Series: Frames of Reference
Program: Portraits from the Two O'Clock
Date: 1979-01-01
Duration: 00:00:25

Subject: Interviews; Striptease
People: Simon, Fred
Copyright Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Clip Description
Employees of the Two O'Clock, a Boston strip joint, talk about their lives and work. George, a bartender, talks about what it takes to be a bartender in a place like the Two O'Clock.

Program Description
This episode of "Frames of Reference" features "Portraits from the Two O'Clock" by Fred Simon.

"Portraits from the Two O'Clock" features interviews with four of the employees of the Two O'Clock, a Boston strip joint. These interviews are set alongside footage of the club's interior and exterior during working hours. Deirdre is a stripper who talks about her somewhat mixed feelings about the club and about her father's restrictive personality. George, a bartender, talks about his experiences in and out of prison because of robberies, his distrust of women, and what it takes to be a bartender in a place like the Two O'Clock. Linda, another stripper, talks about overcoming fear in her work, the difference between dancing and stripping, and her past lives. Lee, a cocktail waitress who was a stripper for 18 years, talks about how the industry has changed over the years, her own positive experiences as a stripper and her unhappy childhood.Music is by John Finbury. Voiceover provided by Ursula Drabik. Produced by Dorothy Chiesa and Fred Simon. Directed by Fred Simon.

After being broadcast locally as part of the WGBH summer series "Hot Nights," "Portraits from the Two O'Clock" was eventually broadcast as an episode of the "Frames of Reference" series.

"Frames of Reference" was a series that began circa 1978. Half-hour shows were produced to showcase commissioned and already created works. It was around this time that the focus of the Workshop shifted, to concentrate more heavily on creating works for broadcast. During its time, "Frames of Reference" was the focus of the Workshop's national arts programming effort. The series ended circa 1983.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Portraits158.HTML