James Broughton was a major life force of West Coast Avant Garde cinema in the early days, beginning in the 1940s. He was a poet and a free spirit, reveling in delight and pushing the boundaries of normal. Throughout his career he was beloved to cineastes, poets, hippies, fellow filmmakers and activists alike. One of his first film, The Pleasure Garden (1953) received a “poetic fantasy” award from Jean Cocteau at Cannes. He had an affair and a daughter with legendary film critic Pauline Kael. And Amos Vogel, founder of Cinema 16 and The New York Film Festival, requested only that the film The Bed be shown at the celebration of his life after he died in 2013.

In honor of this month’s theme (“Stay in Bed”), here is a reworking of Vogel’s favorite, cut down and accompanied by audio of Broughton reading his poem, Song of The Bed