Chicago Film/History Fans Will Have TWO Final Chances To Catch My Hollywood On Lake Michigan, 2nd Edition Presentation This Week:

Wednesday, July 8— 7PM
Palatine Public Library
700 N. North Court
Palatine, IL 60067
https://il.evanced.info/palatine/lib/eventsignup.asp?ID=11869

Thursday, July 9— 7PM
Wood Dale Public Library
520 N. Wood Dale Road
Wood Dale, IL 60191
http://wooddalelibrary.evanced.info/eventsignup.asp?ID=7532

I am EXTREMELY pleased and honored to announce that I will be the Featured Author in the Lt. Governor’s Tent at the Illinois State Fair from 11AM-1PM on Friday, August 8!!! I’ll be doing an interview, reading excerpts from Hollywood On Lake Michigan, 2nd Edition, and signing free copies to be raffled off to attendees.

Stop on by if you are at The Fair that day. It’s going to be HUGE fun!!!

You might call my appearance The Unofficial Opening Ceremonies. 😉

Kartemquin Korner is a semi-regular feature which spotlights a particular film from Kartemquin Films, the greatest documentary collective this side of the spiral arm of the galaxy. This installment looks at the first feature documentary to be crafted by the collective, Home For Life (1966).

Home For Life was created in 1966 by two of Kartemquin’s founders, Gordon Quinn and Gerald Temaner (the “quin” and the “tem” in Kartemquin); the pair co-produced and co-directed, with Quinn handling the camera and Temaner working the sound (assisted by Richard Sato and Neill Hicks). Lois Lione was the assistant director and Gordon edited the film with help from William Clarkson. Barbara Propst was the research coordinator.

Home For Life (1966)

In its own way, it is a work of art rather than an artful work.

— Studs Terkel, Author

Watching Home For Life for the first time gave me the same sort of rush I got from seeing the Monadnock Building or the Manhattan Building for the first time. That feeling that you are looking at history, a prototype of a major revolution in a creative endeavor; a sensation similar to viewing early sketches of a ground breaking artist.

The film explores the Drexel Home For The Aged in Hyde Park and looks at the first day (and the next several weeks) of new residents Bertha Weinberg and William Rocklin.

Bertha Weinberg was moving into Drexel Home from the household of her Son and Daughter-in law.

Far from being a “snake pit” of neglect and abuse, Drexel Home was a very nurturing and caring environment (especially by today’s standards), and the two new residents are given extreme amounts of care as they make the hard transition to institutional life.

William Rocklin was a fastidious and fiercely independent man who was forced to face the hard realization the he could no longer care for himself adequately.

The pair are helped through this process in a variety of ways; a slew of resident physicians (cardiologist, podiatrist, psychiatrist etc.) and support staff are dispatched to evaluate the pair and provide them with the requisite treatment and assistance. Almost 50 years old, this film is literally a look at another century and (after a half-century of America’s social infrastructure being systematically gutted)  is almost like a peek into a parallel dimension. Some strange fantasy world where the elderly are provided with medical/social services and people work out their differences through rational discussion and sensible compromise. Sadly enough, I had almost forgotten what this was like.

Unpacking belongings.

A piece of history as well as a fine documentary, it is only fitting that Home For Life was restored and re-released in 2007; and I strongly encourage you to rent or buy the DVD for all the extra footage and interviews (which are worth it by themselves).

Don’t let the hideous 1960’s International Style Architecture fool you- Drexel Home was a place of warmth and caring.

In the interview for the remastered edition, Quinn and Temaner discuss making the film and the innovations involved. Some were planned, like the duo rejecting pressure to include voice-overs from “experts” and instead deciding to let the footage speak for itself or showing long sequences to allow the viewer to become immersed in the narrative; but others came about as a consequence of the process- such as how Quinn (behind the camera) actually responds to a subject speaking to him and breaks the 4th Wall taboo under which documentarians had previously labored.

The bonus footage is also extremely edifying, especially a scene where the staff and management discuss concerns over new procedures as workloads are increased and duties evolve. This sequence really goes into “alien civilization” territory, as it’s almost dumbfounding to see workers and supervisors calmly and rationally working out their various problems and issues. Seriously, this film should be shown to everyone just so they might see and/or remember what that sort of dialogue process looked like.

Aside from being a fascinating artifact of A Seemingly Bygone Civil Society, Home For Life is also touching as a portrait of and meditation on the closing act of the cycle of life. The film aptly illustrates how difficult it is not only for people themselves to become old and infirm but also the emotional toll it takes upon their families and loved ones.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record- this is yet another must-see for Kartemquinites.

Drexel Home residents “getting their gamble on.” Youngsters will be stunned by the footage of people not only smoking indoors, but during business and staff meetings.

Part 2 of my ABC 7 interview segments aired last month, and it features even more of my waxing rhapsodic about Chicago Film:

And here is Part 1 in case you missed it:

It has been such a thrill to be a part of such fantastic tributes to the Chicago Production Industry. I sincerely hope these segments bring even more recognition to what a wonderful place Chicago is to make a film or television show. Please share with everyone you can and help once again make Chicago the worldwide production hub that it was in the early 1900’s (when 1 out of every 5 films was made here)!

Oh Yeah— And BUY MY BOOK!!! 😉

I am extremely honored to announce that I am speaking at Chicago Book Expo. It is a major gathering of Chicago Writers and Independent Publishers and I can’t begin to describe how pleased I am to be a part of it.

Chicago Book Expo

Sunday, November 24

St Augustine College, 1345 W Argyle.

 The event starts at 11AM and I’ll be presenting from 2:30-3:30

It will be such a kick to do my HOLM 2 presentation in the old Essanay Studio Buildings- which were the site of one of the first movie studios on earth. And to be in the company of such fine authors and publishers makes it an even bigger thrill.

You really ought to stop on by because I will be in Full Expounding Mode!!!

Arnie Bernstein will be there as well talking about his fantastic new book, Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German American Bund.

Sorry for the late notice on this one, still getting my blogging legs back! Chicago Filmmakers is hosting this co-produced event.

ATOMIC MOM

Dyke Delicious Series:  Join us for special events, guests and incredible film as Dyke Delicious celebrates its 10^thanniversary series at Chicago Filmmakers, bringing the years most inspiring and groundbreaking lesbian-themed films to Chicago.

In our present moment of Wikileaks, Pauline is a similar whistle-blower having been cowed by the silencing machine of the US military for decades. In an attempt to reconcile with her own mother’s past, her daughter, filmmaker M.T. Silvia, meets Emiko Okada, a Hiroshima survivor trying to resolve her own history in Japan. The film follows these survivors, each on a different end of atomic warfare, as they “meet” through the filmmaking process, and as they, with startling honestly, attempt to understand the other.

Atomic Mom invites viewers to confront American nuclear history in a completely new way and will inspire dialogue about human rights, personal responsibility, and the possibility – and hope – of peace. (Directed by M.T. Silva, USA/Japan, 2012, 80 min)