"Possum Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black" - Full Movie

Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist. The film works on two levels. One is the documentation of the artist's legacy and commentary on women: grotesque female figures moving in the desert wind and the theater with its frozen "actresses," protected by his widow from a world she views as hostile. The other is the re-creation of the artist's vision through the magic of film, as the camera enables the dolls to move and sing and brings theater to life as the artist imagined it.
This is part of the Visions of Paradise series by Light-Saraf Films, composed of five 30-minute films that each portray the life and work of an American folk artist. The series is the generous gift of Light-Saraf to the American Visionary Art Museum.

[@reneesoto]

Thank you so much for making this movie available.

[@herbertbell9438]

The red truck at 0:56 is my dad's truck. My parents knew Calvin and Ruby. I was probably 6 or 8 or something like that. My dad and Calvin had some kind of thing where he would be camped out in the desert and he could signal Calvin with a mirror and the sun. I remember him talking about it. Thinking back Calvin must have been pretty creative , ingenious in a way to think to use the wind like that. Their place did have a phone but I don't think they had electrical power. Calvin's willies overland hadn't run in a long time even back then. No idea when he got it but it was probably long ago.

[@georginaeliason4167]

Lovely. What an amazing story

[@EricLeiserArtist00]

total visionary genius

[@RallyTheTally]

His art was so cute!

[@pugs1956]

I remember going there as a child. We stopped on our way to Calico Ghost Town.

[@misterhope5241]

He unwittingly inspired the voice of mr hanky too by the sound of it.

[@silverlaptop2022]

Gone, but not forgotten. 👦👧👨👩👴👵👶👱👩‍⚕👩‍🌾👩‍🔧👩‍🚀👩‍🍳👩‍✈️👩‍🎨👮👷👳🎅🤶🙍🤴👼🌹🌻🌹

[@bigdumbsucker]

What a bad ass!

[@HunterHunter67]

How did Ruby and Calvin meet?

[@ruantengyi]

Is this museum still around?

[@rxkittens]

Sadly it isn't. it was demolished when Ruby passed away, the dolls were mostly sold to private collectors.

[@mullumbimboy]

Looks like life on Mars is a plausible proposal

[@hydrolito]

Mars has lower gravity and air pressure and nothing to eat there would need to make livable conditions there.