FLARE

Event: “Lost Animation” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rarely screened classics and obscurities of world animation. Most are quite scarce- despite scads of accolades and international awards.  Films include: “History of the Cinema”, great Halas/Batchelor short from Britain; “Balablok”; triangles and squares go to war; “Very Nice, Very Nice”, disturbing avant-garde attack on consumerism by Arthur Lipsett; “One To One Correspondence”, math fun with electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick!; “Little Blue and Little Yellow”, modern design tackles racism; “Christmas Cracker”, Norman McLaren and friends on Christmas; “The Satiric Eye”, rarities from the Soviet Bloc; “Claude”, a 3-minute tour-de-force and more TBA!
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Lost_Animation_3.pdf

“Lost Animation”
Screens at Oddball Films

On Saturday, November 7, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rarely screened animated shorts- both classics and obscurities. Several of these shorts won or were nominated for international awards and all showcase inventive, wild imagination- from the simplest line drawings, to mid-century modern classics, obtuse international favorites, to avant-garde treasures.
Show time is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00.  Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Films Include:

“History of the Cinema” (Color, 1957)
The History of the Cinema is an undeniable classic of animation, very British in its humor and very tied in with its period. With an irrepressibly optimistic narrator and great wit it takes us from the cavemen daubing on the rock, the pinhole camera, through the early silent movie era, and eventually to the rise of television. John Halas’ 1957 movie also manages to convey facts in an amusing way. Thus we learn why Hollywood was so good for film-making (sun, dependable sun) and the vital role the censor paid in movie history – essentially he snipped away all the good bits of film and left the audience with the rest – and even the fads designed to withstand the impact of the little box in the home.

“Balablok” (Color, 1974)
Bretislav Pojar’s animated short explores the human phenomenon of resorting to violence over reason. The cubes live happily amongst themselves until one of them encounters a ball. War erupts and they fight until they all become the same again – this time in the form of hexagons. All is right in the world until one of them stumbles upon a triangle… Winner of the 1973 Grand Prix du Festival for Short Film at the International Film Festival in Cannes.

“Very Nice, Very Nice” (B+W, 1961)
From the brilliant avant-garde filmmaker Arthur Lipsett, this film is not animation per se, although the rapid juxtaposition of still images does create a strong sense of movement. In Very Nice, Very Nice, Lipsett disrupts the representational value of documentary image and sound, moving beyond the genre’s aesthetic codes of truth and reliability. The result is a sardonic re-reading of 1950s consumerism, mass media and popular culture.

“One To One Correspondence” (Color, 1966)
Math film by Robert Charlton cleverly uses animation and live action to define the equivalence of sets. Soundtrack by electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick (Silver Apples On The Moon).

“Little Blue and Little Yellow” (Color, 1961)
Directed by David Hilberman, a former Disney animator and a founder of the company that morphed into UPA, this is an animated version of the classic modern design children’s book by Leo Leoni. Little blue and little yellow share wonderful adventures. One day, they can’t find one another. When they finally meet, they are overjoyed. They hug until they become green. But where did little blue and little yellow go? Are they lost?

“Christmas Cracker” (Color, 1963)
A nine-minute compilation film animated by Norman McLaren, Jeff Hale, Gerald Potterton, and Grant Munro, the 1963 Christmas Cracker encompasses three holiday-themed animated shorts set to yuletide music by Eldon Rathburn. In the first, paper cutout figures dance to “Jingle Bells”; in the second, tin toys from a five-and-ten perform a miniature rodeo. The concluding segment features the decoration of the ultimate Christmas tree. Please note: only 46 shopping days till Christmas.

“The Satiric Eye” (Color, 1960s)
Four short animation rarities bundled into one film, all from Communist Eastern Europe and distributed after the late 1960s thaw- three from Hungary and one from East Germany: Inauguration, Success, Funeral and Either/Or.

“Claude” (Color, 1963)
Wonderful UPA-styled short by Dan McLaughlin, head of the UCLA Animation Workshop and recipient of the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement in animation. Little Claude is a clever boy, but his parents are clueless…

PLUS- Always a surprise short or two!

