Aurora & Classic Movies and More Interview

Time for Part Nine in our monthly series on the current state of the classic film fan.  

Today, we visit with Aurora Bugallo, whose blog Once Upon a Screen is a delightful gallery of info and photos on our favorite classic films and TV.  A prolific contributor to social media (who takes my favorite photos -- of the top of her head below some famous tourist attractions or at some event -- I really think she should put out a coffee table book on these hysterical pics), and whose latest venture is a dynamic and entertaining series of podcasts on YouTube called Classic Movies and More, which she hosts with Annmarie Gatti and Robert Medaska.  

Here’s our discussion on classic movies…and more:

JTL:  How did you, Annmarie Gatti, and Robert Medaska come to know each other, and then come together to plan this venture and to facilitate it?

AB:  Well, let’s see…I first “met” Annmarie on Twitter.  She was one of the first people I connected with on the platform.  After I visited her site I was blown away by its scope and we had plenty to discuss there so it was a seamless connection. She’s also always been incredibly supportive of my blog.  When we met in person at the 2013 Turner Classic Movie Film Festival it was as though we knew each other.  Among the things we’d discussed almost since we met is the possibility of collaborating in some way on a classic movie-related project, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on what. 

Rob and I met at a faculty meeting about three years ago.  We both teach at the same university and the program director couldn’t wait to introduce us knowing we had classic movies in common.  Soon after we met Rob stated mentioning the possibility of collaborating on something classic movie related.  About a year later I thought it would be a great idea to introduce Annmarie and Rob knowing they had similar interests.  I knew I could only benefit from being around the two of them.  As a filmmaker Rob has impressive technical knowledge and Annmarie is a master of all things social media.  It really took no time for the three of us to decide on the YouTube show idea.

JTL:  In one article on my series this year of the current state of the classic film fan, I mention how technology has allowed us to move beyond the movie theater, the home viewing, and extend our classic film viewing onto the Internet. Here, we not only watch movies, but we connect with other fans. In a do-it-yourself world of self-publishing of music and of books, it seems a natural that classic film fans would want to also move to a do-it-yourself realm of programming. From my post in April:

There are also some intriguing home-grown programming—such as Dana Hersey, who hosted The Movie Loft on Boston-area TV-38 in the 1980s is launching an Internet classic movie streaming channel. Other hosts of online podcasts demonstrate that being a classic film fan is continually evolving according to the technology that allows us to appreciate old movies.  No longer content to be “programmed to”, the classic film fan is now taking the reins and doing the programming. 

Do you see CLASSIC MOVIES AND MORE as a part of this trend? And what do you hope to accomplish with the project?

AB:  I absolutely do.  That trend is the primary reason why Rob insisted on this type of show.  I’m a big fan of classic movie podcasts and subscribe to several that I enjoy immensely, but – mostly thanks to Rob – we wanted something a little different where we can offer the sights as well as the sounds of people and places that mean something to our classic film community.

As far as what we would like to accomplish – as we mention in the pilot episode of “Classic Movies and More” we have lofty goals.  We’d like to go everywhere and talk to everybody.  We base everything that we’ve laid out so far on our own interests as fans and the show being “by fans, for fans” is central to why we decided to do it.  We want to talk to the fans that play a role in keeping the movies and stars alive.  We want to promote authors (like you) and others who put in extraordinary time and effort to ensure the people whose work we admire stay relevant.  Aside from allowing the three of us a new way to express how much we love these movies we want to have a forum for all fans to do so as well.  Of course that includes historians, projectionists, accompanists, theater owners, bloggers and what have you because at the core of most of their work is a fan. 

JTL:  It's terrific that you've covered the small but significant stories that I think are not given much play elsewhere - the Biograph episode, the Bob Furmanek interview.  I especially enjoyed the three-part series with Meredith Ponedel on her father and aunt, Dottie Ponedel, who had such an impact on the industry and such warm connections with so many stars as a makeup artist. (From a technical aspect, I also would like to mention that I thought the camera, the editing, and the patter of the interview was extremely well done.)  I would love to see some of your episodes broadcast on TCM to achieve a wider audience.  How do you investigate these story ideas, or how do they come to you?

Also, in the pilot episode, the possibility of future podcasts on visiting classic film-related museums was mentioned. I'd love to see that.

AB:  I’m so glad to know you enjoyed those episodes.  Meredith Ponedel was a happy accident who came to our attention thanks to Kelly Kitchens who runs the “Going to TCMFF” Facebook page.  Meredith was excited to talk to us and we were riveted by her stories. Naturally we thought other fans would be as well.  I agree that Annmarie did a fantastic job with that interview.  As for Bob Furmanek – he’s a tireless advocate for classics particularly true in his efforts to save 3-D films.  Bob and I have become friends and I love what he’s doing.  I’m hoping we can promote any and all projects he has on the horizon.  Finally, the Biograph segment came about because Professor Ultan who’s the Bronx Borough Historian also happens to teach at the same university that I do.  He’ll be featured in another piece soon where we visit Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.  All I can say about him is that if I lived five lifetimes I wouldn’t know what he knows so it’s thrilling to be in his presence.

