Date: Sept. 4, 2014
To: All media for immediate release
Re: Bijou Film Center presentation at The Byrd Theatre
On
Sunday, September 21, 2014, the Bijou Film Center will present a
classic film followed by some splendid live music to launch its
fundraising effort and begin putting the story of its mission before
Richmond's movie-loving public.
4 p.m.:
Thirsty admirers of the eye-catching Beatlemania window in Bygones will
cross the street to take advantage of a special Happy Hour getting
underway at Portrait House, 2907 West Cary Street. It will offer Fab
Four fans a selection of themed drink specials at attractive prices.
6:05 p.m.: From the stage in front of the screen at
The Byrd Theatre, James Parrish and Terry Rea will introduce the feature attraction,
“A Hard Day’s Night”
(1964), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The sound and
picture have been newly restored. And, perhaps a wee surprise will be
served up.
6:30 p.m.: “A Hard Day’s Night,”
starring the Beatles in their first movie, will be screened. Shot in
glorious black and white the motion picture runs 87 minutes.
8:15 p.m.: At the New York Deli,
The Taters
will start their first of two sets of live music. Drink specials will
be available. And, yeah! yeah! yeah! The Taters will do some
Beatles-related material.
Admission to the
screening will be $7 at the box office. Up until the day of the show,
advance tickets will be available for $5 at Bygones Vintage Clothing and
Steady Sounds and online at
Eventbrite for $5 plus processing fee ($1.27).
There will be no cover charge at the Portrait House or at the New York Deli -- free admission!
The proceeds from the screening will be split evenly by the non-profit
Byrd Theatre Foundation’s “Journey to the Seats” and the Bijou Film Center (a non-profit work-in-progress).
- James T. Parrish, Jr.: Email: jtparrish@bijoufilmcenter.org. Phone: (804) 564-3224.
- F.T. "Terry" Rea: ftrea@bijoufilmcenter.org. Phone: (804) 938-7997.
- Click here to visit the Facebook event page.
Beatlemania
On Sunday, February 9, 1964, most of the young Beatles fans who tuned in
to watch that historic live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show had
only been aware of the Fab Four for a month, or so. Only the most avid
pop music aficionados knew much about them before their first big hit in
the USA, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (B-side: “I Saw Her Standing
There”), was released on December 26, 1963. How it came to be released
that day is a story for another time.
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” took off like a rocket. It hit No. 1 on the
American pop chart just eight days before that first television
appearance launched Beatlemania in the USA.
On the other hand, the frenzy had been underway for some time across the
pond. The feature film that gathered the Beatlemania phenomenon, to
present it on the big screen -- “A Hard Day’s Night” -- was
conceived and sketched out before the Beatles left England to
conquer America, via the CBS Television network. With Richard Lester as
the film's director, the rock ‘n’ roll quartet from Liverpool was working on
shooting the movie a couple of weeks later.
Prior to that, here's a smattering of history: In August of 1960 the
pre-Ringo Beatles arrived in Hamburg to polish their act; in October of
1961 Polydor released "My Bonnie" in West Germany. In November of 1961
the Beatles began playing regularly in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, among
other venues. On their first tour of the UK, in early-1963, the Beatles
were on an eleven-act bill, headed up the 16-year old Helen Shapiro.
They played a lot of live gigs during 1963, sold plenty of records and
became the most important musicians in Great Britain before the year was
out.
Now folks might ask, who was Helen Shapiro? On November 4, 1963, at the Royal
Variety Show, before actual royalty -- to introduce their cover of
“Twist and Shout” -- John Lennon announced,
“For our last number, I’d like to ask your help. Will the people in the
cheaper seats clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you’ll just
rattle your jewelry.”
As for America, the Beatles' timing was perfect. Their peppy, jangling
harmonies and harmless, spontaneous sarcasm broke through the fog of depression that
had engulfed the USA, following the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy, just a month before the Beatles double-sided hit 45 was
released here.
In the gloom of that winter, 50 years ago, this country surely needed
something fresh to lift its spirits. Before or since, there’s never been
a popular culture explosion to equal the Beatlemania phenomenon of
1964.
The previous fan frenzies over pop singers in America, such as those that
associated with Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and Elvis Presley in the
1950s, had surrounded individuals who sang songs written by tune-smiths
in front of sidemen. Beatlemania was something new, it was about a rock
'n' roll band singing in harmony, like gospel singers or doo-wop groups.
By featuring the collaborative aspects of the band's sound and image,
together with the integral contribution of its two main songwriters, it
showed everybody a picture of where pop music was going.
The Movie
“A Hard Day’s Night” (1964): 87 minutes. B&W. Directed by
Richard Lester. Produced by Walter Shenson. Cinematography by Gilbert
Taylor. Screenplay by Alun Owen. Edited by John Jympson. Cast: John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell
(Grandfather), Victor Spinetti (the TV director), Norman Rossington
(Norm), Kenneth Haigh (Simon Marshall).
