Wow! What a response!
Last week I wrote about finding the movie “Irene” on DVD – the old silent film is historically interesting for Kerrville, since it was the first film shown at the Arcadia back in 1926.
I rambled here last week that I’d like to show the movie at the Arcadia and invited anyone who was interested in watching the film with me to drop me an email (joeherringjr .at. gmail .dot. com) or a postcard (615 Water Street, Kerrville).
Honestly, I thought I might find 10 people who’d watch the old film with me. We 10 would sit in the dark old Arcadia and root for Irene (played by Colleen Moore) as she searched for happiness. I could see us sitting there in our lawn chairs, munching popcorn, the film flickering as projected on a bed sheet.
Let’s just say a few more than 10 people want to see the film. Ok, a lot more than 10. I had to call a friend at the City to see how many people could safely be in the old theater at one time. We might need to have two shows. Maybe three.
So, if you missed sending me a message last week, but want to be included in the invitation list, please drop me a line. There are a few logistical problems to solve, but I’m still hoping to present the movie at the Arcadia soon.
The show will be free, and I think the experience will be fun. For the first time in 81 years the people of Kerrville will see this old film together in the same theater where it played.
I do have a bonus challenge for my engineering friends: how can we cool down the old theater to a comfortable temperature? There is no air-conditioning in the old building, and it can be quite warm in there. Too warm to enjoy the 93 minute movie.
I’ve had two suggestions, both good. First, we could show the film on a Saturday morning. The building is coolest then. Or, we could wait until autumn.
But I’d like to show it at night, with the Arcadia sign flashing in the night sky. And I’d like to show it right away, while people are talking about the future of the Arcadia.
So – if you have an idea how we can cool the old building down (inexpensively) to show the film, please drop me a line.
* * *
Speaking of old films, I got a great email from Cheryl Johnson, office manager of our local Time-Warner office, this week:
“Time Warner Cable will be hosting "Hollywood in the Hill Country" on Saturday, July 21st. We will be doing a free showing of the movie "Casablanca". This will be held at Louise Hays Park - Centennial Stage. The movie is to begin at sundown so it should be around 8:30PM. We would love for you and your families to join us! Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, picnic baskets or coolers. Sit back and enjoy the movie!”
Now that sounds like fun! I hope the weather is good for them – this is something I’d like to see done often, and eventually, I’d like to see old movies presented at the Arcadia Theater.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who likes old movies.
A small package arrived by mail to our office Thursday. It is still wrapped in plastic, like a ham or a gift basket, and I haven’t unwrapped it.
Though I want to, I cannot.
Though the plastic is transparent, I’m not sure what I’ll find when I open it. Sure, I can see right through the wrapper. And I even know what I’ll find when I open the little plastic case when I tear away the cellophane. I’ll find a disc, a shiny plate of plastic with microscopic pits arranged in some secret code only a DVD player can comprehend.
And, according to some research I’ve done on the inconvenience we call the Internet, I even know the basic outline of the information on the disc. It contains a story, the story of an Irish lass named Irene.
“A hardworking but under-achieving Irish girl loses her job and gets tossed out by her tough mother,” the jacket reads. “She turns to her gold-digging friend and turns the head of a society man until his mother finds out about her family. How can it end?”
Elsewhere, I’ve written about the story recorded on this particular disc.
It’s “a saga about the life of a poor, beautiful Irish lass whose dire economic circumstances obscure her royal lineage. She worked as a shopkeeper’s assistant, selling dresses. A local grandee had obtained the job for her there as a model; the villainous shopkeeper had demoted her to lowly clerk. During a grand fashion show, the grandee notes the absence of his protégé, storms to the dimly lit store, costumes the girl and returns with her to triumph, and eventually love – discovered on a rusting fire escape, outside the fashion show.”
I even wrote “the scenes of the fashion show were ‘registered in subdued tones of the Techni-color process, a new idea which has recently been discovered by those who invented the method of color photography.’”
Here’s the deal: I’ve found a digital copy of the 1926 movie “Irene.” This probably means nothing to you, Gentle Reader. But in my recent obsession about the Arcadia Theater, it means a lot to me. You see, ‘Irene’ was the first movie ever shown at the Arcadia.
“On the warm Tuesday evening of June 29, 1926, a flock of folks crowded into a newly built hall to watch the comedy film “Irene,” starring Colleen Moore.”
Yep, about 81 years ago exactly, the first movie shown at the Arcadia has returned to Kerrville. On Thursday afternoon I tapped the still-wrapped case of the DVD against the wall of the old silent Arcadia Theater. I don’t know why, but it felt good. Like a circle was finished, one that started in that hot summer of 1926 and was completed in this wet summer of 2007.
A picture of Colleen Moore is on the cover of the plastic case. She’s pictured looking out of a doorway wearing an oddly-shaped hat. She looks hopeful, as if expecting something.
Here’s what I’d like to do, if I can figure out a way to bring it all together. I’d like to show the movie at the Arcadia, projecting the DVD-encapsulated movie against a bed sheet or some other make-shift screen, not unlike the way movies were shown in the classic film Cinema Paradisio. I’d like anyone who was interested to show up, bring a lawn chair, and watch the old story with me. I’d like to share the story with a crowd of people, munching popcorn in the dark, hoping dear Irene finds her way to happiness.
Not unlike the crowd in 1926. In the same place. Watching the same movie.
It would be an interesting historical experiment: Not only would we be watching the same movie they saw that first evening, we’d be following the same story, feeling some of the same emotions.
If you’d like to be there, drop me a line, either by mail or by email.
Maybe I can figure out a way to make it all happen (there are some technical, permission, and air-conditioning issues to be solved). If so, if you let me know you’re interested, I’ll send you an invite. It might be quite fun.
Until next week, all the best.
Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who wonders what the crowd saw that now distant evening.
