V.I.T.R.I.O.L., California Institute of the Arts, 2018
Scott Benzel, V.I.T.R.I.O.L., 2018
From top to bottom and left to right
I. H.M. Haldeman, Patent No. 33,643, Design for Bowl for Water Closets, 1900; Woodworth Clum, Making Socialists out of College Students, 1920, published by The Better America Federation, H.M. Haldeman, president; The OZ Film Manufacturing Company, Uplifters Louis F. Gottschalk, vice president, L. Frank Baum, president, Harry Marston Haldeman, secretary, and Clarence R. Rundel, treasurer; Anonymous, ‘Haldeman’, H. M. Haldeman was a founding member of the Bugs of Chicago and a member of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco before founding the Uplifters in Los Angeles, 1910’s.
II. L. Frank Baum, The Uplift of Lucifer, 1915, written by Uplifter L. Frank Baum and starring H.M. Haldeman.
III. Julian Petroleum Company preferred stock certificate, 1926, The Julian Pete stock scandal involved numerous Uplifters and H. M. Haldeman was indicted for conspiracy; Paul Popenoe and E.S. Gosney, 28 Years of Sterilization in California, The Human Betterment Foundation, founders included Uplifter Harry Chandler, president of The Los Angeles Times, and Robert Andrews Millikan, founder of Caltech; The Uplifters logos, the original featuring L.A.A.C. for Los Angeles Athletic Club and the later version following the move to Rustic Canyon. Later Uplifters included Louis B. Mayer, Will Rogers, Walt Disney, and many others.
IV. Leni Riefenstahl in Wehrmacht uniform, Poland, 1939, several months after meeting with Walt Disney in Los Angeles; F.B.I. document detailing ‘swastika’ formed by musical notes in syndicated ‘Mickey Mouse by Walt Disney’ cartoon, 1940; Leni Riefenstahl with Siegfried and Roy and Mantecore, Las Vegas, 1990’s, Mantecore later mauled Roy, paralyzing him. Roy maintained that he suffered a stroke and Mantecore came to his rescue, gently picking him up by the neck and severing his artery, saving him from brain death. Wernher von Braun, director of NASA, and host of Disney’s Man in Space, 1955 Director of the Nazi V-2 program at Peenemünde, von Braun was brought to the U.S. under Operation Overcast. He was later revealed to have been an officer in the SS knowingly employing slave labor.
V. Paul R. Williams, Blueprint for mansion at Murphy Ranch, Rustic Canyon, 1940, ‘Hitler’s home in Los Angeles’, Young Library, UCLA; Welton Becket, Early sketch of mansion at Murphy Ranch, 1930’s, collection of Lloyd Wright; Paul R. Williams, Technical blueprint for mansion at Murphy Ranch, 1940.
VI.Poster for That Darn Cat, 1965, and Green Lion consuming the Sun and the Moon, 17th Century alchemical emblem, Ryland Collection, University of Manchester; The Gordons, Undercover Cat, 1963, and Greene, The Cat with Nine Lives, 1920, New York Evening Telegram; F.B.I. Memorandum, Subject ‘That Darned Cat’ Proposed Motion Picture, 1963, Walt Disney was a long time Special Agent in Charge Contact of the FBI while Gordon Gordon was an ex Special Agent turned writer suspected of incorporating subtle criticism of the Bureau into his books.
VII. F.B.I. document, Announcement of the formation of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, 1944; Ayn Rand, Screen Guide for Americans, 1947, for the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals; ‘Happy Birthday Gunther and Walt’, image from Disney Strike, 1941
VIII. Calarts Groundbreaking program, 1969; Calarts Groundbreaking program, 1969, H.R. Haldeman, president of the Board of Trustees, listed as ‘assistant to the President of the United States’; C.I.A. directive regarding activities of Project Resistance domestic campus surveillance and counterintelligence operation, 1967
IX. 7up advertisement, 1957, H.R. Haldeman was account executive for 7 up, Disney, and others at the J. Walter Thompson advertising and public relations agency, widely believed to be a C.I.A. front organization.; Letter from J. Walter Thompson president Charles A. Rheinstrom to H.R. Haldeman, 1962, following Haldeman’s chairmanship of Richard Nixon’s California gubenatorial campaign.; H.R. Haldeman and Richard M. Nixon, White House, 1969, surrounded by congratulatory telegrams following Nixon’s ‘Silent Majority’ speech.; H.R. Haldeman mugshot, 1976, following his Watergate conviction.