She's a Rainbow by Simon Wells

Author:Simon Wells
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Published: 2020-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lucifer and all that…

Zap. You’re pregnant. That’s witchcraft.

Caption from Invocation Of My Demon Brother

The cast of Performance having been transported through a plethora of challenges during filming, adjusting back to any sort of reality would prove arduous – even for Anita’s seemingly indomitable spirit. Despite the virtual bonfire of vanities that erupted during the shoot, the enormity of the Performance experience had yet to fully detonate.

While Anita’s modelling career pre-Performance had lost some momentum, her growing movie portfolio was such that several film offers were on the table. Nonetheless, despite her phenomenal presence as expressed in Performance, for Anita, any prolonged screen association with Mick Jagger was an absolute no-no.

“I could have made a film career after Performance,” she told Lynn Barber of The Guardian in 2008, “but I didn’t want it. They were proposing me and Jagger as a couple for all sorts of films, but I didn’t want to do that.”

In addition to the offer of a shared movie career with Mick, Anita sensationally alleged that Jagger had put something more intimate on the table.

“Mick wanted me to split with Keith after Performance and for us to be a couple,” she recalled to author Victor Bockris. “Mick just wanted to walk around and show me off like he did with all his women, and I felt Keith needed a more human kind of attention and care and love.”

In reality, following Performance, Anita was more than ready to settle down. “She was very professional towards her craft,” reports friend Gerard Malanga. “I think part of the reason that her career didn’t go further was because when she got involved in her relationship with Keith, I think she was putting more of her attention to the relationship than towards the movie career.”

The Stones’ workload unforgiving, filming on the ill-fated Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus on December 11/12, 1968 had proved physically exhausting for all concerned. The project ultimately deemed unsatisfactory from the band’s point of view, it would languish in an archive for decades. In among a mass of unused and discarded footage would be a cameo from Anita, cast as a “bearded lady”.

As 1968 – yet another year of monumental change – came to a close, Anita, Keith, Mick and Marianne Faithfull were evidently in need of a break away from the UK. While Performance had pushed every known mental boundary, other events would further darken the atmosphere. On November 20, Marianne and Mick were dealt a devastating blow when they lost the child they were expecting.

The end of the year presenting an opportunity to draw a sharp line through the immediate past, the quartet (and Marianne’s three-year-old son with John Dunbar, Nicholas) decided that a trip to South America would help blast away any simmering resentments, and offer them a chance to connect with other realities. With the party’s interest in UFO spotting, and areas of South America renowned for extraterrestrial activity, there would be plenty of opportunities to gaze towards the heavens.

On Wednesday December 18

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