Melvin Van Peebles – a life more creative

Paul Hensby looks at the life of one of the most unrecognised Black film makers, and the founder of the Blaxploitation genre.

One can only admire with astonishment and pride the life of Melvin Van Peebles who I first wanted to write about as the creator of the Blaxploitation movie genre. But this is just one of his huge list of achievements. Read on to find out more about this remarkable man.

He was born Melvin Peebles, in Chicago, in 1932. After graduating in literature from Ohio Wesleyan University, he joined the US Air force, during which time he married the German actress and photographer, Maria Marx. They lived in Mexico for a brief period, where he found work as a portrait artist, before coming back to the United States to drive cable cars in San Francisco (SF). He based his first book, The Big Heart, on his experience in SF.

He was encouraged by a passenger to become a filmmaker, and he made two short films which he took to Hollywood to find work as a director, but with no success. In 1959 the family went to the Netherlands, where he worked for the Dutch National Theatre and added the ‘Van’ to his name. The marriage over and his family back in the US, Peebles was invited to Paris by Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinémathèque Française, on the strength of his short films. He learned French, and translated Mad magazine into French. He began to write and perform in musicals in French, speaking the lyrics over the music. This style carried over to his debut album, Brer Soul.

Van Peebles also published four novels and one short story collection in French. He returned to film making and in 1968, his first feature-length film, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (La Permission) caught the attention of Hollywood producers. His first Hollywood film was the 1970 Columbia Pictures comedy Watermelon Man, which tells the story of a casually white racist who wakes up black and finds himself alienated from his friends, family and job. After Watermelon Man, Van Peebles became determined to have complete control over his next production, the groundbreaking Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971), privately funded with his own money, and a loan from Bill Cosby.

Van Peebles not only directed, scripted, and edited the film, but wrote the score and directed the marketing campaign. The film, which grossed $10 million, was acclaimed for its political resonance with the black struggle.

Melvin’s son Mario's 2003 film BAADASSSSS! tells the story behind the making of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Father and son presented the film together as the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival, 2004.

As if to highlight his versatility, in the 1980s, Melvin Van Peebles became an options trader on the New York Stock Exchange while continuing to work in theatre and film.

In 2005, he was the subject of a documentary entitled How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). Also in 2005, Van Peebles was the subject of the documentary Unstoppable, which also featured black activist and actor Ossie Davis and Gordon Parks, Director of Shaft.

In 2008, Van Peebles completed the film Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha, and appeared on All My Children as Melvin Woods, the father of Samuel Woods, a character portrayed by his son, Mario. The next year he wrote a musical, Sweet Sweetback and performed in Unmitigated Truth: Life, a Lavatory, Loves, and Ladies.

In 2011, Van Peebles started doing what Time Out New York described as ‘must-see’ shows in NYC with members of music cooperative Burnt Sugar, under the name Melvin Van Peebles wid Laxative, so called because, in his words, they "make shit happen".

The following August, he distributed a new vinyl album called Nahh... Nahh Mofo, and a year later he returned to the Film Forum for a screening of The Kid (1921) where he was a judge at the Charlie Chaplin Dress-Alike Contest and, in honour of the comedian, wore a bowler hat and baggy pants.

In September 2013, Van Peebles made his public debut as a visual artist as a part of a gallery called “eMerge 2.0: Melvin Van Peebles & Artists on the Cusp". It features “Ex-Voto Monochrome (A Ghetto Mother’s Prayer)," one of many pieces of art he created for display in his home.

I have no doubt that as I write this, he’s doing something extraordinarily creative … Melvin Van Peebles, we salute you and your spirit of knowing no boundaries.

Paul Hensby