Louis Black - CinemaTexas Notes: The Early Days of Austin Film Culture

CinemaTexas NOTES

The Early Days of Austin Film Culture

EDITED BY

LOUIS BLACK

WITH COLLINS SWORDS

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS

AUSTIN

Copyright 2018 by the University of Texas Press

All rights reserved

First edition, 2018

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:

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University of Texas Press

P.O. Box 7819

Austin, TX 787137819

utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Black, Louis, 1950 editor. | Swords, Collins, editor. |University of Texas at Austin. Department of Radio-Television-Film.

Title: CinemaTexas notes : the early days of Austin film culture / edited by Louis Black with Collins Swords.

Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017030872

ISBN 978-1-4773-1543-9 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4773-1544-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-4773-1545-3 (library e-book)

ISBN 978-1-4773-1546-0 (non-library e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Motion picturesTexasAustin. | Motion picturesTexasHistory. | Culture in motion pictures.

Classification: LCC PN1993.5.U78 C56 2018 | DDC 791.430976431dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017030872

doi:10.7560/315439

Dedicated to Ed Lowry, our editor, teacher, fellow Program Note writer, mentor, and friend, who personified the best of CinemaTexas!

And to those no longer with us but much missed: Brian Hansen, Chuck Shapiro, Rita TheBerge, David Boone, Brent Grulke, and Richard Dorsett

CONTENTS

LOUIS BLACK

CHARLES RAMREZ BERG

GEORGE LELLIS, LAUREN RABINOVITZ, D. N. RODOWICK, AND LOUIS BLACK

STEVE FORE AND LOUIS BLACK

CHARLES RAMREZ BERG

WARREN SPECTOR

D. N. RODOWICK

D. N. RODOWICK

GEORGE LELLIS

MARIE MAHONEY

JOHN HENLEY

ED LOWRY

NICK BARBARO

NICK BARBARO

MICHAEL SELIG

LAUREN RABINOVITZ

STEVE FORE AND LOUIS BLACK

ED LOWRY

DON HARTACK

LAUREN RABINOVITZ

CHARLES RAMREZ BERG

ANN LAEMMLE

MICHAEL SELIG

GEORGE LELLIS

D. N. RODOWICK AND ED LOWRY

VALENTIN ALMENDAREZ

D. N. RODOWICK

STEVE FORE AND LOUIS BLACK

D. N. RODOWICK

MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

ELLEN DRAPER

STEVE FORE

STEVE FORE

VALENTIN ALMENDAREZ

ED LOWRY

D. N. RODOWICK

NICK BARBARO

LOUIS BLACK

STEVE FORE AND LOUIS BLACK

LOUIS BLACK

LOUIS BLACK

ED LOWRY

LAUREN RABINOVITZ AND MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

ED LOWRY

LOUIS BLACK, BRIAN HANSEN, AND WARREN SPECTOR

LOUIS BLACK, ED LOWRY, AND NICK BARBARO

LOUIS BLACK

MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

RITA THEBERGE, LOUIS BLACK, AND ED LOWRY

ANN LAEMMLE

KELLY GREENE

PREFACE

HOW THE PROGRAM NOTES WERE CHOSEN FOR THIS ANTHOLOGY

For about fifteen years, CinemaTexas Program Notes were written and published to accompany films shown at Jester Auditorium. Probably close to 1,500 sets were produced. Preparing this volume, we faced the monumental task of deciding how to whittle that number down to a workable anthology. Toward that end, we solicited suggestions from former CinemaTexas writers, asking them to choose their favorite sets of Notes. Collins Swords, Asher Ford, and Graham Carter read through dozens and dozens of Notes and chose most of the pieces featured in this book. So many great Note writers over the years authored so many truly terrific Notes, making this work challenging.

The team above, along with Alexa Harrington, also carefully transcribed each entry for this volume verbatim. Initially, we attempted to reconstruct the Notes as they originally appeared on mimeographed pages; however, after much deliberation, we decided to remove the film credits, director filmographies, suggested readings, and copyright sections from each Note in an effort to minimize the page count. We have included an original Note as an appendix for visual reference.

