"COUL", not "COULD", on cover due to insufficient "D"s in type-font.
Photograph of the author by Harold Chapman tipped-in at final leaf.
Hello and thank you for visiting. This web page is dedicated to the life and work of Piero Heliczer. It was made by fan for fans and it has no commercial status.
This site is always under construction. Please send e-mail (english or czech)
with any questions, additions, comments, suggestions or corrections.
If you met Piero or you have some story to tell, you are welcome to contribute. Let me know if you have anything from Piero Heliczer for sale or trade: books, magazines / prints with contribution, posters, flyers, photos, his films on VHS and so on. I am also looking for same kind of things from Angus MacLise.
Enjoy
Ondrej
I would like to thank the following people for their help:
Bill Breeze, Pamela Boslet Buskin, Ira Cohen, Frank Dorst, Eric Heliczer, Steve Heliczer, Paul van den Hout, Olivier Landemaine, David N. Lewis, Lau Buur Nielsen,
Tom Raworth, Salamandrina, Andrew Sclanders, Philip Smith and Jerry Tartaglia
IMPRIMATUR 1281
The Dead Language Press, Paris, late 50s / early 60s
YOU COUL HEAR THE SNOW DRIPPING AND FALLING INTO THE DEERS MOUTH
The Dead Language Press, Paris, late 50s / early 60s
"COUL", not "COULD", on cover due to insufficient "D"s in type-font.
Photograph of the author by Harold Chapman tipped-in at final leaf.
& I DREAMT I SHOT ARROWS IN MY AMAZON BRA
Matrix Press / The Dead Language Press, London, 1963
THE SOAP OPERA
Trigram Press, London, 1967
Illustrations:
Andy Warhol, Wallace Berman and Jack Smith
THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE
The Dead Language Press, probably London, November 1969
THE PLAYS OF PIERO HELICZER, VOL 1.
The Dead Language in cooperation with Paris Filmmakers Cooperative, Preaux, 1971, 15 pages
Note:
First edition of 100 copies.
THE PLAYS OF PIERO HELICZER, VOL. 2.
The Dead Language in cooperation with Paris Filmmakers Cooperative, Preaux, 1971, 15 pages
Note:
First edition of 100 copies.
THE PLAYS OF PIERO HELICZER, VOL. III
The Dead Language in cooperation with Paris Filmmakers Cooperative, Preaux, 1971, 13 pages
Note:
First edition of 100 copies.
THE HANDSOME POLICEMAN
Moon Dragon Press, 1976
SUNDAYS CHILD
Piero Heliczer, probably early 80s
ABDICATION OF THE THRONE OF HELL
Amsterdam School Of Poetry / Vertaling Hans Plomp, Amsterdam, 1981, 48 pages
Note:
A short, bilingual selection of Heliczer's poems, printed in English and Dutch
LEADBELLY
Piero Heliczer, circa 1988, 14 pages
THE PERFECT DETECTIVE
Sovo Production, Amsterdam, 1989, 40 pages
AND I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK
The Beehive Press, New Jersey, 1991
Note:
Includes the poem of the same name
A PURCHASE IN THE WHITE BOTANICA
Granary books, New York, 2001, 151 pages
Note:
Collection of Piero Heliczer's poetry. Also includes biographical interview with Heliczer's half-sister Marisabina Russo-Stark, conducted by Gerard Malanga.
ACCENT - A QUARTERLY OF NEW LITERATURE
Spring 1958
Contents:
Thomas Gallagher, Grace Paley, Ralph J. Mills jr., Marcia C. Stubbs,
Piero Heliczer - The Tomb of Henry James, Gottfried Benn,
Donald Finkel, Maxine W. Kumin, Laurence Donovan
AUDIENCE NO. 2 - A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS
ca Spring 1958, 106 pages
Contents:
Piero Heliczer, Roger Hecht, I.A. Richards, Sandra Hochman,
George Starbuck, John Simon and others.
THE EDITOR 2
Providence, Rhode Island, Fall 1958, 36 pages
Contents:
Piero Heliczer - Two Poems and an Unpoem, Arthur Freeman,
Charles Philbrick and others.
NEW DEPARTURES 1
Editors:
Michael Horovitz and David Sladen
New Departures, Summer 1959, 98 pages
Contents:
William Burroughs, Samuel Beckett, Piero Heliczer, Cornelius Cardew,
Philip O'Connor, Stefan & Franciszka Themerson, Kurt Schwitters,
John McGrath, Victor Pasmore, Stevie Smith.
TOMORROW NO. 3
Editor:
Ian Hamilton
Publisher:
Keble College, Oxford, February - March 1960, 33 pages
Contents:
A. Alvarez, Valerie Benton, Steve Cox, Ronald Duncan, Michael Ffinch,
John Fuller, Piero Heliczer, Francis Hope, Michael Horowitz,
Elizabeth Jennings, Bernard Kops, Anna Lovell, Oscar Mellor,
Christopher Middleton, Victor Musgrave, D.L. Pendlebury,
Christopher Salvesen, Judith Spink, Peter Wollen
NEW DEPARTURES 2/3
Editor:
Michael Horovitz
Publisher:
New Departures, London & Oxford, 1960, 128 pages
Contents:
Anna Lovell, correspondance, Hans Helms, Raymond Queneau, Eugene Ionesco,
Olivia de Haulleville, Chistopher Salvesen, Paul Ableman, Jon Silkin,
Adrian Mitchell, John Cage, Patrick Featherson, Allen Ginsberg,
Robert Creeley, John Mcgrath, Gabriel Pearson, Robert Beloof,
Pablo Picasso, John Miles, Kenneth Beaudoin, Graham Reynolds,
Alan Davie, Gregory Corso, Donald Davie, August Stramm, Michael Hamburger,
Jack Kerouac, Piero Heliczer - W M Byrd on pages 124 - 127
Page 42 has The dead language ad black and white photo with Piero Heliczer,
Om and Angus MacLise.
