Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers

The film's title is taken from the Bible. The Epistle of Jeremiah, 1:70: "For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keeps nothing, so are their gods of wood, overlain with silver and gold." As noted by reviews, transvestite actor Holly Woodlawn, who frequently appeared in Andy Warhol's films, played both the female lead, "Eve Harrington," and a male anti-hero, "Rhett Butler." A split-screen technique was used for the sequences in which the characters appeared together. Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers marked Woodlawn's first appearance in a non-Warhol produced film. The characters' names were taken from popular motion pictures and books, and reviews added that the musical numbers were spoofs of 1930s and 1940s routines choreographed by famed dance director Busby Berkeley. The Hollywood Reporter review, which incorrectly listed the picture's running time as 95 minutes, noted that the production number for "The Dusty Rose Hotel," sung by Tally Brown, paid "homage to Judy Garland's born-in-a-trunk sequence" in 1954's A Star Is Born.
       According to reviews, Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers was shot entirely on location in New York City, with specific locations including Greenwich Village, Central Park and the Chelsea Hotel. The picture was shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm for theatrical distribution. Although March 1972 reviews indicated that the film was not yet rated by the MPAA, and the film is not listed on the MPAA website, by the time it opened in Los Angeles in August 1972, local newspaper reviews listed the rating as PG. The Box Office review noted that the film's final budget was $125,000, and that it was co-produced by "24-year-old Wall Street financier" Henry A. Alpert, making his motion picture debut. Alpert did not make any additional films. The picture also marked the feature film debut of co-producer-director Robert J. Kaplan, who made only one more picture.
       According to an August 1971 Variety news item, Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers featured "cameo appearances by Playboy bunnies." A 1979 Box Office article reported that Lily Tomlin participated in the picture via a voice cameo in which she played her famous character "Ernestine," a telephone operator. Although Kaplan stated in the article that Tomlin actually appears in the picture, some modern sources assert that she contributed only a voice-over. While Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers marked her first participation in a motion picture, she May not have actually appeared onscreen until the 1975 film Nashville. The Box Office article also reported that Barry Manilow, who frequently worked with Bette Midler in the early 1970s, "contributed some of the music" to the film. Kaplan's statements in the Box Office article contradicted some other contemporary sources, with him asserting that Midler appears onscreen in Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers, while other sources state that she only sings on the soundtrack.
       In August 1974, Variety reported that independent film distributor Howard Goldfarb, the president of H. G. Entertainment, Ltd., had acquired the theatrical rights to Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers from New Line and intended to "try a new distribution format for the avant-garde film."