Jack Stevenson is an American author, film showman, and cinema proprietor. He is based in Kalundborg, Denmark.
Career Stevenson's books illuminate aspects of cinema and history that have been largely neglected by mainstream media. Also, of value to future historians, are his published interviews of Underground figures that he did starting in the early eighties.
Stevenson's most recent book is The Haunted North (Horror Stories from Viking Country), a collection of ten horror stories drawn from the extremes of Scandinavian history and culture, and spans the period from the Dark Ages to World War II. The through line of the book is witchcraft.The Haunted North (Horror Stories from Viking Country), Jack Stevenson, Park River Books, , 2020
Stevenson's book Hotrod Billy & his Friends is his first work of fiction. About it, Robert Crumb wrote "Well written, unaffected and ringing with authenticity".Hotrod Billy and Friends, Stevenson,
Author Stevenson's earliest published writing was in his magazine The Living Color, published in Los Angeles in 1982.The Living Color, Issue March - April 1982, Living Color Productions, Hollywood, California The Living Color featured Stevenson's interviews, most notably of John Waters, poems he received in the mail from Charles Bukowski, his own short fiction, and works by Jim Morton and William Sikorsky. A review didn't mention the Waters interview, barely mentioned Bukowski, but did say "Otherwise, there's good film coverage, especially on Godfather of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis, a punchy sports column and a fascist advice page. A lot, really, for free." In Boston Stevenson's more ambitious and bigger magazine, Pandemonium, followed The Living Color. The first issue came out in 1986. Leading up to it, Stevenson had exchanged letters with a wide range of underground and outlaw individuals. Pandemonium # 1 featured articles, correspondence, and interviews with Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Al Goldstein, and John Waters. Pandemonium #2 was more ambitious, and contained interviews and articles with, Divine, Mary Woronov, Cookie Mueller, Rosa von Praunheim and many others.Pandemonium # 2, Copyright Living Color Productions, Cambridge, Mass, 1987 The third and final issue of Pandemonium, a "Freaks, Magicians & Movie Stars Special Edition" was published in 1989. Again improved, the issue featured articles and interviews, including Mary Vivian Pearce, Kenneth Anger, George Kuchar, and Johnny Eck. Film Threat Magazine published his interview with George Kuchar in 1988."Interview: George Kuchar, by Pat Hollis & Jack Stevenson", Film Threat #17, 1988
Stevenson's first book, Desperate Visions: Camp America (1996), focused on the films of John Waters and the Kuchar Brothers.Publisher: Creation Books; 1st edition (May 1, 1996)Language: English , It had its launch party at the Lighthouse Cinema, in New York on June 12, 1996, kicking off the first ever major retrospective of the films of George and Mike Kuchar. Stevenson flew in from Denmark for the event.
Stevenson followed that up with two books published in 2000, "Addicted: The Myth & Menace of Drugs in Film"Series: Creation Cinema Collection (Book 16) Publisher: Creation Books (2000) and "Fleshpot: Cinema's Myth Makers & Taboo Breakers".Publisher: Critical Vision; 1st edition (2000) His book Dogme Uncut: Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, and the Gang That Took on Hollywood, was published in 2003, to excellent reviews. Publishers Weekly wrote: "Stevenson presents an uncluttered and jargon-free assessment of an important movement in independent film, making this an excellent choice for foreign film buffs and aficionados." Film Comment wrote "[Stevenson's] overview of Danish society and culture, as well as the country's important filmmakers, producers, cinematographers, and studios, is invaluable for those interested in Copenhagen's hotbed of creativity".Publisher: Santa Monica Press; First edition (September 1, 2003), Language: English, , Stevenson has authored 7 other books on subjects ranging from Tod Browning's film Freaks, to one on the Scandinavian silent film Witchcraft Through the Ages.Jack Stevenson retrieved December 27, 2018
He has had dozens of stories published in a wide variety of places, such as "Dusan Makavejev" in the magazine Chemical Imbalance and "Underground USA The Pike St. Cinema" in the magazine Divinity.Chemical Imbalance Magazine, Vol. 2, # 2 (tenth issue, Michael McGonigal, Editor-Publisher, New York, Ny, 1992Divinity, Volume 2, Number 4, Editor David Flint, Stockport, England, 1994 "Market Street - Movie Theater Graveyard USA" was published in the monthly tabloid dedicated to buying and selling films The Big Reel, and "Film Co-ops: Old Soldiers of the Sixties Still Standing" was published in the New York Independent Monitor.The Big Reel, July 2000New York Independent Monitor, Vol 5 #1, September 1999
Stevenson has been a regular contributor to the Bright Lights Film Journal with long form essays, including "George Kuchar: A First-Person Life" and "Robert Cowan (1930-2011): Unsung Superstar of the Underground".