RHINOZERO 5: BEAT
Editors:
Klaus-Peter Dienst and Rolf-Gunter Dienst
Publisher:
Langer Peter Verlag, Germany 1961, 38 pages
Contents:
David Ball, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Robert Creeley, Edward Dorn, Larry Eigner,
Theodore Enslin, Allen Ginsberg, Piero Heliczer, Anselm Hollo, Michael Horovitz,
Dell Hymes, Robert Kelly, Jack Kerouac, Michael McClure, David Meltzer, Peter Orlovsky,
Marc D. Schleifer, Gary Snyder, Gael Turnbull and Philip Whalen.
OUTBURST NO. 1
Editor:
Tom Raworth
Publisher:
Matrix Press, London, 1961, 52 pages
Contents:
Anselm Hollo - Faustus In The 60's (poem mentions Piero Heliczer), Tram Combs, Tom Malcolm,
Denise Levertov, Charles Olson, Fielding Dawson, Gary Snyder, Christopher Logue,
Dai Jenkins (illustration), Edward Dorn, Gael Turnbull, Nigel Black, Robert Creeley,
Piero Heliczer - From Wyatt a Play, Steve Fletcher (photos),
Jean Goldsmith (illustration), Chao Tze-Chiang, Michael Horovitz, Pete Brown,
Maurice Capitanchik, Ian Finlay
SEVENTH STREET POEMS FROM LES DEUX MEGOTS
Editor:
Don Katzman
Publisher:
?, New York City, Fall / Winter 1962
Contents:
Carol Berge, Jerry Bloedow, Ree Dragonette, Ron Forbes, Kathleen Fraser, Piero Heliczer,
David Henderson, Spencer Holst, Allen Katzman, Don Katzman, Steve Kowit, Robert Lima,
Jack Marshall, Mary Mayo, Robert O'Brien, and Diane Wakoski
LOCUS SOLUS NO. 5
Editors:
John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, Harry Mathews and James Schuyler
New York, 1962
Contents:
John Ashbery, John Wieners, Harry Mathews, Chester Kallman, Frank O'Hara,
Gerard Malanga, Ted Berrigan, Piero Heliczer, Raymond Roussel
Note:
Printed in an edition of only 500 copies.
OUTBURST NO. 2
Editor:
Tom Raworth
Publisher:
Matrix Press, London, 1963
Contents:
Douglas Woolf, Paul Klee, Paul Blackburn, Philip Whalen, Leroi Jones, Allen Ginsberg,
Piero Heliczer, David Meltzer, Larry Eigner and others
Photos:
Irving Penn and others.
JAZZ POEMS
Editor:
Anselm Hollo
Publisher:
Studio Vista, 1963, 48 pages
Reedition:
Studio Vista Limited, 1967
Contents:
Dannie Abse, David Ball, Pete Brown, Alan Brownjohn, Ian Hamilton Finlay,
Roy Fisher, Piero Heliczer - From Wm Byrd:II, The Diving Bell,
Anselm Hollo, Michael Horovitz, Bernard Kops, Christopher Logue,
Adrian Mitchell, Iris Orton, Jeremy Robson, Michael Shayer,
Jon Silkin, Gael Turnbull
NIAGARA FRONTIER REVIEW NO. 1
Editor:
Charles Olson
Publisher:
Niagara Frontier Review, Buffalo, NY, Summer 1964, 70 pages
Contents:
Charles Olson, LeRoi Jones, Robert Creeley,
Piero Heliczer - Llanto por Lucas Cranach,
David Posner, William Carlos Williams, Charles Doria, William Moebius,
Albert Cook, Emilio Grossi (portfolio of photographs)
POETS AT LE METRO 149 SECOND AVENUE, NEW YORK
Publisher:
?, New York, October 1964, 21 pages
Contents:
Harry Fainlight, Allen Katzman, George Montgomery, Tuli Kupferberg, Nancy Ellison,
Erik Kiviat, John Keyes, Allen Deloach, Es Sanders, Will Inman, Duane Locke, Ted
Berrigan, Carol Berge, Rai Saunders, Diane Wakoski, Armand Schwerner, Tom Harriman,
Piero Heliczer, Carl Solomon, Dan Saxon
NADADA NO. 2
Editors:
Timothy Baum with assistance by Gerard Malanga and Robert Cordier
New York City, October 1965, 76 pages
Contents:
Tristan Tzara, Ray Johnson, Ted Berrigan, Harold Norse, Gerard Malanga,
Kenward Elmslie, Piero Heliczer, Guillaume Apollinaire,
Charles Henry Ford and others.
UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA POETRY REVIEW NO. 4
Editor:
Duane Locke
Publisher:
Tampa Poetry Review, 1965
Contents:
Douglas Blazek, Piero Heliczer, David Kelly, John Keys,
Gerard Malanga, Irene Schramm, Kent Taylor, d.a. levy.
ADADA NO 2
Publisher:
unknown, 1965, 75 pages
Contents:
Ted Berrigan, Joe Ceravolo, Harold Norse, Diane di Prima, Ron Padgett,
Piero Heliczer, Guillaume Apollinaire, Charles Henri Ford,
John Perreault, Jean Arp, Gerard Malanga, William Saroyan and others.
THE GREAT SOCIETY NO 1
Editor:
Robert Richkin
Publisher:
Allen Ginsberg and Ray Bremser, New York, 1966
Contents:
Allen Ginsberg, Clive Matson, Ray Bremser, Piero Heliczer and others.
THE GREAT SOCIETY NO 2
Editors:
Ira Cohen and Robert Richkin
Publisher:
unknown, NY, June 1967
Contents:
William S. Burroughs (a cut-up by Burroughs of a poem by his son),
Paul Bowles, Ray Bremser, Jack Smith, Ira Cohen [as 'Panama Rose'],
John Wieners, Harold Norse, Piero Heliczer, Jean-Jacques Lebel
Photos:
Robert Frank (a still from Conrad Rooks' film Chappaqua)
Cover:
Jack Smith
INTRANSIT THE ANDY WARHOL - GERARD MALANGA MONSTER ISSUE
Publisher:
Toad Press, Eugene, 1968, 218 pages
Contents:
Andy Warhol, Gerard Malanga, Ingrid Superstar, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure,
Phil Ochs, Taylor Mead, Kenneth Rexroth, John Cale, Lou Reed, Nico,
Piero Heliczer, Frank O'Hara, Jonas Mekas, Charles Bukowski and others.
