The Story of WRZY’s 'Downtown Heptasm'

Edmund 'Ed Coolly' Coolliquoi was an Anglo-French Canadian expat living in New York in the mid-1950s. Whlst residing a few doors down from the Caffe Cino on Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, he became turned on to the work of beat poets and performers, jazz musicians and the possibilities of electronics. His day job was as a technician for local New York experimental TV station WRZY. To fill in gaps in programming and during the last night closedown, Coolly developed collections of test signals, countdowns and old industrial film footage. Overlaid with poems and sound from beat poet friends and jazz players, these developed into seven sound and moving image collages, each one seven minutes long. These films became known as the ‘Downtown Heptasm Reels'.

Continually developed and refined throughout the 50s and 60s, Coolly only stopped working on the collection upon his death in 1967. By this time the reels had become legendary amongst television technicians, former beats, and hippies, and were regularly screened at happenings and psychedelic gatherings from San Francisco to London.

Although the full 16mm masters were lost, some fragments of the original reels have been retained in private collections. Few agree on the full content of all seven reels (for example, debate is split on whether the Zapruder footage was ever included) but enough first person testimony exists to aid the rebuilding of the seven parts. Returning to the original sources, Buck in Fudgy have begun work on a project to restore ‘Downtown Heptasm’ to its original Hepcat glory.

SCREENINGS

Reel 01 – Alpha (aka The Monkey's Brother) . 7 minutes.
Poetry: Kimble Jesm.
Reader: Ed Coolly
Music by the Grace Fire Trio

25.10. 2009 - 'Projektor Film Club, ' Upstairs at the Three and Ten', Brighton, UK
21.11.2009 - Cine City Film Festival, Rikitiks, Bond Street, Brighton, UK
31.01.2010 - 'Projektor Film Club, ' Upstairs at the Three and Ten', Brighton, UK

Reel 01 – Alpha. Poetry: Kimble Jesm. Reader: Ed Coolly, Music by the Grace Fire Trio
Reel 02 – Beta (aka Cloud Nine) -Poetry: Leth Regushman. Reader: Ed Coolly
Reel 03 – Gamma (aka Bang! Pow!) - Poetry: Shtank Malik. Reader: Ed Coolly
Reel 04 – Delta (aka The Mode out) - Poetry: Alice Story, Reader: Ed Coolly
Reel 05 – Epsilion (aka Coolin’ transmission) - Poetry: Dent Reatari Reader: Ed Coolly
Reel 06 – Zeta (aka The Wow Out Wowzazsm!!) - Poetry: Kendall Luthman, Reader: Ed Coolly
Reel 07 – Eta (aka Niteflite) - Poetry: Marv Hinton, Reader: Ed Coolly.

Total running time 49 minutes