Helmut Bio
by Roland Carstairs

“To all my fans who have supported my efforts from the very beginning, my gratitude to all, and God willing someday I would like take you unto my bosom and make love with each and every one of you.”

Yours in passion,
Helmut

ABOUT THE MASTER

Born in Zurich Switzerland, the son of a shoe cobbler, and part time stenographer, Klaus and Velma Krantz, the precocious child quickly proved to be different and ahead of his time. He was expelled at the age of six from the Church Sunday School for finding many of the Biblical characters displayed in the instructional booklets as desirous and erotically stimulating. Details as to how this was discovered are vague and cannot be confirmed, but one can only guess by an incident described in Helmut K.s journal as “the embarrassing incident in the manger”. Branded by the Pastor as “The Devil’s Spawn,” young Helmut was forbidden to return to the Church ever again. This was to be the beginning of the legend, a prelude to a series of outbursts of anti social behavior which was to be the basis of the new art form to be labeled as “Perversionism.”

When he was old enough to be placed into a boarding school his parents wasted no time in sending him to the Alpine Boy’s School in Berne. Upon seeing the beautiful sights abounding around him he announced to the world, “I have come home!" At the Academy he became aware of the works of Wilhelm Reich, a famous Psychoanalyst, and his studies on the freeing of the sexual nature. He along with Reich had denounced Freud and other contemporary thinking that the carnal desire should be muzzled and chained like a rabid dog.  Total and absolute freedom was the key to good mental health, the then twelve-year old boy believed, and he began to communicate with a colleague of the famous Psychologist. Reich’s associate then sent the boy instructions on how to build the Orgone Energy Accumulator, a device purportedly capable of trapping and directing the sexual energy of the Universe. Helmut then made the making of the box his school project, telling his wood shop Instructor that it was jewelry case for his Mother. The strange device seemed to work wonders that year and the heightened sexual prowess of this bold youth rapidly approaching thirteen years of age had him ostracized from the school for what has been described as “Unhuman Behavior.” Particulars are enigmatic, but one witness says that the boy had turned a day trip to the nearby petting zoo into a “hideous, biological nightmare.”

Sent back Zurich, the Krantz family decided to immigrate to America in hopes of outrunning the scandal and further embarrassment that was nipping at their footsteps. Once in the new country Helmut discovered film and the power attached to it. The gift of a movie camera from his Uncle Dieter gave him a whole new outlook on life. He began to photograph everything in site. And found that by combining violence with erotic imagery he could not only arouse himself but others, which he was now referring to as the “feebleminded masses”.  The camera seemed to give him unlimited power, and when he was behind it he knew no fear. Recklessly he would throw himself and others into the face of danger to get whatever shot he needed to satisfy his gargantuan appetites both artistic and sexual. His parents tired of trying to keep the boy’s passion under control finally let them off of the leash and he was free. Some think too free for his own good. But the young Krantz began to draw much attention. First from the authorities and then from people interested in promoting this young and fascinating talent. 

Timothy McCloskey, a local patron of the arts saw the boy’s talent but feared that his spirit might not easily be contained. McCloskey had heard rumors of Helmut Krantz’s exploits and the people who had been shattered in his wake. Yet he felt that this young spirit had an important message to bring into the world and thus gave the burgeoning artist his first big break. “Young Boy’s from Mars,” was the result of that trust. “Boy’s from Mars” was a surreal sci-fi flick that instantly obtained cult status. In the story Earth Boys are being abducted to replenish Mar’s dwindling supply. The reasons for this are vague and never fully come to light. Its dark and brooding imagery of bloodthirsty aliens who are at first longing for and then controlled only by the hot young loins of Earth boys was a monumental success in certain communities. It did not really seem to matter that the script made little or no sense and was the beginning of Helmut’s quick and soaring rise to celebrity.
 