ROOTS FORMING NUMBER ONE
summer 1969, 32 pages
Contents:
Piero Heliczer - None of This Is Really Going to Be There, Gerard Malanga,
Albert Rene Ricard, Clark Coolidge, and others.
CHILDREN OF ALBION - POETRY OF THE UNDERGROUND IN BRITAIN
Editor:
Michael Horovitz
Publisher:
Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1969, 382 pages
Contents:
John Arden, Peter Armstrong, Pete Brown, Jim Burns, Johnny Byrne, Charles Cameron,
David Chaloner, Barry Cole, John Cotton, Andrew Crozier, Dave Cunliffe,
Felix de Mendelssohn, Raymond Durgnat, Paul Evans, Ian Hamilton Finlay,
Roy Fisher, Harry Guest, Lee Harwood, Michael Hastings, Spike Hawkins,
Geoffrey Hazard, Piero Heliczer, Pete Hoida, Anselm Hollo,
Frances Horovitz, Michael Horovitz, Libby Houston, Mark Hyatt, John James,
Roger Jones, David Kerrison, Seymour King, Bernard Kops, David Kozubei,
Herbert Lomas, Anna Lovell, Paul Matthews, Michael McCafferty, John McGrath,
Tom McGrath, Stuart Mills, Ted Milton, Adrian Mitchell, Edwin Morgan, Tina Morris,
Philip O'Connor, Neil Oram, Tom Pickard, Paul Potts, Tom Raworth,
Carlyle Reedy, Bernard Saint, Michael Shayer, David Sladen, Tom Taylor,
Barry, Tebb, Chris Torrance, Alexander Trocchi, Gael Turnbull, Patrick Waites,
Nicholas Snowden Willey, William Wyatt and Michael X.
GETTING BUSTED: PERSONAL EXPERIECES OF ARREST, TRIAL AND PRISON
Editor:
Firestone, Ross
Publisher:
Douglas Place of Publication, New York, 1970, 347 pages
Contents:
contributions from Herbert Huncke, Billie Holiday, John Sinclair, Bob Kaufman,
Terry Southern, Piero Heliczer, Paul Krassner, Ray Bremser, Ken Kesey,
Julian Beck, Judith Malina, Lenny Bruce, Timothy Leary, Wilhelm Reich,
Norman Mailer, Richard Brautigan, Eldridge Cleaver, and others
EXTENSIONS NO. 4
Editors:
Suzanne Zavrian and Joachim Neugroschel
Publisher:
Extensions, NY, 1970, 96 pages
Contents:
Vito Acconci, John Ashbery, Clark Coolidge, Jean Dubuffet, Barbara Guest,
Piero Heliczer, Gerard Malanga, Rene Ricard, Joachim Neugroschel,
Joseph Vojacek and others.
TELEPHONE 8
Editor:
Maureen Owen
Publisher:
Telephone, 1973
Contents:
Lorenzo Thomas, Charles Plymell, Charlie Vermont, Rebecca Wright, Piero Heliczer.
Cover:
Charles Plymell
THE POETRY REVIEW 67 / 1 - 2
Editor:
Eric Mottram
Publisher:
The Poetry Review, 1977
Contents:
Robert Kelly, Muriel Rukeyser, Juan L. Ortiz, trans. Will Rowe,
Bill Griffiths, Barry MacSweeney, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Fisher,
Sean O Huigin, Ulli McCarthy (Freer), John Keys, Michael Horovitz,
Ed Sanders, Lawrence Upton, Peter Mayer (trans.), Ken Smith,
Phil Maillard, Brendan Kennelly, Robert Lewis, Mike Dobbie, Paul Buck,
Val Torrance, Peter Riley, Elaine Randell, Jeremy Hilton, Colin Simms,
John Taggart, Philip St.Clair, Kevin Borman, Paul Brown, Herbert Burke,
Piero Heliczer, Martin Thom, Paul Green, John Freeman
Cover:
Allen Fisher
LITTLE CAESAR 9
Editor:
Gerard Malanga
Publisher:
Dennis Cooper / Little Caesar Press, Los Angeles, 1979
Contents:
Piero Heliczer, Gerard Malanga, Robert Creeley, Ezra Pound,
William Burroughs, Paul Metcalf, Louis Zukofsky, John Weiners,
Rene Ricard, Charles Olson, Ira Cohen, Gregory Corso, Tom Raworth,
Clark Coolidge, David Rattray, Anne Waldman, La Monte Young,
Marian Zazeela, Jonas Mekas, Brion Gysin, Dennis Cooper,
Jonathan Williams, Angus Maclise, Sterling Morrison and Allen Ginsberg.
INS AND OUTS - POETRY SPECIAL - CRIPPLED WARLORDS
Publisher:
Real Free Press, Amsterdam, 1979
Contents:
Brion Gysin, Patti Smith, Harold Norse, Ira Cohen, Piero Heliczer,
William Burroughs and others.
INSESSIE MAGAZINE #1
Publisher:
Insessie Magazine, late 70.
Contents:
Ira Cohen, Steef Davidson, Leo van der Zalm, Simon Vinkenoog,
Piero Heliczer and others.
Illustrations:
Rick Griffin, Aubrey Beardsley and others
THREE DIAMONDS
Author:
Gerard Malanga
Publisher:
Black Sparrow Press, 1991, 222 pages
Note:
Excerpt from Piero Heliczer's poem Purcell a Textbook is on page 82.
THE BEAUTIFUL BOOK
Author:
Jack Smith
Publisher:
The Dead Language Press, 1962
Note:
only about 200 copies published
Reedition:
Granary books, New York, 2001
WEDNESDAY PAPER
Editors:
new world chair Angus MacLise folding chair of the printing master
Piero Heliczer
ca 1963, 12 pages
Contents:
Anselm Hollo - Songs of Stations (poem mentions Piero Heliczer), woman contest,
Egon Schiele, advertisements, news, Gregory Corso, letter to Piero Heliczer
from Cyclops (nickname of Cy Lester).
