FLARE

Event: “Hot Wheels!”  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare 16mm films about things that go- cars, bikes, skateboards, soapbox cars and more.  Featured films include Skater Dater (1965), the cult film made by Noel Black and featuring music by Davie Allen and the Arrows; The Incredible San Francisco Artists’ Soap Box Derby (1975), documents the wild creativity and spirit of SF in 1975; Skateboard To Safety (1974), great SoCal sidewalk surfing; The Car of Your Dreams (1984), a brilliantly edited ode to the automobile; One Got Fat (1963), an all-time favorite, bizarre bike safety short; and more!
Date: Friday, March 5, 2010 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/HotWheels3_PR.pdf

“Hot Wheels!”
The Obsession With Things That Go

On Friday, March 5, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare 16mm short films illustrating our obsession with things that go- especially if it goes very fast.  Cars, of course, but also bicycles, skateboards and wild soapbox cars of all shapes and types, will be featured. Plus, vintage award-winning VW commercials and San Francisco lowriders that will tickle your fancy, tap your adrenaline and leave you in awe… of things that go… GO… GO!!!  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:

Skater Dater (Dir. Noel Black, Color, 1965)
Directed by Noel Black (who went on to direct the cult feature “Pretty Poison”), Skater Dater has developed a strong following both for it’s amazing skateboarding and it’s surf-inspired Davie Allen and the Arrows soundtrack.  Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1966 and nominated for an Academy Award, this no-dialogue short comes off like a SoCal Quadrophenia, as the young protagonist struggles to break away from the crowd.  Features riders from the Imperial Skateboarding Club out of Torrance, CA.

The Incredible San Francisco Artists’ Soap Box Derby (Dir. Amanda Pope, Color, 1975)
Sponsored by SFMOMA, the incredibly inventive and well-received Artists’ Soapbox Derby is beautifully captured and explored by director Amanda Pope. Penny-covered domes, giant bananas, hands and pencils, bathtubs full of blood, a “”He-She” mobile covered in vibrators and many more roll down the hills of San Francisco.  Thoughtful commentary on the creations by the artists put this a high step above the usual San Francisco wacky shenanigans…

The Car of Your Dreams (Color and B&W, 1984)
Genius educational film about the car industry and their sales techniques utilizing solely mind-blowing historical footage and commercials bordering on the surreal. It’s no wonder Americans bought into the car mythology lock, stock and barrel.

One Got Fat (Dir. Dale Jennings, Color, 1963)
Bizarre/legendary bike safety film- 10 young cyclists acting like monkeys (wearing masks and tails!) head to a city park for a picnic.  9 out of 10 makes a bonehead mistake and suffers a major accident- all but one, who reaches the park and…
Here’s how a few of the characters meet their demise:
1. Tinkerbell (“Tink”) McDillinfiddy forgets to watch out for a stop sign, and is           hit by a large truck.
2. Phillip (“Floog”) Floogle rides on the left…POW!
3. Mossby Pomegranate’s bike is stolen, police can’t find it because it wasn’t            registered, as a result of running between one and nine blocks, his feet             arches collapse.
4. Slim Jim (“Slim”) Maguffny and Trigby Phipps ride double, due to Trigby’s     lack of vision because of Slim blocking his head, he steers right into an     open manhole covering.
Find out Friday the fate of the others!

Skateboarding To Safety (Color, 1976)
Glorious mid-70’s So-Cal teen sidewalk surfers in this safety film by Peter B. Good. Handstands, Tandems, Quasimodos, The Coffin- just be sure to wear your pads (helmets optional).

PLUS! More vintage award-winning VW commercials from the 1960’s and unique San Francisco lowrider footage from the 1970’s!

