VistaVision invades the TCM Film Festival - and It's Our Fault!

[00:00:00] Welcome to the audio-only version of the Perf Damage Podcast. We highly recommend checking out our YouTube channel for the full experience, where you'll see visuals and details that we might not fully explain here. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the episode. Welcome back everybody! Welcome! It's been a while. Yeah, this is Perf Damage, the show where we talk about the secret histories of Hollywood. And film restoration, which is not what we're talking about today.

[00:00:30] No, no. You know, I think we've mentioned before that we had something special to announce. And so, today's the day. We finally have the official word that we can announce this. Yeah, I mean, it's already been announced publicly. But, I will be speaking at the TCM Film Festival this year about the history of VistaVision. Which, I can't believe that's actually something I'm saying out loud. Well, I mean, they couldn't have gotten someone better for that, because you are the VistaVision queen.

[00:01:00] Well, they looked around and they said, who's interested in VistaVision? Who knows any history on VistaVision? And like four people put their hands up. They're crickets. I know, I've slowly in town become like the VistaVision lady. Yeah, like in all the studios, if someone wants to know about VistaVision, somehow they get Charlotte's name and end up calling her. I know. So, yeah, they've announced it. I'm going to be speaking on the history. I also invited my pal Craig Barron to speak with me.

[00:01:28] Craig is... An Academy Award winner in special effects. Yes, he worked at ILM and he did special effects. And he actually worked with VistaVision cameras. And he's a huge VistaVision camera fan. He actually had VistaVision camera, the Mitchell camera number three. He kept it under his desk for a long time. He has pictures of himself with it. I don't know if he's hugging it, but he probably hugged it after hours. Those special pictures. Yeah, I bet. The ones that he keeps private from everybody.

[00:01:58] Yeah, the blackmail pictures. They're out there. We know they're out there, Craig. So I invited him to speak with me because who better than to talk about working with VistaVision and the revival of VistaVision after the initial use of it in the 50s, then someone who actually was there using it and who loved using it. So yeah, Craig's a huge VistaVision fan. When he heard I was setting up a VistaVision thing in the archive at Paramount, he said, you need any help? What can I do to help?

[00:02:28] So he's a huge VistaVision fan. So I can't think of anyone better to speak to. And he speaks at TCM every year with Ben Burt. Yeah, I think they're doing it again this year. I don't know what the topic is. Of course, they do the best dog and pony show in town. Oh, they're hilarious. Yeah, they're so fun to watch. Yeah. So yeah, if you guys are in town. Yeah, so the presentation is part of their Club TCM series, which you have to have a special level pass to actually get access to that. So if you're lucky enough to hold one of those passes,

[00:02:58] please come check out the presentation. It is April 25th that I'll be speaking about it. Yeah, at the famous Roosevelt Hotel. Yeah, in the ballroom. The ballroom that the first Academy Awards was held at. Yeah, that's pretty exciting. It is very exciting. I'll be there. Come say hi. And yeah, we might have a little special guest with us. I'll have pom poms. I'll just be like cheering Charlotte on from the crowd. Before I have him escorted out. Yeah, escorted out. Yeah, please that guy.

[00:03:27] That guy, the weird one over there. Yeah. Yeah. Also, they are showing a couple VistaVision prints. Well, that's kind of how this all came about. I think maybe lay a little groundwork for them, like how this whole, you know, focus on VistaVision happened this year at TCM. Okay. Well, they're showing VistaVision film prints. So if you've been following any info about TCM and the film festival this year, they announced a couple weeks ago that they are showing two VistaVision film prints.

[00:03:53] I mean, they're building VistaVision projectors specifically for this. So Boston Light and Sound over in Boston is actually building these projectors, shipping them across. In pieces. Across the country. They're being reassembled here. Reassembled here, put into the Chinese theater and two VistaVision film prints are going to be shown there. We're No Angels and Gunfight at the OK Corral. And I will be doing small introductions before both of those. And then there will be other speakers, I believe, talking at those. Yep.

[00:04:23] So those are not the super, super duper past level. But if you can see those, please do. I think they also sell individual tickets for those. Yeah, I think so. Hopefully there will be room. But please, if you're around or whatever, please see these. This is, I mean, this is going to be the hottest ticket in town. Well, it's going to be a real treat because, you know, we all know that VistaVision wasn't actually projected in VistaVision most times. Yeah. It was a very rare occasion that it was actually. Very rare and very rare. See natively. Yeah.

