Antony Balch (1937-1980) was a British film director and distributor, best known for his screen collaborations with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs in the 1960s and the 1970s horror film, Horror Hospital. Jump to: navigation, search 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1980 (MCMLXXX) is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Jump to: navigation, search The term beat generation was introduced by Jack Kerouac in approximately 1948 to describe his social circle to the novelist John Clellon Holmes (who published an early novel about the beat generation, titled Go, in 1952, along with a manifesto of sorts in the New York... Jump to: navigation, search William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American novelist, essayist, social critic and spoken word performer. ...

Biography

Balch’s fixation for horror and exploitation movies began early in life, culminating in a school-aged Balch meeting his idol Bela Lugosi in Brighton, England in the early 1950s. Lugosi was touring in a stage version of Dracula at the time. Exploitation films or trash cinema is the name given to a genre of films, extant since the earliest days of moviemaking, but popularized in the 1970s. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bela Lugosi as Dracula United States stamp Béla Lugosi was the stage name of actor Béla Ferenc DezsÅ‘ Blaskó (October 20, 1882–August 16, 1956). ... This article is about the English city; for other places called Brighton, see Brighton (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search Bela Lugosi as Dracula; U.S. postage stamp Count Dracula is a fictional character, inarguably the most famous vampire in literature. ...

Working his way into the British film industry, Balch directed adverts for Camay soap, and a 30-second commercial for Kit-E-Kat.

In the early part of the 1960s he lived briefly in France working as a location scout and subtitler of French films for their British releases. In Paris, Balch became friendly with radical artists such as William Burroughs and Kenneth Anger. Burroughs and Balch met at Madame Raschoo’s beat hotel, and the two quickly became collaborators. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Jump to: navigation, search Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born February 3, 1927 in Santa Monica, California) is an underground avant-garde film-maker and author. ...

Balch gets a "special thanks" credit in Burroughs’ novel The Ticket That Exploded and directed the Burroughs-influenced experimental film, Towers Open Fire among other short works. In 1963, Balch attended a showing of the 1930s horror film, Freaks and decided to become a distributor in order to open the film in London. Freaks had been banned in Britain since 1932, but, with the help of Anger, Balch bought the British rights to the film. He released Freaks and Towers Open Fire as part of a triple-bill. The Ticket That Exploded is a novel by William S. Burroughs published in 1962. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Cover artwork for the 2004 DVD release Freaks is a 1932 horror film about sideshow performers directed by Tod Browning. ... London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ...

Balch was next hired to run two movie theatres in London -- The Jacey in Piccadilly Circus and The Times in Baker Street. Balch did everything from choosing what films played, the front of house displays, to keeping an eye on projectionists and janitorial staff. Whereas The Times was more rep oriented, The Jacey specialized in playing exploitation films like Nudist Paradise and the Japanese horror/art-house hit Onibaba. Meanwhile, Balch carried on his career as a distributor, eventually releasing films such as The Corpse Grinders, Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of My Demon Brother, Paul Bowles in Morocco, and Russ Meyer’s Supervixens. Balch was one of the first people to embrace art, horror and exploitation films with equal enthusiasm, a view that was hardly shared by many film critics of the time. Jump to: navigation, search Piccadilly Circus is a famous traffic intersection and public space of Londons West End in the City of Westminster. ... Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster, London, England. ... Onibaba (1964) is a Japanese film, directed by Kaneto Shindo and starring Nobuko Otowa, Jitsuko Yoshimura and Kei Sato. ... Jump to: navigation, search Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born February 3, 1927 in Santa Monica, California) is an underground avant-garde film-maker and author. ... Paul Bowles (December 30, 1910 - November 18, 1999), was an American composer, author, and traveler. ... Russell Albion Russ Meyer (March 21, 1922 (Oakland, California) – September 18, 2004) was an American motion picture director. ... Christy Hartburg as SuperLorna. ...