Film showman
While in Boston in 1986, Stevenson began showing films at the bar Chet's Last Call, which was up a flight of stairs and across the street from the Boston Garden. Most screenings were interspersed with live music by local bands. He brought Roy Frumkes to Chet's for a screening of Street Trash, Document of the Dead, and footage from The Last House on the Left. Among the feature films he screened were The Trip, Female Trouble, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, and the Diane Linkletter Story. The Chet's gig ended when it went out of business on New Year's Eve 1987.Jack Stevenson Pushing Film Exhibition to the Limit Mail Interview, Galen Young, Essential Cinema Journal of Independent Film, Seattle, Vol 1 Number 1, Fall 1993
In 1988, he began a weekly series at the Primal Plunge in the Allston Mall. During the Primal plunge gig he began buying films and creating programs on themes.The High Priest of Schlock, Lawrence Levi, The SF Weekly, 2/5/92 In 1989 Stevenson did something that had never been done before. He threw 16mm films in a rucksack and flew to Europe, traveling from country to country arranging screenings. Among the films he showed were Assembly Line (1962) and Ulcer at Work (1959).The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, Rick Prelinger, Publisher: NFPF (National Film Preservation) 2006 Foundation) Ulcer at Work 1959, Sound, 26 Min, B&W Road Showing goes back a hundred years, with independent producers taking their outside of Hollywood productions from town to town by automobile. Collectively they became known as the "Forty Thieves". What their films lacked in production values and fluid narrative, they made up with spectacle and the offer of forbidden images. Where Stevenson differed from the Forty Thieves, who were producers exploiting their own product, or even road showing underground filmmakers, was by taking quality short films from a wide range of sources on the road. Stevenson, back in Boston, continued screenings at the Primal Plunge."Juke Box Movies" 8 Days a Week, Amy Finch, The Boston Phoenix, newspaper, 2/8/91
In 1991 he began midnight screenings at the Coolidge Corner Theatre of classic exploitation and underground films.John Waters' Multiple Maniacs, Divine is raped by a lobster, At the Coolidge Corner Theater March 15–16 22-12, Flier, 1991Midnight Movies at the Coolidge Corner, Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill, Wild in the Streets, etc, Poster, January - February 1991 Stevenson also arranged film screenings for visiting Underground Film Makers.Trashfilm Roadshows, Johannes Shoenherr, Introduction, Jack Stevenson.Series: Headpress Paperback: 196 pages, Publisher: Critical Vision (June 1, 2002),
Stevenson drove cross country showing films in the summer–fall 1990. Among his stops were Detroit, Toronto, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.1990 US American Cross-Country Summer-Fall Film Tour, Flier, no dateMisadventures in the Seattle Film Scene, The Belltown Messenger, issue # 77, March 2010 A highlight of the tour was an unauthorized urban Drive-in show in Seattle, projecting from a storefront rooftop across a parking lot to project on the wall of the opposite building. He showed Viva Las Vegas and Hell's Angels on Wheels. The police visited but left after members of the audience shouted "We're watching a movie".Jack Stevenson Interview by Galen Young, Essential Cinema: Journal of Independent Film, Volume One Number One, Fall, 1993 He again showed films in Europe in 1991. Later that year he moved to San Francisco. There he arranged film screenings at the ATA Gallery.Loony Tunes, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, 9/4/91 In 1992 he expanded his SF screenings to the Chameleon Club, the Epicenter, SF Art Institute, and Roxie Cinema.SF Weekly Night and Day September 4, 1991
In 1993 he moved to Denmark. Since then he has toured regularly in Europe and Scandinavia, with regular stops at the Werkstattkino in Munich, the Nova Cinema in Brussels, the Lichtspiel / Kiemathek in Bern, the Kino Komm in Nuremberg, and many other places.De vuilnisbelt van de cinematografie, Het Parool, Amsterdam, Vrijdag 1 April 1994Berlingske Tidende, "Film om darlig smag" Newspaper, Onsdag 21, oktober 1992
He taught at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark from 1995 to 1998.From the Bedroom to the Bijou, Jack Stevenson, The Film Quarterly, Volume 5, Number 1, Fall, 1997 He has been featured several times at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.SF Weekly, Reel World Kitten With a Whip and Chasing Rainbows by SF Weekly Staff, San Francisco, California 10/13/1999
Husets Biograf In 2009, Stevenson started operating Husets Biograf, a cinema in Copenhagen. It is located in Huset, a collection of four buildings originally built in 1911, that had become squats after being abandoned in the 1960s, before being shut down owing to crime and drug use problems. After reopening with rules, it was converted into a movie theater and cafe complex called Husets Biograf in 1973. In 2004, Stevenson started working there as a volunteer, doing his writing and further film research there.
In the fall of 2021, a new association was created by the volunteer group. The association took over management of Husets Biograf in January 2022https://datacvr.virk.dk/enhed/virksomhed/42867845, and Stevenson was hired as general manager until June 2026, when Huset was closed for renovations, but is expected to open again in 2028.
It is one of the last cinemas in Denmark still screening 16mm and 35mm celluloid movies.
Bibliography
Desperate Visions: The Films of John Waters & the Kuchar Brothers (1996) Tod Brownings Freaks (1997) Fleshpot: Cinema's Sexual Myth Makers & Taboo Breakers (2000) Addicted: The Myth & Menace of Drugs in Film (2000) Lars von Trier (2002) Land of a Thousand Balconies: Discoveries and Confessions of A B-Movie Archaeologist (2003) Dogme Uncut: Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, and the Gang That Took on Hollywood (2003) Witchcraft Through The Ages: The Story Of Haxan, The World's Strangest Film, And The Man Who Made It (2007) Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s (2010) Beneath Contempt & Happy to Be There: The Fighting Life of Porn King Al Goldstein (2011) The Haunted North (Horror Stories from Viking Country) (2020) Hotrod Billy & Friends (2021)
References
External links
Review of Scandinavian Blue (2010)