  I don't want to sound like I'm
ancient, but I remember a time when film programming at conventions was not an
all-three-days, 24-hours-a-day event. Cons showed actual movies, either 16mm or
35mm, and video tapes were limited to professional productions.Rich and I began our fannish life in
the South. While much of the country had been giving cons for a while, the South
started its convention circuit in the `60s. In the early `70s, Southern cons were
still very small, and a movie was a special event that most people attended, if they
could either stay up that late or if there were few parties.The convention that usually had the
best movie event was Kubla Khan, given by Ken Moore and the Nashville crowd. Ken
had a movie projector and, through his connections, could usually come up with a
good SF film that had seen life on the airlines. The movie room was the banquet/main
hall converted into a theater by adding a standalone screen. Late Saturday night,
we would assemble and the movie would began. And then about half way though the
film, the snoring would start. At the end, the lights would come on and there would
be Ken sound asleep on the floor.The Kubla Khan film that sticks in my
mind was the silent, black and white, Lon Chaney version of The Phantom of the
Opera. It was on small reels and had the special addition of red coloring in
the masked ball sequence. The first reel had only the clack-clack of the projector
as accompaniment. While reels were changed (there was only one projector), people
commented on the film so far. During the second reel, people suddenly realized
there was no dialogue and began whispering to each other. The buzz slowly built up.
Suddenly, someone piped up and said, "Hey, keep it down! I can't hear the projector
clacking!" That broke the dam. From then on, people filled in the dialogue out
loud and had a great time in general. It wasn't quite on the level of Mystery
Science Theater 3000, but it was fun.With the advent of VCRs, showing of
actual films at conventions has lessened in favor of videotapes of TV shows and
movies. While this is a great way to see shows that you haven't seen before (I'm
still waiting to see Sapphire and Steel played at a decent hour at a con),
seeing a movie at a con is less of an event. I've been pleased to see that at
recent worldcons and some regional conventions, actual theater-like places are being
used to show movies.So that leaves actual movie theaters
for fannish movie memories. While seeing Star Wars the first time stands out
in my mind as a truly sensawonder experience, it was a lesser movie -- Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom -- that made a fannish impression on me.I loved Raiders of the Lost Ark
and saw it a number of times at the theater. Rich even bought the video tape for my
birthday. So, when the next installment of the series came out, I was ready to
enjoy. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as the first and I was disappointed.
However, this didn't stop me from suggesting to see it when a group of fans descended
on our house a few weeks after it opened.Our friend Guy Lillian, from New
Orleans, had come to Chattanooga (where we then lived) with the masters for the
current issue of the Southern Fandom Confederation Newsletter. Since we had
both an electrostenciler and a mimeo, Guy had persuaded us to run off the issue.
But when an out-of-town fan visits, the local fans of course gather. Our little
house was soon filled with people and Rich found getting any work done difficult.
To cut down on the congestion, I suggested we all go out to a movie. While this
would mean fewer people to help, there wasn't much for them to do at the moment.
Collating would take place in a few hours. So, stuffing as many people as possible
into the available cars, we headed off for the theater to see Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom. I think that of the ten or so people going, I was the only
one who had previously seen it.We arrived and got in the long
Saturday night line. When we got into the theater, we managed to find seats
together in a row near the front. Quickly the room packed to capacity and the movie
started. Being a full house and a Saturday night, the crowd was a bit noisy --
crunching popcorn, slurping drinks and whispering in general -- but not so bad that
one couldn't hear the film.As the movie played, it became
apparent that the crowd was restless with this not-as-good-as-the-last-one
production. I was sitting next to Guy and we exchanged a few words to that effect.
And then it happened...Part way though the film, Indy and
friends are in an airplane without a pilot, and are trying to figure out how to fly
it. Indy was sitting at the wheel and said something to the effect that it probably
wasn't too hard to fly, when the plane suddenly goes into a nosedive. At that point,
the movie obviously became too much for Guy. He got to his feet and yelled, "Pull
back on the wheel!" as if he were a pilot instead of an avid moviegoer. There was a
long moment of silence in the theater, and I was sure we were going to be tossed out
of there.However, like the earlier Phantom
of the Opera film, this lapse in theater etiquette seemed to break the dam, and
people loved it. The theater was then filled with comments on the action, with
probably better dialogue than had been written. The fun continued until the end
credits began to roll. As we left, I wondered if we had started something. After
all, The Rocky Horror Picture Show's fame started with a humble fan shouting
out a response to a line of movie dialogue. But, it was not to be...Anyway, the next time you sit down to
watch the latest SF or fantasy movie, remember that at cons they used to be a big
event. With a group of fans watching, they could still
be! - - - - - - - - - -
Nicki's article brought in comments from readers who were also fans of Mystery
Science Theater 3000, as well as one from Lloyd Penney, who told us that his
wife Yvonne was drafted into doing instant translation of a French-language Star
Trek episode at a Canadian science fiction convention. Ah, the perils of being
bilingual! Mimosa 26 was published in
December 2000, and featured a collaborative cover by Ian Gunn and Joe Mayhew. The
cover had actually been intended for an earlier issue. Several months before he
died, Ian had told us that he was working on a cover that would be a sequel of sorts
to his cover for M18. But after completing about two-thirds of the drawing,
he became too ill to finish it. It was about a year after Ian's death that Joe asked
if he could take a look at it, and barely a month later, we had the finished cover.
It was only a few months after that when Joe himself became terminally ill. We
consider the M26 cover a tribute to the memory of both Joe and Ian, and one
of the articles in M26 was a remembrance of Joe:Title illustration by Julia Morgan-Scott Mimosa 26 cover by Ian Gunn and Joe Mayhew |
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