Thursday Day 1 |
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The dealers' rooms at the Renaissance hotel opened at 3:00 on Thursday. This gave film fans a chance to shop for movie memorabilia before they picked up their registration packets With 6 rooms full of film collectibles like DVDs, books, vintage posters, lobby cards, and stacks of classic stills it was easy to find something of interest.
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Eager Cinephiles started lining up before 4:45. They had a little bit of a wait because the pre-registration packets were a few minutes late in arriving. |
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As soon as the pre-registration packets were ready the crack volunteer staff went to work distributing them and the line moved quickly.
The pre-registration envelopes contained the film schedule, a registration badge and the 24-page program (full of great information about each film). 
The packets also contained flyers about the special programs to be presented at the hotel on Saturday and Sunday. There were also a few discount  coupons for local eateries and last, but most certainly not least,
if you were wise enough to take advantage of the full pre-registration discount, you also received your celebrity banquet ticket. As Cinecon regulars know these banquet tickets usually sell out early.
No sooner had the packets been handed out then the Cinephiles could be seen thumbing through the program planning their viewing for the weekend.
Fans were amazed at the cinematic treats that awaited them in the days ahead.
As the start time of the first screening approached the crowd in the registration area thinned and people started heading down Hollywood Blvd. to the historic Egyptian where the weekend's screenings were slated to take place in the 600 seat Lloyd E. Rigler theatre. |
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The show opened with a Charley Chase comedy short from 1936, THE BIG SQUIRT. Charley's a soda jerk who fancies himself as a detective. He spends part of the short hot on the trail of what he believes to be a criminal. In the course of the chase he has several great comedy bits and, while disguised as a one-man-band, he even gets to sing.
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The first feature of the weekend was a 1962 military drama set in Korea, WAR HUNT. Although probably best known for being Robert Redford's first film we were screening it because of the great performance by our special guest of the evening John Saxon. A lot of Saxon's early work was in films that showcased his good looks rather than his acting versatility. This film gave him a chance to play against type as a character that is mentally unhinged.
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After the film Bob Birchard introduced Mr. Saxon and interviewed him about his career. John talked about working on War Hunt and how he developed the character.
He also spoke about how he got his start in films, when an agent discovered while he was working as a model. After he did a screen test for Universal Pictures they signed him to a contract and started grooming him to be a star. He was given classes in acting, dancing, horseback riding, voice & diction etc.
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That was more than 50 years ago and since then John has appeared in scores of films among them are The Reluctant Debutante (1958), Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), The Appaloosa (1966), Enter the Dragon (1973), and The Electric Horseman (1979). He has also starred in several TV shows including The Bold Ones and Falcon Crest and guest starred in many more.
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There were lots of audience questions. Some fans asked about his experience working with people like John Huston and Audrey Hepburn on the film The Unforgiven or Marlon Brando on Missouri Breaks while others asked if he had stories to share about starring in the Sci Fi TV pilot Planet Earth. They also wanted to know what attracted him to his recent part in CSI or why he ended up doing a cameo in Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk to Dawn
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John enjoyed talking with the audience. Some of his answers were serious and some were fun. All in all both fans and star seemed to have a good time. |
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After the interview fans gathered around John and he took time to chat further with them and pose for pictures. He also stopped to sign a few autographs on his way out.
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Next up were two early silent comedies from Essanay recently restored by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. BILLY McGRATH ON BROADWAY with John Steppling & Augustus Carney (1913) and VERSUS SLEDGE HAMMERS an entry in the "Snakeville Comedy" series with Margaret Joslin, Harry Todd, Victor Potel and Ben Turpin (1915).
Our next feature was another war story, this one set in World War I. ON DANGEROUS GROUND was made in 1917 before America's entry into the war. Carlyle Blackwell plays an American doctor who travels to Belgium where he meets a Belgian girl (Gail Kane) who turns out to be a spy. She has just stolen German attack plans and she has to pretend to be his wife so that she can escape from the Germans and get those plans to the allied army.
