The Vintagent Trailers: A preview of our favorite feature films out there.
THE ARTIST AND THE WALL OF DEATH (2023)
Run Time: 1:26:00
Producer: John Kelleher, Grant Keir,
Director: Maurice O’Brien
Key Cast: Stephen Skrynka
FILM MAKERS
Maurice O’Brien has been directing as well as producing critically-acclaimed, award-winning films for
15 years. His work has screened at film festivals around the world and as well as working with the
BBC for over a decade he has made films for Screen Ireland, Guardian Documentaries, RTE,
Screen Scotland, and Channel 4/Discovery. O’Brien is also one of the creative minds behind Dazzled By Daylight, The Artist and the Wall of Death, Hey Ronnie Reagan and Buffalo Dreams
SUMMARY
The unlikely story of a Glaswegian visual artist, Stephen Skrynka, and his dangerous life-long obsession with riding the ‘Wall of Death’. Stephen dreams of transforming the traditional fairground motorbike attraction into an art form. But he underestimates the difficulties of combining his artistic vision with the commercial instincts of his Irish ‘Petrolhead’ collaborators, Connie Kiernan and Michael Donohoe, the original true-life inspiration for the cherished Irish film, ‘Eat the Peach’.
After a devastating falling out, Stephen rashly decides to hand-build his own Wall, out of recycled wood, in a disused factory on the River Clyde in Glasgow. In the midst of the Pandemic, facing a crisis of money and self-belief, Stephen’s dreams seem doomed. But salvation arrives in the shape of unexpected comradeship, anonymous donations and the kindness of strangers. Stephen builds his Wall. But can he ride it?
Worldwide release coming soon. Stay tuned!
RELATED MEDIA
Read The Guardian interview: Stephen Skrynka: ‘This is not some Jackass stunt’
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My first experience similar to the wall of death was the boardwalk ride ” Hell Hole ” in Wildwood NJ as a child ( we had a family vacation cottage in N. Wildwood ) where the floor went out from under you as the giant barrel spun . Slowly the more you rode it …you’d realize depending on your weight you could lift your feet up way before the floor descended . Quite the experience as a kid .
And then .. a few years later .. in WildWood again … blame it on a girl [ aint it almost always about a girl ] .. I wound up under her and her family’s tutelage learning how and doing a few laps of my own on their wall of death set up on the beach next to the same boardwalk pier the Hell Hole was on . And yeah … she was a looker .. as well as a genuine firecracker !
But seriously … what with todays excess litigation etc … could you imagine that scenario ever happening today ?
Sigh …. all the joys , insanity and fun today’s ‘ Bulldozer ” parents ( and the ‘ helicopter / lawnmower parents before them ) suck out of the lives of their children . Sad really ….
As for this film and its main character … hey … if thats what spins yer crank .. and you go into it with eyes wide open … why not ? Hmmm … might have to give this film a spin when its released …
PS; Did I ever ride the wall again after that ? Nahhh … a with a lot of things I’m pretty much a ” Been There- Done That – Got the T-shirt ” ( and I did … ten of em to be precise ] kind of a guy
😎
love the wildwod story. i know a family that had a wall there for years. perhaps it was the same one. Also you may not know but i thought you’d appreciate it. i got the bug and ran away to ride the wall 5 years ago. half of the year ever since, these film posts are done in the shade, in between shows at the American Motordrome Co. Wall Of Death. the largest and most traditional Wall traveling the United States today, performing just as it was done back in 1920 😉
stephen is an absolutely endearing and beautiful person and artist with his heart in the right place when it comes to the wall. you won’t be disappointed by the film (which i was privileged to get a sneak peak of!
Yeah … I’m a bit [ pleasantly ] surprised … Very cool .Every rider should do the wall at least once ! Two thumbs up to you for doing a good stretch of it . .
As for the family ? Who knows ? I know several ‘ walls ‘ passed through the Wildwood scene from the 50’s thru the early 70’s … after which I went west . All I can remember is the daughter … of course ! Suffice it to say a summer fling with her was about all I could of handled …she was a wild one … but damn it was ,… errr.. educational . .. phew ….
Hmm …
But did you know ???
That the original Wall of Death act was done with….. bicycles !!!