Curator Biography
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Nov 6 -  Hollywood Underbelly- The Big Knife
Sat Nov 7 – Lost Animation III
Fri Nov 13 – Weirdsville – Oddities From The Archives
Fri Nov 20 – Mess w/Erik Davis+Gerry Fialka, Plus clips of Anton LeVey, Aleister Crowley, Led Zepplin IV+more
Sat Nov 21 – From Canada! The Best of the Super 8 Challenge
Fri Nov 27 -  Forbidden, Not Forgotten – Banned & Censored Cartoons

About Oddball Films

Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “Hollywood Underbelly: The Big Knife” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present the rarely screened 1955 film noir/high melodrama The Big Knife.  Directed by Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?) and starring Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Rod Steiger and Shelly Winters, The Big Knife skewers the Hollywood studio system with over-the-top performances and campy, overwrought dialogue.  Long before Altman’s The Player, and amidst HUAC’s Hollywood Red Scare witch-hunt, Aldrich and Screenwriters Clifford Odets and James Poe exposed the dark underbelly, and even darker heart, of Hollywood.  With the 1928 silent classic The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra and the spicy Hollywood As It Really Is.

Date: Friday, November 6, 2009 at 8:30PM

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

“Hollywood Underbelly”

The Big Knife Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, November 6, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present The Big Knife, the 1955 feature directed by Robert Aldrich in a very nice 16mm print.  Although classified as a film noir, it is really a high melodrama with noir elements.  Released during the fallout of the House Un-American Activities Commission hearings (which ruined many Hollywood careers), The Big Knife is a ferocious condemnation of the Hollywood studio system like no other.  Partly (if not mostly) to blame for its poor box office performance- although Aldrich blamed Palance for his lack of matinee star good looks – The Big Knife is overdue for re-assessment.  Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Featuring:

“THE BIG KNIFE” (B+W, 1955, 111 mins.)

Clifford Odets and James Poe’s play about the black heart of Hollywood gets the full soap opera treatment from director Robert Aldrich (KISS ME DEADLY; WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?). Rough-hewn matinee idol Jack Palance gets the twice over from venal studio boss Rod Steiger, spineless agent Everett Sloane, damaged spouse Ida Lupino, and everyone else in his orbit. The all-star cast includes Shelley Winters, Jean Hagen and an especially slippery Wendell Corey as Steiger’s euphemism-spewing hatchet man. Deliciously dark fun with none of the Beverly Hills scenery left unchewed.

The Big Knife is based on the stage play by Clifford Odets (who also penned The Country Girl, 1954 and Clash By Night, 1952) and relates two days in the life of Charles Castle (played by Jack Palance), a major Hollywood Star who has sold his dreams to the studio by churning out mediocre motion pictures rather than quality cinema. Not to mention, it’s made to seem as if he likes the ladies, contributing to his wife (Ida Lupino) leaving him, threatening not to come back if he renews a seven year contract that studio head Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger) and his assistant Smiley Coy (the always creepy Wendell Corey) are asking him to sign. The trouble is, Hoff and Coy helped cover up a little DUI incident several years prior in which Castle killed a young child. However, Castle’s press agent took the blame, serving a prison sentence for him. Wishing to save his marriage, Castle attempts to avoid signing the contract, a plan that fails. The situation is exacerbated by an alcoholic studio starlet, Dixie Evans (Shelley Winters), a woman of easy virtue involved in the drunken killing spree that demanded a contract of her own to shut her up. The studio, neglecting to give her any starring roles, asks Castle to feed her poisoned gin to shut her up, a request that sends Castle over the edge and into a very melodramatic conclusion.

“The Life and Death of  9413, a Hollywood Extra” (B+W, 1928)

Brilliant silent classic directed by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich is strongly influenced by German Expressionism and French avant-garde cinema. Reportedly made for a mere $96.00, the film makes excellent use of cutout miniatures in lieu of large, expensive sets and was photographed by the great Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane). The story concerns the everyman John Jones who longs to be a movie star- only to be numbered, dehumanized and rejected.  He never regains his humanity on earth- only in heaven.

