The Queen of Kitsch
If Los Angeles gave out superlative awards, Allee Willis would nab the Most Eccentric title in a landslide.
The 60-something songwriter, who has penned hit tunes for Earth Wind & Fire and Pet Shop Boys, among others, has worn dozens of strange and extraordinary hats. She’s been a set designer for television, a co-composer/lyricist for the musical production of The Color Purple, a restauranteur (she co-owns Susan Feniger’s Street), and, under the pseudonym “Bubbles,” has painted (and sold) thousands of whacky, cartoonish paintings.
But perhaps most defining of all her pursuits is Willis’ yawning collection of kitsch—thousands of pieces of campy, schlocky relics from eras past. Willis is one of the world’s biggest collectors of offbeat artifacts, and after decades of collecting, she’s graduated from housing her treasures in assorted storage units to storing them in a sizeable warehouse.
Now she’s sharing her campy collection with the world via a new online showcase, the Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch. To mark the launch, the collector is also exhibiting her most beloved personal artifacts at L.A.’s Ghettogloss gallery and retail space, which kicks off tonight with an opening party.
Her aesthetic? Unadulterated, old school camp; the stuff you find at flea markets in small towns and in grandma’s attic that sparks the thought, Someone actually put this into production? Imagine a plastic piggy bank made in the image of Mr. T’s head, a circa-60s hot dog cookbook and a salt-and-pepper set that, when placed together, resembles a tiny 50s-era TV set and you get the gist of Willis’ wonderfully whacky world.
“The more an object, product, piece of furniture or anything contains elements of extreme self-expression, especially if it doesn’t fit in the norm, the more I’m going to love it,” Willis says.
Willis, who’s often sarcastic but always jovial in a favorite-aunt kind of way, not only collects camp—she lives and breathes it. Her bubble-gum pink Streamline Moderne home in the San Fernando Valley, aptly dubbed Willis Wonderland, is a veritable kitsch paradise. The residence was the original MGM Studios party house (circa 1937), which she meticulously renovated to achieve maximum thematic effect.
Upon entering the backyard, one instantly expects John Waters to emerge from a cabana at any moment, requisite Tom Collins in hand. “Everyone brings his name up when they come over and the truth is, I've never actually met him," she says.
The house has earned its legendary status on many levels. Willis has thrown lively parties full of similarly singular friends such as Angelyne, David Cassidy, RuPaul, Lily Tomlin, the late Timothy Leary, Cybill Shepherd, Paul Reubens and the Zappa family. The digs were also the set of the Debbie Harry video “French Kissin’ in the USA,” which Willis art-directed, naturally.
Nearly every inch of the living room, kitchen, den, hallways and bedroom is adorned with an endless array of museum-worthy items that personify American quirk – including a set of framed celebrity caricatures from the Brown Derby, a rocket ship gumball machine, a bottle opener shaped like a stiletto, a Michael Jackson jigsaw puzzle, Saturday Night Fever bubble gum and cards, a Velveeta instamatic camera (say cheese!) and a Velvet Elvis-and-Jesus painting.
Almost as impressive as the rooms covered in kitsch is Willis’ gold- and platinum-record-filled recording studio, which is peppered with the names of iconic artists she’s worked with, from James Brown to The Del Rio Sisters.
“I started out career-wise having no money, and [collecting kitsch] was a way to have style without needing much money,” Willis says. As for what informs her personal taste and creative sensibilities, “Whether it’s making music, collecting, etcetera, there’s so much passion at the bottom and there’s so much technical refinement at the top. I love to smash them together. Everything in the middle is just boring.”
Willis’ Ghettogloss show runs through September 21, and features hundred of pieces from her personal collection, including (what else?) a plastic replica of a Whitman’s sampler box of chocolates and a straw purse in the shape of a king crab. A handful of items will be auctioned, but most ephemera will be on display simply to amuse.
Tonight’s festivities, which run from 7pm to 11pm, will include a raffle (the prize is a tour of Willis Wonderland), a screening of Willis' short-film series “What is Kitsch?”, special auctions and edibles from Street. The closing party on September 21, also slated for 7 to 11 p.m., will include all of the above plus a karaoke sing-off of Willis’ classic Earth Wind & Fire hit, "September" ("Do you remember...the 21st night of September...?").
And every day at noon throughout the exhibition, Willis will be at Ghettogloss to premiere a series of new short films via YouTube—and to unveil the daily item for her "Kitsch o' the Day" blog. Be prepared for deep analyses on the distinctions between chintz, camp, atomic, kitsch, soul, schlock and cheese.
Ghettogloss, 6109 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, 323-871-8100
