August 13, 2023 • 33 mins
Esteemed guests, Stan Taffel, president of the Cinecon Classic Film Festival, and Bryan Cooper, the Festival's Co-Vice President, tell us just what to expect at this year's CINECON festival. Some of the highlights they detail are the restoration of the 100-year-old Warner Bros "Gold Diggers" film, the excitement surrounding the John Wayne picture Adventure's End, and "Kinecon at Cinecon." We discuss the multiple Special Presentations on "Soundies," highlights from Boris Karloff's Home movies, Abbott and Costello Rarities, and more. And we celebrate special honorees Carol Lawrence, Peggy Webber, and Nancy Olson Livingston with some details about their careers. Whether you are familiar with CINECON or not, you'll enjoy the stories of classic Hollywood and classic films that are spotlighted at this year's festival. From ticket details to unique finds, this episode is a must-listen for anyone who plans to attend or just appreciates cinema and its history.
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CINECON CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello and welcome to the extras, where we take you
behind the scenes of yourfavorite TV shows, movies and
animation and their release ondigital DVD, blue Rain 4K or
your favorite streaming site.
I'm Tim Lager.
Host and joining me today areStan Taffel, president of the
Cinecon Classic Film Festivaland Festival Co Vice President,
(00:26):
brian Cooper.
Hi guys, it's good to have youon the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hi there, tim, it's good to see you.
Pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, stan, we might not too long go through some
mutual friends, alan K Roddy andStephen Smith, and both those
guys have been on the podcastand I think that's at that
dinner where I found out thatyou were a big Charlie Chaplin
fan.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Oh yes, I am a tremendous fan of that wonderful
, brilliant artist.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And is that how you kind of got into this interest
of silent films and into all ofthe Cinecon?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yes, as a matter of fact it was.
I was at an age way too youngto doubt when Charlie Chaplin
was on television and I'd watchit with my mom, and I did not
understand that he was old, Ididn't know, the films were
ancient, and I could understandhim because he wasn't talking
(01:20):
and I just followed the action.
And then I remember seeing aphotograph of him in the late
60s and I had to ask my mom whothat was and she told me that's
Charlie Chaplin.
And all of a sudden I realized,wow, I mean, I'm laughing at
something that was done in 1916.
And that was how my love forsilent film began.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, how about for you, brian?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, mine sort of started because my dad used to
have old movies running aroundthe house.
He was into Earl Flynn andHumphrey Bokehart, stuff like
that.
And then I grew up in LA sothere was every Sunday was
Abedon Costello on KTLA andFamily Film Festival.
So I sort of got started thatway.
My great-uncle was an actor, acharacter actor, so we would
(02:06):
always hope to see him insomething.
He was in Laurel and Hardyshorts and Little Rascals and
things like that it's alwaysexciting to see.
His name was Billy Gilbert andhe is probably best known as the
voice of Sneezy in the originalSnow White in the Seven Dwarfs,
and he was in a ton of classicfilms, including the Great
Dictator with Charlie Chaplin.
So it was sort of thatintroduction like oh, that's
(02:28):
your relative, and also sort ofdiscovering what my dad grew up
with, because he went to themovies in the 30s and 40s and
50s.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So very interesting story about Billy Gilbert and
the Great Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin gave Billy onthe set a 16 millimeter print of
a keystone film he made calledDoe and Dynamite and that print
was treasured by Billy and backin the 60s he traded it to Kent
Easton, who was the founder ofBlack Hawk Films, and when Black
(02:58):
Hawk Films was going to youknow fold they put the print up
for auction and it has traveledaround some.
It's in gorgeous shape and I'mproud to say that I owned that
print of Billy Gilbert's printthat Chaplin gave him of Doe and
Dynamite.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And it's actually my print and he's gonna have to
give it back to me.
Okay it would have come to mebecause I got his film
collection if he'd held on to it.
Oh, it's in good hands.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
The jealousy, the envy is just oozing here across
the radio waves.
You know, you just mentionedsomething about acting and at
Stan, I've been following you onyour Facebook page and you had
a very cool kind of acting part.
I didn't even know you're anactor.
Actually, tell us a little bitabout that, because it sounded
like it kind of ties into whatwe're talking about today.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Absolutely.
I was an actor and a comedianfrom a very early age.
I was on a series of televisionspecials on PBS called the News
in Review, and it was a musicalparody of current news events.
So I was playing everypresident, I was playing world
leaders and it was all to musicand I was very fortunate I won
three consecutive Emmy awardsfor that and I was really
(04:07):
excited.
And then I moved out herebecause an agent encouraged me
to get out of the east coast.
I came out here, I starteddoing a little bit of work.
I was on make me laugh onComedy Central and I was doing
some stand-up.
And then I fell in love andrealized it's much better to be
in love with someone and have aregular job that pays than have
to constantly audition andwonder where the next paycheck's
(04:28):
coming from.
So I did put it on hold, but Ido a lot of celebrity interviews
out here with my film knowledge.
But then several years ago avery close friend wrote a script
, wanted to put the movietogether and I said to him I'll
come in for a day if you wantand that's all it was going to
be.
But then lockdown happened andactors were not available and
(04:50):
then you retooled the script andthen, when he said it to me,
saying we're gonna do this film,I looked at the script and said
this is not a one-day part.
What have you done here?
Well, actually, you know one ofthe larger roles in the film
and I got to work with Mary LouHenner and Joe Riddle Budo and
Barry Pearl and I've becomeclose friends with all of them,
and we just saw the casting crewscreening of it and it was
(05:14):
weird to see my face that largeon a big screen again.
It's been a long time.
But now, now that I'm, you know, fully gained again in the
SAG-AFTRA, all of a sudden we'reon strike.
And now I have this new card.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I can't use it, yeah well, let's just hope they're
back at the the table tomorrow,talking from from when we're
recording this, and that we canget through this.
It's painful for everybody whenstrikes happen, so it's
speaking of interviews or otherthings.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I also noticed you did something with Mel Brooks
recently well, yes, my friendsat the LA Jewish Film Festival
they call me almost every yearand they asked me to do a
celebrity interview of sorts.
And Mel Brooks was going to bethere to honor Gene Wilder with
a brand new documentary that wasbeing made.
And although Mel Brooks firmlysaid, because he's still scared
(06:05):
of COVID, he just wanted to comeout, talk to the audience and
then take off.
So in the green room I happenedto be there and we started
talking a little bit about SidCaesar, and Mel loved hearing
that.
So I told him that I'm a filmarchivist and I've actually
rescued kinescopes of some ofhis work from the early days of
(06:26):
television, and he was reallyintrigued.
And then, before I had to goget ready, he said well, let's
get a couple of photos, and sothat's why I have those there.
And, yes, I can actually say toall of your listeners I spoke
to God.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I think you wrote that it was on your bucket list.
So there you go.
You checked one off, right,right.
Yeah, I had to mention a coupleof these things that get a
little background on you guys,because I think it's more
interesting to hear what youguys are bringing to the table
and where your interest and loveof, uh, of the films we're
going to talk about today comefrom.
So well, why don't we dive inand talk about Sinecon?
(07:03):
Because I am not that familiarand I'm sure some of our
listeners because some are nothere in LA aren't as familiar.