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s his special niche was releasing foreign sex films. Most of the sex films Balch released in the UK had been purchased at the Cannes or Venice film festivals; with no stars or name directors they cost next to nothing. Balch then added his own personal touch, giving the films tongue-in-cheek English titles and eye catching campaigns like "No photographs permitted of this controversial X Film" (from When Girls Undress). Balch worked out of an office in Golden Square, Soho and lived in Dalmeney Court on Duke Street. Dalmeney Court’s other occupants included Burroughs and artist Brion Gysin plus the occasional celebrity passing through such as The Animals’ Eric Burdon. Jump to: navigation, search The Palais des Festivals in which the festival takes place. ... The Venice Film Festival (Mostra Internazionale dArte Cinematografica) takes place every year in late August/early September on the Lido di Venezia in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, in Venice, Italy. ... Jump to: navigation, search Soho is an area of Londons West End in the City of Westminster. ... Brion Gysin (January 19, 1916 - July 13, 1986) was a writer and painter. ... The US edition of The Animals self-titled debut album. ... Jump to: navigation, search Eric Victor Burdon (born May 11, 1941, Walker-on-Tyne, Northumberland) was the lead singer of The Animals and later of War. ...

A second Balch/Burroughs collaboration film, The Cut-Ups opened in London in 1967. This was part of an abandoned project called Guerrilla Conditions meant as a documentary on Burroughs and filmed throughout 1961-1965. Inspired by Burroughs' and Gysin's technique of cutting up text and rearranging it in random order, Balch had an editor cut his footage for the documentary into little pieces and impose no control over its reassembly. The film opened at Oxford Street’s Cinephone cinema and had a disturbing reaction. Many audience members claimed the film made them ill, others demanded their money back, while some just stumbled out of the cinema ranting "its disgusting". Jump to: navigation, search 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the Oxford Street in London. ...

Included in The Cut-Ups are shots of Burroughs acting out scenes from his book Naked Lunch. The idea of bringing Naked Lunch to the big-screen was Balch’s dream project. First developed in 1964, a script was completed in the early 1970s which would have adapted the book as a musical. Ppersonal differences between Balch and the film’s would-be leading man Mick Jagger caused the project’s collapse. Jump to: navigation, search This 1969 British edition by Corgi Books features a stylized image of William S. Burroughs, and is one of the few later editions to include the word The in the title. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mick Jagger, seen here on Box of Pin Ups, 1964. ...

Balch found a more committed investor for his plans to make feature films in producer Richard Gordon. Gordon had a long history in horror cinema, and had been partly responsible for the stage version of Dracula that had allowed Balch to meet Lugosi. Their first film together was shot from a script never fully completed. With Balch using his own money to fund half of the budget what emerged was the deceptively titled Secrets of Sex (1970). Balch’s feature debut is in fact a multi-genre anthology film which blends slapstick comedy, spy spoof, bloody horror movie and softcore sex film under the pretext of being a comment on the battle of the sexes. Secrets of Sex was a sensation, running for six months at the Piccadilly Jacey. Richard F. Gordon, Jr. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence. ... Jump to: navigation, search Piccadilly Circus is a famous traffic intersection and public space of Londons West End in the City of Westminster. ...

Encouraged by the film’s British success, Balch and Gordon set about a second corroboration called Horror Hospital (1973). In the classic exploitation film tradition, the title was invented before the plot. Balch then spent his time locked in a hotel room with co-writer Alan Watson until the script was complete. Horror Hospital featured Michael Gough as the very Lugosi-like Dr. Storm. When Gough asked Balch what he wanted bringing to the role Balch screened him The Devil Bat, a Lugosi classic about a mad scientist masquerading as a perfume inventor. Horror Hospital was the most successful of all of Balch’s films. Jump to: navigation, search 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... Michael Gough (born November 23, 1917 in Malaya) is an English character actor. ...

While other projects were discussed, including a horror film co-written by Chris Wicking and a comedy called The Sex Life of Adolf Hitler, Balch never made another feature film and in the years that followed concentrated more on his work as a cinema programmer and distributor. In 1978, Balch was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, and died on April 6, 1980 aged 43. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Jump to: navigation, search April 6 is the 96th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (97th in leap years). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1980 (MCMLXXX) is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

External links

• Antony Balch at the Internet Movie Database