PLUS! “Hollywood As It Really Is” (B+W, late 1940’s)  Hilarious, one-of-a-kind short hits the real streets of Hollywood with spicy commentary, leggy dames and lupine gents!

Curator Biography:

Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs

Fri Nov 6 -  Hollywood Underbelly- The Big Knife

Sat Nov 7 – Lost Animation III

Fri Nov 13 – Weirdsville – Oddities From The Archives

Fri Nov 20 – Mess w/Erik Davis+Gerry Fialka, Plus clips of Anton LeVey, Aleister Crowley, Led Zepplin IV+more

Sat Nov 21 – From Canada! The Best of the Super 8 Challenge

Fri Nov 27 -  Forbidden, Not Forgotten – Banned & Censored Cartoons

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “Rock ‘N’ Roll Rarities”  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare rock, proto-rock, psych and a gob of punk performance on film.  Anchored by two episodes of John Byner’s wild, anarchic, 1970 “Something Else” TV program (featuring full performances by CCR, 3 Dog Night, Mephistopheles, Frijid Pink, Roberta Flack and more), clips and shorts will include: “The Wildest”, with Louis Prima/Sam Butera & The Witnesses; Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two on Star Route; “Black Sabbath Parade”, SF throws a tranny parade for Ozzy and the boys; “The Monkees”, out-takes from the TV show; “The Sex Pistols at Winterland”, a short clip from their notorious final concert. Plus! “I Hear a New Song”, a Christian anti-rock ‘n’ roll tirade!
Date: Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

“Rock ‘N’ Roll Rarities”
Screen at Oddball Films

On Friday, October 30, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare rock ‘n’ roll TV, clips and shorts.  West Coast proto-rockers The Collins Kids and Louis Prima, 1970s freak-rock, folk and soul on the rare and obscure “Something Else” television program, Johnny Cash in prime late 1950s form, one-of-a-kind footage of Monkees out-takes, and a pair of San Francisco treats: the 1970 Black Sabbath parade and the Sex Pistols final moments as a band at Bill Graham’s Winterland. Plus, a suitably ridiculous Christian anti-rock ‘n’ roll clip and more!
Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Featuring:

“Something Else” (Color, 1970)
Actor/comedian John Byner hosted 25 episodes of this television music program in1970, capturing some incredibly rare and unique performances by the known and obscure. It’s astonishing to think that you could turn on the telly and catch total freakouts by Frijid Pink and Mephistopheles, as well as Creedence and Roberta Flack- amidst an anarchic comedy and wild hippy dance numbers.  With The Action Faction Dancers and featuring: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Three Dog Night, Mephistopheles, Frijid Pink, Phil Ochs, Norman Greenbaum and Roberta Flack.

“Star Route: A Salute to Johnny Cash” (B+W, 1964)
Star Route was a syndicated TV show hosted by cowboy film star Rod Cameron and featured a house band with Glen Campbell and the (mostly grown up) Collins Kids.  The salute to Johnny Cash episode features Johnny and the Tennessee Two performing Big River, Come Pickin’ Time, Cry Cry Cry, Five Foot High and Rising, and I Got Stripes. Performances date from the late 1950s.

“The Wildest” (B+W, 1958)
Filmed on the South Sore at Lake Tahoe, this super rare short features Louis Prima with Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses.  A very loose plot serves to feature the high-energy band tearing through When You’re Smiling, Birth of the Blues, Listen to the Mockingbird and more.  Crazy lakeside capris pants twist action!

“Black Sabbath Parade” (Color, 1970)
One-of-a-kind footage of a pre-gay pride parade welcoming Black Sabbath to San Francisco.  Full freak flags were flying for this Embarcadero parade- trannies, hippy busses, weird floats- all in honor of future reality TV show star Ozzy Osborne and the Sabbath.
It’s every British band’s dream to play the States. When we got there finally, we fucked as many groupies as we could. In San Francisco, they even had a Black Sabbath parade! Coming from Birmingham, England, where the fuckin’ sun never shines, it was magic to us. – Ozzy Osbourne

“Monkees Out-takes” (Color, 1967)
Silent out-takes from the Monkees TV show- backstage shenanigans and flubbed takes.