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN UNDERGROUND FILM
Author:
Sheldon Renan
Publisher:
E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc, 1967, 320 pages
Contents:
Photo with Piero Heliczer and Rene Rivera (aka Mario Montez) from film Flaming Creatures is on
page 201. Piero Heliczer is also mentioned on following pages: 103, 183, 198, 203 and 236.
A SERIAL BIOGRAPHY
Author:
Tom Raworth
Publisher:
Fulcrum Press, London, 1969
Reedition:
Turtle Island, Berkeley CA, 1977
Note:
Includes one paragraph about Piero Heliczer and Catherine Maxence Cowper's
wedding.
SCREEN TESTS / A DIARY
Authors:
Gerald Malanga and Andy Warhol
Publisher:
Kulchur Press, New York, 1967, 54 pages
Note:
Only about 500 copies published. Multiple-image film portraits by Warhol of 54
poets, filmmakers, painters, musicians, actors, etc.
Each double frame portrait printed on acetate, facing a Gerald Malanga poem.
Contents:
Paul America, John Ashbery, Bernedetta Barzini, Timothy Baum, Marisa Berenson, Ted Berrigan,
Anne Buchanan, Debbie Caen, Daniel Cassidy, Jr., Ronald Cutrone, Salvador Dali, Denis Deegan,
Edwin Denby, Donovan, Harry Fainlight, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Charles Henry Ford, Ruth Ford,
Allen Ginsberg, Piero Heliczer, Freddy Herko, Jane Holzer, Ed Hood, International Velvet,
Barbara Jannsen, Paul Katz, Sally Kirkland, Kenneth Jay Lane, Billy Linich, Willard Maas,
Gerald Malanga, Jonas Mekas, Marie Menken, Allen Midgette, Paul Morrissey, David Murray,
Ivy Nicholson, Nico, Odine, Ron Padgett, Ronna Page, John Palmer, Gino Piserchio, Lou Reed,
Albert Rene Ricard, Barbara Rubin, Phoebe Russell, Francesco Scavullo, Edie Sedgwick,
Harold Stevenson, Ronald Tavel, Chuck Wein, John Weiners, Mary Woronov.
MOVIE JOURNAL - THE RISE OF A NEW AMERICAN CINEMA, 1959 - 1971
Author:
Jonas Mekas
Publisher:
Collier Books, New York, 1972, 448 pages
Note:
Collected columns which Jonas Mekas wrote for Village Voice. Paragraph about
film Dirt is on page 208 and happening The Last Rites is described on page 214.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & LOU REED
Author:
Mike West
Publisher:
Babylon Books, UK, 1982, 64 pages
Note:
Including a part of the Piero Heliczer's filmography related to Velvet Underground
reprinted from Filmmaker's Cooperative Catalogue.
UP-TIGHT - THE VELVET UNDERGROUND STORY
Authors:
Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga
Publisher:
Omnibus Press, UK, 1983, 128 page
Note:
Piero Heliczer is mentioned few times in early days of Velvet Underground.
Also include two black & white stills with Angus MacLise from film
Satisfaction.
THE BEAT HOTEL
Author:
Harold Chapman
Publisher:
Gris Banal Editeur, Geneva, 1984
Contents:
Bilingual text. Introductions by William Burroughs and Brion Gysin. Captions by Claire Parry. A photodocumentary
by Harold Chapman, featuring William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso,
Harold Norse, Ian Sommerville, Piero Heliczer and many others.
FEED-BACK - LA LEYENDA DE LOS VELVET UNDERGROUND
Author:
Ignacio Julia
Publisher:
Ruta 66, Spain, 1986, 98 page
Note:
Large interview with Sterling Morrison from Velvet Underground.
Piero Heliczer is mentioned few times.
FILM-MAKERS' COOPERATIVE CATALOGUE NUMBER 7
Publisher:
Film-maker's Cooperative, New York, 1989, 568 pages
Note:
Including a part of the Piero Heliczer's filmography on page 241.
ANDY WARHOL FILM FACTORY
Editor:
Michael O'Pray
Publisher:
British Film Institute. London, 1989, 196 pages
Note:
Photo from Andy Warhol's film Couch with Gerard Malanga and Piero Heliczer is
on page 173.
SUPERSTARS
Publisher:
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain & Les Inrockuptibles, France, 1990, 52 pages
Note:
"Dictionary" of Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol related personalities.
Piero Heliczer is on page 17.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND HANDBOOK
Author:
M.C. Kostek
Publisher:
Black Spring Press, UK, 1992, 226 pages
Note:
Including a part of the Piero Heliczer's filmography related to Velvet Underground.
FILM-MAKERS' COOPERATIVE CATALOGUE NUMBER 7 SUPPLEMENT
Publisher:
Film-maker's Cooperative, New York, 1993, 88 pages
Note:
Including a part of the Piero Heliczer's filmography on page 27.
WARHOL'S FACTORY - THE VELVET YEARS 1965-1967
Authors:
Stephen Shore and Lynne Tillman
Publisher:
Thunder's Mouth Press, 1995, 176 pages
Note:
John Cale talks about Piero Heliczer on page 63. "Piero had
cut every eye from Vogue magazine and pasted them up on the
wall, so the wall was covered with these beautiful eyes,
all different."
ANDY WARHOL 21. 1. - 22. 2. 97 GALERIA BIELSKA BWA
Publisher:
Galeria Bielska BWA, Poland, 1997, 76 pages
Note:
Andy Warhol exhibition catalogue including black & white photo with Edie
Sedgwick, Andy Warhol and Piero Heliczer by Billy Name on page 51.