The final film of the evening was a zippy little romantic comedy B picture from 1936, THEY MET IN A TAXI (Columbia). Chester Morris is a taxi driver who picks up run away bride/heiress Fay Wray who is not what she seems and he ends up letting her move into his apartment. They soon get mixed up in a crime involving missing pearls. Throw in Lionel Stander as a reformed pickpocket turned cab driver and Raymond Washburn as a society gossip columnist for support and you've got an entertaining hour plus. |
Friday Day 2
The Friday morning session started off at 9:00 AM with chapter ten of The Iron Claw (Columbia, 1941) a 15 chapter serial about a reporter trying to figure out what's going on in an old house amid secret passages, sinister people and hidden gold. Chapters 1 through 9 were shown at previous Cinecons including last year when we screened 4 episodes. We would be screening 3 episodes during the weekend, one on Friday another on Sunday and chapter 12 on Monday.
Western fans were looking forward to the first feature of the morning, THE RIDER OF DEATH VALLEY (Universal, 1932), starring Tom Mix and they weren't disappointed. This was vintage Tom Mix in one of his early talkies for Universal which he also directed. In the story Mix and several others, including love interest Lois Wilson, follow a treasure map searching for gold in Death Valley until the water runs out.
MAN, WOMAN, WIFE (Universal) was made as a silent in 1928 but had a music track added before its release in 1929. The luminous print was courtesy of NBC/Universal. This is another film with World War I used as a plot point. Newly married Norman Kerry is drafted and, after shipping off to Europe, becomes a deserter. He makes his way back home but can't go back to his wife because he was declared killed in action and she has since remarried. He hits the skids and then runs into his former lover Pauline Starke. She is now the kept woman of a gangster and in spite of that he moves in with her. |
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Serious collectors of movie memorabilia had been shopping in the dealers' rooms all morning but with a lunch break in the film schedule the rooms got even busier
Besides a great selection of collectibles shoppers also had the chance to buy some personally autographed books. |
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Throughout the weekend authors of film related books turned out for our Cinecon Book Fair which was set up in the entry area to the dealers' rooms at the Renaissance Hotel to autograph and sell copies of their books. |
Actor William Wellman Jr. was on hand again this year to sign copies of the book he has written about his father, legendary director William A. Wellman. THE MAN AND HIS WINGS: William Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture. Also available at his table were VHS copies of the award winning documentary about his father, WILD BILL - HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK: The Life and Times of William A. Wellman, which he co-executive produced. |
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Arcadia Publishing has published a number of books in their Images of America series and one of those books, probably the most interesting to classic film enthusiasts, is SILENT-ERA FILMMAKING IN SANTA BARBARA written by our own Cinecon president Robert S. (we call him Bob) Birchard. The American Film Company, with production facilities in Santa Barbara, was one of the fledgling movie industry’s most successful studios producing nearly 1,200 silent films between 1910 and 1921. This book is full of vintage pictures of the studio.
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Lou Miano was here with his book RUSS COLUMBO The Amazing Life and Mysterious Death of a Hollywood Singing Legend. Miano’s book is a fully researched, comprehensive biography of the short life of 1930s vocalist and bandleader Russ Columbo. The book also contains a filmography and extensive discography. Regular Cinecon attendees might recall that we screened Columbo's last film, 1934s Wake up and Dream a few years ago.
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Author Diana Serra Cary started out life as a child star in silent films under the name Baby Peggy. Like most child stars her acting career ended when grew up. So as an adult she turned her talents to the book publishing business and then she started writing. She's written several books, with her most recent being HOLLYWOOD'S CHILDREN and JACKIE COOGAN THE WORLD'S BOY KING
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If you missed your favorite author you could always check out the large selection of books at the Hollywood Heritage table. They carried a variety of titles and the money from the sale of those books goes back to the not-for-profit group Hollywood Heritage, an organization dedicated to the preservation of historic Hollywood.
These authors were just a few of the dozen or so who came to Cinecon to spend time with our members. |
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The afternoon session started with Cinecon's favorite cartoon character, Scrappy, in the Columbia short from 1939 SCRAPPY'S ADDED ATTRACTION.