Maybe one of you can jump inand kind of give us a little
background history about Sinecon.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So this is our 59th year.
Obviously, stan and I have notbeen working on it that long,
but it did start in 1965.
And it's kind of balloon sincethen.
It was originally just a bunchof film collectors came together
with their 16-millimeter printsin a hotel room and set up some
chairs and watched movies,which is great.
(07:36):
So now you know, we're in adifferent kind of a situation.
Now we have access to printsfrom different studios and
archives and other collectorsand we're in larger venues.
But essentially the heart ofSinecon is just getting together
and having some fun andwatching some movies that you
(07:58):
haven't seen before, hopefullymovies that are not out there.
We try to find films that arenot on home video, that aren't
streaming, that aren't on TCM orcable, so we dig around and ask
for new restorations, what'srare, what's interesting, and
that's how we put the scheduletogether.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
We have a saying at Sinecon If it's rare, we'll show
it.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
It doesn't necessarily mean we've seen it
or we know it's any good.
It just means it's rare.
Sometimes you know it's a realwinner and sometimes it tanks.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
But we try, you know the idea, Tim, is that if you
want to see Gone with the Windand the Wizard of Oz and
Casablanca, you should, andthere are some wonderful places
that will show those films otherfestivals but if you want to
see the other films that theseactors and writers and directors
and people made that weren'tthe big films, you come to
(08:52):
Sinecon so you can actually, youknow, fully flesh out your
movie knowledge.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
And I noticed in the title it says Sinecon Classic
Film Festival.
It doesn't say silent filmfestival or rare I mean.
So it leaves you kind of open,I guess, to pick up rare films
that could be a little bit newerthey're not all silent films or
from the early 1900snecessarily, is that right?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's right.
As a matter of fact, we don'tjust show silent films and sound
films, we also show raretelevision kinescopes, because
that is a big passion with usthe films that were recorded by
simply recording a televisionscreen before the advent of
videotape, and so we havesomething called Kinnecon at
Sinecon, which is just about themost popular thing that we do
(09:36):
now.
As a matter of fact, we'redoing a tribute of sorts to CBS
and Television City this year,because this is the year that
Television City is no longer CBSTelevision City.
So we're running the rarestpossible material.
We're going to be showing theopening of Television City back
in 1952.
We're going to be showing EdwardArmuro a year earlier, showing
(09:57):
the introduction of the coaxialcable that allowed broadcasting
from east to west coastinstantly, and we're also
showing something that onlyarrived a few months ago, which
is the rarest thing possible.
It's a 1958 kinescope that wasdiscovered in the collection of
a man named Joe Casaris, who wasan innovator in videotape
(10:19):
development and also colorvideotape, and this is a 1958
kinescope that no one has seen.
It was broadcast live and neverseen again, and it was in his
personal collection and I madesure that we nabbed this and
once we announced that we'regoing to run this Sunny Fox,
let's Take a Trip episode, ofwhich very few episodes survive,
(10:40):
we got a call from employees atCBS who have asked to come
because they want to see it.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Wow, that's going to ask how do you connect with
collectors?
How do you do people reach outto you?
You reach out to other peopleBecause maybe some of the people
who listen to this podcastwould have an interest to check
out your website, obviously, andconnect with you guys as well.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, a lot of collectors come to the festival.
Course happen coming to thefestival Our friends of ours.
There's a lot of differentFacebook groups where there's
collectors on there and peoplereach out to us all the time
through our website Let us knowwhat they have, what they're
interested in seeing, sendrequests, so we're always open
to that.
But basically the people whocome to the festival are all
(11:19):
fans, just like us.
So it's a really fun weekend.
It feels like you're amongfriends and we all just geek out
for five days before we getback to real life again.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
We also have celebrities that we honor.
But we also have returningcelebrities that we've honored
in the past that just want tocome to the festival, like Kora
Sue Collins.
This is going to be her fourthor fifth time at our festival
because she just loves Sineconand she autographs things and
she charges $5 for theautographs but she gives Sinecon
the money so we can use it forfilm preservation.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, korisu, who you might not know, was a child
star in the 30s.
She retired in 1945, and whenshe was a teenager she played
significant roles in filmsincluding like A Young Greta
Garvo and Queen Christina.
And we're showing a newrestoration of the Scarlet
Letter, the 1934 version, andshe plays Pearl in that.
(12:13):
So it's pretty remarkable thatshe's still with us.
She's in her late 90s and she'sin great shape and she
remembers making that movie, soof course we had to have her
back.
But we've also got three otherwonderful honorees this year.
We've got actress Carol Lawrence, best known as, of course,
originating the role of Maria inWest Side Story, but she went
(12:34):
on to a very long career intelevision.
She made her film debut in 1962and Arthur Miller's A View from
the Bridge.
We've got a print coming fromUCLA of that film which is again
not out there.
And then we've got thewonderful, legendary actress
Nancy Olsen Livingston, who isbest known as Betty Schaefer in
(12:55):
Sunset Boulevard, playedopposite.
She's the young love interestof William Holden in Sunset
Boulevard.
Among her many films we'reshowing a rarity called Summary
in Command.
And we have another star fromthat film named Peggy Weber, who
also has a humongous resumeincluding Years on Radio.
She started in radio in the mid1940s and continues to work in
(13:18):
radio.
So three wonderful ladies werethrilled to have them for the
weekend.
So I hope people will come outand show them some love.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Just to kind of give you a little background on those
honorees, when I was looking atyour schedule and your website,
it looks like you have.
I mean, this is a multiple day.
We didn't explain that, butthis is what a four day festival
, five day over the labor dayweekend.
So it's what August 31 throughthe fourth.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It looks like you have maybe one honoree on each
day.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
We try to do one each day, but just scheduling wise
it didn't kind of play out thatway.
Saturday we have Carol Lawrence, and then Sunday we have Peggy
Weber and Nancy Olson, and thenCorisou will be there on Friday,
so we have somebody almostevery day.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Opening night is packed with some rarities which
Dan can tell you about Well, I'mreally excited about the fact
that this year we have moved thefestival to the Old Town Music
Hall, which is in El Segundo.
Our festival has been based inHollywood for the last 30 plus
years but due to circumstancesbeyond our control, we had to
(14:23):
make a decision to make a moveand because we're personal
friends with the caretakers ofOld Town, they offered the
theater to us to keep Cinecongoing and in the theater, which
was built in 1921, so it reallyis a silent movie palace, to say
anything more, we are going tobe utilizing the mighty Warlets
(14:46):
of Oregon for some of our silentprograms and if viewers or
listeners have never heard ofWarlets of Oregon playing in a
theater, it is one of the greatexperiences that you're likely
to have.
So the two bills who put thetheater together back in the 60s
, who are no longer living, theyfound a theater that was being
(15:11):
torn down and they were able toacquire the Warlets of Oregon.
So we are taking full advantageof that, especially on opening
night.
After our opening night gala,where we're having drinks and
cocktails and food, we're goinginto the theater, we're going to
get a quick demonstration ofwhat this Warlets of Oregon does
and then a magnificent musiciannamed Scott Laskey is going to
(15:32):
play his brand new originalscore for a film that is
celebrating its 100thanniversary and that film was
lost to us for many decades, andthe film is from 1923.
