Anais Nin on Kenneth Anger and Samson de Brier
Feb 7th, 2008 by LA Brain Terrain
Anaïs Nin wrote about appearing in Kenneth Anger’s experimental film “Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome” as Astarte, goddess of light, in a December 1953 entry in her diary.
Kenneth Anger felt that the masquerade [hosted by Renate Druks] “Come as Your Madness” resembled a dream that he had, which he had painted and which hung in Samson de Brier’s studio. He decided to make a film of it [Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome]. We were to come in the costumes we wore [at the masquerade]. He said to me: “I want you as Astarte, the goddess of light. You are a magic person…” We filmed in Samson’s apartment from seven o’clock to one o’clock in the morning.Samson’s apartment was ideal for the film, for he had trunks filled with costumes, textiles, costume jewelry, fans, lace, old photographs, gloves, scarves, veils, feathers.
December 1953, p. 138, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, v. 5 1947-1955
Samson’s lair, located at 6026 Barton Ave, between Vine & El Centro, was up for sale this fall.
Samson deBrier is a fascinating resident who bridged many worlds in Los Angeles: Old Hollywood, queer Los Angeles and magickal Southern California as outlined in the book Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystical Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius by Gary Lachman.
In the 20s, he was a dancer named Arthur Jasmine who appeared in local floor shows and had a major role in Alla Nazimova’s Salome. The film flopped and Nazimova turned her fabulous estate at Sunset and Crescent Heights into notorious Hollywood hotel “The Garden of Allah.” It was the Chateau Marmont of its day until the Chateau Marmont took over as The Garden of Allah grew seedier in the 50s.
Arthur had rechristened himself Samson de Brier by that time and developed a following as a “celebrity warlock” who held literary salons attend by Andre Gide, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, and, obviously, Kenneth Anger. Artist Sesame [imagine an accent over that "e"] posted a photo of him in the last picture at the bottom, he’s on the far right. I’m not sure if he’s still alive and what happened to his papers. Anyone know?
[...] no secret that Samson De Brier, Hollywood warlock, fascinates me. What is odd is when I run across him without looking. I was at [...]