“Sex Pistols at Winterland” (Color, 1978)
The notorious final show by The Sex Pistols was at Bill Graham’s Winterland (since torn down) with local punk legends The Avengers and The Nuns. This extremely short clip captures the death of punk. Were you there?  See if you are in the crowd!

PLUS! “I Hear A New Song” (Color, 1969) Christian anti-rock ‘n’ roll propaganda and a few surprises!

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Oct 30 – Rock n’ Roll at the Movies
Sat Oct 31 – Terror Noir- The House on Telegraph Hill in SF + Halloween Wet Dream
Fri Nov 6 -  Hollywood Underbelly- The Big Knife
Sat Nov 7 – Lost Animation III
Fri Nov 13 – Weirdsville – Oddities From The Archives

About Oddball Films

Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “Scared Straight: Vintage Drug-Scare Films” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of mind-expanding, fear-intending and hilarity-inducing short films about the dangers of drugs. These classroom classics from the semi-informed golden age of the late 1960s and early 1970s probably encouraged as many to experiment as it discouraged. Featured films include: Marijuana, a cult classic featuring a gold-lamé suited Sonny Bono; Dragnet: Little Pusher, hilarious episode of the classic TV show excoriates hippie family values; LSD: Trip or Trap?, master scare-monger Sid Davis examines the psychedelic scene; Drug Dialogue: Involvement, ride along with a pair of undercover narcs- PLUS! SF Trips Festival: An Opening, a trip-inducing short from Frisco circa 1966!
Date: Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

“Scared Straight”
More Vintage Drug Scare Films

On Saturday, October 24, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an all-new evening of “drug scare” films. Aimed squarely (no pun intended) at teenagers and designed to “educate” them about the perils of drug use, these films (like the drunk driving films that preceded them) were really meant to scare the hell out of kids.  Nonetheless, the laughable freak out scenes and super squares reveal perhaps a subversive intent by some of the filmmakers.  Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Films Include:

“Marijuana” (Color, 1968)
Sonny Bono graces the silver screen in gold lamé to set the facts straight about grass; that he appears utterly stoned himself should not denigrate his message one bit. He systematically counters all the usual arguments in favor of the evil weed (hilariously rattled off one by one by a group of teenagers being arrested).
Words of wisdom in stoner monotone: “Unlike alcohol, when you take too much at one time, you don’t pass out. You more than likely run the risk of an unpredictable – and unpleasant  – bummer”.

“Dragnet: Little Pusher” (Color, 1969)
Howlingly funny episode of the squarer than square TV show starring Jack Webb and Henry Morgan.  Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon investigate a juvenile pusher that leads them to a filthy hippy house. The scene is priceless as Friday discovers the dirty, neglected kids eating cold spaghetti out of a can, surveys the fetid kitchen, and arrests the clueless groovy and utterly ridiculous looking pusher parents.  Sample dialogue: Filthy Hippie: “It’s the maid’s day off.” Officer Gannon: “How long you been blowin’ pot, son?” ER Doc: “From diapers to drugs. What’s next, pre-natal goofballs?”

“LSD: Trip or Trap?” (Color, 1967)
A Sid Davis classic that starts with a fatal crash, and then traces the tragic path that led a good boy to experiment with the latest thrill on the scene- LSD-25. Good freak-out scenes and good kids pressured into drugs by misguided peers. Sid Davis films were famously funded by an initial $1000 donation by John Wayne.  He went on to produce numerous classics of the educational scare film genre, priding himself by making each one for $1000- a miniscule amount even its day.

“Drug Dialogue: Involvement” (Color, 1970)
Refreshingly frank dialogue with two undercover narcotic officers.  As they cruise around Los Angeles, the two agents discuss the scourge on the streets with a surprising amount of empathy and even a hint of respect.  This one was definitely not aimed at the kids!

“SF Trips Festival: An Opening” (Color, 1967)
Experimental multi-exposure freak out documents the 1966 Trips Festival, an acid-drenched “Happening” staged in San Francisco at the Longshoremen’s Hall (400 North Point) in January of 1966.  Good trip, or bad trip- you decide.

