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Three un-attributed anecdotes about Stella Burden (notes from an unfinished biography).
When asked by a friend and colleague about how seriously to take the subtle nuances a director was insisting upon in a minor role he was playing, Stella barked back: “Act like your life depends upon it, because it does!” Her reply might have been as succinct a description of her method as she ever articulated.
Stella Burden was sometimes referred to as “the other Stella”, pairing her with the actress and teacher Stella Adler, a fact of which Ms. Burden was well aware.
Ms. Adler was an associate producer at MGM and appeared in a number of on screen roles under the name “Stella Ardler” in such movies such as “Love on Toast” (1937) and “The Shadow of the Thin Man” (1941). Interestingly, in the rare occasions that Stella Burden appeared on film, she used the name “Stella Buden”.
When a student noticed this, he asked if it were a coincidence that Burden dropped an “r” when she appeared on film, just as Adler had added an “r” to her name when she acted in Hollywood. Burden glared at the student, asked his name, then said: “Someday you’ll understand that when you act on film, you exist differently, you float between one of two states: you either are or you are not!”. At that she stalked away leaving the student chastened and confused. Later the student realized that she had made a pun, using the “are or are not” as a punning reference to the letter “R” as if to say “R or R not”. Although any deeper meaning of the comment was entirely lost on him. Was she saying that when she acted on film, Stella Adler “existed” while she, herself, did not?
In the early seventies, Stella began to notice the work of the young conceptual/performance artist in Los Angeles named Chris Burden with whom she is thought to have corresponded (though there are no letters currently extent, and Mr. Burden denies ever having any communication with her).
There are indications that Stella Burden thought that she and the young Mr. Burden shared more than just the same last name. She was particularly fascinated by the west coast artist’s seminal work “Shoot” performed in 1971. The performance took place at a gallery reception. A small crowd of people arrived to find an empty gallery. Burden walked out with two of his friends. One filmed while the other shot Burden in the arm. Burden himself provides only a terse description of the work: “At 7:45pm I was shot in the left arm by a friend. The bullet was a copper jacket 22 long-rifle. My friend was standing about fifteen feet from me.”
It was said that the friend wasn’t actually supposed to shoot him. The bullet was just supposed to graze by. Was it an accident, after all, the piece was never rehearsed? Or did the friend just improvise his part of the performance?
One day, a colleague found Stella starring at some grainy documentary photographs of Chris Burden performing “Shoot” and other performances. She looked up from the photographs, smiling, and said to her friend: “ I’m not sure we share the same intent, but I think that contemporary culture may collapse under two such Burdens.“ Again using a pun to describe herself, albeit an overestimation of both the artist’s influece on their times.
She once stated: “The experience of danger, pain, vulnerability, and physical risk, the aggressive abuse of the body as an art object, and the relationship of the artist and spectator. That is what Chris Burden’s work is about. I say that it is also what musical comedy is about!”
As a long time resident of West Hollywood and an amateur local historian I was very excited to hear about your Stella Burden project. I wasn’t certain that you were familiar with the rumors that have surrounded her visits here in West Hollywood..
It has always been rumored that the friendship between the pair was something more than “just good friends.” Many believe that the 1954 divorce of Monroe & DiMaggio was catalyzed not by the filming of the infamous scene in the seven year itch, but rather by the Baseball legend’s jealousy over the two gal pals’ friendship. While little is known for certain about the true nature of their relationship, it is known that that Stella was a frequent visitor at Monroe’s West Hollywood apartment, and that she spent near two months living with the blonde vixen in 56-57.
I have attached a photograph of the purported West Hollywood love nest.
Stella threw a teapot top at Faye Ryan in 1972 while rehearsing Miller’s “The Crucible.” Faye was my highschool theatre teacher and shared this story with me in the Spring of 2003, several months before I graduated.
September 6th, 2006 at 10:46 am
She was said to have had secret love affairs with her favorite students.
