Posted by The annual Judy Garland Festival is a little over a week away!
Here is a handy link with a nice listing of all of the events planned: LINK
I have recently been taken to task by Mike Siewert for promoting the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on my site, because it has nothing to do with Judy Garland [although as my earlier post points out, sometimes it does]. He has said that “For the record, many people emailed me about your Judy Fest vs. Film Fest promotions.” This is puzzling to me, as no one except him has emailed me about it at all. And true to form, his emails were rude and laced with accusations and insults. I won’t go into any of that here as it’s the usual petty email insults.
If anyone out there has any issues with what I post or do not post on The Judy Room News Page, please let me know via private email. But don’t lace your emails with insults and rudeness if you want me to take you seriously!
I don’t think I really need to explain WHY I promote the SF Silent Film Festival. It’s obvious, since I’m involved with the Festival and of course want to help promote it in any way that I can. But I will state here, for the record:
1) My interests lie not “just with Judy” but with film preservation in general and the history of film in general. I’ve always been a huge fan and avid researcher of classic film, gravitating towards (obviously) MGM musicals and the amazing history of the MGM studios.
2) I put the Silent Film links on the site to promote the festival as many Garland fans out there might not know anything about it. The experience of seeing a great silent film as it was meant to be seen, in a gorgeous movie palace like the Castro Theatre with music and an appreciative audience, is an incredible experience that I urge everyone to have at least once. Whether here in SF or anywhere else they show silent films.
3) I’m very proud of my association and work with the festival. They’re great people, and I have learned so much about the early history of film. Actually, about the entire history of film, as our research takes us through journeys that often times lead us to how these films and filmmakers still influence much of modern film. And as my research last year showed [as noted in the previous post here], sometimes these silent films and filmmakers do link to Judy. As nutty as that might seem.
4) You’ll notice my disclaimer on The Judy Room news page about the Judy Festival post. As stated there, I only meant that the Judy Festival, at this point, isn’t big news anymore because the word has been out for quite some time. I certainly did not mean any disrespect to the festival or its planners. I support The Judy Garland Festival as much as I support The Silent Film Festival. I just didn’t think I needed to promote it as much since I’m assuming (perhaps too much) that Garland fans are already aware of the annual Judy Fest much more than they would be aware of any silent film festivals.
So, I apologize to anyone out there who thinks I’m slighting the Judy Fest in any way. That certainly has not been my intent. I have never been to the Judy Fest, but everyone I’ve talked to who has has always given it glowing reviews and have related how they had a wonderful time.
Thanks for understanding!