Typescript screenplay, 30 leaves. Small quarto (9 7/8 x 8 inches). Loose leaves, originally stapled, staples missing. Some soiling to first and last pages, light creasing and handling wear, overall very good. N.p.: Barbara Rubin, 1965. Barbara Rubin (1945-1980) was an American filmmaker and performance artist best known for her landmark 1963 underground film "Christmas on Earth". Begun when Rubin was only 18, the film - which was originally titled "Cocks and Cunts" - featured several painted and masked performers engaging in a variety of heterosexual and homosexual acts. There are two separate black-and-white film reels which get projected simultaneously with color filters, and the film was described by some critics as "among the most radical ever made" and "far and away the most sexually explicit film produced by the pre-porn underground." It was praised by some, panned by others, and suppressed by the New York City Police.
Rubin also collaborated with Andy Warhol, had an affair with Allen Ginsberg, organized the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall in 1965, helped Bob Dylan heal after a motorcycle accident, and organized a multimedia festival "Caterpillar Changes" in 1967.
"Christmas on Earth Continued" was the first of two planned sequels to her landmark film (the other being Christmas on Earth Continued Again). This setting for the film is, in Rubin's words, "Fairy City, a city in New Jerusalem, its capitol Fairyland (the structure of which is that of New Jerusalem), home of the "Lord's Museum and Temple of Manifestations", an exact replica of the Vision of Heaven, the description of which should be strictly followed from the Book of Revelations. Contained within Fairy City itself, laying before Fairyland, is her national park, Pleasure Playland Resort, Coney Island with suggested Pleasure Island, from Pinocchio, while the rest of the city combineds [sic] Never Neverland (Peter Pan), Emerald City (Oz), Chess Board Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts' Palace (Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), Tower of Rupunzel [sic], Oriental Gardents (Emperor and the Nightingale), Santa's Land, Snow Queen's Throne, Gingerbread House (Hansle and Gretl [sic]), with an Arabian Nights thread spun in a spider's web like A Midsummer's Night Dream looking like a neon Mickey Mouse beam."
The other pages contain the story; poem-like texts "The Vision of Heaven" and "The Vision of the New Jerusalem"; a list of "Desired Stars & Heros, Heroines" who Rubin hopes would come to the film; a character list including biblical figures, characters from fairy tales and children's stories, superheroes, Santa Claus, Jesus, "immortal heros [sic]" such as James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, and mythical and legendary figures; lengthy poetical descriptions of characters; and costume notes. There is a list of the soundtrack for the film, which includes original music scored for the film alongside Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Joan Baez, The Kinks, Soupy Sales, and others.
Christmas on Earth Continued was never produced. This screenplay provides a valuable insight into the mind of a radical American filmmaker. As of March 2025, OCLC locates seven holdings of this work in North American libraries.
