Collection of Mario Montez photographs and ephemera
Overview
Contains approximately 100 photographs and negatives, as well as ephemera related to Mario Montez, who appeared in numerous Andy Warhol, Avery Willard, and Jack Smith films.
Dates
- Creation: 1964-1971
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Contains photographs dating from approximately 1964 to 1971, with the majority from 1966 to 1969, of Mario Montez. The photos often show Montez in drag in a studio, garden, rooftop, or on stage and film sets, including an image with Oleander Wu. A few images depict Montez out of costume. There are a few contact sheets and negatives for similar images, as well. Further materials include a reproduced script for Avery Willard's short film, The Gipsy's Ball; Montez's resume from November 1970; Ridiculous Theatre production flyers, including Big Hotel, Eunuchs of the Forbidden City, Bluebeard, and Tabu Tableaux; tear sheets from magazines; and a 1965 flyer designed by Jack Misth for a one-night film festival of "Mario Montez Movies."
Biographical / Historical
Mario Montez (1935-2013) was born Rene Rivera in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and moved to New York City when he was eight. An actor and drag performer who was a regular with the Ridiculous troupe, Montez took his stage name from 1940s film actress Maria Montez. He met underground filmmaker Jack Smith in the early 1960s and first appeared in his 1963 Flaming Creatures. He also appeared in Smith’s Normal Love (1963-1965), The Borrowed Tambourine (1967), Reefers of Technicolor Island/Jungle Island (1967), and No President (1967-1970s). Montez performed in thirteen of Andy Warhol’s films from 1964 to 1966, including Batman Dracula (1964, unfinished), Mario Montez Dances (1964), Harlot (1964), Camp (1965), More Milk, Yvette (1965), and The Chelsea Girls (1966), among numerous others. Montez also acted in films by Piero Heliczer, Bill Vehr, Jose Rodriguez-Soltero, Frank Simon, Avery Willard (including The Gipsy’s Ball), Roberts Blossom, Alfredo Leonardi, Mary Jordan, and others.
In January 1977, Montez moved to Florida and quit performing. He appeared in a 2006 documentary about Jack Smith. In 2010, he was honored by Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, and in February 2012 was given the Special Teddy Award 2012 at the Berlinale. Montez died from a stroke in 2013.
Arrangement
Collection has been minimally processed. Materials are in the order in which they were received from the dealer.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2020MT-101. Purchased with funds from the Beatrice, Benjamin and Richard Bader Fund in the Visual Arts of the Theatre, 2020 February.
Processing Information
Processed by Betts Coup, 2020. Description of the collection is based on the dealer's notes.
- Title
- Collection of Mario Montez photographs and ephemera, 1964-1971 (MS Thr 2047): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2020 March 6
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03320
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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