Event: “As Seen On TV”.  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare, weird and wonderful vintage TV on 16mm, dredged from the massive Oddball film archive.  Featuring Flesh and Leather, aka Pier 23, a lost TV noir featuring a pre-Leave It To Beaver Hugh Beaumont and femme fatale Ann Savage; Some Like It Hot, the un-aired, lost TV pilot for a series based on the classic Billy Wilder film; an hilarious and ridiculous Jackie Gleason/Ralph Carney skit from Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town; Television Land, brilliantly edited visual history of the great communicator; plus The Nut House! (early Laugh-In styled parodies) and plenty of vintage commercials!
Date: Friday, February 26, 2010 at 8:00PM
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/TV3_PR.pdf

“As Seen On TV”
Rare, Weird and Wonderful
Vintage Television

On Friday, February 26, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare, weird and wonderful vintage television on 16mm.  The archive is full of film originally intended for transmission to the masses- most of it hasn’t seen the light of day (or the twilight of the rumpus room) for decades.  Showtime is 8:00PM and admission is $10.00.  Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Highlights Include:

“Flesh and Leather” aka “Pier 23” (B+W, 1951)
In 1951, movie producer Robert L. Lippert had a sudden inspiration: He decided to launch a series of low budget mystery movies about a part-time private eye who ran a boat supply business out of Pier 23 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco’s waterfront. To play Denny O’Brien, his cynical gumshoe hero, Lippert hired small-time B-movie actor Hugh Beaumont, who had been in pictures since the early 1940s, but wouldn’t even begin to have any nationwide name recognition until he was cast as Ward Cleaver, the quintessential American TV sitcom dad in CBS’ “Leave It to Beaver” in 1957.

To fill out the cast, Lippert Pictures checked around to see which low-rent character actors listed in the Academy Players Directory were currently looking for work and not being too particular about how much they might be getting paid over the union minimum. He hired Ed Brophy, Richard Travis, Tom Neal, Ann Savage (Detour) and others like them. You know, people who look awfully familiar, but you’re not sure if you saw their faces in the movies or on WANTED posters in the post office.

Lippert had this brilliant concept working. He would make several films of about 60 minutes duration each, but would have Denny O’Brien solve TWO cases per movie, each in about 30 minutes. Then, when the movies had finished their brief, but hopefully profitable run in theaters on the bottom half of double bills, he would cut each movie in half and then sell them all as a half-hour TV series for syndication to local TV stations.

Pier 23 was renamed the slightly more evocative Flesh and Leather and made the TV rounds before being filed away in the dustbin of obscurity.

“Some Like It Hot” (b+w, 1961)
Super rare TV pilot (un-sold and un-aired) attempted to franchise the all time classic Billy Wilder film as a weekly program.  Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis appear at the opening before undergoing plastic surgery (the mob is still after them), re-emerging as “look-alikes” Vic Damone and Dick Patterson.  For some reason, they continue to dress in drag and play with the all-girl band… Tina Louise (of Gilligan’s Isle fame) replaces Marylin Monroe and a bit part by George “I wish my brother George was here” Liberace.

“Television Land” (color/b+w, 1971)
Brilliant, impressionistic, narration-free history of Television utilizing original clips, similar to the Oddball Films favorite “The Car of Your Dreams”. Directed by Charles Braverman, the snappy montage is divided into three sections: entertainment, news and commercials.
One Nation, Under Television

PLUS! Jackie Gleason and Ralph Carney in a brilliantly ridiculous skit from Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of The Town”: Spoof of quiz shows called “Can You Do This?”  Carney is the host, and accidentally kills the first contestant with the starting gun, after which Gleason comes on and performs a series of stunts of escalating difficulty, becoming more and more ridiculous. Also, snippets from The Nut House!, a 1963 Laugh-In-esque parody program featuring animations by Jay Ward (Rocky & Bullwinkle) and plenty of kooky vintage TV commercials!

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 Feb 19- “Kooks, Eccentrics and Oddballs”
Sat Feb 20th- “Strange Sinema”
Thurs Feb 25th-”A Ubu Moment” with Other Film from Australia
Fri Feb 26- “As Seen On TV 3” and 2nd program “86’d” with Jennifer Blowdryer from NYC
Sat Feb 27th- Portland Curator Dennis Nyback’s “Terrorism Light and Dark” and “I Know Why You’re Afraid”