Each new advance in his career brought forth new and exciting images that both shocked and appalled at the same time. Violent and sexual taboos were incorporated into every frame that both repulsed and dazzled the senses of the more sensitive viewers. Soon Helmut Krantz came under fire from right winged religious groups demanding that this assault upon morality be brought to a halt. Naturally numbers increased at his screenings and often there were outbreaks of violence as audience members the morality police would come into contact. 

Many were the films that came under the gun. They include: “Filthy Little Tramps." Followed then by, “When Thrice the Cock Crows,” “Hot Hands, Cold Death,” ”Billy the Kid Meets Bobby the Street Urchin”, “Alter Boys in Love”  “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Fun” “Huck Finn Does Memphis” which sparked the acclaimed sequels “Raft Hustler,” and “A Christmas Miracle,” which Krantz claimed exposed the true erotic and bestial meaning behind the Santa Claus myth. Although he claimed that no animals or dwarfs were harmed during the filming, the picture fell under great scrutiny from the Humane Society.
 
It was with the advent of “A Christmas Miracle” that Krantz’s parents requested that he change his last name so as to not to bring the terrible burden of association crashing in on their heads. Dropping the last name Helmut Krantz, Helmut K. was born and history was made. It was always the truth up there on the screen K. would proclaim. And this seemed true enough. Many actors told of stories of being absolutely terrified as Helmut K. would put them in the most precarious situations. And to use a safety net was completely unheard of. “I want not only the audience, but the actors to believe the danger that they are in,” K. once was quoted, “In a world where reality and fantasy collide, neither should come out on top. The uncertainty of death should make the experience wonderful for both the actor and the viewer.” Many of these breathtaking scenes led to legal investigation and lawsuits, yet the Master would not be deterred in his quest to bring the incredible to the screen. Stories of the notorious casting couch calls were also abundant, and K. seemed to be no slouch in that department.
 
As controversy and anger rose over his subject matter K. became even bolder in his depiction of the unsavory. This rising star seemed to growing brighter until all came to a halt with the advent of “Tommy Needs a Spanking.”

It was “Tommy Needs a Spanking” that sunk K. and his Golden Calf Productions as viable investment for film financiers. His pure blend of violence and psycho-sexuality culminated with “Tommy.” But the existential tenor was too far ahead of its time, and found its audience indifferent to the esoteric message. The comparison of this work to pornography by the critics cut K. to the quick, and many of the actors did not want their names attached to it. Though many did not consider the work pornography, they still felt it to be rubbish.

Helmut K. was quoted as saying: “It was all part of the latest inquisition in my behalf. And the natural expectation from a country where sex is the big crime and orgasm, the motive, means, and opportunity to pass judgment.”

It was a vision from God,’ K. claimed that sent him into the world of black and white photography. Telling others that Christ had come to his bedside with a gift of a camera. Many believed that this story was mere fabrication and the result of ingesting too much alcohol and pain medicine that was being used to offset the agony of the new poverty that befell K. Helmut said that black and white would allow the true meaning of his message to get through without the distortion of color which he now found annoying and offensive. He called his new art form PERVERSIONISM, and claimed that it was in fact “God’s perspective.”

Once again the air became alive with controversy as “Perversionism” made it’s way into mainstream culture. Helmut K. stated that this new art form was designed for man to free himself from the chains imposed by culture and religion. That God had charged him with the duty of bringing the message into a world that had separated itself from nature and that was he who would set the Beast loose in man so as to bring balance to all humankind. K. believed that it was by restricting what he called the spirit of the monkey which responsible for all of the worlds’ ills. “Be like the Monkey,” he proclaimed. 

As the movement grew “Perversionism" began to sprout up everywhere. The faction of the artistic community was beginning to have a foothold on society spreading it’s wings and teaching the way of the monkey. Its purpose was being fulfilled by the freeing of spirits and illuminating social conscience, and thus keeping us all safe from the beast that had been restrained for too long. 

*Perversionist: One who follows the ways of Perversionism and attempts to live life with unbridled passion. 

"Nietzsche in his search for the Uber Mensch found the journey long and mostly fruitless, where as I find them almost everywhere I look."

Helmut K