All-American Eccentrics - Fri. July 3rd - 8PM

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Oddball Films presents All-American Eccentrics, an evening of portrait documentaries and short films about outlandish, endearing and out-there characters from a selection of notable and award-winning filmmakers. Head out for a beer, with a bull in the hilarious and horrifying documentary Manimals (1978), about people who keep exotic pets in their New York City apartments from Oscar-winner Robin Lehman. Meet Emperor Norton (1948), the famed 19th century SF resident and self-proclaimed "Emperor of these United States". In Jerry’s Restaurant (1976), famed filmmaker Tom Palazzolo portrays a lovable Chicago deli owner whose oddly endearing service-with-a-snarl approach wins him a devoted clientele. In Trader Vic's Used Cars (1975), Charles Braverman takes us into the gumption behind the car salesman, from ingenious marketing ideas to his engaging interpersonal skills. Get sold on The Man Who Made Millions Think (c. 1950), a rare long-form commercial gem from the 1950s featuring Lee Harris, king of hair products, giving an unbelievably passionate performance. Visit the Mojave Desert to see the theater of life-sized dolls hand-crafted and voiced by outsider artist Calvin Black, in an excerpt of Possum Trot (1977).  Early birds will be treated to a barrage of Brooklynites recounting their stories, memories, and obsessions with their favorite home-town hero in I Remember Barbra (1980). All films screened from 16mm prints from the archive.

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Date: Friday, July 3rd, 2015 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Web: www.oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Featuring:

Manimals (Color, 1978)

Directed by multi-Oscar winner Robin Lehman, this intriguing personality documentary centers around New York City inhabitants who keep exotic pets.  Alternating between humor and horror, the film explores the people who humanize wild animals, revealing some interesting characters and the semi-wild monkeys, goats, cows and birds that accompany them in their New York apartments and even out on the town.  The film features a cow that goes to the local bar to get a bucket of beer and a woman who dresses her exotic birds in Yankees uniforms.  You can catch a clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8dLIwRZDjs

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Jerry’s Restaurant (Color, 1976)
Jerry Myers serves up a little bit of Rickles alongside the pickles in his Chicago deli. The sandwich with a side of browbeating is part of what keeps the lunch-hour crowd coming back for more. Myers’ brand of offbeat affection for his workers and customers is apparent to all, as is his love for his modest showcase.

Emperor Norton (B+W, 1948)

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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.

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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.

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Trader Vic's Used Cars (Color, 1975 Charles Braverman)
For used car dealer Victor Snyder, "customer relations are everything." On his modest Southern California lot, his mostly working class clientele can count on more than just a fair deal. Vic's folksy sales techiques may seem quaint, but Braverman's portrait is a refreshing look at a dying breed of small businessman.

Possum Trot (Color, 1977, excerpt)

The Life and Work of Calvin Black 1903-1972

Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist. The film works on two levels. One is the documentation of the artist's legacy and commentary on women: grotesque female figures moving in the desert wind and the theater with its frozen "actresses," protected by his widow from a world she views as hostile. The other is the re-creation of the artist's vision through the magic of film, as the camera enables the dolls to move and sing and brings theater to life as the artist imagined it. Produced and directed by award-winning SF filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf.

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, educational films, 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.