Frederick Blassie
xxxIntro
xxxRegis Philbin
xxxJapan

Richard Fliehr

Randall Poffo & Aurelian Smith Jr.

Frederick Blassie (1918-2003)

“I was a bastard, every single second of my life. That's why I was stabbed twenty-one times and had acid thrown on me. That's why a [viewer] threw a hard boiled egg at me that made me lose sight in my right eye. Why I've been shot at and had my car set on fire. I can't even count the number of times I've had the air let out of my tires or the number of death threats I've gotten. During my first tour of Japan twenty-five people died of heart attacks while watching me on television because I got them so worked up. I've been blamed for the deaths of ninety-two spectators in my time in the business, I always wanted to reach a hundred.”

- Frederick Blassie

Frederick Blassie is, without a doubt, one of the 20th centuries most important and prolific performance artists. Born in 1918, right at the peak of the dadaist movement, Blassie never had the fortune to be present for any dadaist performances, but the anti-art efforts of the movement are apparent in his work. His career officially began in 1935 at a Vaudeville-style carnival show, at a mere seventeen years old when he weaseled his way on stage after a performer had no-showed. His almost seventy year long career saw him become a fixture in St. Louis and Southern California, as well as possibly being most famous American performance artist to ever work in Japan.

The number of works by Mr. Blassie that could be featured here are endless. His career was so long, his reach so expansive, and his influence so great (Andy Warhol and Andy Kaufman, two notable examples) that to catalog him completely would take a lifetime. Two specific events will be focused on here: Mr. Blassie's performances on the Regis Philbin show and his first trip to Japan.

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