America, Fék Yeah! - Good Ol' Fashioned American Propaganda - Fri. July 1st - 8PM

In honor of the 240th birthday of this country, Oddball Films presents America, F√©k Yeah! - Good Ol' Fashioned American Propaganda, a night of outlandish, hilarious and didactic shorts and cartoons from the 1940s and 1950s calling for a patriotic spirit, shilling war bonds, touting American prosperity, and warning against first The Axis Powers and then the nuclear and Red Scares that followed. During World War II, the whole film industry changed to reflect the times; doing their part to grease the American propaganda machine, demonize the enemy and guilt viewers into patriotism. W@lt Di$ney and company joined in the fight and churned out several propaganda cartoons including two featuring that lovable rascal Don@ld Duck; in the notorious Der Fuehrer's Face (1942), the plucky duck has a surreal and musical nightmare about being a Nazi, and in The New Spirit (1942), he gets guilt tripped by a radio into filing his taxes (for his total yearly earnings of $2501). Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda and more celebrities urge you to buy war bonds while singing and dancing for the troops (with a surreal sequence of pin-ups coming to life) in All-Star Bond Rally (1945).  Can't fight in the war or work in defense? Collect your old junk to be recycled into artillery in Scrap for Victory (1940s). In the dark military training cartoon Private Snafu: The Chow Hound (1944), the lesson is: don't waste food private, that steak dinner was somebody's patriotic husband. John Ford won an Oscar for his short documentary The Battle of Midway (1942). After WWII was over, two new threats emerged: Communism and nuclear annihilation and the film crew over at the Department of Defense was ready to take on the new threats with more over-the-top patriotism. A young Walter Cronkite patronizingly heralds women's efforts on the sidelines of war while simultaneously bashes the commies in The Price of Liberty (c. 1951). See why America is number one in consumption in the capitalist propaganda cartoon Meet King Joe (1951). Atomic scare film Our Cities Must Fight (1951) wants you to stay in the city after the bomb drops; afterall, the nuclear fallout will dissipate in a couple of days. For a musical break, we bring you two patriotic Soundies: pretty girls lose their clothes for Uncle Sam in Take it Off: The Pretty Priorities (1940s) and the bizarro Mrs. Yankee Doodle (1940s). Plus, Vince Collins' psychedelic American freakout 200 (1976) and more surprises.  Everything screened on original 16mm prints from our stock footage archive.

Date: Friday, July 1st, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com

The Bradbury Chronicles - Thur. June 30th - 8PM

Oddball Films present The Bradbury Chronicles, a program of ultra-rare adaptations of the short stories of the literary giant Ray Bradbury from the 1950s-1980s all screened on 16mm film from the archive. Bradbury's vivid imagination created some of the most fantastic of worlds, and chilling of prophecies for our own world and since his passing, science fiction and literature have never been the same. Join our host Fred Astaire in a future world of computerized justice and body swapping in an episode of the Hitchcock-produced series Alcoa Premiere: The Jail (1962), penned by Bradbury himself. The Veldt (1978) gives us the proverbial nuclear family in a fully-automated home with a virtual reality nursery that leads the children of the house to use it for catastrophic ends. Zero Hour (1978) counts down to an alien invasion with the help of a gaggle of creepy children and their interactive board game. Plus, Bradbury talks about his process in an excerpt of Writers on Writing (1965), a condensed version of It Came From Outer Space (1953), and early arrivals will be treated to a feverish episode of Ray Bradbury Theater: The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl (1988) starring Michael Ironsides as a frantic man mere moments after a murder. Join us as we salute the man, the myth and the machines and characters his mind created. 