It is a Warner Brothers filmand it's called the Gold Diggers
, so it's the first Gold Diggerspicture that started the whole
trend that Warner Brothers woulddo, especially in the sound era
(15:54):
.
The film is founded by a mannamed Josh Catamoul who had
contacted me when he discoveredit because he didn't know what
he had, and several of us werechiming in and telling him you
have a piece of gold there.
You have a film.
That was made the first yearthat Warner Brothers was really
going to town and he contactedme and said do you think Warner
(16:16):
Brothers would be interested indoing the restoration on this?
Because, literally, he found abox filled with nitrate film.
It was as simple as that, andso he contacted me, and I
contacted my friends at Warner's, who was very excited about it,
and sadly, five days later hecalled me and said I have such
terrible news.
(16:36):
I'm so sorry to even bring thisup to you, but they're not
interested because it's publicdomain.
And I was shattered butundaunted, josh found the
funding and put it together, andthen I contacted him and said
Josh, I would love to run this.
Since Warner Brothers iscelebrating their 100th
(16:57):
anniversary, I really would loveto run this, and now I've heard
that some people at WarnerBrothers understand that we are
running it with the restorationand no harm, no foul.
We're not doing it to spiteanybody.
We are about a littlepreservation and Warner Brothers
, or whatever studio it is,we're going to have it opening
night with the mighty world toOregon and I can hardly wait.
(17:20):
It's a really good picture, bythe way, and after the Gold
Diggers, we're going to berunning another film that was
thought to be lost and,ironically, it's a film that has
been in the catalogs foreverbut no one knew there was a
print, and it's a John Waynefilm, of all things, that was
lost and the Library of Congresslocated the print.
(17:41):
And back in 2019, when I wasdown there in Culpeper for one
of their festivals, they ranthis film called Adventures End,
and as soon as we announcedthat we were going to run this
at Cinecon, I was getting phonecalls from and I know Brian was
getting interested people.
They said I can't believe you'rerunning this movie.
I cannot believe it, but thanksto my buddy, brian, he had to
(18:03):
do due diligence and we had tomake sure that we had the proper
clearance because, while it's auniversal film, universal
doesn't own the rights to it, sowe had to try to track down who
owns the rights.
How are we going to do this?
We had to fill separatepaperwork just to run this
little 60-minute movie.
But that is some of the linksthat we will go to in order to
(18:23):
exhibit these films for our fans.
I mean, if they want to go seeTrue Grit or the Searchers, go
right ahead.
There are other great festivals.
But if you want to see JohnWayne in a film that no one has
seen, you come to Cinecon.
And after that we're going torun why Worry, which is the
Harold Lloyd film, alsocelebrating its 100th
anniversary, and Sue Lloyd,harold's granddaughter, is going
(18:45):
to come and introduce the movie.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So I mean there's great stories behind probably
most of the stuff that you'reshowing.
Do you have a little Q&A thatyou do to let people know what
it is they're seeing?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Well, we do.
We generally have certainintroductions for certain films.
For instance, the Gold Diggerswill be introduced to give
people a context of how it wasrestored.
And in our program notes wehave a beautiful full-color
program that also puts in detailhow the thing was discovered.
And I asked Josh to do thenotes for the Gold Diggers so
(19:19):
people at least when they haveour program they get the context
, they get the behind the scenesand any little tidbit that we
can do.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Because we don't have time to introduce every single
film.
It's a very tight schedule.
We try to pack it full ofrarities.
So some of the movies are justgoing to you read about it in
the program and if it soundsinteresting to you you like the
stars, the director, whateveryou'll give it a try.
But we'll have a special guestcoming in to introduce other
(19:46):
films.
We have a friend of ours namedJeremy Arnold who has been doing
commentary for TCME.
He's written several books forthem.
He's going to come in andintroduce a rare republic film
called the man Trap.
A good friend of ours who is adancer it's a specialty dancer
named Rusty Frank is going tointroduce our B musical, which
(20:06):
is what's Cooking with theAndrew Sisters.
So everybody gets to come inand talk about what they're
excited about and they'repassionate about.
Like Stan always says, we'refamily.
So people contact us and saywhat can I do?
Oh, I'm excited about thismovie and I have some really
interesting factoids and I sharethem with your audience and of
course we want that informationto be shared.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There's also a really cool quick story about the fact
that someone that we're veryclosely associated with, eric
Grayson.
He's a film archivist.
He has been restoring BorisKarloff's home movies which no
one has seen.
So he contacted me and said Iwould love to run those movies.
He sent me the home movies towatch and it was a long
(20:48):
afternoon and I said we can'trun all that stuff.
I don't need to see pottytraining and things that were
none of my business.
But there were 15 minutes ofgold in there with character
actors, friends and to see FrankMcHugh and all these wonderful
character stars.
Then I asked him after you dothat, can you get Sarah Karloff
(21:11):
to narrate them?
And she's already laid down thetrack.
So that's how we roll atCinecon we have friends and they
have friends.
We have these great premierslike Sarah Karloff showing her
dad's home movies.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
That's so great and that was kind of under what I
think was called a specialprogram, and you have kind of
some special programs whereyou're doing that.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Well, we have several special programs, including
what Stan was just talking about.
We have a guest programmernamed Julian Stone, who did an
event at Hollywood HeritageMuseum, which is one of our
partners, and it was called theman Behind the Monsters and it
was about Junior Lemley, who wasthe son of Carl Lemley, a
senior, and he basically wasthis boy genius who was at
(22:00):
Universal in the early 30s andone of his brainchild was to
take Dracula, the original book,and make it into a film, which
of course is the classic 1931film with Bel Lugosi.
But that started a wholefranchise at Universal which you
know.
They're just legendary in thatfield.
So he's going to be talkingabout this sort of little known
(22:23):
champion, junior Lemley, and hewrote a book as well which he'll
be signing after thepresentation.
And then we have a good friendof ours named Mark Cantor, who
has a jazz on film archive.
He's incredibly knowledgeableabout anything relating to jazz
and swing and you know whateveron film, and he has a new book
(22:45):
out on the soundies andhopefully maybe you know what
soundies are, but if you don't,I can certainly share that with
you.
Yeah, please do so.
Soundies are sort of like themusic video of the 1940s.
They're three minute shortsthat were produced.
Actually, they were originallyshot on 35 millimeter but they
(23:05):
were released on 16 and eightmillimeter and they played on
what was called a panoram.
And so if you went to a movietheater or a nightclub or bar or
something like that, therewould be a machine that looked
like a jukebox and you put yourmoney in and it would actually
play this film short for you.
So you got to actually see theband or singer or dancer
(23:26):
performing and hear the music,and so it was a sort of a
precursor to MTV.
Anyway, hundreds of these shortswere made throughout the 1940s
up through 1947.
So he has meticulously puttogether a massive two volume
guide to soundies in conjunctionwith a wonderful new Blu-ray
(23:46):
set which Kino put out onsoundies, which has about 200 of
those shorts that are restored,many of them from the Library
of Congress.
So Mark has been with us almostevery year and he's going to
come back with some raritiesfrom his collection.
So those are just two of thespecial programs.
There's a couple of otherspecial things you want to talk
about Evan Costello and RobertCulp and all that other stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
We have a few friends who wrote books in the past
year.
One is Rick Green.