SCREEN TEST PORTRAITS NUDES 1964 - 1996
Author:
Gerard Malanga
Publisher:
Steidl Publishing, Gottingen, 2000, 200 pages
Note:
A photographic retrospective with portraits of Allen Ginsberg, Piero Heliczer,
Berrigan, Edie Sedgwick, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Iggy Pop, Taylor Mead,
Patti Smith, Ira Cohen, Charles Henri Ford, Dennis Hopper, Wallace Berman,
Robert Mapplethorpe, Tennessee Williams, Alice Cooper, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed and others.
Reedition:
Steidl Publishing, August 2003, 200 pages
ALL POETS WELCOME - THE LOWER EAST SIDE POETRY SCENE IN THE 1960s
Author:
Daniel Kane
Publisher:
University of California Press, USA, 2003, 348 pages
Note:
Cover photo from Gerard Malanga Archives include Gerard Malanga, Harry Fainlight,
Kate Heliczer, Allen Ginsberg, Piero Heliczer, Peter Orlovsky and Harry
Smith in back room at Cafe Le Metro, 1964.
20th June 1937
Born in Rome, Italy.
1942
Acted as a child actor in Augusto Genina's film Bengasi.
1944
His father was killed by nazis.
cca 1946
Went with his mother and younger brother to USA. They lived in Washington DC.
cca 1950
Went to Forest Hills High School where he met Angus MacLise.
1954
Graduated from Forest Hills High School with top honors.
cca 1955/56
Went to Harvard.
1958
With his girlfriend Olivia de Haulleville
and Angus MacLise moved to Paris, where he established The Dead Language Press.
late 1960 / early 1961
Moved to London.
Early 1961
Met poet Tom Raworth.
Autumn 1961
Married Catherine Maxence Cowper.
Moved to Brighton, met Jeffrey Keen, and together they made his first film Autumn Feast.
1962
Moved to New York City. Published Jack Smith's The Beautiful Book, acted in his film
Flaming Creatures and started to make his own films.
Spring / summer 1965
Organized The Launching of the Dream Weapon and The Rites of the Dream Weapon mixed-media
stage performances. Early formation of rock group The Velvet Underground played behind
screen during these underground happenings.
late December 1965 (probably 31st December)
CBS News Walter Cronkite's show broadcast The Making of an Underground Film with
Piero Heliczer shooting his film Venus in Furs.
mid 1960s
After receiving reparation money from the Italian government because of the
death of his father, he bought a broken down cottage in
Normandy, and gave the rest of the money away to Barbara Rubin and others.
1967
Trigram Press in London published his book The Soap Opera with illustrations by
Andy Warhol, Wallace Berman and Jack Smith.
mid 70s / late 70s
Lived on a dilapidated houseboat in Amsterdam and traveled between New York City and
Paris. During one of his absences the houseboat was mysteriously scuttled. After that he
stayed on the street.
25th January 1977
Married Carla Beumer (born 18th June 1957 and died 29th May 1998).
9th August 1977
Mario Heliczer, son of Piero and Carla Beumer was born in Amsterdam.
1979
Gerard Malanga created a festschrift on Piero Heliczer's work for Little Caesar
magazine number 9 published by Dennis Cooper.
late70s / early 80s
Lived as a homeless person in New York City.
22nd July 1993
Died in Preaux de Perche, France, after his moped was crushed from behind by a truck.
PIERO HELICZER AND CATHERINE MAXENCE COWPER WEDDING DAY
autumn 1961, London, England
Photographs from Tom Raworth private collection.
I can remember all that time. You name it. It's there. The morning I went to Piero's wedding.
Chelsea Town Hall. I can tell you. That morning I went to the grocers. We were living in
Amhurst Road, Hackney. On the way back I passed a policeman on a grey horse. By two
o'clock I was late and took a taxi. The driver was bald and the number of the cab was
6954. I'd borrowed an old camera from Sid Fletcher and worried that I mightn't be able
to work it. As the taxi turned into Park Lane the sun came out and the camera slid
along the seat. Piero arrived first, a wilting sprig of marijuana in his lapel.
Then Kate in another taxi. The registrar queried her name and asked her mother
what she called her. I call her lots of things she said. The sun came through the window.
From Tom Raworth's book "A Serial Biography" (Fulcrum Press, London, 1969 / Turtle Island, Berkeley CA, 1977)
Flyer from 1969. From Pamela Boslet Buskin private collection
AUTUMN FEAST
Date of release:
1961
Format:
8mm, 14 minutes, black & white and color, silent / sound on tape
Cameraman:
Jeff Keen
Cast:
Piero Heliczer, Kate Heliczer, Jacqueline Keen and others
Music:
Angus MacLise - cembalum, Tony Conrad - mandolin, Piero Heliczer - flute
Autumn Feast
"A grown-up fantasy based on Guy Fawkes Day, the great children's holiday
of England, which is a combination of Halloween and the Fourth of July"
- Piero Heliczer
"The Autumn Feast lays bare (there should be something that rhymes with
hair here or bare there) the mythic structure behind the orange domes and
cardboard battlements and gilded gables of our Pasty National Howard
Johnsons Baghdad. It rubs the very noses of our mannequins in our mold and
sends us spinning into the street - undone and toothless"- Jack Smith
THE SOAP OPERA
also known as THE HOME OPERA and THE PANIC OPERA
Date of release:
cca 1964
Format:
8mm, 13 minutes, silent
Cast:
Piero Heliczer, Angus MacLise, Jack Smith, La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela
and others
"At home in a small loft in the early days of the Golden Age of the
Lower East Side" - Piero Heliczer
DIRT
Date of release:
1965
Format:
8mm, 12 minutes, black & white and color, silent / sound on tape
Note:
Planned as three hour epic, but when finished was only 12 minutes: also
known as BATH SEQUENCE.