Date: Thursday, June 30th, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117
Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Learn your Lesson from Clowns - A Creepy Shockucation - Fri. June 24th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson from Clowns: A Creepy Shockucation, the 39th in a monthly series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic educational films, mental hygiene primers and TV specials of the collection. This month we're tapping into the most disturbing of subject matter yet: creepy creepy clowns! From evangelical clown shorts, to hallucinating clowns, to clown puppets, and even a little pantomime, it's sure to be the celluloid stuff of nightmares! Oddball favorite, Toothache of the Clown (1971) is one bad acid-trip to the dentist when children pull yarn and candy of a clown's rotten molars. In the evangelical Charlie Chaplin rip-off Charlie Churchman and the Clowns (1960s), a proselytizing pastor goes to the carnival in search of new souls and encounters the most terrifying clown in cinema history. And yet, the creepiest puppet award goes to the clown puppet that will turn you invisible to see all your long-suffering parents do for you in the comically-dubbed Parents: Who Needs Them? (1971). In If Mirrors Could Speak (1976), a straight-talking looking glass gets real with a variety of young scofflaws shamed with clown-makeup. Plus, miming segments from the skin-crawling/heartwarming afterschool special Clown White (1981) in which a little deaf boy learns to speak up through the magic of mime and an under-appreciated mime finally finds someone who can stand to be around her! Schoolhouse bullying always goes better with rhyming mimes, as we find in People: Different But Alike (1970).  With more surprises and everything screened on 16mm film from our stock footage archive, it's going to be a night to send in the shockucation!

Date: Friday, June 24th, 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

Unique New Yorkers: Big Apple Mini-Docs and More - Thurs. June 23rd - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Unique New Yorkers: Big Apple Mini-Docs, a program of compelling, hilarious, inspiring and absurd character documentaries about some fascinating personalities from the NYC of yesteryear including break-dancers, Barbra Streisand enthusiasts, blues masters, and wild animal lovers with a patented Oddball smattering of vintage New York ephemera. Head out for a beer with a bull in the hilarious and horrifying documentary Manimals (1978), about people who keep exotic pets in their New York City apartments from Oscar-winner Robin Lehman. In I Remember Barbra (1980), Kevin Burns takes to the streets of Brooklyn for ridiculous and revelatory recollections of Barbra Streisand from the many colorful characters of her hometown who all have an opinion and a fond memory (if not a collection of candid snapshots) of the superstar. Harold Becker paints a portrait of mid-60s Harlem and the unsung blues-master Blind Gary Davis (1964), a short, lyrical and moving mini doc. See the construction of some of New York City's iconic architecture in Twenty Four Dollar Island (1927), legendary documentarian Robert Flaherty’s portrait of NYC in the 1920s. Plus, Take the A-Train (1949) with the Delta Rhythm Boys in a rare mid-century Soundie and catch some vintage promotional travel films from the Big Apple, and more ephemeral surprises. Catch the hilarious and super-rare short That's Me (1963) written by and starring a young Alan Arkin. Plus, early birds will get a taste of break-dancing in the Bronx. Everything screened on 16mm film from our stock footage archive (and most unavailable elsewhere).

Date:Thursday, June 23rd, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117

Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 

Cinema Soiree - Ian Sundahl's Boob Tube Shrapnel - Fri. June 17th - 8PM

Oddball Films welcomes film collector, archivist, filmmaker and comic artist Ian Sundahl all the way from Portland for our Cinema Soiree Series, a monthly soiree featuring visiting authors, filmmakers and curators presenting and sharing cinema insights. From his massive Portland vaults, Ian Sundahl comes with an insane mash-up of vintage bizarre 16mm television. From TV favorites to things you never knew existed, Sundahl brings a wide variety of the strangest TV had to offer. Come see the most unique and oddball TV films from his collection in a celebration of the old boob tube. Many of the subjects in this show are one of a kind rarities Sundahl has found from a myriad of sources. Highlights of the evening include the soft-rocking kids of Teenage Party (1960s), the original exercise queen in How to Exercise with Debbie Drake (1960), the pool sharkery of Minnesota Fats and Billiards with the Stars (1970s), a bizarre segment of KPTV in the Morning (1960s), bloopers from the short-lived sitcom Busting Loose (1977), an afterschool special with Dana Plato: A Step in Time (1981), rare promos for the Jeffersons, weirdo trailers, crazy commercials and more tidbits and surprises.  Early birds will be treated to Sundahl's own 3-D short film Ghost Beach (2009).  Everything screened on glorious 16mm film.