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Oct 23 – Sonic Oddities Live
Sat Oct 24 – Scared Straight (Drug/Alcohol Scare Films)
Fri Oct 30 – Rock n’ Roll at the Movies
Sat Oct 31st  Terror Noir- The House on Telegraph Hill in SF + Halloween Wet Dream

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “Crazy Cats! – The Cat Came Back” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of crazy cat shorts- films starring cats, about cats, and people dressed as cats!  Highlights include: “The Incredible Cat Tale”, a live action cat adventure from Hungary; “The Perils of Priscilla”, a neglected pussy sets out on her own and hits the big city; “Of Cats and Men”, an animated history of Felis Cattus Domesticus; “Superstition of the Black Cat”; the sinister side of felines from 1934; “The Cat’s Meow”; hilarious educational short was the surprise hit of our previous program; plus Busby Berkeley, Felix The Kat, The “Fabulous Cat Girl” burlesque and much more!
Date: Friday, October 16, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110

“Crazy Cats! The Cat Came Back”
Feline Fantasies and Cat Tales Screen at Oddball Films

The Cat Came Back!  On Friday, October 16, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present another evening of “crazy cat” films.  Last January, the original “Crazy Cats!” was a howling, scratching, back arching, sold out success, so RSVP early to assure a seat. Our all-new cat program (except the return of “The Cat’s Meow” in a new print) features many more shorts and clips culled from Oddball’s seemingly bottomless archive!  Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Films Include:

“The Incredible Cat Tale” (Color, c.1960)
This beautiful and heartwarming film from Hungary is the story of one incredible cat that will stop at nothing to be reunited with her kittens.  A young boy and girl set off in their horse drawn cart unwittingly carrying her newborn kittens.  It’s momma cat to the rescue!  Rivers, cat-trapper/fur skinners, merry-go-rounds, vicious dogs and long distances are no match for this cat.  I had no idea you could train a cat to do anything, let alone the amazing feats you will witness here.

“The Perils of Priscilla” (Color, 1969)
A poor, neglected pussy has to head out on her own when she is ignored and neglected by her family.  This live action short directed by Carroll Ballard (who went on to direct The Black Stallion, Never Cry Wolf, and was 2nd Unit Director of the original Star Wars) features another amazing cat trying to make her way in a tough world.  What will become of the adventurous, resilient Priscilla?

“Of Cats and Men” (Color, 1968)
Technicolor Disn*y animation traces the history of the domesticated cat- from deity-worthy reverence, rat-catching respect, to superstition and fear, and today’s mix of feelings…

“The Cat’s Meow” (Color, 1976)
Engaging, well-shot educational film about alley cats and house cats was the surprise hit of the original Crazy Cats! program.  The deadpan, dry humor of the narration is a big part of the appeal of this British-made short, but the slow motion mouse acrobatics had the whole room in stitches. Oddball recently acquired a new, high quality print of this little gem.

“Superstition of The Black Cat” (B+W, 1934)
Comical history of the origin of the superstition of bad luck when a black cat crosses your path.

“Sittin’ On A Backyard Fence” (B+W, 1933)
Clip from the great Busby Berkeley musical Footlight Parade- Human kitties sing, dance and frolic to the Tin Pan Alley favorite.

“The Fabulous Cat Girl” (B+W, c. 1950s)
Exotic burlesque teaser-

Plus! “Felix the Kat” (very early animation), “Tub Film” and a few SURPRISES!

