Robert Campbell in Film

Several weeks ago I posted on Jessica Ferber's haunting new book on the photos of Robert Campbell, who died homeless in Vermont in 2002. Jessica rescued boxes of his images and negatives from the shelter and just published a book of Campbell's work (go here), which features jazz musicians, folk artists and Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. I wrote the book's forward. Late last week, Jessica wrote to tell me about discovering Campbell in the film, Goodbye, Columbus, a 1969 adaptation of Philip Roth's novel: 

“As you know, figuring out Bob Campbell has been an ongoing pursuit for that past 13 years, and still I don't really know who he was. Recently I connected with someone who knew him in Vermont in the 1990's, before he was homeless. In our hour-long conversation, I learned a little more about Bob's character than I knew before. Each little tidbit, large or small has been a piece of an evolving puzzle. Just before we hung up, he asked if I knew that Bob played a cameo role in the 1969 film, Goodbye, Columbus, starring Ali MacGraw (below) and Richard Benjamin. Apparently Bob was friends with director, Larry Peerce, and during the filming Peerce asked Bob to stand in as a fashion photographer in a five-second scene. While you can only see the side of him, it brought a piece of him to life. I'd recognize that photo stance from a mile away."

JazzWax clip: Campbell appears twice in the trailer. Go here and advance the timebar to 1:27 and 3:41. You'll see Campbell on the right...

 

JazzWax tracks: The Association recorded four nifty songs for the movie's soundtrack to give it a youthful feel. Here's their main theme and instrumentals...



JazzWax pages: You'll find Jess's book on Robert Campbell, Rebirth of the Cool, here.