Wikipedia

Francis Delia

(Redirected from Francis X. Wolfe)

Francis Delia (c. 1948)[1] is an American filmmaker, photographer, writer and musician, at times credited as Francis X. Wolfe or F.X. Pope[2][3]

Francis Delia
Born1947 or 1948 (age 76–77)[1]
Other namesFrank Delia, F.X. Pope, Francis X. Wolfe
Occupation(s)Director, writer, producer, cinematographer, photographer, guitarist
Years active1965–1966 (with The Bruthers)
1975–present (photography, film and television)
RelativesJoe Delia (brother)

As Frank Delia, he was the guitarist of The Bruthers, a 1960s New York garage rock band whose four members were all brothers.[4]

Delia worked as a photographer in the 1970s, working for a time with Hustler magazine.[5] His first experiences as a cinematographer and director were in the pornographic film genre.[3][5]

After relocating to Los Angeles with Hustler in 1978, he became co-founder and president of Wolfe Co., a film production company.[5][6] He directed music videos in the 1980s, such as the videos for Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio", "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell as well as several videos for The Ramones, including the video for "Psycho Therapy", which made Rolling Stone's 1993 list of "The Top 100 Videos".[6][7][8]

He also directed episodes of several television series in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the feature films Freeway, Trouble Bound and Time of Her Time.[9][10]

Career

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The Bruthers

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Delia was one of nine brothers and grew-up in Pearl River, New York.[4] In 1960, Delia and his three of brothers — Mike, Al and Joe — formed the garage band The Bruthers and toured colleges for several years.[4] The band was signed to RCA Records and released the single Bad Way to Go/Bad Love in 1966.[11]

Delia told The Morning Call in 1966 that their father, Alfred W. Delia, was always supportive of his sons' creative endeavors.[4] He also co-managed the band with famed music promoter and talent manager Sid Bernstein.[4] The band broke up in 1967 after they were dropped by RCA.[11]

Work in visual media

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Delia attended the Cooper Union School of Art and started work as a photographer in 1975, working for ad agencies and publications such as National Lampoon and High Times.[10] His first experience with a film camera was after meeting director Abel Ferrara, who frequently collaborated with Delia's brother, film composer Joe Delia.[6][11][12] Delia served as Ferrara's cinematographer for his 1976 pornographic film, 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy, under the pseudonym Francis X. Wolfe.[3][13]

Delia worked as a photographer for Hustler magazine, along with creative director Stephen Sayadian and writer Jerry Stahl.[2] The three men relocated to Los Angeles with the magazine in 1978.[5] After the move, the trio formed an art design company that created posters and one sheets for films, such as The Fog (1980), Dressed to Kill (1980), The Exterminator (1980) and Escape from New York (1981).[2][6]

Delia's first experience as a film director was the 1981 pornographic horror Nightdreams, which was written by Sayadian and Stahl.[5] Delia also acted as cinematographer and producer of Sayadian's 1982 pornographic science fiction film Café Flesh.[2] Delia was credited under the pseudonym F.X. Pope for both films.[2]

In 1982, Delia founded the film and visual media production company, Wolfe Company, which employed filmmakers such as Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, Russell Mulcahy, Brian Grant.[14] The company started out producing movie trailers. including trailers for the films A Night In Heaven and Revenge of the Nerds, which were both directed by Delia, but within a couple of years the company's focus shifted to mostly music video production.[14][15]

Delia's first music video was for the Wall of Voodoo single "Mexican Radio".[6] The band were longtime friends of Delia's and their practice space was in the same building as the art studio he shared with Sayadian and Stahl.[2][6] The Ramones liked the video and asked him to create a video for their single "Psycho Therapy".[6] The video features a man who undergoes a lobotomy.[6] The Ramones were pleased with the video, but MTV refused to air it until some scenes were cut.[6] The video made Rolling Stone's 1993 list of "The Top 100 Videos".[8] Delia also directed video for the Ramones' "Howling at the Moon (Sha–La–La)".[16]

Some of the other songs for which he directed videos include "The Real World" by The Bangles, "A Million Miles Away" by The Plimsouls, "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell, "Heard The News" by David Johansen, "Colored Lights" by The Blasters, "The Right to Rock" by Keel and "Love Always" by El DeBarge.[6][7][16][17][18] Delia also directed videos for Starship's singles "We Built This City", "Sara", and "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight".[19] He filmed The Fleshtones for The Beast of IRS Video, Vol I, a compilation of clips of music artists on the I.R.S. Records label, in addition to a film of Gary Numan in concert and a series of public service announcements for the campaign titled "Fight the Fear with Facts" by the AIDS Project Los Angeles.[6][20][21][22]

Delia's feature film debut was the 1988 thriller Freeway, starring Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo and Michael Callan, which Delia both wrote and directed.[9][10] He directed the 1993 crime comedy-drama film Trouble Bound, starring Patricia Arquette, Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Madsen.[14] He directed the 1999 erotic film, Time of Her Time, starring Linden Ashby, and adapted the script from the short story "The Time of Her Time" by Norman Mailer.[23] He also directed episodes of the television series Max Headroom, Friday the 13th: The Series (and wrote one episode), Against the Law and War of the Worlds.[10][23][24]

