DEAD CHANNELS SLEAZY SUNDAYS—Riding Dennis Harvey's SF360 Coat Tails

do you know if they are showing actual 35mm prints of these films?

Hi Howard,
I can answer part of your question.
At the final SLEAZY SUNDAY, we started the evening with an excellent 16mm print of Dwain Esper's 1934 MANIAC. We were all surprised when the legendary roadshow pioneer's grandson Damon Esper came to see it (for the first time on film) and regaled us with an amazing introduction including the tale of his grandfather's theatre recycling the popcorn from the floor. MANIAC was projected at 1.33 and came pretty close to the original aspect ratio of 1.37 (I believe). At any rate the intertitles were complete and legible throughout.
This was followed by a pink 35mm print of Albert T. Viola's PREACHERMAN that some local censor (or horny projectionist) had snipped the lengthy nude scenes out of - causing the audience to groan as if one on occasion - but the snipper had the decency and good taste to leave in all the racy gags about a man and his chicken.
THE BLACK GESTAPO was an excellent looking 35mm print with great color and very little wear - and all the gratutious sex and brutal violence intact - thank you very much. However, the venue had a (completely appropriate given the circumstances)sound problem at the end of reel one. Our quick-witted audience created entertaining new dialogue during the minute or two of silence - until the sound returned just as the hero loudly exclaimed "Let's get it on!". Nothing could have been better.
Throughout the night we screened a couple of dozen vintage 16mm and 35mm trailers including THE CRIMSON CULT, STIGMA, THE STUDENT TEACHERS, THE LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH, VANISHING POINT and THE DEVIL'S RAIN, as well as some ads for truly unappetizing Snack Bar food, and a PSA from the Feds about the dangers of drinking bathtub moonshine.
The Month of Sleazy Sundays was great fun, and we look forward to doing it again soon.
Bruce Fletcher
Dead Channels

Thanks, Bruce. That's a much better answer than the simple "yes" I was going to offer! Looking forward to the FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL in August!

Favorite memories of the Strand?
Everything.
A pervasive, delerious sense of doom hung over that place 24/7. The only theater I know of where you could drink and smoke and not worry about getting booted out. Pretty certain you could do a lot worse than that, too...
I saw many a $3.00 triple feature there in the early 90's just before it went hardcore. The place was staffed by lachrymose art school types who also kept sneaking old Andy Warhol flicks into the bill of fare. Apart from that it was mainly ultraviolent horror and macho action flicks...
At that time, the clientelle consisted mainly of street people who basically used the place as a three dollar hotel. You'd see them snoozing with their feet up all over the place. Others would sit there and chat with the screen... I remember watching that Tom Berenger movie "Sniper" while some guy sitting behind me kept muttering this mastubatory mantra to the assassination sequences: "do it... squeeeze it... squeeze the trigger... make the hole come... make the hole come..!". I gotta say though, it upped the suspense-factor in that film about 200%.
So many demonstrative scizophrenics patronized the Strand at one point that they actually had a posted sign under the curb-side movie posters that read, "Please Do Not Talk To The Posters".
Man, I miss that place. Wasn't just a movie theater. That was a moment in time that will never come again.
RIP.

Damon, what a GREAT post. Thank you so much for these sharply-etched memories. They made me laugh outloud. May I post your response over on The Evening Class?