[00:04:51] And one of them, We're No Angels, we're going to have with a Perspecta audio track, if you know what that is. So even more rare. So I know everybody's been after us to do a Perspecta audio episode. So we have been talking to people about that. So that is not for lack of wanting it's in the shoot people. We are going to do that. It will to do. It will. It will happen. Yeah. So like you said, how did this all happen? Yeah. Like give them some background. Okay. Well, as the VistaVision lady.

[00:05:22] Every year TCM, they go, they go to all the studios and they say, what have you worked on? What's new? What have you restored? What would be good to program at the festival? And I've been involved pitching stuff to them every year with my boss formerly. And last year I thought I really had him. I said, it's the 70th anniversary of VistaVision and we've restored 30 VistaVision films that you can choose from.

[00:05:48] And they said, that's great, but it's the 100th anniversary of Columbia. We'll be highlighting Columbia this year. So I said, okay. You said, darn it. Dang it. But you kept that in the back of your head. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, I'm, I'm pitching VistaVision every year, whether they realize it or not. It's like, Hey, look at all these films, all VistaVision. So this year I've been doing research for the book that I'm working on about the history of VistaVision.

[00:06:17] If that's not been said before, I don't know. I can't remember if we've actually announced that you're working on a book. I don't know. I don't know, but it's all VistaVision all the time. But here we go. Another big announcement guys. Charlotte's working on a VistaVision book. Yeah. Still seeking a publisher. Anyways. So I was doing some research in the archive and I was looking at everything we had that's on VistaVision because I'm always looking for those missing things or things that haven't been discovered yet. I'm nosy.

[00:06:46] I like to see what's hiding. What haven't we looked at? It's kind of your job to be nosy. It's my job. So in doing that, I found that we had all this stuff, VistaVision print. Huh? That's not something you see very often. So I went, we actually had the gunfight at the OK Corral print at the archive building. The rest of them were located off lot at our cold storage. So I went upstairs, pulled it off the shelf and looked at it.

[00:07:15] But it was a VistaVision film print. It's not original. You know, there's no soundtrack on it. It's not an original film print that was done way back in the 50s. I'm not even exactly entirely sure that gunfight was ever exhibited as a VistaVision film print originally. Well, you just haven't found proof yet. That I don't know yet. Yeah. I need solid, solid, solid proof before I say yay or nay.

[00:07:42] Anyhow, so we had VistaVision film prints that were made. We had 10 of them. 10 different movies. 10 of them. So there were some that were Jerry Lewis films, which those are always a hard sell to people. Although, hey, Charlotte's getting worn down. She's actually kind of embracing the genius that is Jerry Lewis now. I will admit. Now that you've worked on so many of his films. I have.

[00:08:07] I used to have this joke about if, you know, you picked what to preserve based on your own preferences that if I was deciding everything, all Jerry Lewis films would be lost. Always a big crowd pleaser at, you know, at presentations. Can I say that joke anymore? Yeah, I can say this. I can still say that joke. Anyhow. So we had these prints and, you know, I just kept it in the back of my, my head.

[00:08:33] And then whenever my boss Andrea said, hey, what do you got for TCM this year? We need to put together stuff to, to pitch to them. So I did the normal, here's the restorations. Here's a couple things we worked on that have kind of a star in them because TCM is good at getting stars or star power. So that's one of the really want to, if there's a star or somebody that was in this, that's still around or their kids are around and really active that might be able to come. This is something you want to pitch because that makes it even better.

[00:09:03] Right. So along with the normal stuff, I did that. And then I said, Hey, uh, Vista vision stars where you knew Vista vision star is rising once again here. Yeah. Because of the brutalist. Because of the brutalist. And the new PT Anderson film. And well, that, that wasn't even announced yet, but I did know it. Cause you know, nothing secret in the industry. So, and several other films. Especially when you're the Vista vision lady, word gets to you that, Hey, stuff is being shot in this division. In this division. Yup. Don't tell anyone. I even know others that haven't been announced yet. That is true. But I ain't telling.

[00:09:33] Anyhow. So I pitched this crazy idea to TCM. I said, Hey, we've got Vista vision prints. So, you know, if you wanted to somehow find a Vista vision projector, then, um, yeah, we could show some Vista vision film prints thinking they were going to be like, cool. Yeah. That's a cool idea. Yeah. That's, that seems like a lot of work. And they said, yeah, they were crazy enough to say, you know what? Let's get Boston light and sound involved. They had a couple of Vista vision projectors. They had three of them. One worked two didn't between the two.

