“Weirdsville 6: Oddities From The Archives” Fri. 9/11
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: “Mystery in The Kitchen”, Canadian housewives in 1958; “Surfboard Rhythm”, early surfing and pinup girls form 1947!; “Master in Drag”, Mr. Ed and a crossdressed Wilbur; “Bullet On Wheels”, midget car racing; “Mountain Music”; truly bizarre claymation; “Accentuate the Positive”, Bing Crosby in blackface; “Hot Dog: Sardines”, the world sardine packing contest; plus movie trailers and commercials straight out of Weirdsville!
Date: Friday, September 11, 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 Friday, September 11, 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! Special note: Oddball has acquired several new massive collections of film. Tonight’s program is a taste of the tip of the iceberg! Come see ‘em before they get buried in the archive!
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:
Mystery in the Kitchen (Color, 1958)
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, this film aimed at housewives uses satire and humor to teach proper nutrition and good eating habits. Awesome mid-century domestic scenes from our neighbors to the North.
Mountain Music (Color, 1975)
Truly bizarre claymation hippie music concert out in the sticks. This is a total freakout, no doubt the result of massive amounts of drug ingestion. Looks real if you squint.
Master in Drag (b+w, 1961)
Clip from the Mister Ed TV show. Wilbur dresses in drag to rescue Mr. Ed from a sorority house. Hijinx ensue.
Bullet On Wheels (b+w, 1951)
Midget car racing action with a minor plotline involving the “phantom racer”, a lone-ranger masked driver who makes headlines all up and down the California coast for his daring-do. Mostly just an excuse for some hair-raising action in extremely fast and dangerous open cockpit racing cars.
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (b+w, 1944)
Bing Crosby and Sonny Tufts introduce what would become a standard in this clip from the 1944 patriotic film Here Come The Waves. Alas, they are in blackface, which is why this censored clip (from a Los Angeles TV station) is rarely seen.
Surfboard Rhythm (b+w, 1947)
Amazing early surfing and pinup girl film shot in and around Santa Monica for MGM. Pete Smith narrates in his trademark wry, bemused style.
Hot Dog: Where Do Sardines Come From? (Color, 1972)
Shows the ladies in the cannery working their magic and the World Championship Sardine Packing Contest (soon to be on ESPN). Jonathan Winters, Jo Anne Worley and Woody Allen sit this one out…
PLUS- Movie trailers and commercials straight out of Weirdsville!
[...] is from a series of reflections for my Curating Internship at the PFA. Visit Pete Gowdy’s website for more information about this particular screening.) . It took me half an hour to find Oddball [...]