In 1949, experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger (known primarily for Scorpio Rising and his smutty celebrity tell-all book Hollywood Babylon) filmed and released the short film above, called Puce Moment. Containing no plot or dialogue and running about six minutes in length, it consists of a woman (Anger’s cousin, Yvonne Marquis) reveling in the accoutrements of her wardrobe, trying on dresses and perfume. The original version of this film was set to a Verdi soundtrack. When Anger re-released the film in the 1960s (exact year likely unknown, maybe 1968 according to Discogs), the Verdi was replaced by the music you hear in that video, credited to a man named Jonathan Halper. The two songs used, “Leaving My Old Life Behind” and “I Am a Hermit,” collectively span the length of the film. Stylistically, they’re both psychedelic freak folk, consisting of Halper’s singing and guitar playing amid ethereal whooshing and surreal noises, sounding not unlike something you’d find on an Elephant 6 compilation tape. “I’m gonna learn to climb the clouds, I’m gonna pull upon the rain, I’ll learn what lies beneath the Earth.” Halper’s nasally voice is audibly untrained, yet oddly soothing - he sings with such conviction, it’s clear these songs were his passion projects.
This is, as far as I know, all of the information available about this subject. Apart from Halper’s credit for the songs in Puce Moment, no clues as to his identity exist anywhere. Google his name and you find no photos, no other songs, literally nothing about him besides his contribution to the film. He remains, effectively, a myth. What became of him?
As with any pop culture urban legend, multiple theories attempting to piece things together exist on the internet. Maybe he didn’t even exist - maybe “Jonathan Halper” was an alias. Maybe it’s Kenneth Anger himself. Maybe, as one website suggests, he was an alias for John Lennon and George Harrison (doubt it - they couldn’t sound this good). I think the most plausible explanation is the least interesting one - he was simply in Anger’s social circle, a la his own kind of Warhol’s Superstars, and was chosen to soundtrack the film after showcasing music at some event or gathering somewhere. I can’t help but think about all of these theories - none of them proven true, none of them proven false. I desperately want to know who this guy was.
Whatever the truth is, the myth of Jonathan Halper lives on with this film, and his captivating brand of folk is constantly discovered anew by cinephiles journeying through Kenneth Anger’s filmography.