Cast:
Irene Nolan, Gretl Learned, Angus MacLise, Mario Montez [screen name of
Rene Rivera], Harry Smith, Gerard Malanga, Andy Warhol, Charles Henri
Ford, Ann Mattingley, Barbara Rubin, Jack Martin, Jack Smith, Rosebud,
Bobby Driscoll, D. D. Driscoll, Edie Sedgwick, Sally Kirkland, John Cale,
Yoram, Kate Heliczer, Bobby Notkoff, N. Y. police dept., Marian Zazeela,
La Monte Young, Julie Garfield, Barbara Maultsby, Charles Stanley,
Storm De Hirsch, Jonas Mekas and others
Music:
Marc Antoine Charpentier: Kyrie and Credo from the mass, "Assumpta Est
Maria"
The Last Rites flyer from 1965
"Two nuns take a bath, then meet a sailor on the Staten Island Ferry"
- Piero Heliczer
"Among all the new movies (it has been quiet lately on the underground
scene) Piero Heliczer's Dirt touched me most deeply. Its beauty is very
personal and lyrical. And every frame of it is cinema. I can do not
justice to this beautiful work in one paragraph. It was shot on 8mm and
much of its beauty and its cinema come from 8mm properities of camera and
film. It is all motion. Together with Brakhage's Songs, Branaman's
abstractions and Ken Jackob's not yet released work, Heliczer's Dirt is
one of the four works that use 8mm film properly and for art's sake" -
Jonas Mekas, Village Voice.
SATISFACTION
Date of release:
cca 1965
Format:
8mm, 10 minutes, black & white and color, silent / sound on tape
Cast:
Sally Kirkland (as the Nun), Irene Nolan (as the School Girl), Frances
Stillman and Barbara Rubin (as Nuns), Gerard Malanga (as Flash Gordon),
Jack Smith (as God), Jack Martin, Angus MacLise, Mario Montez [screen name
of Rene Rivera], John Cale and others
Music:
Rolling Stones: Satisfaction
Sound engineer:
Tony Conrad
"A Nun goes to Heaven and arrives there at the same time as Flash Gordon"
- Piero Heliczer
"A film (SATISFACTION) by Piero Heliczer was shown, in the middle of which,
a Bernard Feeney, of 226 West 238 Street, suddenly threw over the
projector and attacked a nearby person. Other persons were attacked and
Feeney was struck once. A girl was cut by a piece of glass. Police
officers No. 858 and No. 21350 arrived and asked the assailant for
identification." - Allen Katzman, East Village Other
Angus MacLise in Satisfaction. Video still photography by Paul van den Hout
from Green Groceries
VENUS IN FURS
Date of release:
late 1965, finished maybe early 1966
Format:
8mm, 16 minutes, color, silent / sound on tape
Cast:
Julie Garfield and Barbara Rubin (as Nuns), Chas Stanley (as Death),
Margaret Boyce Cam (as the Nurse), Lou Reed, John Cale, Angus MacLise,
Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker, Piero Heliczer and others
Music:
Velvet Underground: Heroin, Venus in Furs with Piero Heliczer on saxophone
Sound engineer:
CBS-TV News
"This companion film to SATISFACTION is set at the opposite solstice and
recapitulates part of DIRT. A chess game under the bridge becomes a
Christmas party in Hell. A must for lepidopterists"- Piero Heliczer
"Previously shown one night per week to club or subscription audiences,
'The Bridge' attractions became Gotham's 'hip evening at the bijou',
as jet setters smuggled friends into screenings to watch each other.
Whether or not regular full week showings will trim the glamor now
that 'anybody' can view VENUS IN FURS MEETS THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
is conjectural. Latter sample is part of the Bridge's first program
dubbed 'Obsessions' skedded March 9 through 15, and is descibed as:
'Where a nun and nurse go to hell because of their sinful life
in St. Vincent's Hospital'." - Variety.
JOAN OF ARC
Format:
11:30 minutes, color, silent / sound on tape
Cast:
Arnold Rockwood (as the Policeman), Jack Smith (as LBJ), Rene Ricard, Ira
Cohen, Wm. de Vore, Gerard Malanga, Tuli Kupferberg (as Bonnie Prince
Charlie), Jose Rodriguez Soltero (as the Priest), Angus MacLise, Irene
Nolan (as Marlene Dietrich), Chas Henry Ford, Jane Waldren, Wendy Norins,
Andy Warhol and many others
Music:
Tony Conrad
"The story of Joan of Arc as applied to the present revolution in arts
and mores. The Gothic as applied to the War in Viet Nam. The film is
experimental in the sense that in it the visual becomes tactile."
- Piero Heliczer
"...masterful..." - Simon Hartog, Cinim.
"...home movie of the superstars..." - Cahiers du Cinema
STONE AGE
Format:
24 minutes, black & white and color, silent / sound on tape
Cast:
Tom Raworth, Mary & Gudmundur Gudmunsson Erro, Agneta Freiberg, Jane
Fagin, Michael Malce, Francois le Coeur, Jackie Curtis, Viva, Michal
Auder, Terence Ork, Mario Anniballi, Jud & Jeni Yalkut, Marion Brown,
Mossa Bildner, Dexter Kelly, Betsy Greenstein, Gerorge Whitman, Alferdo
Leonardi, Patti-Lee Chenis, Cornelia Wessels, Joseph Arak, Jose
Rodriguez-Soltero, Rolando Pena, Suzanne de Maria, Lohr Wilson, Jerry
Benjamin, Jack Smith (as Casanova), Michael Snow (as Aristotle), Gerard
Malanga (as Orfeo) and many others
Music:
Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo - Act III
"The question is, it is either going to be a stoned age or a new Stone
Age" - Louis Brigante
NEW JERUSALEM
Music:
Format:
BESSIE SMITH
Format:
DON BYRON
also known as LORD BYRON and BYRON
THE NAKED LUNCH
Format:
SESSION AT NEW PALZ
Note:
ST. THERESE DE L'ENFANT
Format:
ST. THERESE PART 2.
