Talking to Helga Line

So yesterday, about noon, I talked to Helga Line. I came home from some household chores to find Helga Line's voice on my answering machine. Previously in the week I had given her maid or housekeeper my phone number, but I never expected a call, as I thought communications were at a standstill, either due to a failure to communicate or simple disinterest on the other party's side. But it was Line's voice on the machine, and since she spoke English, I could fully understand her. So hoping that she would still be at the number she gave over to the answering machine (a different phone number than the one I had been calling), I dialed and found myself speaking to Helga Line a moment later.

I briefly explained who I was and about my interest in interviewing her, not forgetting to mention that I was writing liner notes for two films she had starred in, whose DVDs would be released later in the year in the United States. The first film I mentioned, in my best Spanish, was LAS GARRAS DE LORELEI, and Line's reaction was immediate and surprising. (What she said will be revealed in my liners for the DVD.) Later, after I made sure I had a bit more from her about the film and its director Amando de Ossorio, we talked briefly about the next film of hers that would be released on DVD in America--EL ESPANTO SURGE DE LA TUMBA, or in English, HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB, with the by-now legendary Paul Naschy. Her reaction to Naschy and the film was--well, it pleased me, but her responses will also have to wait to see the light of day in another set of liner notes.

I went over her career in a quick overview, starting with her work as a child in the circus, where she was a contortionist. There were not that many surprises along the way, and Line could not offer specifics, as she's done an incredible amount of films and most of these were about three decades ago. I made sure at various instances to inform her how beloved she is by cult-movie fans in the United States, and asked her if she was aware of her status among a segment of film fans.

"I don't understand this," she replied modestly, but undoubtedly with a smile on her face that I could not see but could feel over the phone and the distance between us.

I didn't want to overstay my welcome, as it were, and I wasn't that prepared to interview her fully at that point, so we said our farewells, with Line saying that since I was so very nice and complimentary, she would give me her address in Argentina (where, I assume, she lives a good deal of time) and also her phone number there.

Of course, I hope to contact her again, this time prepared to explore her life and career with the thoroughness it deserves. But what a day, I thought afterward. I just spoke to the Helga Line, one of the most renowned actresses in euro-cult, and one of the most elusive.

Calling Emma Cohen

It is worth noting that yesterday, about noon, I called Emma Cohen. Emma Cohen is a Spanish actress (and authoress), who is most known in the United States among euro-cult fans for her roles in such films as HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB, CUT-THROATS NINE and, possibly, CANNIBAL MAN. Her resume is far lengthier than that, of course, but such is fame that one finds it sometimes in the least expected places--at least for the actors and actresses who starred in genre films once upon a time. They may have forgotten about these films, but we haven't.

My call, with my Spanish-speaking friend Louis assisting me, came after a third attempt last month to contact Helga Line, another euro-cult actress. I wasn't expecting to reach her, but the person who picked up the phone was a female--and, yes, she confirmed that she was the Emma Cohen. After a frustrating time talking to Helga Line's maid (if it was her maid and not her), talking to Ms. Cohen, however briefly, was refreshing, even exhilarating. Her Spanish was spoken with precision and kindness (Louis and I tried to confirm her e-mail address several times, and Ms. Cohen exhibited lovely patience with us), and her voice was clear, youthful, sensitive and intelligent.

She had guests, so I was not able to interview her at that moment (I wasn't prepared, either), but with her e-mail received, I was sure to approach her again with questions about her life and career.

Now the dilemma is whether Emma Cohen will want to respond to questions about the films she is most famous for here in the United States. I said to her, through Louis, my interpretor, that I wanted to interview her about her career, so she doesn't suspect the specific direction many of my questions will take. (Though, obviously, I will address other parts of her career in some measure, too, not just that horror stuff.) In my next introduction to her, via e-mail, I will be upfront about my reason for interviewing her--research for my book on Spanish fantaterror films and for DVD liner notes.

As far as I know, Emma Cohen has never been interviewed about her genre films. Considered an intellectual, she may not be interested in going down the memory path of films she may think beneath her nowadays. But, then again, her voice was so lovely and her demeanor so casual, that it may not be that much of a big deal to her.

We shall see. As beauty can be deceiving, so can voices be.

The Henryk Sienkiewicz Collection

Or perhaps more appropriately called "The Miroslaw Lipinski Collection," as I want to donate my collection of Sienkiewiczania to a library or educational institution in the United States. For a while now, I've wanted to do this, and my collection, acquired through a few decades, is without doubt the largest and most impressive collection of its kind in the world, focusing on the many English translations of Sienkiewicz's work published here around 1900 after QUO VADIS became such a huge bestseller for Little, Brown & Company in 1896. As at the time Poland did not officially exist and there was no copyright agreement between the United States and Russia (one of the masters of divided Poland and in whose territory Sienkiewicz lived), publishing houses in this country were legally free to issue their own translations of Sienkiewicz's work. I don't have the exact count at my fingertips, but at least half a dozen different translations of QUO VADIS were published, and the Philadelphia publisher Altemus issued the bookend parts of Sienkiewicz's Trilogy (that is, WITH FIRE AND SWORD and PAN MICHAEL) in translations done by Samual A. Binion. These translations competed with those done earlier by Jeremiah Curtin for Little, Brown & Company, located in Boston. (Curtin introduced Sienkiewicz to the English-speaking world and was Sienkiewicz's foremost English translator during Sienkiewicz's lifetime.) Altemus also tried to release as quickly as possible a translation of Sienkiewicz's KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS, the first historical novel Sienkiewicz wrote after the international success of QUO VADIS, directly competing with Little, Brown & Company, who persuaded Sienkiewicz, without much problem, to "sanction" and approve their Curtin translation of the book. As Sienkiewicz was serializing KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS in a Polish paper, both Little, Brown & Company and Altemus released their respective books in parts--Little, Brown in two volumes and Altemus in three. With its connection to Sienkiewicz, the Boston publisher naturally beat Altemus in getting a complete edition of KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS out on the American market, resulting in Altemus' third and concluding volume to be published when interest had died down. (This rarer third volume is generally not included in online book sales of the Binion translation, causing readers to be irritated by the lack of an ending to the story once they conclude reading volume two of the Altemus edition.)

