Baby Snakes is a movie from Frank Zappa's 1977 Halloween concert at New York City's Palladium Theater, backstage antics from the crew, and stop motion clay animation from award-winning animator Bruce Bickford.
The film had particular trouble finding a distributor. Frank Zappa tried to interest United Artists, the company that released 200 Motels, who turned him down. Other studios followed in United Artists' footsteps, fearing that Zappa's trademark cinematic style had lost considerable appeal in post-'70s pop culture.
Several European distributors told Zappa that there might be interest if it were cut from its original 168-minute running time. The film was cut to 90 minutes and still there were no takers.
Even after Bruce Bickford's sequences won first prize at a French animated film competition, there was no interest. Eventually Zappa took it upon himself to distribute the film independently via his own Intercontinental Absurdities production company. The film ran 24 hours a day at the Victoria Theater in New York City and made a handsome profit.
The film was released on VHS tapes via mail-order directly from Zappa until the mid-90s when the double-tape set went out of print. The 90 minute-version was briefly made available on home video in the 1980s also. The film was finally released on DVD on December 9, 2003 by Eagle Vision United States. This was the first time that the film was made commercially available to the wide public rather than through a small section of fans able to order via mail.
Rock artist Frank Zappa hosts a concert in New York City. This movie contains tons of on-stage footage, off-stage footage, and animation. Written by Dan Priebe