During 1963 the Beatles had sent four singles and two albums to the top
of the British pop music chart. By the time “A Hard Day’s Night”
premiered at the London Pavilion on July 6, 1964, the Beatles were
celebrities of the first magnitude in the USA, as well.
“Beatlemania” had been the original working title of the romp that was
released as “A Hard Day’s Night” in Great Britain and the USA (in its
first-run dates it had various titles in other countries). Accounts vary
about what prompted him to say it, but there seems to be general
agreement that it was Ringo Starr’s use of the phrase, “a hard day’s
night,” as a wisecrack/malapropism -- that led to it
becoming the title of the film.
Instead of just another quick-and-dirty rock ‘n’ roll exploitation
flick, the director, Richard Lester, 32, assembled what became a milestone of
popular culture history. After 50 years, the movie’s deft anti-authority
tilt, with its humor -- both sly and slapstick -- together with its
cinéma vérité look and exuberant pace, still holds up nicely.
To shoot this film, Lester guessed that improvisation in front of
multiple cameras would work better than a bunch of tedious rehearsals. Lester
later noted: “Before we started, we knew that it would be unlikely that
they could (a) learn, (b) remember, or (c) deliver with any accuracy a
long speech. So the structure of the script had to be a series of
one-liners. This enabled me, in many of the scenes, to turn a camera on
them and say a line to them, and they would say it back to me.”
Cinematically, Lester captured what was in the air in 1964. He mixed
techniques he had used in television with those being used in cutting-edge
documentaries. He threw in looks he freely borrowed from the French New Wave.
“I have seen directors who write down a list of scenes for the day and
then sit back in a chair while everything is filmed according to plan,”
Lester explained. “I can’t do that. I know that good films can be made
this way, but it’s not for me. I have to react on the spot. There was
very little structure that was planned, except that we knew that we had
to punctuate the film with a certain number of songs.”
In crediting Lester with establishing a “new grammar,” movie critic Roger Ebert
wrote in 1996:
[Lester] influenced many other films. Today when we watch TV and see
quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with
moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under
documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we
are looking at the children of ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’”
In 1965 “A Hard Day’s Night” received two Academy Award nominations:
Alun Owen for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, Written Directly for
the Screen; George Martin for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation
or Treatment.
After “A Hard Day’s Night” music videos were inevitable.
The Bijou Film Center
The
idea to establish and operate a small cinema in Richmond began to
percolate in James Parrish’s mind as he worked at booking films and
planning events for the James River Film Society, especially its annual
festival. Parrish was one of that group’s founders.
While
putting together a 2012 fundraiser for the JRFS, to celebrate the 40th
anniversary of the opening of the Biograph Theatre (a local repertory
cinema, 1972-87), James began to share his movie house dream with Terry
Rea, his collaborator for the 40th anniversary project.
Afterward,
they continued to talk about the “little cinema” movement and what it
would take to create such a venue in Richmond. They decided a small café
attached to the cinema would give it a better chance to survive. During
their talks Parrish and Rea also spoke frequently of the importance of
preserving old films, which eventually led them to explore the idea of
starting a business devoted to transferring small format amateur films
to digital.
By this time, they began wanting to do
something more than create an artsy cinema. And, they decided their
dream for a non-profit film center, to do with preserving, producing and
exhibiting gourmet movies would have its best chance to thrive if it
could be based in the Arts District.
The first of the
Bijou at the Byrd fundraisers (we hope there will be more) will set in
motion the effort to establish the film transfer enterprise. Advances in
the process, going from Super 8 to digital, can liberate those long
unseen images -- moving pictures now trapped on plastic three-minute
reels -- with better results than in previous years.
The
proceeds of this kickoff endeavor will also go into the larger effort
to establish a 100-seat movie theater (in a location yet to be
determined.) In November a second event, featuring home movies, will be
staged to further expose the film center concept to the public, and to
help raise money to buy the equipment the film transfer business
requires. A Bijou Film Center website will also go up in the fall, to
begin to serve as a hub of information about film production and
exhibition in the area.
James
T. Parrish, Jr. is a fundraiser, artist and leader in the Richmond arts
community. He was founder of the Richmond Flicker (1998-2008),
co-founder of the James River Film Society. He currently serves as the
Director of Foundation Relations for Virginia Commonwealth University.
F.T.
"Terry" Rea was the original manager of Richmond’s Biograph Theatre
(1972-83). He was the founder/editor/publisher of SLANT (1985-94), a Fan
District-based periodical, devoted to popular culture and politics. He
is now a freelance artist/writer.
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