A number of writers are represented by multiple entries, such as Ed Lowry, Nick Barbaro, D. N. Rodowick, Lauren Rabinovitz, Ann Laemmle, Michael Selig, Steve Fore, and Valentin Almendarez. The driving idea behind this anthology is to present some truly outstanding writing by the graduate students who programmed and ran CinemaTexas. Singling out any of these writers does all a disservice, including the many talented writers not represented in this volume. For this reason, we hope this book will be the first of several volumes. Our concentration has been on providing a wide range of CinemaTexass best writers, weighing in on films, both classic and far more obscure, as a demonstration of the remarkable value of this archive.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

Dan Ackerman, Sheri Alpert, Chris Anderson, Mark Alvey, Valentin Almendarez, Nick Barbaro, Marjorie Baumgarten, Greg Beal, Courtenay Beinhorn, Steve Blackburn, Jackie Blain, Rob Blech, Missy Boswell, Scott Bowles, Debbie Burke, Rod Buxton, Jackie Byers, Anthony Cagle, Sam Calvin, Stephanie Canada-Worthington, Hollis Chacona, Candace Costis, Anne Craig, Gregory Cundiff, Stephen Derrickson, Guido DeVita, Michael Drew Dorsey, Ellen Draper, James Elliot, Steve Fore, Hugo Gamarra, John Gibson, Olive Graham, Kelly Greene, Mike Grossberg, David Hansard, Steven Harding, Cheryl Harris, Don Hartack, John Henley, Sam Ho, Burnes Hollyman, Don Howard, Karen Kington, Ann Laemmle, Joanne Lammers, Kristin Laskas, Stephen Lee, George Lellis, Eddie De Leon, Jon H. Lewis, Paul Little, Marie Mahoney, Geoffrey Marks, Peg Masterson, Pamela Menteer, Kevin Moran, Horace Newcomb, Nina Nichols, Kris Niebergall, Marcia Norcia, Linda Obalil, Thomas OGuinn, Tim OMalley, Lorrie Oschatz, Carolyn Perkins, Alex Plaza, Ron Policy, Keith Price, Lauren Rabinovitz, Charles Ramrez Berg, Joe Rape, Steven Reddicliffe, Jimmie L. Reeves, Carolyn Reitz, Leslie Rodier, D. N. Rodowick, Gwen Rowling, Alicia Rutledge, Michael Snz, Gregory Sanders, George Saunders, Jeff Sconce, Tom Schatz, Ann Rowe Seaman, Chris Secrest, Michael Selig, Chuck Schapiro, Kay Sloan, Darby Smotherman, Warren Spector, Mike Sullivan, Rita TheBerge, Ronald Thomson, Richard Vickrey, Kathleen Walker, Robert Walker, Chris Walters, Wiliam Van Watson, George Wead, Tinky Weisblat, Brian L. Wilson, Cicely Wynn, Ray Ydoyaga

Many more to come.

LOUIS BLACK

Introduction to CinemaTexas

SEVEN NOTES ABOUT CINEMATEXAS PROGRAM NOTES

1. FIRST OF ALL, WHAT WAS CINEMATEXAS?

CinemaTexas was the film programming unit of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. It was supervised by a faculty member and run by graduate students. The films were supplemental labs for students enrolled in the RTF Departments film classes. At its height, filmsall 16 mm prints that were projected in Jester Auditoriumwere screened twice each night, usually at 7 and 9 p.m., four nights a week, Monday through Thursday, with each evening dedicated to a specific class. Tuesdays, for instance, were always the night for the undergraduate film history survey, RTF 314. Other film classes, both graduate and undergraduate, took up the other nights. Most of the audience were students enrolled in RTF classes, but the films were open to all UT students, faculty, and staff, as well as to the public at large for a modest ticket price (originally tickets sold for 75 cents).

There was one full-time staff member, along with a paid projectionist, and undergraduate students assisted (as paid work-studies) with the logistical details of running the box office, delivering the 16 mm film to the projectionist, and handling the shipping.