the stage performance, despite the power of the lead actor, I found myself staring into the faces of everyone else on stage to watch their reactions, to watch their characters actually perform, that you're in such an immersive atmosphere, surrounded by every angle of something wonderful happening.

00;40;22;14 - 00;40;45;07
Harry Scott Sullivan
You, you you can't help it. I, in my case, lose reality to where I really felt like I was a part of what I was seeing. Colin brought us into this world and was the perfect chick lit forest they are currently studying to get their for in musical theater. Some of their selected credits are Chicago 1776. Just delight.

00;40;45;09 - 00;41;10;10
Harry Scott Sullivan
A pure joy as the entire experience was. I'm overusing the same like six words but joy. Beautiful, wonderful. Colin Dutch. The role of Kanaka was played by James Camacho, who you may have seen in Law and Order, and an episode of FBI film iteration of Psycho Beach Party. Thomas Gibson plays the role of Kanaka James Camacho certainly was relaxed, had the surfer persona down.

00;41;10;11 - 00;41;32;16
Harry Scott Sullivan
The character is this illustrious, greatest surfer. They've been all over the world and it was a very cool and relaxed performance, a little underplayed. I think they could have gotten a lot bigger with the role, but again, I only saw the very last performance, so but I feel the character is relaxed and needs to be underplayed. Also that if this character was overexaggerated, we'd have way too much going on.

00;41;32;17 - 00;41;58;22
Harry Scott Sullivan
Jennifer Hope played Mrs. Forrest chick that's mother. This was Jennifer Hope's debut at this theater. Jennifer majored in opera and has performed alongside Stephen Schwartz, Jason Robards and Luciano Pavarotti. A very well established actor with a demanding and strong stage performance. Beth Broderick from Sabrina the Teenage Witch plays Mrs. Forrest in the film iteration, and it's a very different character from what you see on screen.

00;41;58;22 - 00;42;24;02
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's a it's a bit more of a Stepford Wife style mom, and in the play it is a very big hair, 1950s flamboyant mother. And Jennifer Hope nailed it. It was delightful. Most of the laughs that the audience gave up were from Jennifer Hope and Colin Kirsten Gas and my plays, Burdine. And I'm just going to read directly from my playbook here.

00;42;24;04 - 00;42;51;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
Kirsten is an alumna of Point Park University and Broadway Dance Center's professional semester. She's also an adjunct professor at McDaniel College, met met in Sambhal member and CTE Thespian Society member. Recent performance credits at CTE include Love's Labor's Lost Wedding, Singer and The Cottage. A brilliant choreographer, a strong, delightful presence on stage between Kirsten and Colin. Those were my favorite performances.

00;42;51;09 - 00;43;15;03
Harry Scott Sullivan
They swept me in so much and I love laughing. I love true and honest laughing. Not performative laughing, not laughing because other people are laughing. Laughing because you can't control it. And that is what Kirsten brought for me, and it was just delightful. JS Courier plays Yo-Yo studying musical theater. Some of their credits include A Few Good Men, The Prom, Macbeth, and The Outsiders.

00;43;15;05 - 00;43;37;10
Harry Scott Sullivan
Got Emily Snyder as Marvel, and some of her credits include at the very same theater, Pride and Prejudice, she played Patty Simcox and Grease, Hope and Anything Goes, Kathy in Singin in the Rain and Shelley in Evil Dead. Amy Adams in a very brief role plays Marvel and in the film, I don't want to leave anyone out or underplay anyone's performances as well.

00;43;37;11 - 00;44;06;19
Harry Scott Sullivan
This person was so much better than the next person because everyone brought something so significant to the role. Again, as I've delved into with great excitement and detail, I just felt like I was transported there. I really felt like I was in the beach in 1962. Every single person on stage, from Colin Deck to Emily Snyder, we've got Andrew Watkins playing provolone, Lisa Podolia playing Matina and Brian Records playing star Cat, who also a highlight of the performance.

00;44;06;19 - 00;44;29;23
Harry Scott Sullivan
Arquette has a lot of screen time. Nicholas Brendon played them in the film and then of course, we've got the director of this iteration, Kimberly Rowley, who again, let's use the word prolific, has a prolific career with independent and local stage productions from on stage and behind the stage. I think it's important at any capacity, despite how big or small the production is, to at least bring attention to the names and talent of some of these actors.

00;44;29;25 - 00;44;45;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
I know there's a lot of interesting and fun people out there that listen to death by DVD that are always searching for the next new person, and maybe you could broaden your spectrums. Maybe you could go to the theater.

00;44;45;07 - 00;45;12;00
Harry Scott Sullivan
I think what has wild me is, is my narrow little mind, just obsessed with film and the constructions and the constraints in which you're binded by when you make a film or you want to write a film or your idea is based in those four walls of cinema, and there's something so freeing and something so beautiful, and it's not like it's simple.