He wrote a book aboutadvertising anarchy, selling
Abed and Costello to you knowwar torn America, and the book
is almost 700 pages and it'sfilled with color photos and
lobby cards and press books andso much ephemera.
(24:29):
If you were never a collectorof this kind of stuff, you buy
his book and you have everything.
So I wanted to run some rareAbed and Costello material and
we're going to run that.
He'll introduce it and thenhe'll sell his book afterwards.
We're doing the same thing withJosh Mills, who is Edie Adams'
son and he is also the curatorand caretaker of the Ernie
(24:50):
Kovacs and Edie Adams' estateand he is going to be selling
his brand new book called Erniein Kovacs Land and we're going
to run some Ernie Kovacs to wetthe appetites of our attendees.
And in addition to that we arealso going to be showing three
of the Laurel and Hardy shortsfrom 1927.
(25:10):
Now the Laurel and Hardy shortsare available in the world but
these have been restored from 35millimeter nitrate material and
no one has ever seen this kindof quality before.
And because Serge Brumberg andI have been film collectors and
friends for decades.
I helped, I provided four filmswhich he used, some elements of
(25:32):
and several other people andarchives provided film footage
and we're going to run Laureland Hardy Silence like no one
has ever seen in clarity.
That has just, it's going todefy description, as well as an
hour gang short also celebratingits 100th anniversary called
Derby Day, which is coming from35 millimeter nitrate material
and that's from our friends atClassic Flix.
(25:54):
So there's just.
It's like the weather inFlorida.
If you don't like something youknow, just wait till the next
one.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Right, well, it's an amazing lineup.
It's an amazing lineup and youjust gone through, you know,
some of the highlights that Iwant to be sure we did talk
about.
Maybe let's get a little intonuts and bolts of like how do
people attend and and where didthey go to find out more.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Sure.
So tickets are available onEventbrite and they can just
search Cinecon on Eventbrite.
We are selling full festivalpasses right now up and through
the 15th, so you can get them atthe early bird price of $249.
It's quite a deal.
So for $249, you get five daysof classic film, plus that gets
you into the opening nightreception.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
So we also want to mention that at Cinecon you
don't have to pick and choose,meaning other festivals you know
they'll have different filmsrunning at the same time and
other venues, and you end uppaying $1300 for that.
Ours is $249 and you, if youhave the stamina, you can see
everything we show.
Right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Because we started 10 o'clock in the morning, we go
to 11 o'clock at night, so it'sa long day but it's worth it.
And then we'll be selling daypasses starting the 15th and
those start at $75 for the fullday.
Monday, Labor Day is 65.
It's a little bit shorter daybut basically you get your
money's worth with these passes.
Let me tell you and we highlyrecommend that people buy the
(27:22):
full festival pass because youdon't want to miss anything and
it's really the best deal.
It will go up to $299 after the15th.
So hopefully your listenerswill hear this before Tuesday.
They can also visit our website, Cineconorg.
We have our full schedule upthere.
We have all the honorees, allof our sponsors, any updates
(27:44):
about the hotel, our shuttles wewill be shuttling from our host
hotel to the theater All thosedetails about restaurants nearby
.
Everything you need to knowabout Cinecon is on our website.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Well, that's terrific .
It's usually blazing hot herein LA that weekend.
It's my daughter's birthdayweekend, so we're usually in the
pool, so if you want to escapethe heat, this is a great
opportunity to do so as well youwould want to stay in the hotel
, let me tell you it's like 10degrees cooler, maybe 20 degrees
cooler than the valley.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So we're usually in Hollywood, but now we're going
to be on the west side of LA, soit is perfect weather out there
.
Let me tell you.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Well, guys, it's been a lot of fun.
I appreciate you coming on.
We pulled this together kind offast, but I didn't want to get
this out there.
There's a lot of overlap onpeople who listen to this
podcast because they buy a lotof Warner Archive titles and
that includes a lot of classicsthat I want to mention that
Warner Archive has always been abig supporter of the festival.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
George Feltonstein is a great friend and they're
going to be sending someBlu-rays our way.
So if you get something specialin your welcoming packet it
might be from Warner Archive andthere'll be an ad in our
program with some of theirupcoming releases.
So we absolutely love WarnerArchive because they keep it
(29:03):
going and they're still doingphysical media and a lot of our
attendees, our collectors, likewe said, and they like to have
those Blu-rays on their shelfbecause you never know when
something, a streaming title, isgoing to disappear.
So if you have it on a Blu-rayor DVD, you know you can watch
it anytime you want.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, exactly because these films.
I mean you go to all the workof restoring them and finding
them and everything, and it'sgreat that you guys get to show
them.
But when the Warner Archive cando theirs on Blu-ray, then the
fans can buy them and that's aterrific thing to have your own
kind of home cataloger libraryof these films, because I don't
think that the studios are goingto be supporting physical media
(29:41):
the way they used to, and we'realready seeing signs of that as
we go forward here from some ofthe studios.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So Tim, if you saw my archive, I have over 4,016
millimeter prints and I am nevergiving them up.
When it's time for me to go,they will be going to either
UCLA or the Library of Congress,because I'm just a temporary
custodian and I love the Blu-rayidea and I love streaming, but
(30:08):
I'm very tangible and I want tobe able to physically, you know,
hold something, and film hasalways been it for me, and
that's as close as you get tothe original source really
Absolutely, unless you have theoriginal negative.
And this year, by the way, isthe 100th anniversary of the
introduction of 16 millimeterfilm.
So in honor of that, we will berunning some 16 millimeter
(30:29):
archival prints of things thatyou can't see in any other
format.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
So if there's a 100th anniversary to be celebrated,
we will celebrate it.
Dagnabbit.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
It seems to be the year right, More brothers in
Disney and the 16 millimeterstuff.
I know that people in LA canmore easily get to this, but do
you have people coming fromother parts outside of LA?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
As a matter of fact, we booked the hotel.
There are no more hotel roomsto be got because people are
traveling from New York andConnecticut.
Yeah, and we got a great dealon the hotel and we were
providing a shuttle, so theydon't even have to drive.
And since we're in, El Segundo.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
We're right next to LAX, so it's really easy this
year for people to fly in, andif they can't stay at the
Cambria LAX hotel, there aremany other hotels nearby.
Some of your listeners areremote and they want to come in.
We don't want to discouragethem because there's lots of
hotels in the area that are nearthe theater, so we would love
to have them join us.
(31:30):
It's a really special weekend,so please let them know.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I did have a friend who actually booked an Airbnb,
oh great.
So there are plenty of placesto go.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, I mean it's LA.
There's hotels everywhere.
You just might have to go alittle further than the one that
you had.
There's no shortage of hotelsExactly Well, this has been a
lot of fun and hopefully I'llsee you guys down there and we
can meet in person, Brian.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Thank you, Tim.
Tim will be great to see youthere.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
For those of you interested in learning more
about the Cinecon Classic FilmFestival, there's a link to
their website in the podcastshow notes.
It's a great lineup, so ifyou're in the LA area, you may
want to check it out.
And, of course, if you want tofly in, you can find all the
information there on the websiteon housing, transportation et
cetera, as well as theirschedule, so be sure and check
that out.
(32:24):
If you're on social media, besure and follow the show to stay
up to date on our upcomingguests and be part of our
community.