October 27th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Three un-attributed anecdotes about Stella Burden (notes from an unfinished biography).
When asked by a friend and colleague about how seriously to take the subtle nuances a director was insisting upon in a minor role he was playing, Stella barked back: “Act like your life depends upon it, because it does!” Her reply might have been as succinct a description of her method as she ever articulated.
Stella Burden was sometimes referred to as “the other Stella”, pairing her with the actress and teacher Stella Adler, a fact of which Ms. Burden was well aware.
Ms. Adler was an associate producer at MGM and appeared in a number of on screen roles under the name “Stella Ardler” in such movies such as “Love on Toast” (1937) and “The Shadow of the Thin Man” (1941). Interestingly, in the rare occasions that Stella Burden appeared on film, she used the name “Stella Buden”.
When a student noticed this, he asked if it were a coincidence that Burden dropped an “r” when she appeared on film, just as Adler had added an “r” to her name when she acted in Hollywood. Burden glared at the student, asked his name, then said: “Someday you’ll understand that when you act on film, you exist differently, you float between one of two states: you either are or you are not!”. At that she stalked away leaving the student chastened and confused. Later the student realized that she had made a pun, using the “are or are not” as a punning reference to the letter “R” as if to say “R or R not”. Although any deeper meaning of the comment was entirely lost on him. Was she saying that when she acted on film, Stella Adler “existed” while she, herself, did not?
In the early seventies, Stella began to notice the work of the young conceptual/performance artist in Los Angeles named Chris Burden with whom she is thought to have corresponded (though there are no letters currently extent, and Mr. Burden denies ever having any communication with her).
There are indications that Stella Burden thought that she and the young Mr. Burden shared more than just the same last name. She was particularly fascinated by the west coast artist’s seminal work “Shoot” performed in 1971. The performance took place at a gallery reception. A small crowd of people arrived to find an empty gallery. Burden walked out with two of his friends. One filmed while the other shot Burden in the arm. Burden himself provides only a terse description of the work: “At 7:45pm I was shot in the left arm by a friend. The bullet was a copper jacket 22 long-rifle. My friend was standing about fifteen feet from me.”
It was said that the friend wasn’t actually supposed to shoot him. The bullet was just supposed to graze by. Was it an accident, after all, the piece was never rehearsed? Or did the friend just improvise his part of the performance?
One day, a colleague found Stella starring at some grainy documentary photographs of Chris Burden performing “Shoot” and other performances. She looked up from the photographs, smiling, and said to her friend: “ I’m not sure we share the same intent, but I think that contemporary culture may collapse under two such Burdens.“ Again using a pun to describe herself, albeit an overestimation of both the artist’s influece on their times.
She once stated: “The experience of danger, pain, vulnerability, and physical risk, the aggressive abuse of the body as an art object, and the relationship of the artist and spectator. That is what Chris Burden’s work is about. I say that it is also what musical comedy is about!”
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:33 am
As a long time resident of West Hollywood and an amateur local historian I was very excited to hear about your Stella Burden project. I wasn’t certain that you were familiar with the rumors that have surrounded her visits here in West Hollywood..
It has always been rumored that the friendship between the pair was something more than “just good friends.” Many believe that the 1954 divorce of Monroe & DiMaggio was catalyzed not by the filming of the infamous scene in the seven year itch, but rather by the Baseball legend’s jealousy over the two gal pals’ friendship. While little is known for certain about the true nature of their relationship, it is known that that Stella was a frequent visitor at Monroe’s West Hollywood apartment, and that she spent near two months living with the blonde vixen in 56-57.
I have attached a photograph of the purported West Hollywood love nest.
May 17th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
the bleeding edge of reward and potential danger from her had a quality that was as exhausting as it was addictive
July 8th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Stella threw a teapot top at Faye Ryan in 1972 while rehearsing Miller’s “The Crucible.” Faye was my highschool theatre teacher and shared this story with me in the Spring of 2003, several months before I graduated.