Date: Friday, February 12th, 2016 at 8:00pm
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco
Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Featuring:
Beginning to Date (B+W, 1953)
Learn proper first date etiquette in this social engineering classic making its Oddball debut. The first co-ed party of junior high is on the horizon and the whole school is in an uproar over The Winter Frolic. After some encouraging words from the swim coach and several analogies to diving, George decides to take the plunge and ask Mildred. Bill doesn't fare so well with Ellen, but thanks to editing and several takes at the same scenario, these youngsters might have a chance at the perfect date. Plus, plenty of awkward pubescent dancing.
Divorce Court, mid-century style! What turned one happy, loving couple into a bitter pair of hateful divorcees? Go back in time and see if you can spot the cracks in the foundation of their love affair before they head to the altar and finally off to divorce court. Another Oddball debut!
Is This Love? (B+W, 1957)"Peggy thinks it's all hand-holding and looking into each other's eyes". College kids Peggy and Joe have only been dating for three months, but they're so in love and already engaged. Peg's roommate (who appears 20 years her elder) might be square, but she thinks that marriage isn't something to be rushed. Have they even thought about money and children and parents? Maybe they aren't the perfect match she thought they were, and maybe the dull and square couple are really the ones who ought to be tying the knot. See which couple makes it to the altar and wonder where they'll head from there.
No means no! A Planned Parenthood-sponsored film aimed at the teen date rapist about not pressuring girls into sex. Visually, all we see is a car parked by the river, but we get to listen in as one teen boy tries to change his girlfriend's answer in the backseat.
A father sets out to explain the facts of life to his son, but becomes increasingly embarrassed to the point where his explanations are so vague as to be incomprehensible. Inspired by Gerard Hoffnung's 1960 book of the same name, this is a delightful and all too familiar study of the embarrassed middle-aged British male, as a father attempts to explain the facts of life to his son but ends up delivering a monologue so packed with euphemisms about birds, bees and butterflies that it ends up being totally incoherent. Produced by the esteemed Halas & Batchelor Animation Studio, the visual style (inspired directly by Hoffnung's drawings) is simple in the extreme - for much of the film, we just watch the father squirming and blushing in his chair, which focuses our attention both on Peter Sellers' monologue and director John Halas' subtle visual characterization, all nervous tics and fidgeting.
American Women Love Creeps from Mi$ter Mike'$ Mondo V*deo (Color, 1979, excerpt)
Jane Curtin, Margot Kidder, Gilda Radner, Wendie Malick, Teri Garr, Debbie Harry, Carrie Fisher and more all chime in on the things they love about creepy men, like dandruff, impotence, and nose-blowing in this hilarious bit from one of the strangest films ever made. Conceived by SNL writer Michael O'Donohue as a spoof on 1960's shock documentaries and intended to air on television, it was deemed too over-the-top and offensive by network executives. Eventually released as a short feature film where it became a midnight-movie staple, the origin of this print is a mystery and contains slugs for commercials. Could this be the original program intended for late night TV in 1979? 
The Sexual Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Together (Color, 1982, excerpt)
If you ever wanted expository songs to better illustrate the confusing and ever-changing sexual attitudes of adolescence, look no further than this camptastic sex-ed film brought to you by Gospel Films and Josh McDowell Ministry. A 40-something "youth counselor" (who is in fact minister Josh McDowell himself) in a polyester leisure suit talks to teens about their sex lives while his points are illustrated by musical melodramatizations with a variety of issues facing Christian teens "today". Each teen presented gets their very own theme song to underscore their insecurities and changing bodies.
Teenage Pregnancy (Color, 1971)
No one can bring you the melodrama of teen pregnancy quite like the Canadians. This campy morsel features a lot of worry, disappointment, facts and good old-fashioned overacting. Like a lost Degrassi episode, the touching story of 16 year-old Betty’s life will bring you to tears…of laughter!
VD: Attack Plan (1972, color)
“Yes, it’s true. Walt D*sney Productions has made a significant contribution to the war against VD. “VD Attack Plan” – A fully animated Walt D*sney 16mm motion picture.” states the brochure accompanying this 16mm educational film. VD Attack Plan had some forward thinking and enlightening approaches (not just for D*sney but everyone else producing this type of film in 1973) to the subject of sexually transmitted diseases including promotion of condoms (instead of abstinence) and the fact that VD can be spread through same sex couplings. This “war against disease “ film doesn’t miss a beat-even showcasing some of the graphic effects of the disease in action. In brilliant Technicolor, just like you’d want it to be.
For the Early (Love)Birds:
The Phone Call (Color, 1977)
30 years before Napoleon Dynamite, this BYU-sponsored "comedy" follows an awkward teenage boy with Art Garfunkle's hairstylist and a penchant for karate and bassoons as he works up the courage to ask his crush for a date. The Mormons want you to know that nice guys can finish first! An Oddball audience favorite. Starring Marc McClure (Jimmy Olson from the Christopher Reeves Superman series).
Curator’s Biography
Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009. She has programmed over 200 shows at Oddball on everything from puberty primers to experimental animation.
About Oddball Films
Oddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.
Oddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.