And if you're a fan of WarnerBrothers or the Warner Archive,
you're invited to a Facebookgroup called the Warner Archive
and Warner Brothers CatalogGroup.
So look for that link and ourother social media links in the
show notes as well.
And for our long-term listeners, don't forget to follow and
(32:46):
leave us a reviewed iTunes,spotify or your favorite podcast
provider Until next time you'vebeen listening to Tim Mallard.
Stay slightly obsessed.
Hello and welcome to the extras, where we take you
behind the scenes of yourfavorite TV shows, movies and
animation and their release ondigital DVD, blue Rain 4K or
your favorite streaming site.
I'm Tim Lager.
Host and joining me today areStan Taffel, president of the
Cinecon Classic Film Festivaland Festival Co Vice President,
(00:26):
brian Cooper.
Hi guys, it's good to have youon the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hi there, tim, it's good to see you.
Pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well, stan, we might not too long go through some
mutual friends, alan K Roddy andStephen Smith, and both those
guys have been on the podcastand I think that's at that
dinner where I found out thatyou were a big Charlie Chaplin
fan.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Oh yes, I am a tremendous fan of that wonderful
, brilliant artist.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
And is that how you kind of got into this interest
of silent films and into all ofthe Cinecon?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yes, as a matter of fact it was.
I was at an age way too youngto doubt when Charlie Chaplin
was on television and I'd watchit with my mom, and I did not
understand that he was old, Ididn't know, the films were
ancient, and I could understandhim because he wasn't talking
(01:20):
and I just followed the action.
And then I remember seeing aphotograph of him in the late
60s and I had to ask my mom whothat was and she told me that's
Charlie Chaplin.
And all of a sudden I realized,wow, I mean, I'm laughing at
something that was done in 1916.
And that was how my love forsilent film began.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, how about for you, brian?
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Well, mine sort of started because my dad used to
have old movies running aroundthe house.
He was into Earl Flynn andHumphrey Bokehart, stuff like
that.
And then I grew up in LA sothere was every Sunday was
Abedon Costello on KTLA andFamily Film Festival.
So I sort of got started thatway.
My great-uncle was an actor, acharacter actor, so we would
(02:06):
always hope to see him insomething.
He was in Laurel and Hardyshorts and Little Rascals and
things like that it's alwaysexciting to see.
His name was Billy Gilbert andhe is probably best known as the
voice of Sneezy in the originalSnow White in the Seven Dwarfs,
and he was in a ton of classicfilms, including the Great
Dictator with Charlie Chaplin.
So it was sort of thatintroduction like oh, that's
(02:28):
your relative, and also sort ofdiscovering what my dad grew up
with, because he went to themovies in the 30s and 40s and
50s.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So very interesting story about Billy Gilbert and
the Great Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin gave Billy onthe set a 16 millimeter print of
a keystone film he made calledDoe and Dynamite and that print
was treasured by Billy and backin the 60s he traded it to Kent
Easton, who was the founder ofBlack Hawk Films, and when Black
(02:58):
Hawk Films was going to youknow fold they put the print up
for auction and it has traveledaround some.
It's in gorgeous shape and I'mproud to say that I owned that
print of Billy Gilbert's printthat Chaplin gave him of Doe and
Dynamite.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And it's actually my print and he's gonna have to
give it back to me.
Okay it would have come to mebecause I got his film
collection if he'd held on to it.
Oh, it's in good hands.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
The jealousy, the envy is just oozing here across
the radio waves.
You know, you just mentionedsomething about acting and at
Stan, I've been following you onyour Facebook page and you had
a very cool kind of acting part.
I didn't even know you're anactor.
Actually, tell us a little bitabout that, because it sounded
like it kind of ties into whatwe're talking about today.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Absolutely.
I was an actor and a comedianfrom a very early age.
I was on a series of televisionspecials on PBS called the News
in Review, and it was a musicalparody of current news events.
So I was playing everypresident, I was playing world
leaders and it was all to musicand I was very fortunate I won
three consecutive Emmy awardsfor that and I was really
(04:07):
excited.
And then I moved out herebecause an agent encouraged me
to get out of the east coast.
I came out here, I starteddoing a little bit of work.
I was on make me laugh onComedy Central and I was doing
some stand-up.
And then I fell in love andrealized it's much better to be
in love with someone and have aregular job that pays than have
to constantly audition andwonder where the next paycheck's
(04:28):
coming from.
So I did put it on hold, but Ido a lot of celebrity interviews
out here with my film knowledge.
But then several years ago avery close friend wrote a script
, wanted to put the movietogether and I said to him I'll
come in for a day if you wantand that's all it was going to
be.
But then lockdown happened andactors were not available and
(04:50):
then you retooled the script andthen, when he said it to me,
saying we're gonna do this film,I looked at the script and said
this is not a one-day part.
What have you done here?
Well, actually, you know one ofthe larger roles in the film
and I got to work with Mary LouHenner and Joe Riddle Budo and
Barry Pearl and I've becomeclose friends with all of them,
and we just saw the casting crewscreening of it and it was
(05:14):
weird to see my face that largeon a big screen again.
It's been a long time.
But now, now that I'm, you know, fully gained again in the
SAG-AFTRA, all of a sudden we'reon strike.
And now I have this new card.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I can't use it, yeah well, let's just hope they're
back at the the table tomorrow,talking from from when we're
recording this, and that we canget through this.
It's painful for everybody whenstrikes happen, so it's
speaking of interviews or otherthings.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I also noticed you did something with Mel Brooks
recently well, yes, my friendsat the LA Jewish Film Festival
they call me almost every yearand they asked me to do a
celebrity interview of sorts.
And Mel Brooks was going to bethere to honor Gene Wilder with
a brand new documentary that wasbeing made.
And although Mel Brooks firmlysaid, because he's still scared
(06:05):
of COVID, he just wanted to comeout, talk to the audience and
then take off.
So in the green room I happenedto be there and we started
talking a little bit about SidCaesar, and Mel loved hearing
that.
So I told him that I'm a filmarchivist and I've actually
rescued kinescopes of some ofhis work from the early days of
(06:26):
television, and he was reallyintrigued.
And then, before I had to goget ready, he said well, let's
get a couple of photos, and sothat's why I have those there.
And, yes, I can actually say toall of your listeners I spoke
to God.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I think you wrote that it was on your bucket list.
So there you go.
You checked one off, right,right.
Yeah, I had to mention a coupleof these things that get a
little background on you guys,because I think it's more
interesting to hear what youguys are bringing to the table
and where your interest and loveof, uh, of the films we're
going to talk about today comefrom.
So well, why don't we dive inand talk about Sinecon?
(07:03):
Because I am not that familiarand I'm sure some of our
listeners because some are nothere in LA aren't as familiar.
Maybe one of you can jump inand kind of give us a little
background history about Sinecon.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So this is our 59th year.
Obviously, stan and I have notbeen working on it that long,
but it did start in 1965.
And it's kind of balloon sincethen.
It was originally just a bunchof film collectors came together
with their 16-millimeter printsin a hotel room and set up some
chairs and watched movies,which is great.
(07:36):
So now you know, we're in adifferent kind of a situation.
Now we have access to printsfrom different studios and
archives and other collectorsand we're in larger venues.