00;45;12;00 - 00;45;35;24
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's not like it's easy. But for me, it was just so simple to fall into the play, to fall into the environment and the atmosphere. But I do think most of that, aside from the cast and crew, is the glory of Charles Bush and how wonderful of an artist they are, and how wonderful of a writer they are, and how much they can bring you to the table as an audience member.

00;45;35;24 - 00;45;55;29
Harry Scott Sullivan
You're not voiceless. Whether it's film, theater or music, you feel something. If you don't feel something, then the filmmaker didn't do a very good job. Then the director didn't do a good job, the actors didn't do a good job, the musicians didn't do a good job. Whatever. You have to feel something. And that's so interpersonal to you and to me.

00;45;56;02 - 00;46;21;07
Harry Scott Sullivan
Charles Bush has given me the most invigorating, warm, fuzzy bunny butterfly kisses such deep happiness by seeing their production, which allowed me to step into their life and to look into who they are and to experience their greater body of works, and to learn that you can do whatever you want to. I preach on this program so much.

00;46;21;07 - 00;46;54;08
Harry Scott Sullivan
Don't dream it, be it. I never follow my own advice. I never abide by my own words. And I live in constant terror and fear that everything I do is mucked up and not going to be good enough for you out there listening and for me doing it. And, well, something about Charles Bush, something about Psycho Beach Party brought me back to maybe the direction I should be going in and who I am supposed to be, and has filled me with freedom and given me a new sense of joy.

00;46;54;10 - 00;47;19;00
Harry Scott Sullivan
Thank you. Charles Bush deeply. Thank you. Cumberland Theater, thank you. Kimberly Rowley and the cast. The delightful, wonderful cast of Psycho Beach Party that performed in this outstanding performance. Maybe we'll come back and talk more in detail about Charles Bush, or do an entire episode about Psycho Beach Party the movie or die, mommy, die! Who knows what the future will bring?

00;47;19;06 - 00;47;49;29
Harry Scott Sullivan
I just hope that in this bundle of ramblings, my joy was exposed to you in a positive manner, and my admiration and respect for Charles Bush as an artist and a person is washed over you as it has been washed over me. Get on Google. Look him up. Find what you can find. And remember, horror is isn't just on your screen.

00;47;49;29 - 00;48;13;18
Harry Scott Sullivan
It's not just at the Drive-In. It's not just on your Blu ray shelf. It's it's something that exists as a multiple faceted art form. There are hundreds and thousands of independent horror writers, independent horror actors that are on the stage, that are sitting at home just hoping somebody will recognize them and look at their works and their words.

00;48;13;18 - 00;48;38;13
Harry Scott Sullivan
I know we got Stephen King, Dane Coots, all the big guys are out there. You can go see an overproduced, bloated comic book movie. You got your Star Wars. It's all good and fine, but look past everything else. Look around your town. Horror is everywhere as an art form, and it's a discussion for another day because we've reached the end of this episode.

00;48;38;13 - 00;49;03;05
Harry Scott Sullivan
But it's not just campy. It's not just tacky horrors. Not just a place for people to begin their careers and a cheap horror movie. There's just so much that you can do. And I think a lot of the work of Charles Busch isn't necessarily based in horror, but a hammer esque gothic atmosphere. It's just something unique to its own sense.

00;49;03;05 - 00;49;29;28
Harry Scott Sullivan
And as we already discussed, I don't like calling it campy or kitschy. It's its own world. Charles Bush has has created their very own planet, and I'd love to live there full time. Absolutely. I would I'd love so much to live there. I am so thankful for the existence and the work of Charles Bush, and I hope all of you out there in Radio Land take the time to explore it.

00;49;29;28 - 00;49;49;21
Harry Scott Sullivan
And yes, support physical media. Support your local theater. The Drive-In will never die. Go see a play. Go read a book. Check out a zine. There's a lot more out there than meets the eye. And there are so many people that need your support. They need your love. And hey, you know what? Let's just not box it into horror.

00;49;49;23 - 00;50;27;12
Harry Scott Sullivan
If 9 to 5 is playing at your local theater, go check it out. You would be amazed at the level of talent and beauty that you will be exposed to. That is so different from watching television, so different from watching the same old movies. It's invigorating. It's beautiful. The theater, just like the Drive-In Will Never die. And ultimately the gifts from people like Charles Ludlam and Charles Busch, William Shakespeare, John Cassavetes, Mart Crowley, Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett, and even Andy Milligan.

00;50;27;14 - 00;50;31;17
Harry Scott Sullivan
They'll never die.

00;50;31;19 - 00;50;53;14
Harry Scott Sullivan
Love art. Let it into your heart. Let it hug you. You too can find beauty in the world and show it to other people. And that's it. That's the end of this episode. The ashtray is full and the bottle is empty. You have been listening to Harry Scott Sullivan. Death by DVD will return another day. And till then, pleasant tomorrows.