Strange Sinema: Supersonic Soul! August 28, 2009

Event: “Strange Sinema: Supersonic Soul”, Oddities from the Oddball Archives” featuring new finds, buried junk and avant garde gems including the burlesque of Faith Bacon: A Lady With Fans, Rare footage of the Watts Riots 1968, The Hubley’s brilliant animated Urbanisimo, the exhilarating tribal exotica of Ethiopia, The James Bond spoofs Our Man Flint and In Like Flint Trailers, a treasury of supersonic soul featuring Black Music in America: the 70s, world land speed record holder Craig Breedlove in 4 5 6 Plus! Just say no to drug live-action puppets in Jo Jo’s Blues and other anomalies from the archives!
Date: Friday, August 28th at 8:30PM.
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited seating, RSVP Preferred to: 415-558-8117 or [email protected]
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Strange_Sinema_16.pdf
Supersonic Soul
"Strange Sinema”

Oddities From the Archives
Screens at Oddball Films

Friday, August 28, 2009, we present “Strange Sinema: Supersonic Soul”, Offbeat Oddities from the Archives”, a collection of films from our unarchived collection. Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00. Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to: [email protected] or 415-558-8117.

Deep in the stacks of Oddball Films’ 50,000 film collection lie thousands of unviewed and undiscovered curiosities that have never seen the light of a projection lamp. In many cases the purpose they were made (though some seem to have no purpose!) has long since outlasted their exhibition possibilities.
These offbeat and bizarre medical, mental hygiene, arty, adult, educational, music, movie trailers, home movies and commercial throw-aways were collected and archived by curator Stephen Parr in his quest to make the world a stranger cinematic place. These films provide valuable insight into the rich variety of sub-cinema culture that lies beneath the surface of conventional feature film fare.
Most of these films will never be screened anywhere again. Join us as we unearth and re-screen these filmic finds. Tonight we present some truly remarkable gems recently retrieved from our South of Market Storage space, a new collection of TV news outtakes and a large collection of films we’ve recently received from of all places-The University of Akron, Ohio.

Featuring!

Black Music in America: The 70s (1979)
Issac Hayes and Dionne Warwick take the viewer on a musical excursion through the world of Black music of the 1970's. From the Detroit sound of Diana Ross to the disco beat of Donna Summer, the film follows the progression of Motown in the 70s with interviews featuring Quincy Jones and Smokey Robinson and a cavalcade of musical clips featuring Earth, Wind and Fire, Barry White, Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Kahn, Parliment, Funkadelic, The Village People, Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Miles Davis a mind-blowing effects-laden video clip of the Jacksons and a Soul Train load of clips more!
Faith Bacon: A Lady With Fans (B+W, 1942)

“When she was 20, Faith Bacon got a job in Broadway, as a chorus girl in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1930. Carroll, a big time Broadway producer who, in his day, gloried in the snappy nickname, "the picker of pulchritude", was anxious to come up with a new way of getting some naked female flesh up on stage as part of the show. In New York, it was legal to have nude women on stage as long as they didn't move, so shows often featured artistic tableaux with an array of stationary nudes. However, that wasn't good enough for the pulchritude picker, who found himself in a creative crisis. There had to be a novel way of flashing some skin without getting arrested! At this moment of emergency, according to Faith's publicist -- clearly a fan of 42nd Street (1933) -- "a chorine stepped out of line and offered a suggestion." It was Faith, of course, taking a reckless chance to pitch her idea to the top man. "Mr Carroll," she said, "Why can't we do a number where I'm covered when I move, and undraped when I stop? For example -- let's say the orchestra plays a waltz. I dance around, but on every third note, the music stops and I stand still and uncover!"
Carroll was impressed, and asked what she thought she could use to cover herself during the waltzing interludes.
She suggested that ostrich feathers would be ideal, and so the fan dance -- truly, the zenith of American pre-war culture -- was born.”
Faith toured America for the next few years, standing still on every third note, getting lots of ink in the gossip pages and occasionally getting busted by the police for outraging public decency (the busts always went down in such a way as to publicize, not shut down, her show). From: The Unsung Joe: Faith Bacon.
Bacon died in 1947, on the skids and down on her luck by leaping from the window of a Chicago, hotel room, an apparent suicide.

Ethiopia (Color, 1985)
Ethiopia is like no other place in Africa. Seven time Oscar award-winner Robin Lehman produced, directed and scored this stunning stream of consciousness portrait of one of the Africa’s most unique and varied Countries. This pristine non-narrative 16mm print has stunning visuals of tribal peoples, wild animals and amazing geographic wonders. Lehman’s sound score is innovative and textural, completing the images with sounds.

Watts+DC Riots (Color, 1968)
As a precursor to our film Black Music in America: The 70s we screen raw news footage from the Watts and Washington, DC riots erupting after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King. This film, featuring rare color footage (and the only existing camera original) highlights the heat and the hate, the mayhem and the madness of black rage and American society on the brink.
Urbanissimo (1966)
Famed animators John and Faith Hubley’s film tells the tale of a wily farmer who matches wits with a runaway “city” on legs. Dramatizing the blight perpetuated by chaotic urban development, this animated film tells the story of an unassuming little farmer, symbolic of non-urban man, who is sitting amidst natural surroundings enjoying the flowers and bees. He is interrupted by the entrance of a personified city which chews into his charming landscape. The urban monster is rampant and uncontrollable but the farmer is intrigued by its mobility and dynamic excitement. With a hoppin’ jazz soundtrack by the great Benny Carter with Maynard Ferguson and Ray Brown.

Our Man Flint+ In Like Flint Trailers (Color, 1966, 1967)
Two trailers from the Our Man Flint film series, a comedic take-off on the James Bond genre, surreal and silly, sexist and action-packed. In Our Man Flint when scientists use eco-terrorism to impose their will on the world by affecting extremes in the weather, Intelligence Chief Cramden calls in top agent Derek Flint.
Flint is the worlds greatest secret agent, worlds greatest lover, an expert on electronics and Dolphin speech and goes to Moscow for Ballet (To teach!) When attempts on his life are made, Flint begins to search out the mad scientists who want to remake the world after taking over with the aid of their earthquake machine.
In In Like Flint Super-spy Flint takes on a cabal of women who have banded together to take over the world through subliminal brainwashing in beauty salons! Watch what middle-class America marveled at as they were ignoring the tumultuous 60s!
Akron (Color,1985)
Lots of the films we’re screening this evening came from Akron, Ohio and it’s only right that we offer a small tribute to that armpit of a city (and home of the famed bizarro band Pere Ubu and that famous tire company). Here’s a ludicrous promotional short for Akron in gorgeous color and easily worth a few cheap laughs. Why would anyone, for any reason live or want to live in Akron? Find out why 80s style tonight!
4, 5, 6, Plus! (Color, 1960s)
Watch rocket man Craig Breedlove burn thousands of gallons of fuel (and Goodyear rubber) as he tries breaking the world land speed on the Utah Bonneville Salt Flats record in his “The Spirit of America” cruiser-the real Burning Man! From Akron’s Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company with love!

Plus! Jo Jo’s Blues-bizarre anti drug puppet animation in gorgeous color. Also! More teasers, trailers and weird home movies!