Yeah !! … pedal bikes !!! Predating the first M/C wall of death by some three decades !!!
re; ” Two Wheels Good ” by Jody Rosen .. along with many other bicycle histories
Think about it … peddling with everything you’ve got … or down you go in a ball of splinters . Now THAT .. was dangerous
😎
well, as the amateur historian actually the wall wasn’t done on bicycles first. There’s often the confusion of terminologies, because Velodrome board track racing which began in the 1890’s became known as Motordrome when motorcycles and cars were introduced in 1907. That sport however was 50-100ft oval outdoor and uncovered, and was the talk of the nation for a very brief period of abut 5 years. These tracks featured short stretches of up to 70 degree banked track, which allowed riders to “appear to stick to the wall”. By 1910 there was a track in every town (including wildwood) and packed houses every friday night. However, the sport was banned in 1912 after the NY Times named it “Murder Drome” after a particularly gruesome incident (not the first) which left 2 riders and 4 spectators dead including a young boy decapitated.
Meanwhile! on the Vaudeville stage of NYC, the first “tea cup track” was debuted n the stage in april of 1901. a 15 foot, sized down, and theatrical version of a boardtrack which looked much like…you guessed it… a tea cup. Riders dropped in and rode in a tight circle with entirely 70 degree banked track, and performed acrobatic riding under these ideal conditions.
Now here’s where there’s a gap. wikipedia will tell you the first “Wall Of Death” was built and ridden in Coney Island, bklyn in 1911. Thought there is no evidence t support this. There was a Motordrome racecourse, but not a Wall Of Death. a confusion of terms once again (and a wiki entry posted coincidently at the same time a “rare original wall bike came up for auction” (spoiler it was a race bike not a wall bike).
Walls vs Motordromes: the true term ‘wall of death’ relates to a transportable cylindrical building with viewers up top and riders piloting machines around it’s 90 degree walls. It is still unknown when the first use of the term was used…but let me jump ahead.
Tea Cup tracks and Globes oof death roamed the world from 1901 to 1910, and around 1911 we see a carnival version of the tea cup tracks think a modern wall of death but a banked track not a 90 degree wall). these continue up to…
1915 at the San Francisco Worlds Fair, an attraction called The Race For Life, sporting a motordrome style racetrack inside a large building, with spectators up top and a steeply banked track, which culminated in a short section of 90 degree riding surface. this feature was even used as an advertising toool. see Paul d’Orleans groundbreaking research in his 2017 article here: https://thevintagent.com/2017/09/04/1915-race-for-life-the-first-wall-of-death/
months after the SF Exhibition, the flood gates open and across the country at almost every fair there is a walls as we know them today, complete with 90 degree vertical walls from starting tracks to the red line up top. Many proudly emblazended with the words WALL OF DEATH!
So the question that remains unanswered the handful of historians plagues by it (myself included…and how i ended up riding hr damn thing and will until i can no more), is: Was the 1915 Race For Life the first, copied immediately by entrepranouring carnies, OR was the 1915 Race For Life a massive, exhibition quality interpretation (rip off) of a humble attraction seen a summer or two before (as build plans were filed by 1913) on the carnival circuit where a genius carnie had the idea to add vertical wood to cover an open section up top between the banked track and the viewers…. possible because that open space was prone to ending in grizzly accidents?
Time will tell… but be sure, we’re on the case 😉
P.S – I am currently the first wall rider ever to have taken my first twoo wheeled ride (after piloting the go cart fr several years) on not a vintage motorcycle, but instead on a future cycle… a zooz e-bike which i continue to ride every show of every day six months a year with The American Motordrome Wall Of Death.
While the wall can indeed be ridden by pedal bike, it must be geared for it and it is more work than my oold bones can muster. Cyclone Jake rode his bicycle with our wall for years. I has always been a novelty on the wall of death dating back to the beginning, but it was never the standard.
Though i ride the e-bike as a novelty, in The Silent Ride (fitting for an ex-librarian) the e-bike was only introduced (we are the first) to be used as a training tool for new riders, as it’s more forgiving than a heavy, hot 1970’s harley dirtbike.
Using modern technology to train for historical performing is ito me beautiful and mindblowing and i continue to fall deeper and deeper in love with this weird circle, it history, it’s untold stories, and it’s future which i fight for madly, more and more every day.
come on out and see a show! https://www.americanwallofdeath.com/
Miss Corinna, The Bad Seed from the Big Apple