We’ve been lucky so far with the people we’ve been exposed to through the classic film connections we’ve made.  I expect that these connections can only get deeper and larger in scope.  We come up with ideas in a variety of ways, but consult on an overall plan that focuses on what we can do locally first and branch out from there.  We have so much film history in our own backyard so to speak that there’s no rush to travel the world - although eventually we want to.  We’ll soon be incorporating Skype interviews/discussions as part of the programming, which will certainly increase the number of people we can talk to and topics we cover.  Rather than covering “newsy” topics we prefer (perhaps) more obscure things that are not necessarily found in other places and museums are definitely in the cards.  That said, we loved doing the pre-TCMFF review and a pre-Capitolfest commentary was also released prior to that festival, which enables us to stay topical in some ways.  As for our content ever appearing on TCM – well, we’d love that!!  Who knows?

JTL:  The Holy Cross Cemetery episode was poignant, not only for its tribute to the stars, but to see that tribute expressed by classic film fans and bloggers Laura Grieve and Kellee Pratt.  Classic film fans themselves taking respectful ownership of the chronicling of classic films is a huge aspect of the advent of blogs.  Watching favorite films is our main activity as old movie fans, but it is a passive participation.  Blogging -- and producing your CLASSIC MOVIES AND MORE series  -- is an active, and proactive response to the love of old movies. Do you see fans as becoming more proactive in their love of old movies -- supporting restoration, etc.?  What is your mission in producing this series?

AB:  It’s difficult to gauge fandom in general, but as far as our community of classic film fans goes there’s no doubt that we are active participants when it comes to lauding the movies, people and eras we dedicate time to.  Of course being proactive has been facilitated by social media and I’m constantly taken aback by how passionate fans are or how much time they dedicate to what may be a small part of their lives.  Our connecting en masse across mediums definitely tends to make us even more prone to reaching out and taking part in classic movie related activities, donate to restoration projects and many other ways of spreading the word well beyond simply watching a film.  In the same fashion those who have projects related to film restoration, special screenings, new book releases and so forth can reach out to a targeted audience immediately and often.  That was my long-winded way of saying yes, by virtue of the connections I think fans are definitely taking a proactive approach to fandom in a variety of ways. 

We have a few specific goals for ‘Classic Movies and More,’ but in reality the world of classic movies is our oyster.  As I mentioned, the “for fans, by fans” is important to us, but beyond that spreading the word about something we care about deeply is our primary focus.  The people we want to talk to are legion and the places we want to visit are numerous.  I feel like we’re kids in a candy store thanks to the many passionate, knowledgeable people we know about thanks to the active roles they now take across social media.

If you don’t mind, I’ll circle back to the idea of connections with regard to the Holy Cross Cemetery episode we did.  What makes that special for us and certainly has a lot to do with our decision to do this show is the fact that we were there together and were able to express our appreciation for these people who we never met, but who have nonetheless touched our lives in significant ways.  Knowing others share these feelings makes it all that much more rewarding.

JTL:  You and Annmarie did a preview of the TCM festival this year. Will you cover other classic film festivals in future episodes?

AB:  The pre-TCM festival was hilarious because we couldn’t decide on anything, which is what most TCMFF attendees go through.  It was loads of fun to do as well.  The answer is yes we will do as much festival coverage as possible, which may come slowly given current time restrictions with regard to traveling to different parts of the country. We also did a pre-Capitolfest commentary and hopefully many more are coming in the future.

JTL:  What are some challenges of producing a video series like this?

AB:  Oh, challenges!  I don’t want to speak for either Annmarie or Rob so these are challenges as I see them.  The first would be technology.  Rob runs circles around Annmarie and me on the technology front so it hasn’t been easy to ensure that I hold up my end in that regard.  I’m working on it and will get better, but it’s a slow process.  The other challenge is finding the time to spend together.  We are all juggling many things including full-time jobs, other projects and Rob has two young sons so putting other things aside to concentrate on ‘Classic Movies and More’ is not always easy.  This endeavor is fairly new and I think we’re still finding our footing in some ways, but the major plus is that we all want the same things and are equally excited about the possibilities.

JTL:  Will you have more interviews with fans in future? Or, have you approached others, like Meredith Ponedel, who are connected with the film industry, or TCM?

AB:  We will absolutely do more fan interviews in the future and have a few almost ready for release.  The fan interviews are what I’m most excited about.  We have a long list of people we want to reach out to and will be doing so as soon as we figure out the logistics and timing.  These include bloggers, podcasters, authors and several others with classic movie connections on many levels.  We have not reached out to TCM, but needless to say we’d enjoy interviewing a number of people at the network.

JTL:  What do you have planned for future episodes?

AB:  There’s a variety of topics coming up.  Rob and “little” Rob just started a monthly Svengoolie review series, we have several interviews with fans/bloggers already “in the can” (aren’t you impressed with my movie lingo?), an interview with accompanist Gary Lucas, another classics related historical tour with Lloyd Ultan and several other things that I think will be fun for people to see.  You’ll also like additional footage we taped with Meredith Ponedel, which will be released as supplemental material in the coming weeks.