Date of release:
ACQUARIUM
Date of release:
COCAINE FANCY
Date of release:
ROBIN HOOD
Format:
REIN
Note:
ALLEZ ALLEZ LES MORTS
Note:
U.S.A. VS. PIERO HELICZER
Format:
I'M IN WITH THE IN CROWD
Note:
THE PLAYS OF PIERO HELICZER
Note:
OPAL
Date of release:
IL PICCOLO TUCCI
Date of release:
Date of release:
ACQUE DI PRIMAVERA / TORRENTS OF SPRING
Date of release:
LADRI DI BICICLETTE / BICYCLE THIEVES
Date of release:
FLAMING CREATURES
Date of release:
Music:
BROTHEL
Filmmaker:
COUCH
Date of release:
SCREEN TEST
Date of release:
NO PRESIDENT
Date of release:
BIRTH OF A NATION
Date of release:
THE MAKING OF AN UNDERGROUND FILM - WALTER CRONKITE SHOW, CBS
Date of release:
Date of release:
note:
DANCING IN THE STREET, PART 7 - HANG ON TO YOURSELF
Date of release:
Tony Conrad
8mm, 5 minutes, color, silent / sound on tape
Cast:
Antoine Perich and others
"photographed by gerard malanga in the subways of new york (actually
the set of the blue centaur left over from economy cutbacks at mgm
and paramount) / joseph smith; patti lee chenis" / barabbas son to
joseph smith / trade smith: terence ork / mark brother to trade smith:
bill iwata / captain john smith / captain smiths band white masks
mustaches armored round quattrocento helmets / angel black face wears
a checked gingham dress / band of angels / johann sebastian bach wears
wig in blackface looks a lot like george washington two fingers of his
left hand are missing / bessie smith: lily ocasio / joseph smith
and barabbas smith are played by one man preferably buster keaton /
angel and bach are played by one man preferably django reinhard /
captain smith band is played by the band of angels" - Piero Heliczer
6 minutes, color, silent / sound on tape
"Which religion is the true one? None of them" - Piero Heliczer
Date of release:
1968
Format:
8mm
Cast:
Craig Carrington, International Velvet, Gerard Malanga, Serena Zimardi,
Paolo Lionni, Lucienne Samuels, Dan Cassidy and others.
1/4" magnetic tape (only), 30 minutes
Sound:
William Burroughs
Note:
A film for tape recorder, no projector needed.
No further informations available now.
40 minutes, black & white, silent
1969
Format:
8mm, 13 minutes, black & white, silent
"The motif JHS is that which Jesus dared to bring in worship to his poor
little wife. D'orphiline de la Beresina has brought Therese the child
Jesus from Sainte Face... I am the vine and you are the branches, I want
you to bring me much fruit" - Piero Heliczer
probably late 60s or early 1970
Note:
Film was screened at Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1970.
probably late 60s or early 1970
30 minutes, color, sound
"Considered to be Mr. Heliczer's most experimental film" - Piero Heliczer
Double-screen film
No further informations available now.
10 minutes, color, sound
No further informations available now.
No further informations available now.
October 1975
Cast:
Opale, David Hoff
PIERO HELICZER'S APPEARANCES IN FILMS
early 40s
Note:
Piero Heliczer as a child actor
NOTE It seems impossible to trace this movie. In the two Italian films listed below, a "Pier Giorgio Herliczer" is in the cast list: in Bengasi he plays "Pucci"; in
Acque di Primavera he plays "un altro bambino". Perhaps Pucci became Tucci with the erosion of time. TR January 22. 2011
1942
Format:
80 minutes, black & white, sound
Filmmaker:
Augusto Genina
Cast:
Amedeo Nazzari (Filippo Colleoni), Laura Redi (Fanny), Fosco Giachetti
(Captain Enrico Berti), Carlo Tamberlani, Giovanni Grasso, Vivi Gioi
(Giuliana), Guido Notari I (Italian Consul), Maria von Tasnady (Carla
Berti), Galeazzo Benti (Drunk english soldier), Carlo Duse (Lieutenant
Marchi), Giorgio Constantini (English officer), Fedele Gentile (Antonio)
Note:
Piero Heliczer as a child actor
1942
Format:
85 minutes, black & white, sound
Filmmaker:
Nunzio Malasomma
Cast:
Gino Cervi (Francesco), Mariella Lotti (Ilse), Vanna Vanni (Doctor Anna
Soldani), Paolo Stoppa (Doctor Berni), Carlo Lombardi (Alberto Claubert),
Annibale Betrone (Professor Weber), Marina Doge (Lucia as Alba Wiegele),
Wanda Capodaglio (Ilse's aunt), Vittorina Benvenuti (The head nurse),
Armando Migliari (The grandfather), Joop van Hulzen (The alpine guide),
Edda Soligo (A nurse), Roberto Bianchi, Franca Leardini, Silverio Pisu
(Child), Pier Giorgio Heliczer (Child)
1949
Filmmaker:
Vittorio De Sica
Note:
In conversation with Val Raworth in the early 1960s, talking about his
childhood in Italy and the films he'd been involved with, Piero stated
that he'd been an extra in some shots of Bicycle Thieves. Comparing the
date of release, and the time when Piero went to the USA with his family,
this seems unlikely: but possible if the movie was shot over a long
period.
1962 - 1963
Format:
16mm, 41 minutes, black & white, silent / sound on tape
Filmmaker:
Jack Smith
Cast:
Francis Francine [screen name of Frank di Giovanni] (as himself),
Sheila Bick (as Delicious Delores), Joel Markman (as Our Lady of the
Docks), Dolores Flores [screen name of Rene Rivera, aka Mario Montez] (as
The Spanish Girl), Arnold Rockwood (as Arnold), Judith Malina (as The
Fascinating Woman), Marian Zazeela, La Monte Young, Piero Heliczer
and others
Tony Conrad - tape delay loop
La Monte Young + Angus MacLise - short excerpt from unknown composition
various pop songs
Soundtrack by Tony Conrad with screams by Jack Smith, Mario Montez, Arnold
Rockwood, Kate and Piero Heliczer titled as Earthquake Orgy can be
found on CD Jack Smith - Les Evening Gowns Damées, 56 Ludlow Street 1962 -
1964, Volume I, published by Table Of The Elements in 1997
Piero Heliczer and Rene Rivera in Flaming Creatures
American cinema with graphic and rhythmic power worthy of the best of
formal cinema. He has attained for the first time in motion pictures a
high level of art which is absolutely lacking in decorum; and a treatment
of sex which makes us aware of the restraint of all previous
film-makers." - Jonas Mekas, Film Culture 29 (1963)
"The first audiences were laughing all the way through. But then that
writing started - and it became a sex thing … [and] there was dead silence
in the auditorium." - Jack Smith
Bill Vehr
Cast:
Jack Smith, Piero Heliczer and others
Note:
Film was seized by police and is lost now.