In the 2000s Delia founded the film production company called Radioactive Digital Pictures, or RADPics, and in the 2010s it was announced that Delia was working on two film projects with musician Phil Driscoll, a music feature film titled Symphony of the Universe, as well as A Long Day Journey, a biopic about Driscoll's life starring Danny Glover, Derek Luke and Brian Dennehy that was to be released in 3D format, although these films have yet to be released.[10][25][26]

Filmography

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Films

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Cinematographer Notes
1976 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy No No No Yes Credited as Francis X. Wolfe
1981 Nightdreams Yes No No Yes Credited as F.X. Pope
1982 Café Flesh No No Yes Yes Credited as F.X. Pope
1988 Freeway Yes Yes No No
1993 Trouble Bound No Yes No No Co-producer
1999 Time of Her Time Yes Yes No No
2005 An American Haunting No No No No Co-executive producer
2008 The Game: Life After the Math Yes Yes No No Documentary about rapper The Game

Music videos

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Year Song Artist
1983 "Mexican Radio" Wall of Voodoo
"Psycho Therapy" Ramones
"The Real World" The Bangles
"A Million Miles Away" The Plimsouls
1984 "Somebody's Watching Me" Rockwell
"Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La)" Ramones
"Heard the News" David Johansen
1985 "The Right to Rock" Keel
"We Built This City" Starship
"Sara"
"Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight"
1986 "Love Always" El DeBarge

Television

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Year Title Episode Director Writer
1986 Crime Story "Hide and Go Thief" (season 1, episode 13) Yes No
"Strange Bedfellows" (season 1, episode 14) Yes No
1987 Max Headroom "Body Banks" (season 1, episode 3) Yes No
1988 Friday the 13th: The Series "Read My Lips" Yes No
"Symphony in B-Sharp" Yes No
1989 "The Butcher" Yes Yes
"Femme Fatale" Yes No
War of the Worlds "The Second Wave" Yes No
1990 "Synthetic Love" Yes No
Against the Law "The Price of Life" Yes No