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: “Kooks, Eccentrics and Oddballs”.  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present the inaugural evening of a new series of 16mm film programs focused on people with strange occupations, habits or ideas. Many were innovators, some were geniuses, more than a few are completely insane! This month’s highlights include: Castle Man, about a man who obsessively built a castle by himself- stone by stone; Emperor Norton, a representation of San Francisco’s favorite oddball; The Man Who Made Millions Think, bizarre beauty and hair product pitcher who channels snake-oil salesman of yore; Bates Car, about a lovable one-legged inventor who makes cars run on manure and self-propelled bicycles; A Boy Creates, filmed partly at Playland At The Beach and the Emeryville Mud Flats, a boy makes one-of-a-kind sculpture; Plus! More oddballs in Stranger Than Fiction, including a trailer made from a hollowed out redwood and newsreel footage of famous hermit/hoarder brothers Homer and Langley Collyer’s jam-packed Manhattan apartment (where they were both found dead- one crushed by a wall of junk).
Date: Friday, February 19, 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/Eccentrics_PR.pdf

“Kooks, Eccentrics and Oddballs”
Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, February 19, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of short films focused on those lovable kooks, eccentrics and oddballs that make the world a bit more interesting.  Some may be geniuses, others are just a bit off- but they all are fascinating subjects. Tonight’s program will be the first of an occasional 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:

Castle Man (Dir. Mary Uible Nebergall, Color, 1979)
Focused on 89 year-old eccentric Harry Andrews, his spirit and values while depicting his life-long work of creating a castle along the Ohio River.  Andrews only really began working once he had retired. A notary public and lifelong bachelor, Andrews was also a medieval enthusiast. At age 55, he began constructing a 1/5 scale replica of a Medieval Castle in Loveland, Ohio.

Harry built the entire castle himself, using 2,600 sacks of cement, 32,000 quart milk cartons for forming concrete bricks, 54,000 five-gallon buckets of dirt, and 56,000 pail-fulls of stone. He also built a secret room into the castle that wasn’t discovered until it collapsed years after his death.

In a freak accident, Harry Andrews set himself ablaze while cooking in the castle and died two weeks later. Today, the castle is still run by the “Knights of the Golden Trail,” the youth organization established by Andrews. Unsurprisingly, it is said to be haunted.

Emperor Norton (B+W 1953)
A reenactment of the life of one of San Francisco’s most amazing characters Emperor Norton. The self-proclaimed His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, was a celebrated citizen of San Francisco, California, who in 1859 proclaimed himself “Emperor of these United States” and “Protector of Mexico.”
Although he had no political power, and his influence extended only so far as he was humored by those around him, he was treated deferentially in San Francisco, and currency issued in his name was honored in the establishments he frequented.

Though he was considered insane, or at least highly eccentric, the citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence and his proclamations, most famously, his “order” that the United States Congress be dissolved by force (which Congress and the U.S. Army ignored) and his numerous decrees calling for a bridge and a tunnel to be built across San Francisco Bay. On January 8, 1880, Norton collapsed at a street corner, and died before he could be given medical treatment. The following day, nearly 30,000 people packed the streets of San Francisco to pay homage to Norton/Norton’s legacy has been immortalized in the literature of writers Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson, who based characters on him.

Bate’s Car: Sweet As A Nut (Color, 1974)
A portrait of a loveable eccentric, this short film presents Mr. Bate, an inventor living in rural southwest England 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.

The Man Who Made Millions Think (B+W, c. 1950)
Bizarre promotional film from the early 1950’s is a portrait of a megalomaniac hair product pitcher that eerily bridges the snake-oil evangelizers of the 19th century and the shamwow crap infomercials of today.

A Boy Creates (Dir. Bert Van Bork, Color, 1971)
Sweet kids film made by the masterful, prolific educational filmmaker Bert Van Bork of a boy who admires the clowns and other figures (including Laughing Sal) at SF’s Playland at the Beach (closed and leveled in 1972), then collects junk and builds figures along the Emeryville mudflats (still visible as you drive along Highway 80).

PLUS- Stranger Than Fiction and other mini-portraits of a couple who made an RV out of a single redwood log, an all-midget newspaper, oddball artists and mind-blowing newsreel footage of the apartment where the most famous hoarders of all time “lived” and died: the Collyer brothers of Manhattan.

