Ron Galella in Focus: Smash his Camera, A Love Story

The word paparazzi always had a tinge of menace--camera toting maggots a-prey on celebrities--and got a worse name after the throng chasing Princess Diana through a Paris tunnel caused her death.  But the Ur-paparazzo, a lone figure lurking behind Central Park foliage, disguised in funny wigs and hats, was Ron Galella. Famously sued by Jackie Kennedy, his jaw broken by Marlon Brando, he is the subject of a new documentary, called "Smash His Camera" expertly directed by Leon Gast, to air on HBO on June 7. 

A career defining encounter with the obsession of his life provides the title, not his gorgeous wife Betty, to whom he proposed within two minutes of their meeting and whisked off to bed “to seal the deal,” but Jackie, by this time, O, commanding her secret service detail, “Smash his camera.”

It's easy to be competent in photography, says Chuck Close eloquently in this biopic, hardest to be distinguished because of all the arts photography lacks the human hand, begging the question, is self-proclaimed superstar Galella, artist or stalker? This topic was much debated at a premiere screening at MoMA on Tuesday. Dick Cavett, Floyd Abrams and son Dan, Bob Balaban, Marie Brenner, David Margolick among photographers Harry Benson, Sonia Moskowitz, Neil Leifer, watched as Galella on film presented his extensive, historic archive, millions of photos of Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Robert Redford, and more, neatly stored in his Montville New Jersey mansion, and explained his guerilla tactics, how he got his “Mona Lisa” shot, “Windblown Jackie,” the former first lady in jeans and t-shirt walking, her tight torso half turned toward his camera, her hair strewn across the iconic semi smile. 

Gossip doyenne Liz Smith, splendid in yellow silk, suggested in her Q&A that Jackie, despite taking him to court, loved his attention too, and Betty, shouting out from the audience reminded everyone that he was Andy Warhol's favorite for recording the famous in the unexpected act of being who they really are, that Roger Ebert called him a “national treasure.” Is he still an idealist, asked Smith. Oh yes, it all paid off, said the unrepentant Galella. “I want to thank Jackie for suing me,” he went on. “She made me famous.”

While the famous supped on sea bass at the Monkey Bar afterparty, Galella snapped away soon joined by celebrity photographer Patrick McMullan. At his table sat newly discovered relations, Ottavio Galella and family from Montreal, responsible for a show of his work in the small town in Italy of his ancestry. Ottavio's wife Marisa nailed it, he may have started as a stalker but he became an artist, which may just show a change in the times, as Galella laments a loss of fun, “there are few to photograph now. The new girls, Lindsay Lohan, are bombarded, they expect it and they love it.”

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura

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There is only one Ron Galella. I met him a few years ago, while working on his glorious tome, Disco Years, which continues to inspire and amuse me with flawless photographs of New York City nightlife at its finest.