But essentially the heart ofSinecon is just getting together
and having some fun andwatching some movies that you
(07:58):
haven't seen before, hopefullymovies that are not out there.
We try to find films that arenot on home video, that aren't
streaming, that aren't on TCM orcable, so we dig around and ask
for new restorations, what'srare, what's interesting, and
that's how we put the scheduletogether.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
We have a saying at Sinecon If it's rare, we'll show
it.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
It doesn't necessarily mean we've seen it
or we know it's any good.
It just means it's rare.
Sometimes you know it's a realwinner and sometimes it tanks.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
But we try, you know the idea, Tim, is that if you
want to see Gone with the Windand the Wizard of Oz and
Casablanca, you should, andthere are some wonderful places
that will show those films otherfestivals but if you want to
see the other films that theseactors and writers and directors
and people made that weren'tthe big films, you come to
(08:52):
Sinecon so you can actually, youknow, fully flesh out your
movie knowledge.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
And I noticed in the title it says Sinecon Classic
Film Festival.
It doesn't say silent filmfestival or rare I mean.
So it leaves you kind of open,I guess, to pick up rare films
that could be a little bit newerthey're not all silent films or
from the early 1900snecessarily, is that right?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's right.
As a matter of fact, we don'tjust show silent films and sound
films, we also show raretelevision kinescopes, because
that is a big passion with usthe films that were recorded by
simply recording a televisionscreen before the advent of
videotape, and so we havesomething called Kinnecon at
Sinecon, which is just about themost popular thing that we do
(09:36):
now.
As a matter of fact, we'redoing a tribute of sorts to CBS
and Television City this year,because this is the year that
Television City is no longer CBSTelevision City.
So we're running the rarestpossible material.
We're going to be showing theopening of Television City back
in 1952.
We're going to be showing EdwardArmuro a year earlier, showing
(09:57):
the introduction of the coaxialcable that allowed broadcasting
from east to west coastinstantly, and we're also
showing something that onlyarrived a few months ago, which
is the rarest thing possible.
It's a 1958 kinescope that wasdiscovered in the collection of
a man named Joe Casaris, who wasan innovator in videotape
(10:19):
development and also colorvideotape, and this is a 1958
kinescope that no one has seen.
It was broadcast live and neverseen again, and it was in his
personal collection and I madesure that we nabbed this and
once we announced that we'regoing to run this Sunny Fox,
let's Take a Trip episode, ofwhich very few episodes survive,
(10:40):
we got a call from employees atCBS who have asked to come
because they want to see it.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Wow, that's going to ask how do you connect with
collectors?
How do you do people reach outto you?
You reach out to other peopleBecause maybe some of the people
who listen to this podcastwould have an interest to check
out your website, obviously, andconnect with you guys as well.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I mean, a lot of collectors come to the festival.
Course happen coming to thefestival Our friends of ours.
There's a lot of differentFacebook groups where there's
collectors on there and peoplereach out to us all the time
through our website Let us knowwhat they have, what they're
interested in seeing, sendrequests, so we're always open
to that.
But basically the people whocome to the festival are all
(11:19):
fans, just like us.
So it's a really fun weekend.
It feels like you're amongfriends and we all just geek out
for five days before we getback to real life again.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
We also have celebrities that we honor.
But we also have returningcelebrities that we've honored
in the past that just want tocome to the festival, like Kora
Sue Collins.
This is going to be her fourthor fifth time at our festival
because she just loves Sineconand she autographs things and
she charges $5 for theautographs but she gives Sinecon
the money so we can use it forfilm preservation.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, korisu, who you might not know, was a child
star in the 30s.
She retired in 1945, and whenshe was a teenager she played
significant roles in filmsincluding like A Young Greta
Garvo and Queen Christina.
And we're showing a newrestoration of the Scarlet
Letter, the 1934 version, andshe plays Pearl in that.
(12:13):
So it's pretty remarkable thatshe's still with us.
She's in her late 90s and she'sin great shape and she
remembers making that movie, soof course we had to have her
back.
But we've also got three otherwonderful honorees this year.
We've got actress Carol Lawrence, best known as, of course,
originating the role of Maria inWest Side Story, but she went
(12:34):
on to a very long career intelevision.
She made her film debut in 1962and Arthur Miller's A View from
the Bridge.
We've got a print coming fromUCLA of that film which is again
not out there.
And then we've got thewonderful, legendary actress
Nancy Olsen Livingston, who isbest known as Betty Schaefer in
(12:55):
Sunset Boulevard, playedopposite.
She's the young love interestof William Holden in Sunset
Boulevard.
Among her many films we'reshowing a rarity called Summary
in Command.
And we have another star fromthat film named Peggy Weber, who
also has a humongous resumeincluding Years on Radio.
She started in radio in the mid1940s and continues to work in
(13:18):
radio.
So three wonderful ladies werethrilled to have them for the
weekend.
So I hope people will come outand show them some love.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Just to kind of give you a little background on those
honorees, when I was looking atyour schedule and your website,
it looks like you have.
I mean, this is a multiple day.
We didn't explain that, butthis is what a four day festival
, five day over the labor dayweekend.
So it's what August 31 throughthe fourth.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
It looks like you have maybe one honoree on each
day.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
We try to do one each day, but just scheduling wise
it didn't kind of play out thatway.
Saturday we have Carol Lawrence, and then Sunday we have Peggy
Weber and Nancy Olson, and thenCorisou will be there on Friday,
so we have somebody almostevery day.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Opening night is packed with some rarities which
Dan can tell you about Well, I'mreally excited about the fact
that this year we have moved thefestival to the Old Town Music
Hall, which is in El Segundo.
Our festival has been based inHollywood for the last 30 plus
years but due to circumstancesbeyond our control, we had to
(14:23):
make a decision to make a moveand because we're personal
friends with the caretakers ofOld Town, they offered the
theater to us to keep Cinecongoing and in the theater, which
was built in 1921, so it reallyis a silent movie palace, to say
anything more, we are going tobe utilizing the mighty Warlets
(14:46):
of Oregon for some of our silentprograms and if viewers or
listeners have never heard ofWarlets of Oregon playing in a
theater, it is one of the greatexperiences that you're likely
to have.
So the two bills who put thetheater together back in the 60s
, who are no longer living, theyfound a theater that was being
(15:11):
torn down and they were able toacquire the Warlets of Oregon.
So we are taking full advantageof that, especially on opening
night.
After our opening night gala,where we're having drinks and
cocktails and food, we're goinginto the theater, we're going to
get a quick demonstration ofwhat this Warlets of Oregon does
and then a magnificent musiciannamed Scott Laskey is going to
(15:32):
play his brand new originalscore for a film that is
celebrating its 100thanniversary and that film was
lost to us for many decades, andthe film is from 1923.
It is a Warner Brothers filmand it's called the Gold Diggers
, so it's the first Gold Diggerspicture that started the whole
trend that Warner Brothers woulddo, especially in the sound era
(15:54):
.
The film is founded by a mannamed Josh Catamoul who had
contacted me when he discoveredit because he didn't know what
he had, and several of us werechiming in and telling him you
have a piece of gold there.
You have a film.
That was made the first yearthat Warner Brothers was really
going to town and he contactedme and said do you think Warner
(16:16):
Brothers would be interested indoing the restoration on this?
