Tuesday February 15th 1966

The Theodore Huff Memorial Film Society

SACK-CLOTH AND ASHES DEPARTMENT

We seem to be jinxed in our efforts to show Second Fiddle, or to find out about problems in time to issue a fresh mailing! Five or six years ago, when we announced its showing, the print on hand then proved to be far too shrunken for projection. This year, the print turned up on time - a fine toned original, unshrunken, but so totally out of sequence, and so in need of cleaning, re-editing and re-splicing, that it will require several full evenings of concentrated work to put it in shape. So, reluctantly, and with abject apologies, it is shelved again. But at least we're a little nearer; the print is in our hands, work has been started on it, and it will be shown and soon. But no date will be set until it has been put together and run, and we know there can be no further hitch. The annoying thing is that only those who have seen the film know what a little gem it is; to the others it probably sounds (in advance) like a programmer unworthy of the trouble it is causing. In one way, this prevents great disappointment at not seeing it tonight -- but it is frustrating to want to be able to show an unknown little film, and to be stymied twice for different reasons.

We're sticking to our announced program of silent shorts (details below) but the bulk of the program will be devoted to two features which for diplomatic and other reasons we won't list here, but which we'll say a few words about prior to the show.

Shorts to be shown:

The Philadelphia-based Lubin company, which back in 1903 had pirated Porter's The Great Train Robbery and made their own exact copy, here does much the same thing with Griffith's The New York Hat -- no longer trying to create the impression that it's the same film of course, but certainly copying its style, its characters and its plot. The Griffith film, always over-rated and not one of his best, though certainly one of his most popular, suddenly takes on new stature when one has this rather awkward imitation for comparison. Even run-of-the-mill Griffith Biographs had a certain sureness of touch and a knowledge of how to please the public which this film lacks. However, Lubins are hard to come by, and academically at least this one-reeler is thus of considerable interest.

Although quite uneventful, this is a pleasing little family comedy, in mood not unlike the quiet little shorts of the 30's and 40's in which Robert Benchley tweaked human foibles, and especially those of man and wife.

Despite sad (and unforgivable from the lab's standpoint) print quality, these short coming attractions do give us tantalising glimpses of old favorites, and of films that, alas we'll probably never have the chance to see again. In order, they are: DETECTIVES (Dane & Arthur); PARISIAN LOVE (Clara Bow); THE HEAD MAN (Charlie Murray); FORBIDDEN HOURS (Navarro): KEEPER OF THE BEES (Bow); SAY IT WITH SABLES (Capra, with Bushman); FINDER'S KEEPERS (Laura La Plante); HOT HEELS (Patsy Ruth Miller); BEWARE OF BLONDES; BRASS KNUCKLES (Betty Bronson, Monte Blue); MYSTERIOUS LADY (Garbo); OPENING NIGHT and A CERTAIN YOUNG MAN (Novarro)

Barrymore, tight, bemused, trying to be a good fellow, is interviewed on the occasion of his last Broadway "comeback." Pathetic, yet not unamusing either, and a real piece of theatrical Americana.

William K. Everson         

INTERMISSION WILL BE AT APPROX. 9.25, between the two features. Show out at approx. 10.50.