Date: Friday, June 17th, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117

Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Strange Sinema 101: Into the Ozone: Hobos, Hitch-Hikers, Gypsies and Road Runners - Thur. June 16th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema, a monthly evening of old finds, rare gems and newly discovered films from the stacks of the archive. Drawing on his collection of over 50,000 16mm film prints-the largest archive in Northern California, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has compiled his 101st program of offbeat, ethnographic, experimental and unusual films. Strange Sinema 101: Into the Ozone: Hobos, Hitch-Hikers, Gypsies and Road Runners is a genre-bending 16mm film program exploring global and pop cultural concepts of travel and nomadic life. This program was specifically curated for the Cinema Ephemera: The Festival of Useful Film in Baltimore later this month. This wide-ranging program begins with rare newsreels of a Mexican Migrant Round Up (1953) and Runaway Boys (1953) two fragments foreground our travel program and moves into the surreal Tin Can Tourist (1937), an animated short featuring Farmer Al Falfa and his dog hitting the road in their modern, gadget-loaded trailer home, followed by a trailer for King of the Gypsies (1978), portraying the criminal ways and violent lives of a group of modern day gypsies based in New York City. Next up is Riff Raffy Daffy (1948). Watch policeman Porky Pig roust a homeless Daffy Duck from a city park only to battle it out with him later in a Macy’s store! The Scenemakers (1960) is an unintentionally hilarious long-form commercial presented by Monsanto (!) and J.C. Penneys’. See America in retro style with Jan, Jill and Amy, three swingin’ gals crossing the country, but always making sure to dress their best-early 60s style! Next watch the classic Easy Rider (1969) trailer featuring Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda as two stoned-out bikers hitting the road to discover America in this anti- establishment classic. We follow up with the cult black motorcycle gang rock sci-fi musical (phew!) Darktown Strutters (1975) trailer showcasing lots of souped up babes on bikes and dazzling stunts (with music by the legendary Dramatics), while Eric Martin’s mesmerizing experimental USA Film (1977) collapses 4,000 coast-to-coast miles (From Washington DC to San Francisco) into a high-speed 17 minute single-framed opus. The Hitch-Hiker (1953) features a naughty hitch-hiker creating chaos on the roadway when she strips for a ride! More laughs ensue in the hokey, humorous novelty short Brooklyn Goes to Las Vegas (1956) portraying a caustic wandering Brooklynite who spends a night in Sin City, strikes it rich and heads home with a wagonload of cash and women. Exploitation trailers Naughty Stewardesses/Blazing Stewardesses (1974) show us fly girls and their “sexy” side of air travel. We round out our evening’s travels with Polish director Wladyslaw Slesicki’s fascinating Gypsies (1973), a rare non-narrative verité portrait of a nomadic Gypsy caravan traveling through Europe in the early 1970s. Plus! The Tramp (1915) featuring the silent star Charlie Chaplin as a hobo who falls in love with a girl he rescued. Everything screened on 16mm film from our stock footage archive.



Date: Thursday, June 16th 2016 at 8:00PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
Admission: $10.00, Limited Seating, RSVP to: 415-558-8117 or rsvp@oddballfilms.com
Web: www.oddballfilms.blogspot.com

Antiquated Sex Education - Fri. June 10th - 8PM

Oddball Films presents Antiquated Sex Education, a program of 16mm sex ed shorts from the 1930s-1950s. These now laughable artifacts from "the good old days" feature an adherence to old-fashioned social mores and cringeworthy outdated medical advice while tackling subjects like teenage sex, puberty, stripping, pregnancy and VD. Check your privates, private in the Navy training film The Pick-Up (1944), starring an unlucky schmuck who picks up a nasty case of the clap just in time for his furlough. Mary and Jeff are just two teenagers in love, but parking and heavy petting just might lead to "guilt, frustration" and an unwanted pregnancy in the mental hygiene short How Much Affection (1957). Stay out of the water, choose your packet of sanitary napkins, and rub yourself with cold cream in the very British puberty primer Growing Girls (1951). Dance along with a large-headed and footless cartoon girl as she learns about the physical and mental aspects of her monthly visitor in Di$ney's notorious Story of Menstruation (1945). Plus, syphilitic excerpts of Oddball favorite The Innocent Party (1959), an unbearably unsexy striptease from Mrs. Elaine Barrymore in How to Undress for your Husband (1937), and Your Body During Adolescence (1956) for the early birds. Everything screened on 16mm film from our stock footage archive. 

