Reluctant Angels

The Secret City was a television program designed to teach children how to draw, starring Mark Kistler as as the fictional ‘Commander Mark’ who led viewers and in-studio club members through various drawing exercises in a sci-fi clubhouse setting full of fun, fantasy, and adventure. While the show’s format essentially prioritizes instruction over narrative, ongoing ‘drama’ is created by the frequent addition of new key features to the emerging scenery of the giant Secret City mural. Often Special Guests would appear on the show to demonstrate other art forms or practical applications for drawing skills. The show was created by John Price & Mark Kistler, based on Bruce McIntyre's AVDP. Much of the series was edited live in-camera and was shot in a somewhat semi-scripted format. It was produced at Maryland Public Television through private funding by Children's Video Associates, and intended for broadcast via national PBS syndication. It also aired on TVOntario.

Exit is a flashback by a man of fifty. He remembers the moment when, as a young photographer, he was realising an exhibition of his own artistic work when he was unexpectedly commissioned to make a music video. The offer at first seems like the answer to his financial and personal woes, but during the preparations, a childhood trauma he has not come to terms with ensures unexpected complications and everything threatens to turn into a fiasco.

You were busy with beans

Jerry King Musser, with neighborhood friends. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A few months before, John Lennon was shot. Making a silly film was how I coped. 16mm.

Two men in a shop window paint each other.

By Jerry King Musser. Created in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 16mm.

In a domestic setting, two men in suits with rather glassy and listless facial expressions sit at a table with two mocha cakes on it. A classic slapstick element in an experimental setting.

Short film about two men in a car

Each day of one's life, humans require and seek out contact. Emotional, or physical. In a world of loners, connections are more important than ever.

1981 short film by Paul de Nooijer and Jerry King Musser

1981 short film by Paul de Nooijer and Jerry King Musser