1964
Format:
16mm, 55 minutes, black & white, silent
Filmmaker:
Andy Warhol
Cast:
Binghamton Birdie, Rufus Collins, Gregory Corso, Walter Dainwood, Allen
Ginsberg, Kate Heliczer, Piero Heliczer, Baby Jane Holzer, Jack
Kerouac, Joseph LeSeuer, Naomi Levine, Gerald Malanga, Billy Name, Ivy
Nicholson, Ondine, Peter Orlovsky, John Palmer, Amy Taubin and Gloria Wood
Note:
Piero Heliczer appears in this film with Gerard Malanga.
Gerard Malanga and Piero Heliczer in Couch
1965
Format:
16mm, 3 minutes, black & white, silent
Filmmakers:
Andy Warhol and Gerard Malanga
Note:
Between 1964 and 1966 Andy Warhol made about 500 different Screen Tests of
various personalities who visited his atelier Factory.
Piero Heliczer in Screen Test
original title: THE KIDNAPPING OF WENDELL WILLKIE BY THE LOVE BANDIT
1968
Format:
ca 50 minutes, black & white
Filmmaker:
Jack Smith
Cast:
Irving Rosenthal, Doris Desmond, Mario Montez, Donna Kerness, Allegra, Gay Martini,
Bill Fortenberry, Jerry Sims, Robert Lavigne, John Vaccaro, Nancy King, Ruby Zinnia,
Tally Brown, Gerard Malanga, Francis Francine, Piero Heliczer, Joel Markman,
Tosh Carillo and Charles Henri Ford (as Lady Dracula)
1997
Format:
16mm, 85 minutes, color, sound
Filmmaker:
Jonas Mekas
Cast:
P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Ken Kelman, Hollis Melton, Ken Jacobs,
Larry Jordan, Florence Jacobs, Harry Smith, Henri Langlois, Annette
Michelson, Gerald O'Grady, Hollis Frampton, Sidney Peterson, James
Broughton, Joel Singer, Stephen Dwoskin, Dore O., Wener Nekes,
Kenneth Anger, Andrew Noren, Jacques Ledoux, Ed Emshwiller, Saul
Levine, Larry Gottheim, Pascale Dauman, Ray Wisniewski, Taylor Mead,
Michael Snow, Ricky Leacock, Stan Brakhage, Jane Brakhage, Barry
Gerson, Willard Van Dyke, John Whitney, Pola Chapelle, Morris
Engel, Stan Vanderbeek, Amy Greenfield, Bruce Baillie, Chantal
Akerman, Sally Dixon, Will Hindle, Michael Stuart, Robert Creeley,
Friede Bartlett, Scott Bartlett, Jud Yalkut, Adolfas Mekas, Callie
Angell, Charles Levine, Bhob Stewart, Nelly Kaplan, Claudia Weil,
Annabel Nicholson, Birgit Hein, Piero Heliczer, Peter Gidal,
Kurt Kren, Wilhelm Hein, Malcolm Le Grice, Carmen Vigil, Bill Brand,
Regina Cornwell, Akiko Iimura, Taka Iimura, David Crosswaite, Gill
Eatherley, Amy Taubin, Tom Chomont, Peter Weibel, Carla Liss, Robert
Huot, Guy Fihman, Claudine Eizykman, David Curtis, Barbara Rubin,
Kenji Kanesaka, Anna Karina, Leo Dratfield, Gregory Markopoulos,
Robert Beavers, Robert Kramer, Pamela Badyk, Cecille Starr, Jerome
Hill, Donald Richie, Fred Halsted, David Wise, Sheldon Renan, James
Blue, Ernie Gehr, Richard Foreman, Robert Polidori, Leni Riefenstahl,
Amalie Rothschild, Lillian Kiesler, Shigeko Kubota, Jerry Tartaglia,
Dan Talbot, Louis Marcorelles, Michel Auder, Dwight MacDonald, Viva,
Leslie Trumbull, Kit Carson, Paul Shrader, Shirley Clarke, Bosley
Crowther, Dimitri Devyatkin, Ulrich Gregor, Sheldon Rochlin, LaMonte
Young, Robert Gardner, Vlada Petric, John du Cane, William Raban,
Tony Conrad, George Maciunas, Alberto Cavalcanti, Jim McBride, Peter
Bogdanovich, Gideon Bachmann, Christiane Rochefort, Jerry Jofen,
Rosa von Praunheim, Hans Richter, Roberto Rossellini, Lionel Rogosin,
Robert Haller, Storm De Hirsch, Marcel Hanoun, Jerry Hiler, Bruce
Conner, Myrel Glick, Paul Sharits, Barbara Schwartz, Lewis Jacobs,
Ian Barna, Carolee Schneemann, Anthony McCall, Diego Cortez, Leslie
Trumbell, Adolfo Arieta, Louis Brigante, Coleen Fitzgibbon, Stewart
Sherman, Charles Chaplin, Len Lye, Tati, Allen Ginsberg, Valie
Export, Hermann Nitsch, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Analena Wibom,
Robert Breer and Raimund Abraham.
1965
Note:
Walter Cronkite Show broadcast on 31st December 1965 included documentary
The Making of an Underground Film about shooting Piero Heliczer's film
Venus In Furs.
The Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker in The Making of an
Underground Film. Picture from Olivier Landemaine collection.
1973
ORF (Austrian TV station) documentary about "Second Festival of Independent
Avant-Garde Film". Probably including something about Piero Heliczer.
1996
Format:
50 minutes
Note:
BBC and WGBH documentary about history of rock music. Part 7 is also about
Velvet Underground and includes excerpt of CBS' The Making of an
Underground Film.