the history of our cinema history class part ii: the development

This is a follow-up to the last pots (which is here), in which I talked about the prehistory of the cinema history class that Ethan and I take.

Ethan and I were looking forward to class even if we didn't know what to expect. We knew we'd be watching Freaks, the seminal 1932 horror film by Tod Browning, but not much else. But we arrived at 7 on the appointed Thursday night and Keith led us to his basement viewing room where we were formally introduced to Joe and Steve.

Though we didn't really know them, Ethan and I had met both of them before, in one (or more) of Keith's classes at Nassau Community. Keith was, quite sensibly, using the class as a filter. If he was going to have a private class in his basement, he wanted to make sure there would be good chemistry. And, of course, he only wanted to invite people whom he trusted to bring into his home.

In that first class, Keith talked about Freaks, the production, the concerns, the people. We watched the movie, and then discussed it, with each of us, in turn, rating it on a scale of one to ten. That was the first of four movies he showed in that session, which was followed by another session of four. And another... Keith had planned out a lot of how things would go, but of course there would be details that would evolve over time. Fortunately, Keith has been flexible enough to roll with the the punches. Originally, the class was supposed to be devoted to horror movies, but it's expanded, and we now talk about it as horror, fantasy and science fiction.

In a more substantive example, at some point Dave (who was not one of the charter members of the class) started bringing obituaries of movie industry people who had died during the week. Now each class begins with Dave's death notices and attendant discussion. As another example, Keith's wife is a librarian. She often uses her magical librarian skills to put together a package of newspaper clippings related to the movie we're seeing. She'll bring down the stack of printouts and we pass them around as the post-viewing discussion is going on.

Originally, Keith had planned to organize the classes into four-week sessions.* Each session would have its own theme. Early on, however, the themes were somewhat loose. For example, one was "films that will scramble your brain." That was a necessity because, in the early days he could only show us 16 millimeter prints, so coherent themes were a bit difficult to put together. Now, with digital, Keith has the ability to get more specific. So we've had a session of movies about serial killers. And another of giant monster movies.

Some of these sessions have been successful enough to become perennials. Giallo month comes to mind, as does Bring Your Own Movie month. In that one, the only session to last six weeks instead of four, each one in the class picks a movie to bring in and discuss.

The class roster has changed over the years. Steve stopped coming, but Keith added three new members -- Dave, Scott and Sean. And there have been numerous guests over the years. Keith has a friend, Loren, who used to attend sometimes. Keith's wife, Joe's wife and my daughter have all attended occasionally -- usually because there was a movie they particularly wanted to see. I have sometimes brought houseguests to attend.

In addition, Keith has sometimes invited guests who had some particular expertise on the movie he was showing. In one week, Tatyana Kot (a Russian-born actress who starred in Blitzkrieg: Escape from Stalag 69, which was one of the feature films Keith directed) introduced Planeta Bur, a cold war-era Russian science fiction movie. With firsthand experience of Russian culture, Kot was well-situated to discuss the topic.

And the class itself is still changing -- growing and evolving as developments warrant. In the next installment I'll talk about where the class is now.

*Honestly, I have no idea why he chose four.