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| Tweet Topic Started: May 20 2014, 11:54 AM (1,954 Views) | |
| The Batman | Jun 5 2014, 12:46 PM Post #61 |
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Charter Member
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We have a 29 year old in our office who doesn't know who David Wilcox or Yakov Smirnoff are, never mind someone from before 1970. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Bert Greene | Jun 5 2014, 03:53 PM Post #62 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Hey, Ed... I think I might have even briefly met you at that show. Not entirely sure, as there were about three or four Cinecon guys whose names and faces I tended to get mixed up. Lawrence Tierney wasn't actually a "guest" that year, but I kept seeing him wandering around the Roosevelt lobby and hallways, with his shirt-tail out, and looking all forlorn, being rather ignored. Trying to be nice, I struck up a conversation with him, and it was most calm and pleasant. After about ten minutes or so, he asked me where I was from. I stated Texas. He got an excited look in his eyes, and told me he was heading there soon to film a western. He got out a piece of paper from his pocket and asked for my address, proposing that he stay at my place when filming. Now, Texas is a big state, and this (imaginary?) film of his would not very likely be shooting anywhere near me. So upon my brief pause of befuddlement at this strange request, he suddenly got all loud and belligerent at me, shouting "what? you think I'm some kind of Hollywood f*ggot, trying to move in on you?" It was just weird blur after that, but the guy clearly didn't seem to be playing with a full deck. Not that it particularly upset or offended me, after the initial shock. In fact, by the end of the whole idiotically insane encounter, I found the whole thing bizarrely funny. Anna Lee was definately a guest that year, as they screened a British film with Clive Brook she was in, which I recall watching. I knew she was a good friend of Marvin Paige's, and he once took me over to her house for a visit, during my short stay in California. I also recall how nifty it was, during the screening of "The Girl on the Front Page" (1936), that Gloria Stuart was sitting behind me, and I got to overhear her comments to her friend as the film was rolling. Sort of like a "live" dvd-commentary. I remember Roddy McDowall showing up just as a viewer for a 1927 MGM silent that involved a hero dog. I saw him a few months later at the Silent Movie Theater, when they had Patsy Ruth Miller there for a screening of two of her Universal silents with Glenn Tryon. There seemed to be so many things like that going on at the time. The Sunset Towers had some kind of retrospective going on every other week, with guests like Ruby Keeler. There was a big event for Ginger Rogers, with people like Burgess Meredith and George Montgomery showing up. There were those memorabilia shows at Beverly Garland's hotel. I remember getting an autographed photo from Robert Shayne there, which is something I normally didn't bother with. I guess all that was normal for out there at that time. I don't really know. I only stuck around for a little over a year. But it really, really killed me, not being able to go to that Cinecon with Frances Dee. I was extremely keen on going to that one, but it was not to be. |
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| riddlerider | Jun 5 2014, 04:18 PM Post #63 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Okay, that definitely was 1991. The print of Girl on the Front Page was mine, and when I mentioned it to Gloria as a candidate for screening at the show, she seemed very much interested. Not a great movie by any means, but it was quite scarce, which always mattered to Cinecon audiences. Our unofficial slogan used to be, "It doesn't have to be good so long as it's rare!" Gloria was one of those people I was thrilled to meet and spend time with; she's always been a favorite. |
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| JazzGuyy | Jun 5 2014, 04:24 PM Post #64 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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The young today seem to have little sense of or interest in history of any sort. A shame. |
| TANSTAAFL! | |
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| The Batman | Jun 5 2014, 04:30 PM Post #65 |
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Charter Member
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For sure, Jazzy. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Bert Greene | Jun 5 2014, 05:32 PM Post #66 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Gloria Stuart seemed so delightful and so very lovely. I noted and always appreciated Cinecon's leaning towards rare and varied films. It's what made it such an enticing convention. Just a few days ago, I was reading about some new film convention that TCM had apparently sponsored, and the list of movies screened appeared rather... mundane. Not really the type of event that would remotely cater to my interests or tastes. But, things like "Girl on the Front Page," absolutely. I even had a lobby-card to the film beforehand, so I was primed and ready for it. I also remember first seeing Buck Jones' "Silver Spurs" (1936) there. What a fascinating, nicely textured b-western that was. The long scene at the opening, at the train station, which even 'hid' most of the action of a violent robbery from view; the amazingly romantic scene high up in the mountains, as Jones is gazing up towards Muriel Evans as she stands on a high rock and spreads her arms outward. Mesmerizing stuff. Maybe a bit too leisurely an outing for action buffs teethed on Republics. But, wow, nonetheless. I think I enjoyed just about every film I saw that weekend. Except, maybe Griffith's "Dream Street" (1921). All I remember about it is that it kept seeming like it was about to wrap things up and conclude... but then kept going on and on. Tried my patience a bit. But everything else was loads of fun. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jun 6 2014, 04:52 AM Post #67 |
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Mouth Breather
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DREAM STREET is a real dud all right. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| wasass | Jun 25 2014, 06:09 AM Post #68 |
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Balcony Gang
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I was a regular attendee of several east cosst based festivals in the 1990s - I went to shows in Knoxville until 1996 or so, and attended shows in Raleigh/Charlotte until 2002. In the early 1990s, as riddlerider notes, these shows still tended to focus on B Westerns and serials. The Knoxville show in 1990 had a great group of actors on hand for a serial fan - Kirk Alyn, Johnny Duncan, Lyle Talbot, Tom Steele and Tommy Bond were there - so to a kid who loved comic book serials I was in heaven! I remember seeing Gloria Talbot, Adrian Booth, Linda Stirling, Frank Coghlan, and Bill Witney as several shows during that period. One of the best panel discussions I ever attended was a Friday night panel at Knoxville with Linda Stirling and Gloria Talbot, with Bill Witney chiming in from the audience. It also wasn't unusual to see multiple serials showing in the film rooms. Knoxville would show one serial per day, with the chapters scattered through several viewing times during the day. Charlotte had an entire room showing serials non-stop, often showing a serial until late in the night. As riddlerider notes, the character of these shows changed around 1994/1995 as many of the actors in the B Western/serial genre died or became unable to attend, and the shows focused much more heavily on TV westerns and other genres (Sci-Fi, etc). There would still be a serial actor or two - Adrian Booth and House Peters, Jr were two who started attending in the mid-1990s - but the guest lists hit TV westerns more and more. It was an odd anachronism in some ways, as many of the regular attendees at the shows were the same group who had been coming since the 1970s and the dealers still focused heavily on B Westerns and serials, but the films and actors tended more toward TV and 1950s genre films. I haven't attended one of these shows in several years, but I do look at guest lists for some of the surviving shows. I know the Western Film Fair is coming up, and the guest list looks to have moved even further into 1960s-1980s television (not even westerns!) Good memories! Edited by wasass, Jun 25 2014, 06:11 AM.
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6:52 AM Jul 11