Because, literally, he found abox filled with nitrate film.
It was as simple as that, andso he contacted me, and I
contacted my friends at Warner's, who was very excited about it,
and sadly, five days later hecalled me and said I have such
terrible news.
(16:36):
I'm so sorry to even bring thisup to you, but they're not
interested because it's publicdomain.
And I was shattered butundaunted, josh found the
funding and put it together, andthen I contacted him and said
Josh, I would love to run this.
Since Warner Brothers iscelebrating their 100th
(16:57):
anniversary, I really would loveto run this, and now I've heard
that some people at WarnerBrothers understand that we are
running it with the restorationand no harm, no foul.
We're not doing it to spiteanybody.
We are about a littlepreservation and Warner Brothers
, or whatever studio it is,we're going to have it opening
night with the mighty world toOregon and I can hardly wait.
(17:20):
It's a really good picture, bythe way, and after the Gold
Diggers, we're going to berunning another film that was
thought to be lost and,ironically, it's a film that has
been in the catalogs foreverbut no one knew there was a
print, and it's a John Waynefilm, of all things, that was
lost and the Library of Congresslocated the print.
(17:41):
And back in 2019, when I wasdown there in Culpeper for one
of their festivals, they ranthis film called Adventures End,
and as soon as we announcedthat we were going to run this
at Cinecon, I was getting phonecalls from and I know Brian was
getting interested people.
They said I can't believe you'rerunning this movie.
I cannot believe it, but thanksto my buddy, brian, he had to
(18:03):
do due diligence and we had tomake sure that we had the proper
clearance because, while it's auniversal film, universal
doesn't own the rights to it, sowe had to try to track down who
owns the rights.
How are we going to do this?
We had to fill separatepaperwork just to run this
little 60-minute movie.
But that is some of the linksthat we will go to in order to
(18:23):
exhibit these films for our fans.
I mean, if they want to go seeTrue Grit or the Searchers, go
right ahead.
There are other great festivals.
But if you want to see JohnWayne in a film that no one has
seen, you come to Cinecon.
And after that we're going torun why Worry, which is the
Harold Lloyd film, alsocelebrating its 100th
anniversary, and Sue Lloyd,harold's granddaughter, is going
(18:45):
to come and introduce the movie.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So I mean there's great stories behind probably
most of the stuff that you'reshowing.
Do you have a little Q&A thatyou do to let people know what
it is they're seeing?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Well, we do.
We generally have certainintroductions for certain films.
For instance, the Gold Diggerswill be introduced to give
people a context of how it wasrestored.
And in our program notes wehave a beautiful full-color
program that also puts in detailhow the thing was discovered.
And I asked Josh to do thenotes for the Gold Diggers so
(19:19):
people at least when they haveour program they get the context
, they get the behind the scenesand any little tidbit that we
can do.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Because we don't have time to introduce every single
film.
It's a very tight schedule.
We try to pack it full ofrarities.
So some of the movies are justgoing to you read about it in
the program and if it soundsinteresting to you you like the
stars, the director, whateveryou'll give it a try.
But we'll have a special guestcoming in to introduce other
(19:46):
films.
We have a friend of ours namedJeremy Arnold who has been doing
commentary for TCME.
He's written several books forthem.
He's going to come in andintroduce a rare republic film
called the man Trap.
A good friend of ours who is adancer it's a specialty dancer
named Rusty Frank is going tointroduce our B musical, which
(20:06):
is what's Cooking with theAndrew Sisters.
So everybody gets to come inand talk about what they're
excited about and they'repassionate about.
Like Stan always says, we'refamily.
So people contact us and saywhat can I do?
Oh, I'm excited about thismovie and I have some really
interesting factoids and I sharethem with your audience and of
course we want that informationto be shared.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
There's also a really cool quick story about the fact
that someone that we're veryclosely associated with, eric
Grayson.
He's a film archivist.
He has been restoring BorisKarloff's home movies which no
one has seen.
So he contacted me and said Iwould love to run those movies.
He sent me the home movies towatch and it was a long
(20:48):
afternoon and I said we can'trun all that stuff.
I don't need to see pottytraining and things that were
none of my business.
But there were 15 minutes ofgold in there with character
actors, friends and to see FrankMcHugh and all these wonderful
character stars.
Then I asked him after you dothat, can you get Sarah Karloff
(21:11):
to narrate them?
And she's already laid down thetrack.
So that's how we roll atCinecon we have friends and they
have friends.
We have these great premierslike Sarah Karloff showing her
dad's home movies.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
That's so great and that was kind of under what I
think was called a specialprogram, and you have kind of
some special programs whereyou're doing that.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Well, we have several special programs, including
what Stan was just talking about.
We have a guest programmernamed Julian Stone, who did an
event at Hollywood HeritageMuseum, which is one of our
partners, and it was called theman Behind the Monsters and it
was about Junior Lemley, who wasthe son of Carl Lemley, a
senior, and he basically wasthis boy genius who was at
(22:00):
Universal in the early 30s andone of his brainchild was to
take Dracula, the original book,and make it into a film, which
of course is the classic 1931film with Bel Lugosi.
But that started a wholefranchise at Universal which you
know.
They're just legendary in thatfield.
So he's going to be talkingabout this sort of little known
(22:23):
champion, junior Lemley, and hewrote a book as well which he'll
be signing after thepresentation.
And then we have a good friendof ours named Mark Cantor, who
has a jazz on film archive.
He's incredibly knowledgeableabout anything relating to jazz
and swing and you know whateveron film, and he has a new book
(22:45):
out on the soundies andhopefully maybe you know what
soundies are, but if you don't,I can certainly share that with
you.
Yeah, please do so.
Soundies are sort of like themusic video of the 1940s.
They're three minute shortsthat were produced.
Actually, they were originallyshot on 35 millimeter but they
(23:05):
were released on 16 and eightmillimeter and they played on
what was called a panoram.
And so if you went to a movietheater or a nightclub or bar or
something like that, therewould be a machine that looked
like a jukebox and you put yourmoney in and it would actually
play this film short for you.
So you got to actually see theband or singer or dancer
(23:26):
performing and hear the music,and so it was a sort of a
precursor to MTV.
Anyway, hundreds of these shortswere made throughout the 1940s
up through 1947.
So he has meticulously puttogether a massive two volume
guide to soundies in conjunctionwith a wonderful new Blu-ray
(23:46):
set which Kino put out onsoundies, which has about 200 of
those shorts that are restored,many of them from the Library
of Congress.
So Mark has been with us almostevery year and he's going to
come back with some raritiesfrom his collection.
So those are just two of thespecial programs.
There's a couple of otherspecial things you want to talk
about Evan Costello and RobertCulp and all that other stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
We have a few friends who wrote books in the past
year.
One is Rick Green.
He wrote a book aboutadvertising anarchy, selling
Abed and Costello to you knowwar torn America, and the book
is almost 700 pages and it'sfilled with color photos and
lobby cards and press books andso much ephemera.
(24:29):
If you were never a collectorof this kind of stuff, you buy
his book and you have everything.
So I wanted to run some rareAbed and Costello material and
we're going to run that.
He'll introduce it and thenhe'll sell his book afterwards.