Date: Friday, June 10th, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117

Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 

Classic Cartoon Cavalcade - Thur. June 9th - 8PM

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter bring you Classic Cartoon Cavalcade, an evening of some of our very favorite classic cartoons hand-picked from the San Francisco Media Archive's massive collection. From the 1930s-1950s, from the silly to the sexy with a little Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies (including works by Robert Clampett, Friz Freleng, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones), UPA, Terrytoons Fleischer Brothers, Walt Di$ney and imitators, just to name a few. This time around, we've got a triple shot of that beloved stuttering swine: Porky. He visits a house haunted with leprechauns and is transported to a Dali-esque landscape in Chuck Jones' The Wearing of the Grin (1951) and he teams up with Daffy to run a baby factory gone amuck in Bob Clampett's Baby Bottleneck (1946). From the brilliant Tex Avery see the very first Daffy Duck cartoon Porky's Duck Hunt (1937) and see why that "crazy, darn fool duck" bounced and cackled his way into our hearts. Avery also brings us Roy Rogers' early band "Sons of the Pioneers" voice the yodels of the feuding hillbillies of A Feud There Was (1938). Bugs Bunny is up against the heavyweight champ and impersonates the announcer in Rabbit Punch (1948). Merrie Melodies gives us a shot at classic Hollywood with Bogey, Bacall, and one horny wolf in the uncensored version of Bacall to Arms (1946). Foghorn Leghorn gets tricked into marrying the spinster hen Prissy in Of Rice and Hen (1953). Mighty Mouse makes revisionist poetry in a bizarro version of Longfellow's Wreck of the Hesperus (1944) - this time with a happy ending! The world's most famous mouse joins an all-star extravaganza in the early Di$ney short: Mi©key's Gala Premiere (1933) Plus! Mr. Magoo in Pink and Blue Blues, Betty Boop is a Dancing Fool (1932), Tweety is looking for Room and Bird (1951) and more! It's a night of wit, wackiness and wabbits all screened from 16mm prints.

Date: Thursday, June 9th, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117

Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com 

Queer Cinema Rarities- Fri. June 3rd - 8PM

Oddball Films is kicking off pride month with Queer Cinema Rarities, a program of vintage 16mm films from the 1960's through the 1980's offering a rare glimpse of the lives, dreams, and sexuality of the queer community in a more repressive time. The evening features groundbreaking documentary portraits of QPOC, romantic road trips, lyrical experimental erotica, vintage beefcake shorts, and more. Discover the life of a young black lesbian mother in 1980s New York in the powerful documentary short If She Grows Up Gay (1982). Behind Every Good Man (1966) is a rare and understated portrait of an African American transgender woman shopping, cruising and musing in 1960s Los Angeles. Lloyd Reckord’s narrative short, Dream A40 (1965), one of the first queer films of its kind, is a sensitive and moody film that goes on the road with two men and their feelings of conflict within themselves and society. Experimental luminary Constance Beeson brings us two radical cine-poems on the beauty of love in all its forms including Stamen (1972) with ethereal overlays and superimpositions as two men enjoy a romantic interlude in the woods, and Holding (1970) featuring the sexual and non-sexual affection of two women falling in love. We've got two rare homoerotic Beefcake Shorts (c. 1970) from the beefcake connoisseur Pat Rocco: Fanny's Hill with a bunch of naked men running around a ranch and Amateur Strip with more naked men dancing their hearts out on stage. Plus excerpts from the antiquated news program Homosexual (1964) and local filmmaker Arthur Bressan Jr.'s Forbidden Letters (1976), with more surprises in store for the early birds.  Several prints courtesy of the Jenni Olson Queer Film Archive.

Date: Friday, June 3rd, 2016 at 8:00pm

Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco

Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilms.com or (415) 558-8117

Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com