Fifteen years ago today after a screening of Segundo de Chomon films at Anthology Film Archives, Ken and Flo Jacobs along with Ernie Gehr perambulate up Second Ave. in New York City on their way to the subway. Ken is of course a magnet that draws wondrous things to him as he walks. Herein the great Ernie Gehr is cast in the role of Sancho Panza. Worth watching just to see Flo’s incandescent smile light up the night. There is something in it that may be the secret to so much of the success that team enjoyed.
Ken and Flo and Ernie on the night before Halloween <https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/601443517> NYC being the inexorable conduit of change that it is, several points to observe: The La Salle Academy over Ken’s left shoulder (at 1:05, 1:59, 3:48) has been demolished. Today it is a rubble strewn empty lot. The 128 year old Middle Collegiate Church (at 17:16-17:20) was gutted by a conflagration on 12/05/20. <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/nyregion/church-fire-nyc.html> For a time the facade alone remained <https://abc7ny.com/post/church-demolition-middle-east-village-fire/14084989/> but now that too is gone. Three buildings at 119, 121 and 123 Second Ave. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_East_Village_gas_explosion> (18:41-18:47, 19:14) exploded and were entirely destroyed after a gas leak in the basement of a Sushi restaurant on March 26, 2015. Ken stands on the corner of St. Marks Place and Second Ave. (19:56) photographing the empty space where once was the marquee for the St. Marks Cinema <https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/11089> a notable film backdrop for him in his work with Jack Smith. "You take a really sleepy man, Esmé, and he always stands a chance of again becoming a man with all his fac- with all his f-a-c-u-l-t-i-e-s intact.”
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