Marie Menken
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010) |
| Marie Menken | |
|---|---|
 Marie Menken with her 16mm Bolex |
|
| Born | May 25, 1909 New York City, New York |
| Died | December 29, 1970 (aged 61) |
| Occupation | Experimental filmaker, socialite |
| Spouse | Willard Maas |
Marie Menkevicius (May 25, 1909 in New York City, New York – December 29, 1970) was an American experimental filmmaker and socialite.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
The daughter of Catholic-Lithuanian immigrants, she grew up in Brooklyn.
[edit] Personal life
In 1931 she met Willard Maas, a professor of literature at Wagner College in Staten Island. They married in 1937, but it was a rocky and unstable marriage. Menken and Maas lived in a penthouse at 62 Montague Terrace in Brooklyn.
Maas was a verbally abusive husband who was jealous of Menken's popularity and acceptance as an artist, as his own was in decline. Maas has also been identified by Gerard Malanga to have been the off-camera presence performing fellatio on DeVeren Bookwalter in the Andy Warhol film Blow Job (1964). A different version (thought by many to be unreliable) appears in the Warhol memoir Popism: The Warhol Sixties (1980).
The strongest bond that held Maas and Menken together (besides their friends in common) was their "wild parties", and "wild fights", fortified by the consumption of drugs washed down by distilled spirits.
[edit] Filmography and professional career
Friend Edward Albee based the characters of Martha and George and their relationship on Menken and Maas in his play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962).
Menken appeared in Andy Warhol's films Screen Tests (1964), The Life of Juanita Castro (1965), Bitch (1965), Prison (1965), and Chelsea Girls (1966).
She was the basis of the 2006 documentary film Notes on Marie Menken by Martina Kudlacek. The film featured Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Gerard Malanga, Jonas Mekas, and Marie's nephew, Joseph J. Menkevich.
In 2007, Menken's Glimpse of the Garden (1957) was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