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Oct 16 – Crazy Cats! – The Cat Came Back (Cat films- all new program)
Sat Oct 17 – Home Movie Day,  Strange Sinema- “World’s Strangest Home Movies”
Fri Oct 23 – Sonic Oddities Live
Sat Oct 24 – Scared Straight (Drug/Alcohol Scare Films)
Fri Oct 30 – Rock n’ Roll at the Movies
Sat Oct 31st  Terror Noir- The House on Telegraph Hill in SF + Halloween Wet Dream

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “WEIRDSVILLE: ODDITIES FROM THE ARCHIVES”.  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare, weird and some highly entertaining 16mm shorts, movie trailers and commercials culled from the 50,000+ archive at Oddball Films.  This month’s highlights include: “I REMEMBER BARBRA”, 1980 Brooklynites gush over Ms. Streisand; “BATE’S CAR”, English eccentric converts his car to run on manure; “ABOUT RUBBER”, everything you ever wanted to know about rubber… but were afraid to ask; “MATCH YOUR MOOD”, wild psychedelic/pop art 60s refrigerator covers a-go-go; “TURNED ON”, fodder for adrenaline junkies; “FRAUD BY MAIL”, fetishy quack mail-order products; and another episode of “HOT DOG”, How Do They Make Tennis Balls?; plus movie trailers and commercials straight out of Weirdsville!
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

“Weirdsville”
Oddities From The Archives
Screens at Oddball Films

On Saturday, October 10, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of the strange, the bizarre, and the sometimes baffling short films, commercials and trailers from deep within the Oddball archive. These “found” films surface in the process of research for other programs: too good to languish on the shelves, they demand to be screened!  Weirdsville is a monthly companion program to the Strange Sinema series.  Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00.  Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to:  info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Highlights Include:

I Remember Barbra (Color, 1980)
Barbra Streisand retrospective by filmmaker Kevin Burns, who takes to the streets, shops, boardwalks, apartment houses and classrooms of Brooklyn to document the Barbra Streisand her friends and neighbors remembered as an adolescent and up and coming performer. No clips of Barbra are used in the film, nor is her music. Instead, the documentary focuses on everyday Brooklynites and their personal recollections of a favorite hometown girl.  A bizarre and amusing slice of Brooklyn circa 1980

Bate’s Car (Color, 1974)
A portrait of a loveable eccentric, this short film presents Mr. Bate, an inventor who discovers a substitute for gasoline in barnyard manure. Even though he fits the classic mould of single-minded know-how and practical dreamer, his discovery is tried and tested. He demonstrates how his homemade digester does turn manure into potent methane gas that powers his auto. And for good measure, he demonstrates his latest sustainable invention – a bicycle powered by the bumps on the road

About Rubber (Color, 1971)
Engaging documentary about rubber harvesting and production with a unique moog soundtrack.  From humble, hands-on harvesting to the Folsom Street Fair: who knew?

Match Your Mood (Color, 1968)
Wild, amazing promotional film by Westinghouse touts the latest fad: decorative pop art/psychedelic refrigerator covers.  Transforms any kitchen into a swinging go-go party

Turned On (Color, late 1960s)
More swinging excitement, probably trying to keep the kids off drugs and into far more dangerous thrills: fast cars, heavy surf, extreme skiing and more.  Wild “Wipeout” soundtrack!

Fraud By Mail (B+W, 1944)
Speaking of fetish, this 1944 Universal Studios featurette focuses on bizarre and quite dangerous mail order fraud: nose shapers, spine straighteners, electrical hair stimulators, eye mallets, pendiculators and more.  Rather kinky.

Hot Dog: How Do They Make Tennis Balls? (Color, 1971)
From the Saturday morning mini-documentary program- tennis ball manufacturing from their crude rubber beginnings to the sophisticated fuzzy covers, facilitated by teams of factory women. With our pals Jonathan Winters, Jo Anne Worley and Woody Allen.

PLUS- Movie trailers and commercials straight out of Weirdsville!

Upcoming Programs
Fri Oct 9 – India Films: Photo Wallahs
Sat Oct 10 – Weirdsville 7 (Oddities from the Archives)
Fri Oct 16 – Crazy Cats 2: The Cat Came Back (Cat films- all new program)
Sat Oct 17 – Home Movie Day,  Strange Sinema- “World’s Strangest Home Movies”
Fri Oct 23 – Sonic Oddities Live
Sat Oct 24 – Scared Straight (Drug/Alcohol Scare Films)
Fri Oct 30 – Rock n’ Roll at the Movies
Sat Oct 31st  Terror Noir- The House on Telegraph Hill in SF + Halloween Wet Dream

About Oddball Films
Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.