Cambridge, once again

Pink Floyd fans with a more than casual interest in the band may know that the origins of that fantastic group can be partially found in Cambridge. Some local youngsters, including Syd Barrett and Roger Waters, pretended to be hip by visiting coffee shops, smoking dope, and listening to rural blues, entre autres.

It was all part of the post-Second World War malaise, with the powers that be pretending that all was business as usual and, by the way, very actively pushing for World War III.

Cambridge was too small for the would-be beatniks. They drove in packs to London, where they would reassemble, often living in the same houses.

London, centre of the world

One of those geezers was Anthony Stern, Ant for the buddies, who aspired to a career as a moviemaker and photographer. Just like Peter Whitehead, Storm Thorgerson, Po Powell, Mick Rock, and Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon. The one being slightly more successful than the other.

San Francisco, flowers, hair...

Ant was an acquaintance of Syd, and as such, he was linked to the inner Pink Floyd circle. In their early years, they didn’t mind that Ant borrowed two of their songs for some avant-garde short movies. San Francisco used an early version of Interstellar Overdrive, recorded ‘live’ at the Thomson Private Recording Studios (Hemel Hempstead), on the 31st of October 1966.

Because this was an early (and unreleased) version, the film was some curiosum and sought after by Pink Floyd collectors.

Weirdly enough, this instrumental never made it on The Early Years box, nor on one of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn re-releases, but it was later released on a limited one-sided Record Store Day vinyl single. Unfortunately, Pink Floyd Records used an inferior copy, taken from a VHS tape (and at the wrong speed).

It is none of my business why Pink Floyd Records didn’t use the master tape in Anthony Stern’s archive, and neither is it yours. It suffices to say that when it comes to opening their pockets, Roger Waters and David Gilmour are equally avaricious.

North Pole, Eskimo territory

Iggy Eskimo Girl, on the other hand, used the already popular See Emily Play and showed an Asian girl hop-skipping joyfully through London, showing the most enchanting smile ever recorded in the human race.

Anthony Stern got some recognition from Pink Floyd fans, especially after his work was shown at the Cambridge The City Wakes Festival in 2008. Apart from a fully packed retrospective at La Cinémathèque Française (June 2008), his work was often only shown at small venues for a handful of admirers.

Mechelen, Belgium

I remember going to a ‘cultural centre’ in the city of Mechelen (Belgium) in the early nineties, where some of Anthony’s films were going to be shown, including the legendary San Francisco. The centre was in fact a ‘brown café’ where supposedly illegal substances were sold behind the counter. Only two people turned up for the festival, me and my wife, and it had been cancelled for a lack of interest.

Chimera, beast, bits & pieces

Stern’s filmography was taken care of by Chimera Arts, who protected it as an ostrich guarding its nest. The Anthony Stern movie webpages are still on the World Wide Wicked Web, but you need to deep link into the Chimera web server. Two Iggy pictures are still there, named Iggy1 and Iggy3, which have made me wonder for the past 15 years whatever happened to the Iggy2 picture.

London, centre of the universe

Anno 2025, it seems that Stern’s legacy is no longer archived by Chimera Arts. Early Pink Floyd enthusiast Sam Vojoudi, from the Which One’s Pink? Facebook clan, found out that snippets of several Anthony Stern films are showing up on YouTube on the Kinolibrary channel. Unfortunately, they are short, without sound, and they have an annoying logo and time counter.

In their own words, Kinolibrary is a commercial archive film agency supplying high-quality, rare, and inspiring footage to media professionals. Their collections, so they say, span the world and tell a century of stories.

So far for the blurb, now what is there to see?

Cut into little pieces

A search on the YouTube channel finds over 20 Anthony Stern-related snippets. Taken from his documentary The Noon Gun, San Francisco and others. One that is particularly of interest to us is titled ‘1960s Psychedelic London Kinolibrary | Anthony Stern’ which contains shots of Iggy, taken from the Eskimo Girl short (that had See Emily Play as a soundtrack).

Link for recalcitrant browsers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3T-C9HRu-4

All from Ant

The Kinolibrary website has some other films. An Anthony Stern query shows 17 shorts, taken from Stern’s archive. Some of these were present in the BBC 2016 documentary Memory Marbles. Others may have been present in the Get All That, Ant movie (2015), which does exist, but that unfortunately has never been issued on DVD and can’t be found on any of the main streaming platforms.

But a reverend may dream, no?

Anthony Stern Retrospective (2008)

Watch highlights from the Anthony Stern retrospective in Paris in 2008. So far it only has had 447 views and 11 likes in over 15 years, you lazy morons!

Link for recalcitrant browsers: https://youtu.be/-Z6rRHMXsz4?si=K-Nqq5ngCiVGhcDb   

Many thanks to: Joseph Stern, Lionel Soukaz, Sam Vojoudi.
♥ Libby ♥ Iggy ♥

Sources (other than the above mentioned links):
Parker, David: Random Precision, Cherry Red Books, London, 2001, p. 7-8.
Povey, Glenn: Echoes, the complete history of Pink Floyd, 3C Publishing, 2008, p. 49.
Povey, Glenn: The Complete Pink Floyd, The Ultimate Reference, Stirling, New York, 2016, p. 40-41.

Kinolibrary links:
http://www.kinolibrary.com
https://www.instagram.com/kinolibrary/
https://www.youtube.com/@thekinolibrary

Anthony Stern links:
Anthony Stern @ The Holy Church
RIP Anthony Stern: 1944-2022
Anthony Stern Film Archive
Anthony Stern Film Archive (Wix)
Anthony Stern Glass