We're doing the same thing withJosh Mills, who is Edie Adams'
son and he is also the curatorand caretaker of the Ernie
(24:50):
Kovacs and Edie Adams' estateand he is going to be selling
his brand new book called Erniein Kovacs Land and we're going
to run some Ernie Kovacs to wetthe appetites of our attendees.
And in addition to that we arealso going to be showing three
of the Laurel and Hardy shortsfrom 1927.
(25:10):
Now the Laurel and Hardy shortsare available in the world but
these have been restored from 35millimeter nitrate material and
no one has ever seen this kindof quality before.
And because Serge Brumberg andI have been film collectors and
friends for decades.
I helped, I provided four filmswhich he used, some elements of
(25:32):
and several other people andarchives provided film footage
and we're going to run Laureland Hardy Silence like no one
has ever seen in clarity.
That has just, it's going todefy description, as well as an
hour gang short also celebratingits 100th anniversary called
Derby Day, which is coming from35 millimeter nitrate material
and that's from our friends atClassic Flix.
(25:54):
So there's just.
It's like the weather inFlorida.
If you don't like something youknow, just wait till the next
one.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Right, well, it's an amazing lineup.
It's an amazing lineup and youjust gone through, you know,
some of the highlights that Iwant to be sure we did talk
about.
Maybe let's get a little intonuts and bolts of like how do
people attend and and where didthey go to find out more.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Sure.
So tickets are available onEventbrite and they can just
search Cinecon on Eventbrite.
We are selling full festivalpasses right now up and through
the 15th, so you can get them atthe early bird price of $249.
It's quite a deal.
So for $249, you get five daysof classic film, plus that gets
you into the opening nightreception.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
So we also want to mention that at Cinecon you
don't have to pick and choose,meaning other festivals you know
they'll have different filmsrunning at the same time and
other venues, and you end uppaying $1300 for that.
Ours is $249 and you, if youhave the stamina, you can see
everything we show.
Right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Because we started 10 o'clock in the morning, we go
to 11 o'clock at night, so it'sa long day but it's worth it.
And then we'll be selling daypasses starting the 15th and
those start at $75 for the fullday.
Monday, Labor Day is 65.
It's a little bit shorter daybut basically you get your
money's worth with these passes.
Let me tell you and we highlyrecommend that people buy the
(27:22):
full festival pass because youdon't want to miss anything and
it's really the best deal.
It will go up to $299 after the15th.
So hopefully your listenerswill hear this before Tuesday.
They can also visit our website, Cineconorg.
We have our full schedule upthere.
We have all the honorees, allof our sponsors, any updates
(27:44):
about the hotel, our shuttles wewill be shuttling from our host
hotel to the theater All thosedetails about restaurants nearby
.
Everything you need to knowabout Cinecon is on our website.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Well, that's terrific .
It's usually blazing hot herein LA that weekend.
It's my daughter's birthdayweekend, so we're usually in the
pool, so if you want to escapethe heat, this is a great
opportunity to do so as well youwould want to stay in the hotel
, let me tell you it's like 10degrees cooler, maybe 20 degrees
cooler than the valley.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
So we're usually in Hollywood, but now we're going
to be on the west side of LA, soit is perfect weather out there
.
Let me tell you.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Well, guys, it's been a lot of fun.
I appreciate you coming on.
We pulled this together kind offast, but I didn't want to get
this out there.
There's a lot of overlap onpeople who listen to this
podcast because they buy a lotof Warner Archive titles and
that includes a lot of classicsthat I want to mention that
Warner Archive has always been abig supporter of the festival.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
George Feltonstein is a great friend and they're
going to be sending someBlu-rays our way.
So if you get something specialin your welcoming packet it
might be from Warner Archive andthere'll be an ad in our
program with some of theirupcoming releases.
So we absolutely love WarnerArchive because they keep it
(29:03):
going and they're still doingphysical media and a lot of our
attendees, our collectors, likewe said, and they like to have
those Blu-rays on their shelfbecause you never know when
something, a streaming title, isgoing to disappear.
So if you have it on a Blu-rayor DVD, you know you can watch
it anytime you want.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, exactly because these films.
I mean you go to all the workof restoring them and finding
them and everything, and it'sgreat that you guys get to show
them.
But when the Warner Archive cando theirs on Blu-ray, then the
fans can buy them and that's aterrific thing to have your own
kind of home cataloger libraryof these films, because I don't
think that the studios are goingto be supporting physical media
(29:41):
the way they used to, and we'realready seeing signs of that as
we go forward here from some ofthe studios.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So Tim, if you saw my archive, I have over 4,016
millimeter prints and I am nevergiving them up.
When it's time for me to go,they will be going to either
UCLA or the Library of Congress,because I'm just a temporary
custodian and I love the Blu-rayidea and I love streaming, but
(30:08):
I'm very tangible and I want tobe able to physically, you know,
hold something, and film hasalways been it for me, and
that's as close as you get tothe original source really
Absolutely, unless you have theoriginal negative.
And this year, by the way, isthe 100th anniversary of the
introduction of 16 millimeterfilm.
So in honor of that, we will berunning some 16 millimeter
(30:29):
archival prints of things thatyou can't see in any other
format.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
So if there's a 100th anniversary to be celebrated,
we will celebrate it.
Dagnabbit.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
It seems to be the year right, More brothers in
Disney and the 16 millimeterstuff.
I know that people in LA canmore easily get to this, but do
you have people coming fromother parts outside of LA?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
As a matter of fact, we booked the hotel.
There are no more hotel roomsto be got because people are
traveling from New York andConnecticut.
Yeah, and we got a great dealon the hotel and we were
providing a shuttle, so theydon't even have to drive.
And since we're in, El Segundo.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
We're right next to LAX, so it's really easy this
year for people to fly in, andif they can't stay at the
Cambria LAX hotel, there aremany other hotels nearby.
Some of your listeners areremote and they want to come in.
We don't want to discouragethem because there's lots of
hotels in the area that are nearthe theater, so we would love
to have them join us.
(31:30):
It's a really special weekend,so please let them know.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I did have a friend who actually booked an Airbnb,
oh great.
So there are plenty of placesto go.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, I mean it's LA.
There's hotels everywhere.
You just might have to go alittle further than the one that
you had.
There's no shortage of hotelsExactly Well, this has been a
lot of fun and hopefully I'llsee you guys down there and we
can meet in person, Brian.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Thank you, Tim.
Tim will be great to see youthere.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
For those of you interested in learning more
about the Cinecon Classic FilmFestival, there's a link to
their website in the podcastshow notes.
It's a great lineup, so ifyou're in the LA area, you may
want to check it out.
And, of course, if you want tofly in, you can find all the
information there on the websiteon housing, transportation et
cetera, as well as theirschedule, so be sure and check
that out.
(32:24):
If you're on social media, besure and follow the show to stay
up to date on our upcomingguests and be part of our
community.
And if you're a fan of WarnerBrothers or the Warner Archive,
you're invited to a Facebookgroup called the Warner Archive
and Warner Brothers CatalogGroup.
So look for that link and ourother social media links in the
show notes as well.
And for our long-term listeners, don't forget to follow and
(32:46):
leave us a reviewed iTunes,spotify or your favorite podcast
provider Until next time you'vebeen listening to Tim Mallard.
Stay slightly obsessed.
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