dear rina,

your site states that the hope/crosby “road to bali” (1952) includes film of the balinese dancers who were performing in the usa at the time in john coast’s legendary tour.

much as i wish it were the case - unfortunately it isn’t. when the dancers arrived in los angeles the film had already been completed, and they visited the set of a commercial being made by hope and crosby to promote it. in fact shortly afterward they saw the newly opened film in san francisco.

there does exist film of them in a kinescope from the ed sullivan show, and a few snippets elsewhere - but if you see “road to bali” there is no such content; in terms of portraying balinese culture - it doesn’t bother - and what it does present as “balinese” is extremely silly. but that’s hollywood for you.

hope you can correct this on your site….

many thanks,

laura rosenberg

john coast foundation for the performing arts in bali

The first European visitors to Bali saw much different Bali than nowadays visitors have seen. The first foreign visitors saw Bali as an island of theft and murder, full of menace with ferocious inhabitants, a warlike nation. In the mid-seventeenth century Bali was a dangerous place, wild and untamed, where Europeans loath to go. In the eyes of European writer Bali was a heathen land where barbarities such as widow burning practiced in much vigor.

During the flourishing time of slave trade in seventeenth century, the rebellious nature and great tendency of run amok of Balinese male slave contributed a great deal to form warlike image of Balinese. Jan Troet, one of the prominent slave traders in the archipelago, gave much information on Bali as a place of brutality through his letters of complaints to the VOC rather than any comprehensive account of Bali or Balinese slave. In 1661 Troet sent a complain letter to the company about male Balinese slaves.

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BALI UNVEILED
A collection of rare photographs taken in Bali from 1890 – 1960s

7 September – 23 November 2007
Quidzy Gallery
Jalan Kunti II/No. 20
Banjar Seminyak, Kuta
(50 meters from the Pertamina petrol station located at the corner of Jl. Kunti and the Sunset road)
Phone: 0361 738631

OPENING LAUNCH:
7 September 2007
6:00 p.m. (18:00)

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Since the 1930’s Bali has been the premier destination for celebrities and noted personalities who were inspired by the island as a place of sensuality, mystery, romance, and adventure. Bali continues to be an artistic and spiritual haven attracting celebrities, writers, actors and directors from around the world and Bali Film Center (BFC) is inviting those who have this Bali connection to the first ever BALI TAKSU FILM FESTIVAL & AWARDS.

The four-day event to be held on Bali October 25-28 includes a salute to these ‘Ambassadors’ in the international film industry for their continued support of Bali and Indonesia, a retrospective of Bali-themed Films, a Tribute to Indonesian Filmmakers, a Christies Charity Art Auction plus a Celebrity Golf Challenge. In addition, producers and directors will take this opportunity to explore the abundant film location possibilities available throughout the country and discover why Bali first came to the attention of Hollywood through films like Andre Roosevelt‘s (US President Theodore Roosevelt’s nephew), Goona Goona (1932). Goona Goona was originally released in two-color Technicolor and one of the last films released with unsynchronized sound track.

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Between 1926 and 1958, the island of Bali was featured in several movies shot by Dutch, German and American film-makers. From early images of the “Island of the Gods” through to images of the “Island of Demons”, these films document the changing nature of Bali’s image. The 1952 movie The Road to Bali starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, is the ultimate amalgam of images of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Under the guise of humour the movie managed to include cannibals, wild animals and a giant squid, as well as Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn pulling The African Queen. The ‘Bali Hai’ of South Pacific (1958) had nothing directly to do with Bali, but everything to do with Bali’s image. The island shown as Bali Hai was not in the right ocean, but the name and the soothing sea-breeze-like notes of the hit song were thought to be sufficiently close to something resembling “Bali”. Hollywood made Bali the paradise of paradises by combining all the ideals of the South Seas into one.

In the last ten years this island has been written about, filmed, photographed, and gushed over to an extent which would justify nausea. I went there half-unwillingly, for I expected a complete “bali-hoo”, picturesque and faked to a Hollywood standard; I left there wholly unwillingly, convinced that I had seen the nearest approach to Utopia that I am ever to see. (Geoffrey Gorer, Bali and Angkor. Or Looking at Life and Death, 1936: 42-43)

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