Posts by Essanay@sfba.social
(DIR) Post #AhoJE3CsCJxJAbg5rM by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-05-12T06:52:17Z
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RIP, Roger Corman: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/roger-corman-dead-producer-independent-b-movie-1235999591/His movies were cheesy, but they were not dull!
(DIR) Post #AiRmaFJQLQdMvC7BQW by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-05-31T06:27:38Z
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Metropolis, the novel by Thea von Harbou on which the film is based, just showed up (in English translation) on #ProjectGutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73727
(DIR) Post #Aierk6TZlb4QrU7fJw by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-06-06T06:12:49Z
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The other day I had some midweek business at our museum, and went there from my office in Mountain View via transit and bike.#VTA #VTALightRail #BART #SFBART
(DIR) Post #AiiR2UZF0vGUf79juq by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-06-08T01:31:10Z
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Saturday, June 8th, 7:30pmBruce Loeb, Piano AccompanimentTHE WIZARD OF OZ (1925) Dorothy, heir to the Oz throne, must take it back from the wicked Prime Minister Kruel with the help of three farmhands. You’ve been over the rainbow...now see where director Larry Semon takes you in his wild adaptation of the Frank Baum classic! Starring Dorothy Dwan as Dorothy, Larry Semon as the scarecrow and Oliver Hardy as the tin man.Preceded by Shorts: The Mechanical Cow (1927, Disney) Oswald The Lucky RabbitKing of the Kongo (1929, D) Chapter 1: Into The UnknownThe adventure serial The King of the Kongo (Mascot Pictures, 1929) was produced in a hurry to be the first serial in sound. The ten episodes were made economically, incorporating stock footage, rented studio facilities, and pre-existing film sets such as remained from Don Juan (1926). WIth Boris Karloff!
(DIR) Post #Aiivfb5HiQJynBhtpI by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-06-08T16:48:41Z
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@gmcgath Yeah it has a reputation! But I guess that means any true #SilentFilm fan needs to see it, right? :)
(DIR) Post #AiuzFFdK89280wzKb2 by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-06-14T11:45:08Z
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Friday, June 14th, 7:30pm -- TONIGHT!!!DESTINATION MOON (1950) The tale of when Doctor Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson) and retired General Thayer (Tom Powers) approach Jim Barnes (John Archer), the head of his own aviation construction firm to help build a rocket that will take them to the moon.Produced by George PalDirected by Irving PichelThis gorgeous 16mm print will be preceded by a vintage cartoon and sci-fi trailers! At our Edison Theater37417 Niles Blvd, Fremont, CA 94536
(DIR) Post #AkKJs03anELqr5ElZA by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-07-26T13:53:49Z
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It starts today! FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 26-28BRONCHO BILLY SILENT FILM FESTIVALWomen in Film - Garbo - Essanay Studio Films - Billy Bevan - Lenticulars - Focus on Film Collectors - Oddities - DocumentariesThree days of films, talks, and fun named in honor of the man who brought the movies to Niles:G.M. “Broncho Billy” Anderson!Our festival page is now ready for it’s close up! https://nilesfilmmuseum.org/?tv=6447778404499456
(DIR) Post #AkiH8OfDR7s9jj05Uu by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-08-07T04:58:38Z
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@gmcgath Yeah, hard not to have that association. The pizza place down the street updating the spelling (Bronco Billy's Pizza Palace--highly recommended. Amazing Crust! We go there after shows quite often) but being a museum and not a pizza joint, we feel like we should stick with the authentic historical spelling that the man himself used.Google's "ngram viewer" shows that "broncho buster" was somewhat more popular than "bronco buster" in the early 20th ct, but the h-less spelling took over rapidly between 1940-1950 approximately. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bronco+buster%2Cbroncho+buster&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3
(DIR) Post #AmMKgXhGTZrpaFqRZA by Essanay@sfba.social
2024-09-25T02:54:10Z
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This showed up in today's mail :)Another great restoration project from Undercrank Productions!@undercrank
(DIR) Post #Apmw8GjSpH8Mb4lH4S by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-01-05T23:30:00Z
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You really can fix anything with duck (my mind was blown the day I learned that "duck" is actually the correct name) tape.The original leather belt for this #EdisonCylinder #RecordPlayer broke, and I fixed it (sand the ends diagonally, then stick together with thick instant glue), but it's probably going to fail again at some point. I should learn how to work with leather and make a new belt from scratch, but meanwhile it seems like a good idea to have a backup around.
(DIR) Post #Apnd6EbS4FTJRXI3N2 by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-01-06T08:18:51Z
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@gmcgath That's only part of the story. Way back when there was a waterproof cloth called duck cloth. And an adhesive tape was invented made from it, called duck tape. Eventually its use on ducts was so common that duct tape became the standard form, and people I think started thinking that duck tape was just a bit of linguistic misanalysis, or a folksy alternative ("a folk etymology"). "Duct" was so standard, and the origins so forgotten, that it could be claimed as a brand. I don't know of the Duck Tape company is aware of all this history or not (they would probably deny it since it weakens their claim to the brand).
(DIR) Post #At2CrzHVXB7k9KjRmy by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-04-13T02:41:52Z
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@futurebird His name was Nipper and it makes sense now.
(DIR) Post #At5etIGRp1R9VKWkbo by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-04-14T18:39:58Z
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@futurebird I wonder if they were actually trying to demo the slogan, and play a recording of his master's voice?
(DIR) Post #AwO8zW1FjFft9cQUaW by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-07-21T23:45:48Z
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Here's an interesting artifact from our museum (I was over there today helping get ready for next weekend's Broncho Billy #SilentFilm Festival). It's a hand-cranked 35mm home projector--with a built-in oil lamp as a light source. Complete with chimney. Kind of crazy that you'd have an actual flame mere inches from nitrate film!It only takes very small film reels, but I have a 35mm trailer or two that would fit. Sometime *after* next weekend I'll see if I can get this running.
(DIR) Post #AwOhWw2FQ4tPq5zzxQ by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-07-22T16:45:25Z
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@gmcgath Fire extinguishers are a good idea to keep a nitrate film fire from spreading to the rest of your house. But nitrate film contains its own oxygen. Once it catches on fire IT CANNOT BE PUT OUT!!! It will burn underwater (I've seen this demonstrated). It could probably burn in outer space!
(DIR) Post #AytzsJlJSKa3pXVmJk by Essanay@sfba.social
2025-10-04T23:28:41Z
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Watched invasion of the Body Snatchers. It's deservedly a classic, but there's an inconsistency that's bugging me. Throughout most of the movie it seems that physical replacements for humans are grown in pods, the originals memories are transferred somehow to the clones, and the originals disposed of (off-camera). But in the end, the protagonist's gf has been replaced "in situ", so to speak, with no pod anywhere around.Am I just thinking too much about a dumb movie?A lot of ink has been spilt and electrons shoved around talking about the symbolic meaning of this movie (it's either a metaphor for communism or red scares or the conformity of 50's life or a call to be more fully human or something....).There's a lot less talk about the actual mechanics of the alien invasion and if it makes any sense.Were any bodies actually snatched?I was surprised to learn it's based on a novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_Snatchers