[00:10:03] They made another that worked. Then they made spare parts. Cause you got to have spares, especially for the movements inside the brains of the projectors. If you will, you know, we got to have spares in case something happens during the show guys, anything could go wrong. So anyways, that's why we're on pins and needles for this one. Who knows if you're coming to this greeting? I mean, it could be a complete disaster. It could be a disaster. Who knows? And you want to be there for that. So they said, yes.

[00:10:30] And here we are, here we are. And they're going to leave the projectors installed there. I think for the PT Anderson film that's coming out later this year, which is a Warner Brothers film and TCM is part of Warner Brothers. So, you know, it all kind of makes sense that they would be interested in this now. And because of the brutalist, it was just the right crazy pitch at the right time. And here we are. And there, there it is. And yeah. And originally they just, I was just going to do a little introduction for both of the films

[00:11:00] because they said, well, we don't know who to ask to talk about VistaVision. And then everybody just kind of pointed that way. Everybody was like. And then they said, would you be interested in maybe doing a little talk? Okay, sure. And then it was, hey, would you be interested in doing an hour long talk on the history of it? And I thought. Okay. Yes, I would. So that, you know, anyhow. So that's our announcement.

[00:11:29] We've been teasing it forever. We've been saying we've got big news. We've got big. And that's the big news that we've been wanting to tell everybody. Yeah. And they finally put it up. It's exciting. It's finally out there. I didn't want to say it before they said it. So if you're going to be here, if you're going to be here for TCM, there's also another little surprise. You might want to check out their merch booth. That's all I'm going to say. All I'm going to say. And come see it. Come see it. Because where else are you going to be able to see this? I don't know.

[00:11:57] I don't think this is going to be something that grows and is going to be a big popular thing after this. I really don't. No, I don't see them putting this division projectors in all over the country. This is a. It's kind of an oddity. It's a novelty. Novelty. Yep. And it's going to be a blast. It'll be very cool. And who knows if it's going to all work out because we're running the sound separately. So we got two projectors sound separately. So much could go wrong. So much could go wrong. And you want to be there for that. But there are way too many brilliant people.

[00:12:27] There are so many. Like involved in this. I know. Yeah. I'm joking about there. It's not going to be like that at all. There are some true. We brought in. You know, on my part, I made sure that especially with the sound, we got Nick Berg from InPoint Audio. I said, he's the most brilliant person I know that does audio. Let me get this guy in there to help us. Yeah. He's helping with the Perspecta Audio. That's going to be really cool. Yeah. And just putting him with Chapin from Boston Light and Sound and hearing engineer to engineers talk.

[00:12:56] It's just like, oh, yes, this is going to be so good. These guys have it covered. They got it. Yeah. So anyhow, that's the news. We're very excited to share. And yeah. Yeah. VistaVision. Is popular. What world? What dimension is this? The VistaVision lady is now like in high demand, which is hilarious. For this month only. For this month only. Yeah. So that's, yeah, we're very excited about that.

[00:13:24] So if you're in town, please stop by. Please, please see the presentation. If you're, you know, again, if you're lucky enough to hold whatever that pass level is, I don't know. It's up there. We'll put links to the ticket site. Yeah. Or come by, see the presentation. If you see me, please say hi. Love, love saying hi to people. Yeah. And, uh, yeah. We could have a few pins. Yeah. Maybe we'll have some pins. Yeah. We could have some pins. If you wanted a, if someone would love a first damage pin, please come up and say hi.

[00:13:54] And we can give you a pin. That's Adam saying that. So he better have some freaking pins on it. I will have pockets full of pins, pockets full of pins, pockets full of here. All right. So we're going to let you go. Adam's got an episode to edit. Yeah. He's been putting it off. We've been a little busy lately, but he's been a little busy traveling and you know, all that kind of stuff. So he's got an episode to edit and, uh, I got a presentation to write guys.

[00:14:23] Cause, uh, I gotta, it's coming up, coming up soon. I've got good notes scribbled down. I gotta write. I gotta, I gotta get this going. So anyhow, thanks for, uh, thanks for joining us. Thanks for joining us in this little, whatever this was announcement, just announcement. All right. And, uh, hope you hope to see you guys at TCM. Bye. Bye.