The Sound of Quicksilver

In 1932, the modernist magazine Dope published Len Lye’s “pop lyrics” - Hungry for Love. The schmaltzy tune (below) reminds us that while Lye’s art had one foot in the avant-garde with the experimental films that were soon to follow in his celebrated oeuvre, he had the other firmly planted in the realm of popular culture. Next to Lye’s lyrics in Dope there is an announcement of another his endeavours that demonstrates the most culturally eclectic undertaking of his career. Project for Feature Colour Film announced the Quicksilver film, its technical ambitions, and its roster of technicians.

The Quicksilver project was one of Lye’s boldest and most imaginative undertakings. A blend of musical, ballet, science fiction, and surrealist fantasy, it was one of at least two theatrical works developed by Lye and the poet Laura Riding in the early 1930s. The plot follows the fantastical rivalry and eventual reconciliation between Quicksilver, King of the Air, and Venus, Queen of the Sea. Quicksilver first appears as a rocket transformed into a celestial ruler, while Venus travels beneath the ocean in her magical submarine to an elaborate undersea nightclub where she becomes the glamorous hostess, Josephine. Their worlds collide when Quicksilver’s musical number disrupts Venus’ own cabaret performance, sparking her fury and leading to a grand rendezvous where they challenge each other to a race to the North Pole - he by air, she by sea. Their journeys unfold through spectacular ballets, song numbers, and fantastical set pieces. Quicksilver dallies in the clouds while Venus presses on with discipline beneath the ice. Venus and her crew reach the Pole first, celebrating triumphantly, but when Quicksilver crashes nearby, she rescues him, raising his flag in place of her own. Their rivalry turns to friendship as they depart together.

The project floundered in Lye's hands through a lack of financial support and eventually ended up unrecognisable in the hands of American producer William Rowland. It did, however, occupy Lye on and off for the five-year span between Tusalava (1929) and the emergence of his direct animated films, Full Fathom Five (1935) and A Colour Box (1935). Thankfully, substantial pieces of Lye’s vision remain and provide a reasonably rich sense of what he had in mind. Illustrations by artists John Aldridge (1905-1983) and Basil Taylor (1900-1935) give a good sense of the intended fantasy. Aldridge produced several dozen sketches outlining scenes and sets, exhibiting a handful in his solo exhibition at the Leicester Gallery in 1933.  A similar number of costume sketches were produced by Taylor.

Sketches by Aldridge and Taylor in the 2021 exhibition Len Lye's Rainbow Dance at the Len Lye Centre. Len Lye Foundation Collection.

Oswell Blakeston article in Close Up Vol 10 Iss 2 1933.

A musique concrete recording by Jack Ellitt titled Journey #1 (in the collection of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia) has been identified by Lye’s biographer Roger Horrocks as a possible piece of the Quicksilver project. Journey #1 certainly dates to the Quicksilver period (see Camille Robinson’s dissertation on Ellitt) and if it isn’t explicitly a part of Quicksilver, it’s indicative of the music Lye and Ellitt were developing for the project. Writing to Aldridge in the early stages of development Lye commented:

Jack has enough material for a full length film (the ballet stuff) especially when you keep in mind that most of the effects are not musics but sounds single line rhythms + sound for aeroplanes rockets etc

If Aldridge and Taylor’s visual work failed to excite backers, then Ellitt’s challenging composition would have been an additional brake on success. However, while Ellitt seems to have produced a full film’s worth of sound compositions, Lye had written lyrics for an equivalent volume of cabaret songs for the film.

Lye wrote at least six jazz songs for Quicksilver, the titles as camp as the visual treatment. In narrative sequence: Rocket Song, Joystick Jangle, Lanky and Dank, Black Pearl, Black Venus, Hurricane Howl, and Take the Lid of the Sky. Rocket Song opened the narrative, accompanying Quicksilver’s arrival. Black Pearl, Black Venus, a character song for Josephine, suggests the character is derivative of Josephine Baker. Lye had been in a relationship with Elizabeth Drummond (Liz Johnson in Horrock’s biography of Lye), a Jamaican dancer in stage musicals who may have been an inspiration for the character. By this time Lye was in a relationship with Jane Thompson (his first wife) and may have saved face by adopting a less immediate and threatening model for the project.

John Aldridge, The last bus home from the South Pole, c. 1933. This scene was the climax of the film and to be accompanied by the song Take the Lid off the Sky. Collection of Robjn Cantus.

Lye’s correspondence with Aldridge suggests not only that the songwriting had preceded the creation of visuals, but that Lye had by this point nearly completed a full suite of lyrics and that Ellitt was responsible for finding someone to compose the musical accompaniment. It’s interesting to consider Ellitt, a pianist himself, making way for someone else to collaborate with Lye. Ellitt’s live musical score to accompany Lye’s Tusalava had been a mutually frustrating affair and their acclaimed GPO collaborations were several years away. My sense is that Ellitt’s compositional interests didn’t suit the songwriting required and he happily stayed within the confines of sound effects and experimentation.

Lye’s song titles and their place in the Quicksilver narrative are documented in correspondence and outlines of the narrative held in Aldridge’s archives at the British Library. Further details are unavailable except for Lanky and Dank which was registered for copyright in 1931 under the name Ocean Bed and as a co-composition with words by Lye and music by Eustace Lewis – the composer presumably procured by Ellitt for the project.

Lewis (1902-1985) is an obscure figure with very limited biographical detail available. It seems likely that he was born in Sierra Leone and travelled to London during the 1920s. Ellitt recalled that he had travelled abroad to study law but, for reasons unexplained, ended up playing piano. The 1939 National Register lists Lewis’s occupation as pianist so he was active, if not prominent, throughout the 1930. He was married to Lena Marie Shannon (1899-1983), possibly had two children and briefly returned to Sierra Leone in the 1950s. He was otherwise resident in London for the rest of his life and possibly worked in the postal service. There is limited detail available regarding Lewis’s musical career. Other than his collaboration with Lye, the only other information I can confirm is participation in a fundraiser for the Scottsboro Defense Committee on 28 December 1935 where “Eustace Lewis and His Six Rhythm Boys” led an event at London’s Bush House.

The substantial body of visual and sound material created for Quicksilver suggests that, far from being an obscure moment in Lye’s career, it was one of his more substantial undertakings. What currently sits dispersed in archives and collections between the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia is a considerable counterpoint to the rather grim consolation prize Lye was to secure through the project, directing the special effects in Rowland's 1938 film Stardust (variously titled He Loved an Actress and Mad About Money).