WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE - Review

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE  was the first production at the HIP POCKET THEATRE  which I completely Designed and Directed. It was not wholly successful on an artistic level ( I wish my staging could have been more effective) but I was very proud of the script itself which I adapted from the 1951 film script AND the original 1928 novel. This production also boasted a Dream Cast led by veterans DICK HARRIS & PEGGY BOTT. Everyone involved worked incredibly hard to put my play over and the audiences responded enthusiastically at every performance. The "experiment" of totally involving the audience within the production really paid off here and we were able to use that same conceipt later on to even greater effect.

 I've always said that there were No Audiences like the HPT Audiences.... conditioned over the years to expect Anything from us  and very accepting of Everything we threw at them! The Willful Suspension of Dis-Belief, so essential to successful Theatre...really of any kind.

God Bless Them All!

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE - Main Stage & Observatory Drawings

On the Main Stage I constructed an Observatory/Laboratory set as shown in the sketch above.

Surrounding the stage I suspended several large white panels of reflective material.

DENNIS RUNGE designed the lighting for this show which included "footlight" units hidden under each panel of fabric that could bath them in different colors of light and even shifting shades as the play progressed. Projections on the main Screen allowed us to expand the scope of the staged action, especially when views of outer space and the Colliding Planets were required.

Contrary to published reports at the time, I had planned a number of "Special Effects" to occur at set points within the play in a similar manner as our previous production of  THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

 RIC SWAIN, who had handled those duties admirably in the first show, was to have produced them again in this production. Unfortunately his involvement in a car accident just after rehearsals began rendered him incapable and I wasn't able to find a suitable replacement for him.... so the tough decision to Not Re-Stage the action and just let the play speak for itself was made . Which surprisingly paid off...

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE - ARK drawing

The gist of  WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE is that a renagade Sun and it's orbiting (and Earth-Like) Planet are on a collision coarse with the Earth. Scientists try to determine how much time we have left, and figure out a way to construct a giant spacecraft or "Ark" to transport a select few to the New Planet so that mankind can survive the holocaust.

The construction of the Ark takes up the bulk of the play, culminating in the take-off and landing on the New World. To accomplish this on stage and also involve the audience in the process, I decided to use our existing light booth and the platform beside it ( both of which were technically "behind" the audience seating) as the base for the set of  WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. During the play various panels and silver wing tarps were lowered or hoisted into position until the full spaceship was assembled.

 The technicians in the booth who were actually contolling the lighting and projections for the play, were costumed and acted as the "Technicians" in the story. All very organically staged, with much of the dialogue taking place in and around the Ark and the surrounding audience.

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE - Groundplan

As I've said, the tradition of the HALLOWEEN SHOW at HIP POCKET THEATRE was the result of the productions I mounted there in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Beginning with THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and continuing through with KING KONG in 1981.

  ( My adaptation of  FRANKENSTEIN  planned for 1982 was aborted due to the rampant drug addiction of certain of the collaborators...it was the 80's after all...and some other bad things happened that summer... over which we had no control.....so all has been forgiven for that sad incident. I would still like to produce that show, though...)

In 1983 the HPT traveled to Edinborough, Scotland to appear in the famous Theatre Fringe Festival there (the only American Company invited to attend, sort of Off, Off Broadway, but still a very prestigious thing for our non-profit outfit).

And in the Summer of 1984 I made the decision to return to Fort Worth full time and was swept up in the HIP POCKET THEATRE experience which culminated in our sold-out production of
ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, an adaptation of the film from 1948, in Sept.-Oct; with the final performance held on Oct. 31st. The entire Cast and the Audience in Full Costume!

Above is my plan for the performance area of the 1985 HALLOWEEN SHOW of
 WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.

I have always been a big promoter of  Full Audience Involvement in Theatre...somthing about that "4th Wall" crap we all learned in school...the separation between the Actors and the Audience. I just never bought into that, and it certainly didn't suit the style of the HPT, so I planned this show to fully utilize my vision of what a performance could be...the story involves Everyone on Earth, so why shouldn't our Audience be fully involved in the plot and resolution of this story?

