THE INTERNET NOISELETTER OF LOOSER THAN LOOSE SPRING VOLUME Nº 5 2011 Vintage Entertainment ISSUE Nº 11 THIS WEB-DOC IS ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE looser than loose publishing loose cannon fire www.looserthanloose.com A Rambling Editorial Screed by Dave Stevenson All Original Material © 2011 Today’s Editorial is Brought to you by the Letter Troll DITED UBLISHED Y Once upon a time, American popular culture spawned a maniacal, nar- E DITED & PUBLISHED BY cissistic freak-show of a man who was thought by many to be a genius, but Dave and Ali Stevenson known to everyone as a perilously unstable lunatic. He chain-smoked 188 Seames Drive, Marlboro cigarettes, swilled bourbon like water and had a reputation for Manchester, NH 03103 U.S.A. abusing recreational drugs. He was known to associate with the worst kind [email protected] of reprobates, misfits and malcontents - often leading to violent or con- frontational situations. His manner of speaking seemed to be the product LAYOUT & DESIGN of a racing mind and was characterized by a twisted kind of logic that even he would describe as being dangerously insane. No, his name is not Charlie Dave Stevenson Sheen. It was Hunter S. Thompson - a formerly inimitable figure whose DISTRIBUTIONISTRIBUTION once-unique troubles have now seemingly found their way into Sheen’s consciousness. At least, for commercial purposes. Ali Stevenson In recent days, Charlie Sheen has spent his spare time amusing us with DEADLINE FOR VOL. 5, ISSUE Nº 12: a new kind of Punch and Judy show. The cast is comprised of his ego May 1, 2011 (Punch) and his less-than-appreciable acting skills (Judy). The results are Send images* to the postal address far less amusing than the description. Frankly, the whole public meltdown listed above, or to: thing looks to me like a very badly executed impersonation of the afore- [email protected] mentioned Thompson on his worst day. Sheen’s internet rants, which he *300 dpi at actual size delivers through something called Sheen’s Korner - you’re either in his CONTRIBUTORS corner, or not - have thus far amounted to a handful of crudely assembled Cole Johnson, Mark Johnson, Jeff Rapsis, video recordings principally depicting telephone conversations between Cliff Sawyer, Ali Stevenson, Dave himself and people we suppose to be his “staff.” Between calls, he snarls Stevenson, Chris and Phil Wittmann and into the webcam and tells us things like “[the telephone] is the weapon of the ever-watchful Crooked Circle. the Trolls. One day I’ll master it and turn it against them.” Yes, we get the picture, Charlie. Fear and Loathing at Sober Valley Lodge - those of us who have read the ’60s counter-culture shite get it. TABLE OF CONTENTS At least ,Thompson believed in his madness. Like him or not, he was MEETING NOTES . 3 truly an eccentric. He hid in that Colorado compound, shunned almost all SILENT FILM SERIES AND NEWS . 4 contact and eventually blew his brains out when the strange and terrible LOUISE FAZENDA . 5 visions burned themselves away. Sheen is a fraudulent and unflattering DVD AND EVENT NEWS . 6 imitation. An eyesore on the cultural landscape. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass 2012 SONS OF THE DESERT CONVENTION . 7 about the substantive product of his insanity - if there is any to begin with. 1947 BROADWAY THEATER PROGRAMS . 11 He is, however, banking on the public’s madness. Genuine crazies aren’t JOAN BLONDELL PICTORIAL . 12 concerned with product placement in their streaming videos or selling you DEMILLE PICTURE PUZZLE . 14 their lame poetry books. They want you to get the message at whatever the NEW YORK 1964 IN KODACHROME . 15 personal cost. Sheen is neither unique nor eccentric; he’s a barker with a puppet theater. Here’s a bit of insight for you, Charlie: some of us don’t care about the meltdown act, we’re just here to see Judy get her ass kicked. 2 www.looserthanloose.com Only $39.99 + S & H! Artwork by Cole Johnson On The Loose tent MEETING PROGRAM AND SCREAMING NOTES Next Meeting: March 19th,, 202011 FILMS 7:00 PM -- 112:00 AM Comique Theatre, Manchester, NH By Invitation Only SPECIAL DOUBLE FEATURE PRESENTATION! 1931 “PARDON US” (Roach-MGM; 8-15-1931); Dir.. bby James Parrott;; CasCast:: SStan Laurel, Oliver Hardy,, Wilfred Lucas, Tiny Sanford, June Marlowe, Walter Long and James Finlayson. 56 min.; Colorized. “THE MALTESE FALCON” (Vitaphone Corp.-Warner Bros.; 6-13-1931); Dir.. bby Roy Del Ruth; Cast:: BebeBebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Thelma Todd, Walter Long, Una Merkel, Dudley Digges, Robert Elliot and J. Farrell MacDonald. 78 min.; B&W;; Sound.Sound. THE UNDERCARD! “NEWS EVENTS OF 1931” (Various Sources; 1931); Newsreel footage, still photos; 10 min. B&W;; Sound.Sound. “MOTHER GOOSE MELODIES” (Walt Disney-Columbia-Columbia Pictures Corp.; 4-17-1931); A Silly Symphony;; DirDir.. bby Burt Gillett;; 88 min.;min.; B&WB&W;; Sound.Sound. “THUNDERING TENORS” (Roach.