Up next was Paramount's first all talkie feature INTERFERENCE (1929). The drama was a little slow moving but still had its moments with a love triangle between William Powell, Doris Kenyon and Clive Brook, with Evelyn Brent thrown in as a double-dealing blackmailer. Powell is another World War I deserter returned home to find his wife, Kenyon, remarried to a wealthy doctor after his reported death. His new lover Brent finds out that he's still in love his wife and, out of Jealousy, she tries to blackmail Kenyon with dire results.
The charming little silent comedy FOR ALIMONY ONLY (1926) Starred Clive Brook as an unhappily divorced man who meets sweet natured gal Leatrice Joy and falls in love. They marry and want to settle down but can't because the huge sum of alimony that he pays to his conniving ex-wife (played deliciously by Lilyan Tashman) keeps them broke.
Can you imagine Shemp Howard as the love interest for Patti Andrews? That's just one element of the lively Universal B-musical HOW'S ABOUT IT from 1943 which led us into the dinner break. The film, which takes place in a music publishing company, starred Robert Paige and Grace McDonald as two people fighting over plagiarized lyrics. Like most of these Universal B movies the paper-thin plot was just an excuse to have some laughs and enjoy the music, here provided by the Andrews Sisters along with Buddy Rich and his orchestra. Support was provided by the aforementioned Shemp Howard along with Mary Wickes, Walter Catlett and Jack Norton. The film also had some great dance segments featuring a 14-year-old tap dancer named Bobby Scheerer. |
Bob made several more films at Universal during the 1940s performing with a group of teen dancers called the Jivin' Jacks and Jills before turning his talents to directing and producing TV shows in the 1960s.
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While HOW'S ABOUT IT was not actually scheduled as a celebrity screening we did get the chance to meet one of the actors afterwards - that young dancer who had dazzled us with his dancing skills in the film, Robert (AKA Bobby) Scheerer. He was interviewed by Rusty Frank author of TAP!
The Greatest Tap Stars and Their Stories: 1900 - 1955
For nearly 40 years he has directed a wide assortment of dramatic, comedy and variety shows including such hits as THE DANNY KAYE SHOW, IRONSIDE, FAME, HAWAII FIVE-0, MATLOCK, DYNASTY, THE LOVE BOAT and STAR TREK TNG to name just a few from his prolific career.
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After dinner the evening session began with THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE NO BUSINESS a short industrial advertising film made in the 1960's, worth watching only for its star Buster Keaton doing his comedy bits.
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Franchot Tone starred in one of the hit films of the weekend, TRAIL OF THE VIGILANTES, (1940) a comedy/western gem that rivals DESTRY RIDES AGAIN as one of the best tongue-in-cheek oaters. Tone plays an eastern US marshal who heads west to round up an organized band of cattle rustlers led by bad guy Warren Williams. Co-starring in the film were Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine, Mischa Auer and Peggy Moran.
A special guest in the audience was Franchot's grandson and namesake Fanchot Tone III (center), seen here with his wife Christie and Cinecon secretary Stan Taffel. |
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Our next film was famed director William Wellman's silent classic BEGGARS OF LIFE (Paramount 1928) in a bright new 35mm restoration by George Eastman House. In the film Louise Brooks and Richard Arlen play a couple who are on the run because she's killed her abusive father. They end up falling in with a bunch of hobos, led by Wallace Beery, with grim results. The director's son, actor William Wellman Jr., was on hand to introduce the film and share some of his father's anecdotes about the making it.
The final film of the evening, also in a brand new print (this one courtesy of Sony Pictures), was the fast moving B-grade murder mystery GIRLS CAN PLAY (Columbia, 1937) set in the world of women's baseball. The film starred Charles Quigley as a reporter trying to solve the murders of several girls on the team while falling for player Jacqueline Wells. A special highlight in the film is a young Rita Hayworth in a featured part as one of the players who gets bumped off for knowing too much. |
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