Marie Menken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marie Menkevicius (25 May 1909 in New York City, New York - 29 December 1970) was an American experimental filmmaker and socialite.
The daughter of Catholic-Lithuanian immigrants, she grew up in Brooklyn. In 1931 she met and married Willard Maas, a professor of literature at Wagner College in Staten Island. Maas and Menken were known for their "wild parties." Friend Edward Albee based the characters of Martha and George and their relationship on Menken and Maas in his play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
Menken appeared in the Andy Warhol film Chelsea Girls; Maas appeared in Warhol's Blow Job. She is the basis of the 2006 documentary Notes on Marie Menken by Martina Kudlacek. The film features Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Gerard Malanga, and Jonas Mekas.
In 2007, Menken's Glimpse of the Garden (1957) was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