Anyway, I have in my collection at least seventy-five American-produced Sienkiewicz books, in various editions from various publishers in various translations--most of them over a hundred years old. Included in this grouping is a Little, Brown & Company edition of THE DELUGE, Sienkiewicz's second book in his Trilogy, signed by Sienkiewicz himself, and an Altemus edition of WITH FIRE AND SWORD signed by its translator, Samuel A. Binion. These books need to be cared for better than I can and should be archived for scholars and researchers, and made freely available to interested parties.

My collection also includes many photocopies of old ads and reviews for Sienkiewicz's English translations, themselves telling a fascinating story of Sienkiewicz's reception in the United States. I spent countless hours, days, weeks going through microfilms and collections at New York's Public Library on 42nd and Fifth to find these ads and reviews, and I doubt anyone will ever go through the same trouble again, which would mean being afflicted by the same bibliographic madness I was at the time.

As someone who is always interested in film, I also have stills, posters and pressbooks from various films based on Sienkiewicz's work, including the little seen and intriguing 1963 Italian production of WITH FIRE AND SWORD, starring Jeanne Crain and Pierre Brice. (I also have a black-and-white 16mm TV print of this film.)

Then, of course, there is my own work and papers that deal with my Sienkiewicz translations and revisions published by Hippocrene Books.

I've read that the acceptance of collections and papers to libraries and universities can be a complicated, even frustrating, endeavor. It would be a pity if that would prove to be the case here.

The Hip Bone Connected to the Thigh Bone

Your toe bone connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone
Your hip bone connected to your back bone
Your back bone connected to your shoulder bone
Your shoulder bone connected to your neck bone
Your neck bone connected to your head bone
I hear the word of the Lord.

These are the appropriated and appropriate lyrics to the song "Dem Bones," a spiritual whose lyrics are taken from Ezekiel 37:14 and whose melody was written by James Weldon Johnson, a black American scholar and author.

For the past weeks, I've been acutely aware of dem bones and dem muscles and how one muscle group affects another, because I've been suffering from either a severely pulled muscle or a herniated disc. (Or could it be a "pinched nerve"?) At first, I could almost not get out of bed, so painful was my lower back and right leg when any movement to do so was attempted. Gradually, in baby steps, matters progressed more favorably, but the basics for a while--sitting, sleeping, relaxing--were impossible. And you can forget about walking. For the pain, I took Tylenol, then Advil, and finally Aleve, aware of the warnings possible side effects, including stomach bleeding--and a heart attack! (I guess the companies that manufacture these must cover all bases.) Hot and cold compresses helped, as did hot baths. (Ah, very soothing, though initially it was difficult to bend down and get in a tub.) I know I've had this trouble before, perhaps twice or even more times in my life, but this time the trouble has lasted far, far longer.

A chiropractor saw me early on and did acupuncture on me, my first real experience with that ancient Chinese remedy. The acupuncture made me sweetly relaxed, but in the long term of just another day, whatever benefits were gotten didn't seem to have a lasting effect.

Of course, once one starts limping to prevent pain on one side of the body, a strain is put on the other side, and soon enough aches and cramps are spread to areas hitherto unaffected. The hip bone is indeed connected to the thigh bone.

Lately, as I've gotten better, I've pushed myself to do more physical work around the apartment (like cleaning it up; see a previous blog entry) and have started going back to the gym again, obviously doing a less intensive workout than normal. Physical activity and the gym helps by stretching and strengthening muscles which have become rebellious or like steel tubes of searing pain wedged inside sore flesh.

I've also been getting a lot of help and care from an Arabian goddess who visits me frequently to make sure my needs are taken care of. The pampering is just right.

The last couple of days I've been able to walk for longer periods of time (try ten seconds and sometimes more) without needing to stop, grab onto a pole or a tree, as I'm wincing in increasing pain. I'm getting there, but the process is too leisurely and combative. I certainly think I've heard the word of the Lord several times in this ordeal. And the word, in the long term of life/death, mobility/immobility, ain't good.

Amy Winehouse

Contemporary music doesn't do much for me, but then I heard her a few weeks ago--





Big in England, where she's from, and getting big here in the States. This time, I'm with public opinion.

A Clean Apartment and Organization

"Order is light, peace, inward liberty, free command over oneself; it is power.... It is aesthetic and moral beauty, it is well-being, it is man's greatest need."

I wouldn't go so far as Henri Amiel, when he wrote the above in his Journal Intime, but order is certainly welcome in my life, though rarely achieved. I really can't be bothered to put things back into their proper place, if they ever were in a proper place to begin with, so my apartment is filled with disparate mountains of sheets of papers, coming from my computer printer or from my own hand (which I, so disordered in penmanship, can barely read) and stacks of research material such as magazines, photocopies of pages from rare film books, videos, DVDs.... This disorder carries with it confusion and much time wasted when I try to find something I know I have, but don't know where.

Finally, enough is enough, and the apartment must be cleaned, and the disorder/discord eliminated. Will success ever be achieved, however?