An extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary woman, singer-actress Tally Brown, and her world which is New York, or at least its soul! German filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim (It Is Not The Homosexual Who Is Perverse But The Situation In Which He Lives and An Army Of Lovers Or Revolt Of The Perverts), has captured the charisma, and the hypnotic, electrifying presence of the performer and person, Tally Brown, a woman with an amazing voice and dramatic style; but he has also given us a warm and intimate glimpse into her life and thoughts. Those thoughts include reminiscences of Andy Warhol super stars, of underground films with Jack Smith (Flaming Creatures) of the Off-Broadway subculture; they take us from the streets of New York to the “geriatric ghetto” of Miami, on to the “sleepless” Las Vegas casinos, but always back to New York, to the Baths, to Reno Sweene's nightclub - and in between the interviews in which Tally Brown seems to speak to us directly, there are the songs, reaching out to us, holding us spellbound. There is also the circle of intimate friends to whom we are introduced: Holly Woodlawn, Taylor Mead, Andy Warhol, Devine, Edward Caton.
It is difficult to believe once you have watched and listened to Tally Brown sing that she has never recorded commercially and may never do so, although her live performances have taken her from New York to Berlin, to Hollywood, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Tally Brown New York may be the only document of the voice and person of the woman who has been called the “white Bessie Smith.”
At presstime we received word that Rosa von Praunheim had just been awarded the coveted Bundesfilm Preis (the German equivalent to our Oscar) for Tally Brown New York (other prize winners were Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Schroeter).