-MGM; 2-7-1931); Dir.. bby James W.. Horne;Horne; CasCast:: CharleCharley Chase, Dorothy Granger,, LillianLillian EllioElliott, Edward Dillon, The latest collection of silent Roach shorts includes Elizabeth Forrester,, DellDell HenderHenderson and Lena four starring Will Rogers, four starring Harold Lloyd and Malena. 21 min.; B&W; Sound. Malena. 21 min.; B&W; Sound. Snub Pollard, a pair of Paul Parrotts, a Charley Chase, a Stan DINNER Laurel one-reeler and a handful of oddities and fragments on this 3-DVD set. Supporting casts include favorites like Marie 5:30 PM -- 77:30 PM Mosquini, Bebe Daniels, George Rowe, Mark Jones, William Lala’s Hungarian Pastry Gillespie and many more. There is even an appearance by 836 Elm Street, Harold Lloyd’s brother Gaylord, who stars in his own 1921 Manchester, NH comedy in the guise of “Lonesome Luke.” This is a good (603) 647-7100 look at the Roach Studios’ “A” and “B” product from 1919 --------------------------------------- to 1927. The titles on this disc are either new transfers from Appetizers, Entrées prints in our own collection, or older 16mm transfers from & Desserts video masters. Nearly all feature newly restored 78rpm Beer and Wine Served acoustic soundtracks. Wherever possible, we have used orig- --------------------------------------- inal titles and otherwise attempted to replicate originals care- Vegetarian Friendly fully and faithfully. The cost of this 3-disc set is $39.99 plus http://www.lalashungarianpastryandrestaurant.com shipping and handling. http://www.looserthanloose.com 3 WWiillttoonn SSiilleenntt FFiillmm SSeerriieess 2011 Season JUSTJUST THELMATHELMA ACCOMPANIMENT BY JEFF RAPSIS The Life and Career of Thelma Todd A BIOGRAPHY by Dave Stevenson, Cole Johnson and Mark Johnson Proofreading and Editing by Ali Stevenson A number of folks have been asking about the sta- tus of this project for sever- al months and we thought a progress report and some promotion would now be in order. The book is under contract and we expect to publish soon. The writing is still in progress and completion is Courtesy of Sunapeenews.com taking far longer than orig- inally anticipated, but the WILTON TOWN HALL THEATRE result will be worth the wait. This is the definitive work on Thelma Main Street, Wilton, New Hampshire Todd’s life and career. Much of the material comes directly from Silent Sunday Series - Last Sunday of Every Month her own scrapbooks, letters, photo collections and articles. Still All Shows Begin at 4:30 pm more of the information contained in “Just Thelma...” originated with her family members and friends. Collected from first-hand March 27th interviews with Thelma’s cousins and from the personal collections of her mother, aunts and uncles, the biographical data presented in MARK OF ZORRO (1920) & Don Q, SON OF ZORRO (1925) this book will strip away the stale varnish of sensational misinfor- A double dose of Douglas Fairbanks in one of his most famous roles: that of the mysterious swords- mation and reveal the young woman as she really was. Whenever man Zorro, in both the original and the sequel! possible, we have provided Thelma’s own words to the reader in textual insets which accompany the narrative and illustrations. No April 24th little detail has been ignored. Every relevant shard of information BEN HUR (1925) has been set into the story - we’ve even managed to include a hand- Celebrate Easter Sunday with one of the great ful of irrelevant ones in the bargain. This is Thelma Todd, period. religious epics of Hollywood's silent film era, It is not the fabricated tale of some gangster-obsessed young girl including a legendary chariot race that has who descends at midnight into the figure of a tragic Hollywood lost none of its power to thrill. blonde slumped over the steering wheel of her car, bereft of digni- ty. This book is not of the variety penned by pulp fiction merchants May 29th who smell money in their ink. Rather, it is being assembled by peo- ple who care about her with the help, cooperation and (in every SPEEDWAY (1928) applicable case) the blessing of those who actually knew and loved Fasten your seat belts! We mark the traditional Memorial Day running of the Indianapolis 500 her. WHAT THE BOOK CONTAINS with a vintage race car drama filmed right on Hundreds of Obscure Photographs: Every period of her life is docu- the famed track — at speeds topping 115 mph! mented in images dating from 1907 to 1935. Many of these photos come from Thelma’s personal scrapbooks, or the collections of her mother and aunts. The Factual Story of Her Life: Beginning with brief biographical ADMISSION FREE,, sketches of her father and mother, her life in Lawrence, DONATIONS ENCOURAGED! Massachusetts and move to New York, through her ten years in the film industry, the narrative provides an actual accounting of the facts.