The Sprocket Society

The Exhibitor as Producer This open access book seeks answers to a series of questions about the subject of prologues or theatrical presentations in American movie theaters

Speaking of authors at Pordenone, Richard Abel’s new book is available as a free PDF/EPUB download (or HB for purchase). “The Exhibitor as Producer: Stage Prologues in American Movie Theatres, 1917-1926” is heavily illustrated and short (179 pgs + cites & index). link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Le Giornate del Cinema Muto Nate nel 1982 dalla collaborazione tra la Cineteca del Friuli di Gemona e Cinemazero di Pordenone, le Giornate del Cinema Muto si sono affermate come la principale manifestazione internazionale dedica...

The Pordenone silent film festival includes presentations with authors and scholars. These are freely available on the fest’s YouTube channel. Click the “Live” tab to find them. Also check out the shorter chats with program curators. See youtube.com/@giornatecin...

Our next show! Tues. October 28 — a secret 1930s horror feature, Castle Films digests of the “complete” Frankenstein saga, plus more. All on 16mm film! More info + tix via sprocketsociety.org/coming-soon/ Part of ALL MONSTERS ATTACK! from @grandillusioncinema.org

The Italian streaming service hosting the series admittedly has some irritations, even after doing this for 5 years. (Has anyone told them about playlists?? Or how subtitles should be positioned onscreen, FFS?!?) But it’s still worth totally worth the ~US$35.

Le giornate del cinema muto 2025 - Enjoy the silence! In streaming su MYmovies. Scegli il tuo accredito

ICYMI the Pordenone silent film festival is underway, and folks like us who can’t teleport there can get in on their streaming edition. Films from day 2 are still online (for a bit), so if you carpe diem you’ll not have missed much. Recommended! www.mymovies.it/ondemand/gio...

As the article says, this particular Seven Gables was in Seattle. See the link. (Not sure there ever was one in Portland, but maybe I’m mistaken.) Sorry you didn’t like King of Hearts as a child. I wouldn’t call it boring, but it’s not really a children’s movie. cinematreasures.org/theaters/12068

YouTube video by History Comes to Life "Der Fuehrer's Face" Performed by Spike Jones and His City Slickers

Heil, heil right in Der Fuhrer’s face youtu.be/I1583adUqSg

RIP to local cinema legend Randy Finley. Before there was a Seven Gables theater chain in Seattle there was The Movie House at 1403 NE 50th St., also founded by Randy. He ran it until the late 70s when Paul Doyle took over and renamed it The Grand Illusion.

www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

If someone’s not mourning the death of Robert Redford in a manner that’s consistent with your views, make sure you set up a database, call their employer, and get them fired.

For most Americans, the date 1913 means nothing. For Americans on the far right fringes, 1913 has long been a date of great significance. Here’s a piece from the antisemitic rag “American Mercury” in 1957, for example. One of their writers at the time was George Lincoln Rockwell.

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

Groucho Marx and Marlene Dietrich on the Paramount lot, 1932

Super excited to be part of this free outdoor show on Friday 8/22 in Bellingham! Melies, Keaton, Weber, Hazards of Helen, and Felix the Cat — all accompanied live by members of the Bellingham Symphony (incl. 2 new scores). More info at sprocketsociety.org/coming-soon/

The Lubitsch Touch. …er, kinda literally.

That…does not make me want Pepsi.

It’s confounding, for sure.

I’ve heard other Curtiz cognoscenti use the “fez” homophone. One pronunciation clue is probably that at age 19 in 1905, while still living in Hungary, he took the name Mihály Kertész. He adopted Michael Curtiz when he came to the US in 1926 to work at Warner Bros.

Carl Laemmle Sr. was particularly incensed by the use of classical music in the movie. Incest, necrophilia, drugs, Satanism, and flaying…but oh god, not classical music!

NANCY BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER P1 NANCY AND SLUGGO ARE WALKING DOWNTOWN SLUGGO: NO MOVIES TONIGHT-I'VE ONLY GOT THE PRICE OF ONE ADMISSION P2-NANCY: I KNOW HOW WE BOTH CAN SEE A MOVIE WITH ONE ADMISSION P3-SIGN: DRIVE-IN THEATER NANCY IS IN HER WAGON AND SLUGGO IS PULLING THE WAGON AS THE ENTER THE DRIVE-IN THEATER NANCY AT THE TICKET BOOTH JUST SAYS: ONE THE MAN IN THE TICKET BOOTH LOOKS BEWILDERED

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller
July 18,1951

I’ve seen that version, and I’m so excited for you! It’s magnificent and, yes, it really is the proper way to see it. Bon appetit!

“12-hour shifts, 7 days/week… (no benefits)”

Our most recent edition of ONLINE WITH SFFP is now available to view on our YouTube channel! On June 5, SFFP Board President Rob Byrne was joined by Ehsan Khoshbakht to discuss Lewis Milestone’s incredible body of work, including—of course—THE GARDEN OF EDEN, which SFFP restored! #FilmSky
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Pro tip: most video projectors can still do 3D!

Wayne County community rally amid ICE raid at restaurant Newswatch 16's Emily Kress spoke with people in the Honesdale community who are shaken after watching three restaurant employees get detained.

"It's really hard to fathom that the guy making my pizza for 25 years is a gangster and a terrorist, and the person who shows up in an unmarked car wearing a mask and body armor comes to take him away is somehow the good guy” www.wnep.com/article/news...

a pot of white liquid is cooking on a stove with the words @tvresidence below it Alt: a pot of white liquid is cooking on a stove and then overflows

Monday morning, when you wake up as a professor who teaches and promotes foreign films:

Join us on May 30th to celebrate our 30th anniversary at our 2025 gala! Turning 30 is major for people and organizations alike–an opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments and consider how we can continue to best serve our community.

nwfilmforum.org/events/2025-...

Info at cinema.ucla.edu/events/japan...

YouTube video by UCLA Film & Television Archive Japanese Paper Films | Trailer

This is utterly amazing, and if I could teleport (or, um, fly) to LA for this screening on Sunday I absolutely would. If you’re anywhere near there, you should go. youtu.be/Q3N6Z86NQJA

We watched a 16mm movie while we were making that very same movie!

We unfurled clear 16mm through all the rows of the theater and passed out markers, telling folks to go to town marking-up the film.

Then I thread it up and start showing the film while people still have their hands on it!

Yes, in 1934 — decades after the time in question. And that film was publicly shown once, at the French Academy of Science. So I don’t see how that supports the theory you mentioned.