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 Feb 19- “Kooks, Eccentrics and Oddballs”
Sat Feb 20th- “Strange Sinema”
Fri Feb 26- “As Seen On TV 3”
Sat Feb 27th- Portland Curator Dennis Nyback’s “Terrorism Light and Dark” and “I Know Why You’re Afraid”

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: 7362, wild optically printed experimental film by Pat O’Neill; Brake Free, by Oddball Films favorite Carson Davidson; The Face, intriguing morph animation; Presenting Allen & Rossi, rare promotional film with “Mr. Bug Eyes” Marty Allen and Steve Rossi; Stop, Look and Listen, crazy pixilation car safety short; Gumby, Mae West, Mr. Ed plus movie trailers, commercials and more straight out of Weirdsville!
Date: Friday, February 12, 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/Weirdsville_11_PR.pdf

“Weirdsville 11″
Oddities From The Archives
Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, February 12, 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:

7362 (Dir. Pat O’Neill, Color, 1965-67)
A mind-blowing visual and sound experience by experimental filmmaker Pat O’Neill with sound by cult musician/early synthesizer artist Joseph Byrd (The United States of America). Described as “a bilaterally symmetrical (west to east) fusion of human, biomorphic and mechanical shapes in motion. Has to do with the spontaneous generation of electrical energy. A fairly rare (ten years ago) demonstration of the Sabattier Effect (re-exposing partially developed film to light during the processing) in motion. Title refers to the film stock of the same name.

Brake Free (Dir. Carson Davidson, Color, 1970)
A young boy’s fantasy excursion is captured on a steam-powered, mountain-climbing cog rail train in New Hampshire, skillfully edited to Beethoven’s Third and Seventh symphonies. Director of Oddball favorites “3rd Ave. El and Help, My Snowman’s Burning Down, Davidson’s Brake Free was winner of the Silver Medal for short subject at the Venice Film Festival.

The Face (Dir. Herbert Kosower, Color, 1967)
Based on the original engravings of Piero Fornasetti. An animated bit of whimsy triggered by the premise that IDEAS lead to IDEAS. In what has been described as ‘film absurdity’ Kosower manipulates a woman’s face into the bizarre and the beautiful. Kosower taught animation and film graphics at USC, where two f his students were George Lucas and John Milius.

Presenting Allen & Rossi (Color, 1966)
Rare Paramount promotional short “introducing” their newest acquisition: the comedy team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi.  Soon to star in their spy spoof The Last of the Secret Agents?, the comedy duo get a big push from poppa Paramount, complete with glamour gals and fancy cars- in eye-poppingly stunning color.

Stop, Look and Listen (Dir. Len Janson/Chuck Menville, Color, 1967)
Inventive traffic safety short utilizes the pixilation technique (pioneered by Norman McLaren) to animate live actors as they “drive” all around Los Angeles.

Mae West Meets Mr. Ed (B+W, 1964)
Mae West visits Wilbur to discuss building a luxury, pampering barn for her horses. Mr. Ed wants to join them- until he discovers he will have to cross-dress… Oh my gosh does it get wacky!

Goofy Movies Number 8 (B+W, 1934)
Phony newsreel comedy short (one of ten made by MGM in the early 1930’s) narrated by Pet Smith- utilizes early films with “comic” commentary (you be the judge how successful Mr. Smith is…) However, there is an hilarious early silent about a guy having his arms, legs, and head amputated and then put back on in the wrong places.

Gumby Concerto (Dir. Art Clokey, Color, 1957)
Gumby’s back with Too and Loo in a trip back to Music Land to have some musical fun.

PLUS- movie trailers, commercials and more straight out of Weirdsville!

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 Feb 5– “Roaring 20s and Quirky 30’s” w/ The Dimestore Dandy Live!
Sat Feb 6– “The Art of Film”
Fri Feb 12– Weirdsville 11
Sat Feb 13-“ Love, Sex and VD” and “Beasts and Babes”
Fri Feb 19- Mardi Gras New Orleans Gumbo
Sat Feb 20th- “Strange Sinema”
Fri Feb 26- From Australia-Other Films!
Sat Feb 27th- Portland Curator Dennis Nyback’s “Terrorism Light and Dark” and “I Know Why You’re Afraid”

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.