Alfred Leslie was born in New York City. After service in the
U.S. Coast Guard at the end of
World War II, Leslie studied art at
New York University, the
Art Students League, and
Pratt Institute. A
bodybuilder and hand-balancer, Leslie posed for artist
Reginald Marsh and others and modeled for classes at the Art Students League and
Pratt Institute. Anticipating the
Situationist International's
detournement, his 1949 film
Magic Thinking combined black-and-white cartoons, home movies, GI training films, industrial commercials, strip footage, and old feature films. Even though figuration and narration became contentious issues for painters in the 1980s, "these concerns didn't exist per se in film, theater, literary or still photography world, all of which I was part of." ==Notes==