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE - HPT - 1985

Skipping ahead a bit ( If you have been following this blog you already know that I post things as they come up in the massive files I've accumulated over the decades...... and as I scan them )
to 1985...
... and my production of  WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.

Having successfully staged  H.G. WELLES'   THE WAR OF THE WORLDS in the late 1970's for the HPT  ( see the first posts to this blog if you haven't been following ) and having established the tradition of the HALLOWEEN SHOW, which was cemented when I returned to Fort Worth in 1984, and mounted the very successful  ABBOTT& COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN,

I was suddenly faced with the challenge of how to follow up when that time of year came around again. We needed something to finish off the year with a Bang. What better way than to
Destroy the Earth and travel to a New Planet......taking the audience along with us!

I pitched my adaptaion of the 1951 GEORGE PAL film which was based on the somewhat more graphic novel by BALMER & WYLIE from the 1920's. Purists are aware of the Nialistic Science Fiction writings of that period. The birth of  SCI - FI  which really began with  H.G.WELLES  in the 1890's  had been filled with a hopeful vision of the "Future".

Following WW I that vision darkened. I was always impressed with the 1950's film version and even more so when I at last read the source novel and my idea for a stage adaption formed. JOHNNY SIMONS understood at once and agreed to allowed me to stage  the story  as the last production of the season at the OAK ACRES AMPHITHEATRE in Sept.-Oct. 1985.

SLEUTH Program

I worked on 15 productions altogether for the WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE, designing Sets for 12 of those and and Sets and Costumes for 2. This production of SLEUTH was probably the high point for me there. MARY JANE TEALL made a big deal out of my working for her in the Winter and the HIP POCKET THEATRE work I would travel to do in the summers. The idea of that appealed to her and to be truthful I was honing my craft with each new assignment, so it appealed to me as well. Working with Ms. Teall was always interesting...she was truly a force of nature.

I first met her in 1977 when I was working with the TROTTER BROTHERS Puppet Production Company. We were using a holding area just off the underground parking at Century II in Wichita as a rehearsal space for my production of  JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. I was directing the puppeteers one evening when I spied this little woman in a leopard print cap watching from the corner. I remember smiling and acknowledging her presence...and having a vague idea of who she was...but that is all I remember. She moved on to the elevators and up to her own rehearsal in the Little Theatre.

4 years later we met again at a summer performance of COMMEDIA and to my surprise she not only remembered me but had some  knowledge of my work both locally and in Texas. She asked me if I would be interested in working with WCT and the rest is history.

SLEUTH - Working Drawings Final

The upper drawing shows the position and construction of the entry arch from the front foyer of Wyke's home that leads into the set and is seen in the photo below. The 6th page of working drawings is the Carpenters master Groundplan with exact measurements from the front edge of the stage to every wall and angle of the set. This is used to correctly position the flats, platforms and set pieces when the completed set is assembled on the stage. If I've made a mistake anywhere along the line during this whole process, this is were it will rear it's ugly head! Again, with STAN FOSTER doing the carpentry and installation I never really had to worry.

My chief job after the design was finished, approved and handed over to the shop was as Head Scenic Artist. I usually had very capable volunteer help for the actual painting duties. To save time and money I made use of two devices for covering the actual stage floor. Since this auditorium used arena seating the majority of the audience could see the floor and so it too had to be rendered in some way to appear a part of the set as a whole and not just "the stage". I had my choice of a canvas groundcloth which could be painted ( used in MY THREE ANGELS for example as a woven mat floor) or a series of 4'x8' pieces of ordinary woodgrained wall paneling which could be used finished side up as plank flooring, or back side up for a tile painted effect. My original groundplan for SLEUTH  shows the layout of the panels used to represent hardwood flooring in this production.

After the physical set is up and ready the next step is the set decoration. Chairs, desks, lamps and other props must be found and assembled for use on the stage. For SLEUTH this took a small army of volunteers and some begging and borrowing. Many of the furnishings, such as the impressive Grandfather's Clock at the head of the stairs were actual antiques which the Theatre had to insure for the run of the play. The mechanical "Laughing Sailor" figure seen in the background above was built specially for this production by my friend and colleage  BETTY LEHNUS and she even opersted it during the show to great and eerie effect, especially during the shattering climax.

SLEUTH - Working Drawings 2

There were 6 pages of working drawings required for SLEUTH ( an average one set design might run to 2 pages with groundplan). For my own reference marks I always ordered the drawings from stage right to stage left showing the relation of each wall unit and set piece to the next as they combine across the set.

The staircase which dominated the center of the set was actually designed not for Walking Up...
...but for Falling Down. When Milo is shot by Wyke at the end of Act 1 he has to take a dead tumble down about 3/4 of the length of the stairs, landing unconcious at the foot of them as the lights fade.

If you look closely at the bottom photo you can see that the rise and tread of each step are actually reversed with the shorter width on top of each step and the longer as the rise. I also put thick foam rubber padding underneath the carpeting which covered the stairs. This steep angle and extra padding ensured a fairly easy tumble which would not endanger the actor. There is also a small landing breaking the staircase at an angle, allowing the actor to roll in mid-fall, allowing him to control the tumble.

This made the fall safe, but  actually climbing the stairs was something of a workout and required a bit of parctice. Fortunately the actor playing Wyke was very long limbed and he only had to go up and down a couple of times during the play.

There was also a wall safe located behind a painting on the side of this staircase which had to be rigged to explode open while being "burgled". A theatrical smoke bomb and recorded sound effect of a small explosion rendered this trick believable to the audience.

SLEUTH _ Carpenter's Working Plans

I was very fortunate ( in point of fact "spoiled") to have as my set Carpenter STANLEY FOSTER. He had been with WCT for years and knew every piece of stock scenery and every inch of the performance venues. He could also build Anything with precision and great speed. If things ever came down to the wire on a production, which was just about always, it was never due to his work in any way.

Stanley's only requirement from me were a good clear set of Elevations, an accurately measured Groundplan and a detailed set of working drawings such as the ones shown above. As you can see these have done their time in the shop. I'm always amused at the profussion of coffee stains which seem to have made their way onto virtually every one of these drawings.

SLEUTH featured a complete Procenium constuction with 3' Finials framing the two story set. We also took a stock fireplace unit and overbuilt it into the Gothic monstrosity seen in the bottom photo. this fireplace wall had to be reinforced and back-braced for the pistol firing illusion that shocks the audience in ACT 1. As Wyke aims the gun and fires at a ceramic figure on the mantlepiece, the figure suddenly shatters and a bullethole appears in the masonry wall behind it. This is crucial to the plot as Wyke later turns what now seems to be a very loaded weapon at poor Milo.

 The ceramic figure had a wire running from it through the hole in the wall. At the exact moment of the gunshot a stagehand yanked the wire which slammed the figure against the wall, shattering it and revealing the hole. This always got a big reaction from the audience, but we needed about a dozen ceramics which didn't look too cheap or tacky to be on a mantle in Wyke's stately mansion!

SLEUTH _- Elevation and Groundplans

 The single set required for SLEUTH was the single most complicated construction I've ever attempted. The demands of the script required that practically every surface had to be specially made and supported to handle the actions required, from gunshots and explosions to windows breaking and the lead actors on stage tumble down the staircase at the end of Act 1

 My original groundplan above allowed for a more expansive set and furnishings but has a fatal flaw.
The sightlines in the Little Theatre were somewhat restrictive. Although the stadium style seating meant that every seat in the house was a good one, the extreme angles at the right and left sides of the auditorium meant that each set had to de designed with those lines in  mind. In this case the area to the left and beside the central staircase would not have been visable to the right side of the house, while the angle of the massive fireplace down right would have been all but invisible to the left side of the house.

The problem was resolved by extending the upstage wall down along the right side of the stairs and shortening the row of bookcases which allowed the fireplace angle to be moved downstage for better sightlines and no unusable stage area. So the basic design wasn't altered all that much.

Although SLEUTH is only a 2 character play, so much action takes place that every spot on the stage is occupied at one point or the other. This included a full second story hallway with entrances required through both doors and a window ( which had to "break") as well as the under alcove area.

I spent as much time engineering all of this as I might have on a small house, but the results were more than worth the effort.

SLEUTH - WCT - 1982

The first "Main Stage" production I was hired to design for the WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE was MY THREE ANGELS in 1981. I've posted my pictures and memories of that production earlier, August 2013 on this blog  to be exact.

The Main Stage was at that time the "Little Theatre", part of a complex known as CENTURY II which had been constucted  in the late 1960's on the bank of the Arkansas River
 ( pronounced "ARKansas" for you Non-Kansans) in the heart of downtown Wichita. This massive venue sported 2 Theatres and 2 convention arenas, all back to back and sharing a common scene dock and dressing rooms.

The Little Theatre, now named the "Mary Jane Teall Theatre" in honor of our Artistic Director and quite fittingly so, had no fly system, so scenery could not be hung on battons and flown up and down as in the "Concert Hall" just across the dock where the summer musicals were staged.

 This worked fine for one set shows such as SLEUTH by Anthony Shaffer which I designed for WCT back in 1982. When the curtain parted for this production my set received applause on every performance. This flash photograph really doesn't do it justice as MICHAEL HOSTETLER'S lighting really set the atmosphere to the physical space I had invisioned.

Mary Jane Teall insisted on calling me "JIM" and Michael " MIKE" even though we both preferred our full names. He and I worked so closely together over these seasons that my work and his were inseparable, both on the main Stage and in the Workshop.

SLEUTH is and was a Designer's Nightmare. In upcoming posts I will tell you exactly WHY!

WCT - COMMEDIA Rendering

This was my color rendering for the re-design of the COMMEDIA set pieces, sadly it was damaged with many of my other renderings in a small flood some 20 years ago.

I added the snapshots of myself actually painting the header and blackout board in the Workshop in 1983, I think...Astute viewers will notice a resemblance to a certain record album which we all owned back then - the PIPPIN Sountrack. I adapted that style of artwork for use here.

That summer was very colorful indeed! I'm not sure for how many seasons this design work was used, as I left Wichita to return to Fort Worth, Texas and my previously posted time with the HIP POCKET THEATRE. I know that COMMEDIA is a relic of the last century, but it was so much fun!

WCT - COMMEDIA Sketches

These two sketches were for the decoration of the two bars used to serve the set-ups during the intermissions of COMMEDIA. The upper Larger bar was located in the main lobby of the WCT Workshop building. The smaller was in the side area close to the restrooms.

The Original building was built in 1932 as a Synagogue with a central assembly hall which had the small stage at one end, and several anti-rooms behind sliding doors. The second floor housed three classrooms which we used for prop and costume storage. Just off - stage left was a fully equiped ( Circa 1930's) kitchen.

WCT - COMMEDIA

When I first started working with the  WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE  my first experience with this troupe was their summer COMMEDIA review. Wichita was a "Dry" town in the 1980's. This meant that you could'nt just walk into a bar or restaurant and order a drink, as selling liquor by the drink was illegal.

There were many interesting ways of getting around this, of course. If you frequented an establishment for example you could legally buy your own bottle of booze, the bartender would label it with your name, and then he or she could serve you a drink from your own...with a heafty set-up fee attached for the coke, sprite or water that was added to the mixed drink.

Since WCT was a tax exempt organization the rules were a bit different. They could serve you your set-up legally for the appropriate fee, and you could carry your own bottle of booze into the Workshop with you and "serve yourself" so to speak......Fun Days!

The upshoot was a great fund-raising event for the Theatre and a Jolly Good Time for the rest of Wichita. The review would be a mix of political satire, both National and Local, and good old-fashioned burlesque routines.

Up until I started working there the COMMEDIA setting was VERY sparse and low - key. I convinced MARY JANE TEALL to allow me to add a spot of color by re-designing the Stage Header, Blackout Board ( actors popped up from behind this for short "Laugh-In" style blackout sketches) and the two ( Count Em!) two Bars in the lobbys.

These are my initial sketches for the COMMEDIA Re-Design...

FOR COLORED GIRLS - Articles and review

Above is my original groundplan for the setting of FOR COLORED GIRLS.
Below an Article announcing the production and the subsequent Review.

I am particularly pleased that our production was Rated Superior to the National Tour which had just played Wichita previously in the year.

This marked the first full-scale production which was mounted in the WCT Workshop.  It had been  used only as a rehearsal space and for the summer COMMEDIA Review up until then. In the next decade, a number of fine productions would be mounted there and today the WCT uses this space exclusively for their Performing Seasons, which have been Extraordinary Indeed.

I am so proud to have been instrumental in the start of all of this. 3 years later I would direct my own production WAITING FOR THE PARADE  there. More on that later, but next the Main Stage Shows I Designed.......

FOR COLORED GIRLS - Costume Designs - 1981

The costuming of  FOR COLORED GIRLS  was actually very simple. Again, because of the atmosphere at the time, the standard wardrobe workers were unwilling to participate in this production. It seems strange today, but in 1981 that was considered the norm. All 6 ladies I costumed were quite extraordinary actresses with varing degrees of experience. I worked with each to discover her likes and dislikes and incorporated them into my final designs.

Ms. Shange denoted each character as a color of the Rainbow. Using leotards and matching wrap skirts, with accesories based on each ladies'  tastes, the final sketches were submited and eventually approved.

FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW WAS ENUF - 1981

Above is my original rendering for the set design of COLORED GIRLS. The bottom rendering, now in the posession of the WCT was the one I submitted to MARY JANE TEALL before production.

They differ little except for prop placement and the color of the original procenium, which I was not allowed to repaint as I had wanted to for this production.

WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE - 1981 - 1984 The Workshop

My first job as Designer for the  WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE  was a Workshop Production of the Pulitzer Prize Winning Play  FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW WAS ENUF by Notzake Shange.

 The Workshop allowed for experimental productions and audiences which the Main Stage Shows couldn't tolerate. It is hard to imagine now that 30 years ago an All Black Cast in a Racially Motivated Production were considered too radical for a General Audience. In fact some of the long-time members of the WCT Board and Staff refused to be associated with this production.

Enter... Myself.   I had no such qualms and  MARY JANE TEALL  latched onto that and I was tapped to design not just the Setting but the Costumes as well. I leapt at the chance and ran with it. The result was nothing short of amazing and led to my being hired to design the next 3 seasons of WCT.

At the top is my scaled elevation of the existing Workshop stage,  little changed from the 1932 version. I persuaded Ms. TEALL to allow me to add a thrust platform to the existing stage, just a step lower to bring the play forward into the audience. This had never been attempted in the Workshop space before. Two platforms a step higher than the main stage on both right and left allowed for a multi-tiered set in which each of the six cast members could have their own space. Stools, benches and small blocks which were moved by the actors as needed completed the design. The Groundplan shows the extension of the stage as I envisioned it.

The two photos at the bottom were taken recently in the Workshop Building. Very little has changed since I designed this production in 1981. The space is still being used today to stage a wide variety of productons.

WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE Years 1981 - 1984

I had the great pleasure to work with one of the premier theatrical companies in the country in the early 1980's  THE WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE  which had been founded in 1949  and was still being led by it's Artistic Director  MARY JANE TEALL,  a Legend in Regional Theatre.

Over the next several posts I am going to document my time with this extraordinary troupe. I served as Scenic Designer from 1981 through 1984 and also designed Costumes, performed as an Actor and even Directed a show in the Workshop Auditorium pictured above.

The newspaper photo at the top accompanied an article about our Director at the time we were performing the play  YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU  in 1981 ( the smiling lad in white tux and black bowtie second to her right is...yes...ME! )

The bottom photo is the WCT Workshop Building today, although it looks much as I remember it from 30 years ago.

The Original Building was built in 1932 as the Temple Emanu-El of Wichita, the first Progressive Hebrew Temple in the Midwest which was founded in 1885. When they built their current Temple in 1961,  MARY JANE TEALL  brokered an offer to purchase ( for CASH!) this building which was initially used to house the Theatre's Offices,  Box Office,  Rehearsal Hall  & Storage. In time it also became the Performance venue for COMMEDIA, a summer comedy revue which satirized both local and national events in songs and sketches. This was used as a way to raise funds for the Main Stage Seasons in Fall & Winter.

I first became aware of WCT when I attended one of these revues and was introduced to the venerable Ms. TEALL...we worked closely together for the next 3 years and She influenced my life and career in the same way she had countless others during her amazing life.

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - The Raven Resurrected final

Here are a couple of stills of Myself at work creating my shadow version of THE RAVEN using the same treatment I wrote back in 1973 for the film we shot that is now lost. I'm in the studio I built in New Mexico and I filmed this in July, so it is about 100 degrees in the light controlled environment. A Real Labour of Love. Which turned out pretty well and I have had posted on YouTube for it's lifespan. Also screened for an audience back in Fort Worth at Halloween in the year of POE'S 200th death anniversary.

These posts also  mark the 200th on this blog and I am grateful to all who have looked in and commented. I've got more coming in 2014!

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - The Raven Resurrected

I have always been a big fan of LOTTE REINIGER, the famous German Animator ( She created the FIRST animated feature film...a decade before Walt Disney's SNOW WHITE!) PRINCE ACHMED. Look it up on YouTube, you will be Amazed!

Her technique of "Shadow Animation" is both simple, primative and Highly Innovative. Also a very pure artist's medium which I, as an individualist find very appealing.
 PRINCE ACHMED took 3 Years to Complete!

Anyway, I thought that my treatment of THE RAVEN might work well with this technique. And so in 2009 I set about trying to figure out just how to make a film that would emulate  the Shadow Animation Style which she had created in the 1920's. These images show how I did this and if you want a more in-depth look visit:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CinefexFilms

and watch the documentary  OUT OF THE SHOEBOX which includes a section on the system I created to make THE RAVEN and Restore  DRACULA MUST BE DESTROYED!  Our final film effort.

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - The Raven

OK. So, MARK EVAN WALKER and I made THE TELL-TALE HEART as our "Term Paper" for our combined History/English Class at R.L. Paschal high School in 1973. It turned out so well that we thought it might be a good idea to film  2  other POE works in the same style
 ( Silent,  Black & White  and with Shock Color Inserts) that could be combined to form a Trilogy Feature Film.

I wrote a treatment for a 5 minute adaptation of THE RAVEN, again taking place entirely within the mind of the protagonist ( so that we didn't have to find a Real raven! ) and we enlisted our co-workers from CASA MANANA, Michael Barrett and Daphne Wyche to portray POE and LENORE.

We shot the whole thing in Mark's Father's Office, which had been the office of Inspector White in DRACULA MADE ME DO IT! our first film effort in 1971, with the addition of a false "window" set piece through which the title bird made it's appearance and through which our unfortunate protagonist made his final exit at the end of the film.

For a central scene in the film we all drove to Dallas to shoot in Mark's cousin's house which featured a dramatic circular staircase.

The final shot in color was filmed by our friend RALPH ARCHENHOLD who possessed a very fine camera with a Slow-Motion feature. I did the "stunt" work of flying headfirst through the fake window, and there were several cuts of  Michael Barrett "falling" with glistening shards of glass suspended all around him...one of which ends up severing his jugular vein as he lands for a nice juicy horror close-up   and    fade out!

I describe all of this in detail because...this is the only one of our fims which NO LONGER EXISTS! The one and only print has gone missing and is probably lost forever.

In all fairness, although we spent triple the effort on this short film than we had on  THE TELL-TALE HEART, it was not one of our better efforts and neither Mark nor I were particularly happy with it as it turned out. We made some preliminary plans to film  THE BLACK CAT with other co-workers of ours from the theatre, but they never came to fruition and the whole project fell apart as we graduated from High School and went our separate ways into college.

Fast forward 35 years....to the images you see above.......

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - The TELL TALE HEART final

I must admit, even though my own performance in  THE TELL-TALE HEART leaves somthing to be desired ( I do have those amazing "Eyes" which all film actors must possess in order for the camera to be in "Love" with you,   9/10ths of all film acting is through the Eyes)...our finished film is quite impressive even by today's standards.

Shot over 3 consecutive Saturdays, and on silent Super 8 mm film, with no budget and only a reel to reel taped "soundtrack" which we just barely completed prior to the first showing of the film, I think we aced this one. We all got an A at least for our efforts so.... well done!

We weren't quite through with Mr. POE just yet.......and that story spans another 30 years in all.....

Once again, if you would like to see this and the other films we made in high school + documentaries on the making and restoration of the films visit:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CinefexFilms

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - THE TELL-TALE HEART 2

The TELL-TALE HEART was shot on Kodak ASA 400 Film. This Super 8 mm stock was very light sensitive and allowed us to film in low light ( some shots are even lit  ONLY  by candlight ). We had previously been bound to daylight photography or the dreaded bank of Floodlights! Not condusive to an atmospheric horror film at all.

We actually found  Black & White filmstock and shot the entire film this way to emulate the old silents and Universal Horror Films.

The one exception to this was our shock "Color Sequence" at the mid-point when the OLD MAN's body is dismembered and secreted under the floor boards of the house.

 As the knife descends and the blood drips into the "tub which caught all!" the film suddenly and un-nervingly switched to full color for 2 minutes, ending on the reflection of the LUNATIC in the tub of blood before wiping back to B & W for the finale.

There have been countless versions of this story filmed, but to date no other has used this simple device to draw the audience inside the mind of the character so horrifically. I also should mention our use of a multi-faceted glass paperweight, held against the camera lens and rotated by hand, to create the swirling "Eyes" during the madness sequences. I'm not sure if I have ever seen anything so chilling, even in the German Expressionist Cinema we were trying to emulate.

MARK EVAN WALKER, then all of 16 years old, directed & edited this little film with the skill and nuance of the Masters. His "Eye" was and still is...unequaled.....

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - TELL-TALE HEART 1

So, after my play THE BELLS had been produced and foisted upon the unsuspecting public....

MARK EVAN WALKER and I found ourselves thrust into an almost communal dual History/English class called "American Culture and Thought"... a fancy advanced class for brainy kids into books and history and stuff...
We studied history in relation to the works of fiction which eminated from those times AND we were encouraged to present our "term papers' in creative ways. Marks and I chose FILM as we had been hot on that track since we made our first feature  DRACULA MADE ME DO IT!  in 1971.

Our 15 minute silent film of    EDGAR ALLAN POE'S   THE TELL-TALE HEART   was the culmination of our work as filmmakers...we still consider it our best work ever.

These frame grabs from the actual film will attest to our heightened sense of our place as young artists, in tribute to the great silent directors of 50 years previous whom we had been studying.

Yes, that is MARK as the  OLD MAN  whose "Hideous Eye" is reflected in the soup bowl...and Myself as the poor tortured  LUNATIC  with a murderous facination for "The Eye"!.....

If you care to gander at our film of   THE TELL-TALE HEART, just visit at
http://www.youtube.com/user/CinefexFilms

Where you can peruse this and the other films we shot on 8mm film back in the day.

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - THE BELLS final

It is so strange to review these photos and materials from 40 years ago now.

Although my play could certainly have been better than it was, the cast of young actors really gave it their all in rehearsal and production and I personally learned a LOT about what would and would not play to an audience.

The idea of using masks when the real life characters in POE'S life assumed the personas of the characters in his stories and poems was something I had studied in drama classes and may have been the chief reason my play was chosen. There had never been another student written work performed at my High School up until then.

 I and my good friend MARK EVAN WALKER, who designed this production, soon gained a reputation as somewhat "maverick" students with the shows and films we produced over the next 4 years......

The EDGAR ALLAN POE Experience - THE BELLS

Around the same time I was beginning my professional career at CASA MANANA in 1973 I was still in high school and I also wrote my first play THE BELLS which was a sort of psychodrama taking place within the mind of EDGAR ALLAN POE. I had been doing quite a bit of research on Poe, and the parallels between his life and his work seemed very interesting to my 16 year old manchild brain.

The play is pretty dreadful, but it was chosen to be included in an evening of one-act's to be performed for the public by our drama club, THE VAGABOND PLAYERS of R. L. PASCHAL HIGH SCHOOL in Fort Worth, Texas. I was allowed to direct it myself, and so I had my first taste of staging my own adaptations, which would continue  with different companies for the next 20 years.

I staged the publicity photos which appear above, and although the faces are quite young I think the overall effect looks very professional for a High School play.