JTL:  If I could take a step back from your series for a moment, I mentioned Tiffany Vazquez, the new TCM host in a recent blog post, and I'd love to know your opinion on the following excerpt:

It has been noted that she is the first woman to be hired as a regular TCM host, and her Puerto Rican heritage has been commented on as setting her apart as representing a new demographic. But before we skew this into some Madison Avenue pie chart of something up-market, we should remember that  the classic film fan “demographic” has little to do with age, gender, race, or ethnicity, and is remarkably diverse.

AB:  I agree with you as far as how I think things should be.  I’m not sure it’s how things are. 

In my opinion the vast majority of classic movie fans – using the widely accepted definition of “classic” meaning “old” in this instance - are not twenty-something years old.  And I don’t think they will ever be in numbers that make a huge difference.  We have several extremely dedicated, passionate, knowledgeable younger fans in our community who live for classics in every sense of the word.  I marvel at their passion for classic movies, which by the way is most consistently for early talkies and pre-codes, but those fans are exceptions.  The vast majority of classic movie fans are, shall we say, not twenty-something.  They’re the ones who make up the core TCM audience who have been with the network since it went on the air.  They are made up of a varied ethnicity, but their average age is a tad above twenty-something.  I’ll add this because it’s been discussed throughout social media – many have noticed that TCM is skewing toward a younger audience, and while I may not necessarily like it I understand it.  TCM is a for-profit network and commercial-free programming has to cost a pretty penny so ensuring longevity should be a goal.  That said there is always the danger of watering down a brand that has become the network everyone believes is the primary arbiter for classic movies.

About Tiffany – There’s no doubt your Madison Avenue pie-chart had something to do with TCM’s decision to hire her as should be the case.  I am both a woman and a Latina so the fact that Tiffany is both of those thrills me.  I imagine that her age also played a factor in her becoming a TCM host.  That said I like to think that Tiffany also being a classic movie fan had a lot to do with it.  Yes, she is not a film historian or author like Robert Osborne was when he became TCM host and her last name is not Mankiewicz, which Ben himself has stated played some role is his becoming a host.  But, as I assume is the case with many others, I didn’t fall in love with Robert Osborne because he was a film historian and I couldn’t care less what Ben’s last name is.  I have been happy to welcome them both into my home for over two decades because they speak to me like fellow classic movie fans.  I’ve met Tiffany and I know she has that in spades.  If she’s able to convey that love of movies to an audience who is passionate and loyal I think she’ll have a long, successful career on the network. 

JTL:  There are many aspects of classic films which are difficult for younger people to swallow because they are so obviously out of tune with today's concepts of race and gender.  Even for those of us who are more familiar with the eras in which the classic films were made, we still cringe at many scenes, even if we are able to process them in context.  Your thoughts?

AB:  There’s no doubt that classic movie fans make a decision to ignore the offensive material inherent in those movies in order to appreciate them.  We accept that they are products of their time and therefore put aside what we would normally have issue with.  I think it’s a requisite to watch them, in fact, so anyone – younger or older – who is not familiar with what to expect to a certain degree would have a difficult time with what was being served.  And, for that matter, understanding how the rest of us could enjoy entries that so blatantly insult women and minorities. 

JTL:  With respect to the above passage, who is your audience?  Younger fans more in tune to looking for info in the Internet? Diehard fans who can't get the stories you present anywhere else? What has your response been to the series so far?

AB:  I’d like to think our audience is the classic movie fan of any age.  Or hopefully will be.  Fans of classic movies or anything retro, for that matter, are more predisposed to search for classic material on the internet because we have limited outlets that offer it.  I don’t think that practice is limited to younger audiences in our community. Or at least that’s true in regards to major social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

We hope to be able to offer those fans an outlet to promote their blogs, tell their classic movie stories and so forth in a way other outlets don’t do.  In that way we’ll be a connection to classics not offered anywhere else.  If we are successful in presenting topics and people with professional connections to classic movies that offer unique insight or we take people to a place where others have not been then I think people will tune in.  Original content is important and we’ll try our best to provide it. 

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My sincere thanks to Aurora for taking the time to participate in this interview, and for her always thoughtful and intelligent perspective on classic film.  Please visit her blog, and also Classic Movies and More on YouTube, you’ll love them both.

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Past posts in this series here:

Part 1 of the year-long series on the current state of the classic film buff is here: A Classic Film Manifesto. 

Part 2 is here: Cliff Aliperti’s new book on Helen Twelvetrees.

Part 3 is here: An interview with Kay Noske of Movie Star Makeover.

Part 4 is here: Evolution of the Classic Film Fan.

Part 5 is here: Gathering of the Clan at Classic Film Festivals.

Part 6 is here: John Greco’s new book of film criticism: Lessons in the Dark.

Part 7 is here: Tiffany Vazquez, new TCM host.

Part 8 is here:  Planet of the Apes at the Cineplex.

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