Resorts: Happening at the Hamptons

When the 11:01 a.m. train from Manhattan pulled into Southampton—still a semi-exclusive summer enclave on the eastern tip of Long Island—the scene that greeted the passengers was not to be believed. Rumbling and banging down the street came a wave of empty kerosene drums propelled by perfectly straight-faced adults; a horde of children were bouncing large weather balloons on their heads. In the midst of the turmoil were two homemade Hovercraft, a foot above the ground, one ridden by a curvaceous brunette billed as "Liquid Hips," the other by a menacing figure in black plastic and World War I aviator's helmet known as "The Neutron Kid."

"I think they've flipped their lids," said a bystander. The reaction from the train was stronger. "Beatniks," snorted one grande dame as she pushed her way toward her chauffeur-driven limousine. "It's certainly not Southampton," sniffed another. What was happening was a Happening—a combination of artists' ball, carnival, charade, and a Dadaesque version of the games some people play. The Neutron Kid, glowering through his full beard and dark glasses, was none other than Allan Kaprow, 38, the artist who seven years ago gave Happenings their name.

No Glue. For days the local newspapers had been full of the mock-solemn high jinks that Art Professor Kaprow, Sculptor Charles Frazier and CBS Producer Gordon Hyatt were concocting. The point, explained Kaprow, was to have a plan, but no rehearsal, no separation of audience and spectators. Just pick a theme, arrange the setting, and let things happen. For the Hamptons' Happening, which was to go on for three days, the theme was "Gas," in part because Kaprow & Co. intended to use a lot of helium for balloons.

Laughing gas was what it needed, decided most of the Southampton spectators. "This is a lot of nothing with no glue to hold it together," growled one cop. "Not so," Kaprow smiled benignly. "This game is dream work—the kind kids do." But he did not waste time arguing the point with critics. CBS-TV was filming the Happening, and Kaprow had to bustle his motley throng off for the next event.

Film in the Struggle. Amagansett is an artists' colony and used to anything; but even the lethargic sunbathers blinked open their eyes and squinted when a rock-'n'-roll band moved onto the beach and began blasting away in the hot afternoon sun. Then, in quick succession, giant, helium-filled balloons took off skyward, a red smoke bomb exploded, and from a plane overhead four hired sky divers plummeted downward. The doings brought crowds running from all along the beach, but Kaprow was unhappy: "I was looking for more surprises, and everything came out very orderly." It almost didn't. Two of the parachutists missed the beach by a wide margin and landed in the ocean, and suddenly it was up to the kids to paddle their air mattresses out to make the rescue.