References

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  1. ^ a b McHarry, Charles (August 17, 1966). "On the Town". Daily News. p. C18. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. The Bruthers. . .are Al, 21, Mike 20, Frank, 18, and Joe, 17.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Smith, Jacob (March 22, 2007). "Sound and Performance in Stephen Sayadian's: Night Dreams and Cafe Flesh". Velvet Light Trap. 59 (59). University of Texas Press: 15–30. doi:10.1353/vlt.2007.0007. S2CID 190124808. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Brenez, Nicole (2007). Abel Ferrara. University of Illinois Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0252074110. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b c d e Everly, Susan (August 16, 1966). "Brothers Turn Bruthers". The Morning Call. p. 15. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Some fathers dream of having nine sons for a family baseball team, but Alfred W. Delia had these nine sons and baseball is the farthest from his mind . . . Four of his sons -- Al, Mike, Frank, and Joe -- have opened at the New York young adult night club, The Cheetah, for 2 weeks after 6 years of local entertaining and touring the Eastern college circuit. . . The Pearl River group, who call themselves the Bruthers. They first performed in January 1960 for the Teaneck Jewish Community Center camp reunion. . . Frank described his father as the greatest single force directing the group's success. He always encouraged us, but never forced us into anything, he said. . . Delia senior is the group's co-manager with Sidney Bernstein who is also talent coordinator for the "Hullabaloo" T.V. show. Bernstein also discovered, and now manages, The Rascals.
  5. ^ a b c d e Iscan, Virgile (July 11, 2014). "Le génie du rinçage" [The rinsing genius] (in French). Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Delia's Remarkable Videos". LA Weekly. June 30, 1983. p. 6. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Frank Delia's "Mexican Radio" video for Wall of Voodoo has earned him a lot of attention. Great song, great video -- MTV is still playing it after nine months. . . The Ramones were impressed. They told their manager to find out who made the video, and Delia got a call from Joey Ramone in March. Would he video a song called "Psychotherapy" for their new album? . . This was followed by videos for the Bangles, the Plimsouls, the Flesheaters, Johnny Koonce, and a film of Gary Numan in concert. . . You can say that Delia -- who had never made a rock video before "Mexican Radio," and did only then because he and the band were long-time friends -- and his Wolfe Company (up until then a filmmaking company) are on a roll. . . The unsettling image is also a part of Delia's formula. In "Psychotherapy"...the protagonist undergoes a lobotomy, and his head is split in half, out writhes a hideous and uncontrollable being, a grotesque face that pushes its way up into the camera providing chills a la Eraserhead. The Ramones loved it. MTV labeled it as "totally offensive" and banned the video until the offending scenes were cut. . . The arresting image has been Delia's stock in trade before. Following a ten-year stint with a rock band in New York, Delia became a commercial photographer, putting together promotional photos for films like Dressed to Kill, The Fog, Escape from New York and The Exterminator. It was filmmaker Abel Ferrara -- of Ms. 45 fame -- who first put a movie camera in Delia's hands.
  7. ^ a b Roblin, Andrew (July 21, 1984). "Nashville Acts' Vidclips Rock Out". Billboard. Vol. 96, no. 29. p. 51. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b Elysa, Gardener (October 14, 1993). "The 100 Top Music Videos". Rolling Stone. No. 667.
  9. ^ a b Klein, Andy (September 3, 1988). "'Freeway' proves just a turnoff". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 15. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Cast: Darlanne Fluegel, James Russo, Michael Callan. Director:Francis Delia. Writers Darell Fetty and Delia based on the novel by Deanne Barkley.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Goldmark Production Partner Radio Active Digital Pictures to Launch Much Anticipated Francis Delia Website" (Press release). New York, New York, United States: Goldmark Industries. Business Wire. January 4, 2007 – via ProQuest. About Francis Delia: A native New Yorker, Delia began as a performer with RCA recording group "The Bruthers". (Sundazed Records digitally re-mastered "Bruthers" recordings discovered in BMG's vaults and released album, "Bad Way To Go", October 2003). Delia went on to study at The School of Visual Arts and Cooper Union, emerged as a commercial photographer in 1975 for Madison Avenue Ad agencies, magazines such as National Lampoon & High Times, and in the same year gained first motion picture experience as cinematographer on early Abel Ferrara films. Delia migrated to L.A., photographed key art for movie ads including De Palma's "Dress To Kill", Carpenter's "The Fog", "Escape From New York"; produced/directed scores of music videos including #1's Sara (w/Rebecca De Mornay)/We Built This City (Starship) and Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me (BET's Top 100 Videos). Four music videos were adapted for VH-1's POP-UP VIDEO; "Mexican Radio" (Wall of Voodoo) and "Psychotherapy" (The Ramones) listed on Rolling Stone's Top 100 Videos of All Time. Delia's feature films as director and/or writer include "Freeway" (New World, 1988), "Troublebound" (ITC/Fox Video, 1993) and "The Time of Her Time", adaptation of Norman Mailer short novel (released in Europe, 2001); Delia completed director's cut (2004) and currently seeks U.S. distribution. TV directorial credits include pilot of "War of the Worlds" (Paramount), "Against the Law" (Fox), "Max Headroom" (ABC), episodes of Michael Mann's "Crime Story" (NBC) and multiple episodes of "Friday the 13th, the Series" (Paramount). Currently, Delia is directing music video, writing feature screenplays including "Che" (Davis-Panzer, 2004), adapting Mailer short novel, "The Man Who Studied Yoga" (2006, attached as director); co-exec-producer (uncredited writer), "An American Haunting", 2006, starring Donald Sutherland/Sissy Spacek) released in May 2006; developing slate of features for development/production company, RadioActiveDigital Pictures.
  11. ^ a b c "Not a Bad Way to Go: A Story About a Killer Sixties Garage Band Called "The Bruthers"". Freeform Portland. January 19, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  12. ^ Marsh, Steven P. (May 23, 2019). "Abel Ferrara". The Journal News. p. C1. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. It's one of the few questions the impish Ferrara answers directly in a conversation that begins in an elevator ride in the Roxy Hotel in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood after he played guitar and did a little enthusiastic singing with longtime music collaborator and Tappan studio operator Joe Delia and his band in the lobby lounge.
  13. ^ "Francis X. Wolfe". bfi.org. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Dobrin, Gregory (April 19, 1986). "The Wolfe Co. Shoots For Quality Over Quantity". Cashbox. Vol. 49, no. 44. p. 10. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  15. ^ Dupler, Steven (January 19, 1985). "Vidclip makers Branching Out". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 3. pp. 32–34. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ a b "New Video Clips". Billboard. Vol. 96, no. 47. November 24, 1984. p. 31. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  17. ^ "Video Track". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 33. August 16, 1986. p. 50. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  18. ^ "Video Track". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 12. March 23, 1985. p. 33. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ "Video Track". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 14. April 5, 1986. p. 54. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ Bessman, Jim (April 12, 1986). "Delia Diversification Is Designed To Put Wolfe At The Fore". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 15. p. 61. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  21. ^ Zuckerman, Faye (July 21, 1984). "Video Reviews". Billboard. Vol. 96, no. 29. p. 34. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  22. ^ "Delia Diversification Is Designed To Put Wolfe At The Fore". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 4. April 12, 1986. p. 40. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  23. ^ a b Hindes, Andrew (January 29, 1997). "Green buys 'Time' for Delia to helm". Variety. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  24. ^ "War of the Worlds episode list". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  25. ^ Hemry, Melanie (November 2011). "A High Note of Victory". Believer's Voice of Victory. p. 17. Retrieved February 12, 2023 – via Google Books.
  26. ^ Kay, Jeremy (November 2, 2012). "Danny Glover, Derek Luke join Phil Driscoll prison drama". screendaily.com. Screen International. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
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