Was nude streaker planned oscars12/11/2023 In San Francisco, Opel became notable in the nascent gay activism scene in SOMA, as a photography, filmmaker and publisher and the kinds of publicity/awareness stunts that shaped the movement. Penis,” crusading against public nudity laws on the Los Angeles books.īut it was later, post-streaking fame, that Opel’s career as an artist and agitator blossomed, when he moved to San Francisco (finding LA an unfriendly place after being targeting by the LAPD for harassment in response to his frequent activism), later in the 70s. He crashed City Council hearings, and he created a giant phallus costume that he wore as “Mr. He was actually employed as a photographer for The Advocate, and an advocate Opel was as well: an underground artist protesting various issues, frequently doing so while naked, both before and after the Oscars incident. He was 33 years old in 1974, slim with longish hair and a mustache (as was the fashion). It all sounds very serious and very heavy, I guess, but part of it is to examine our attitudes about who we are and what we look like, and how important is it if I come to you this afternoon wearing green pants and this kind of shirt or I don’t have any clothes on at all? I mean, like, what does that really mean? How much information can you really transmit to each other on the basis of what you’re wearing? But was this a stunt in the sense of a stab at lasting fame?įrom the preview for the documentary on Opel’s life (by Opel’s nephew, Robert Oppel, who spells his name with one more “p”) entitled Uncle Bob, Opel’s own explanation: He was later hired by producer Allan Carr to streak at a party for Rudolph Nureyev and Marvin Hamlisch (yes, really), and was even accorded a post-telecast press conference at the Oscars, just like the movie stars with their newly acquired statuettes. It was a moment in the spotlight for him. This is a troubling fate for Robert Opel, because while he was perhaps the most televised streaker ever, he was much more than that.Īt the time of the streaking, Opel was variously described as an unemployed actor with an eye on a stand-up comedy career and an advertising executive. And that is how the streaker, a man named Robert Opel, became notorious himself, and remains so, fodder for History-of-the-Oscars pieces and trivia in general, overshadowing the much more interesting trivial fact that an Oscar telecast was co-hosted by David Niven, John Huston, Diana Ross and Burt Reynolds. So a naked dude upstaging David Niven’s tuxedo? Very much an Oh my stars and garters! moment. (Even by the Academy itself, as a “favorite Oscar® moment”.) This was an age when live television was pretty much the only avenue for instant pop-culture notoriety, as social media then was something that happened over water coolers and bridge tables, and ARPANET was still only dreaming of the age when it could be filled with an infinite number of cat videos. This event is notorious, and often repeated as one of the most scandalous moments of the history of the telecast of the Oscars. And Niven noticed, and paused to acknowledge the amusement of the audience, and said something Niven-y and withering. The man flashed the peace sign and kept running. David Niven (co-hosting with John Huston, Diana Ross and Burt Reynolds) was introducing Elizabeth Taylor, who was to present the Oscar for Best Picture, only to be interrupted by a young man running across the stage behind Niven. It was Tuesday night, April 2, 1974, and America and various other parts of the planet were knee-deep in the telecast of the 46th Academy Awards.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |