WILL UNWOUND #696: “Weekend Meditation – Silence, Please!”
March 2, 2012One of the fondest memories I have of my very early library career (early 1970s) was being responsible for Friday Family Film Night at the little public library where I worked in a little town in northern Indiana.
It was a very happy time for me. Two years into the job, I discovered that I really loved library work. There is a great sense of relief when you discover that you invested all of your educational time and money preparing for a career that you could not only enjoy as a way to make a living but also embrace as a lifelong passion. Plus I had following me everywhere the most perfect little boy in the world, my son David…just a three year old but already an avid reader and lover of all things library and literary (he still is!). How he loved to hang around the library at night with my wife as they waited for me to close up shop in our town’s little storefront library.
Friday nights were best. This was the era of three network television stations. That was pretty much it in our rural little town….no cable, no video, and no downtown movie theater. By the early 70s, the magical old Main St. movie theaters had all been supplanted by the boxy new mall metroplexes, and the closest mall was 15 miles away. So Friday Family Film Night at the library was born. We pushed aside the reading tables, set up a portable screen, served popcorn, and showed 8 mm movies. There were nature narratives, historical documentaries, cartoons, and classics from the silent movie era.
The silent movies quickly became audience favorites. They were so different from anything on television and the kids loved the slapstick, melodrama, and cliff hanging suspense of the plots. Best of all was the incredible artistry of the actors: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, and Harold Lloyd. It was a special time for me as a librarian.
It was with some nostalgia, therefore, that I learned last Sunday night that a black and white silent film won the Best Picture Oscar. No doubt you have all followed the unlikely success of the movie, “The Artist.” It has very deservedly garnered a great deal of attention. I can’t wait to see it.
The only regret that I have about all the publicity that “The Artist” received is that it tended to obscure another silent movie masterpiece, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. This is the film that won the Oscar for best animated short film. Since Sunday night I think I have watched it at least 15 times. Mr. Morris Lessmore, who bears an amazing resemblance to my favorite silent movie star Buster Keaton, is my new all time favorite librarian.
If you haven’t watched this movie, I plead with you to do it now. You will thank me in the comment section for forcing you to watch it. It will be showing in the Unwinders Tavern all weekend. We have pushed aside the tables and Boris has popped up a wonderful batch of buttery popcorn. Grab a chair. Now are you settled? Just click on The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
That film is the all-time best response to anyone who dares to dismiss books as “dead tree flakes.”
Thanks for bring it to our attention. I’m sure many Unwinders will be busy helping speed the message.
Oops, should be “bringing..” The facial appearance evokes a smiling Peter Lorre a bit as well. Did Lorre ever play a beneficent character?
The Mr. Moto movies.
I absolutely adored “..Morris Lessmore”. William Joyce. Brilliant work.
Marvelous! I shall make my family sit down and watch this after dinner.
Beautiful! Thanks for posting—had been thinking about looking for it since saw the clip on the award show. Just lovely! The girl in pigtails picks up the mantle!
This has been going back and forth across my facebook wall for several days now and with the week I’ve had I haven’t gotten around to it. Thanks for the reminder and the community-based pressure.
Will try to report back sometime this weekend with thoughts.
ps. Will, your tale with its sincere, pastoral tone sort of reminded me of Be Kind, Rewind. Have you seen it? It’s no classic, but I think for all its sweetness and honesty, it was a little underrated.
Wow. Great art that beautifully conveys the message librarians have been sending for years. And in a 15 minute short. Just shows you what great art can do. What a valentine to libraries. Will post the link on the library’s facebook page.
The Artist was wonderful. My daughter dragged me to the theater to see it, and I’m glad she did.
That is super cool! Thanks for sharing the link I’m going to email it to all my co-workers!
And for iPad users there is a neat app of this which might be described as a animated book!
It pictures are great and the app costs $4.99 in the App Store.
Just FYI…
What a delightful tribute to all the wonder, power, and beauty that is in books and the importance of sharing it with others!
I’m intrigued by the use of Pop! Goes the Weasel for the music. There’s a symbolism there that is tantalizing: Round and round the reader’s mind, the ideas chase each other. And when, at last, one takes hold, Pop! goes the world.
The symbolism of Humpty Dumpty seems to point back to Lewis Carroll and the dialog between Alice and Humpty about the meaning and power of words, but here Humpty is a very different character than Carroll’s vain, arbitrary, and arrogant character. Here Humpty seems to be more of a spokesman for the pleading of books (and their authors) to be read, cared for, and appreciated.
And on another book note—this morning’s crossword gave the clue “Like many Classics”. I kept trying to fill the 6 letter space with “REread”—but no—the answer posed by the crossword folks was “UNread”.
Will,
An especially nice post…lovely memory of your early library years. My daughter, wife and I will watch the movie later today. Thanks.
This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the official topic of discussion this weekend; however, this is an important point to note and I thought I’d share this information.
I’m sure most of us are familiar with the fact that OverDrive is the company that plays the e-book middle man between publishers and public libraries and that only two of the Big Six publishers allow public libraries to “purchase” their e-books via OverDrive…
And you’ll notice I put the work purchase in quotation marks and that is because HarperCollins is one of the two Big Six publishing companies and although they allow libraries to license their e-books – libraries cannot buy their e-books.
And that leaves the other Big Six publisher, Random House, which will in fact sell e-books, with unrestricted access to libraries. And hats off the Random House for that!
And as of March 1 Random House raised the prices of the e-books it allows libraries to purchase access to via OverDrive. And there is nothing suprising or unfair in that – the cost of everything is going up so it seems reasonable that Random House would raise their e-book prices – and now you should insert the drum roll here for dramatic effect!
How much do you suppose Random House raised its price?
Well to give you an example, consider the new book Enemies: A History of the F.B.I. by Tim Weiner – it cost $30 through OverDrive’s Content Reserve Marketplace on February 29th and on March 1s the price was raised to $90 for that same title. In contrast a print version can be obtained from Amazon or B&N for $19.80 and $19.99 respectively, and both stores offer the e-book version of that same title for $14.99
Here’s a link to a David Lee King blog posting on the subject titled Your ebook rent just went up 300% and I think Mr. King sums up the situation quite well!
http://www.davidleeking.com/
And just in case anyone would like to read two articles on the subject here’s one from LJ’s The Digital Shift on that same subject:
http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/03/ebooks/librarians-feel-sticker-shock-as-price-for-random-house-ebooks-rise-as-much-as-300-percent/
THANK YOU!!! That short but AMAZING film moved me to tears, and filled my heart with joy. I’m going to share it as much as I possibly can!
My sister sent me the link to this a month or so ago and I loved it. I hadn’t realized it won an oscar…well deserved.
Yes! Saw the short at a local theater last month. I picked it as the winner, and was so glad the Academy did, too!