Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

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Richard M Roberts
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Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 6:30 pm

Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

Postby Richard M Roberts » Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:05 pm

We thought you’d like to see some of the crap we have to put up with just to put out and share old movies with you.

A few weeks ago, we had an altercation with a reviewer on amazon regarding the CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH VOLUME TWO set, here is the review, go to the comments section and read the 20 comments (note: if you are reading this on your phone, you will not see the comments, you need to read this from a computer):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... dctrvw_srp

As Amazon has deleted all of their comments to reviews, here is a transcript of the comments section to this review:

"Richard M Roberts:

No Samantha, you are wrong, we are not holding these films “hostage”, we are the ones who have actually been getting these films out to you to see after all these years, and with this level of appreciation and mature behavior from you and some of the fans, we should be doing this why?

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Samantha Glasser:

“22 Amazon reviews on a weekend is a nice start, but there’s a lot more of you out there who can make the effort, we’re not impressed yet”

RICHARD M ROBERTS

B LAWTON:

HYARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Richard M Roberts:

My question has still not been answered.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Rodney Bowcock Jr.:

Maybe pose a question that’s worth answering?

Richard M Roberts:

It’s a question worth answering, all of the people attacking me in this post and comments are part of a facebook group called the Cinewhiners, which has been spreading BS about me and other video producers like Paul Gierucki whose work they feel envious of and “threatened” by for some time, they are coming here to try to do it now. We are the people who get this stuff out to you, the fans and have been doing it for years, they are mostly picky consumers who couldn’t do this if they bothered to get out from behind their keyboards and try while being led by a few bitter “contributors” to the area of interest whose attempts do not compare well to ours, and we won’t work with, so rather than work harder to improve, they do the usual petty thing of trying to tear down and discredit the competition, it’s one of the sicknesses of the internet. They have been thrown off other groups for their incessant whining and were labelled “cinewhiners” by Ron Hutchison, the legendary head of the Vitaphone project, and they have tried to wear it as a Badge of honor, cluelessly not realizing that admitting you’re one does not make you less of one.

The quality of our work speaks for itself, look at the other reviews, and we have been doing it for decades. Samantha, you talk about being introduced to Charley Chase at Cinevent, you know who presented those shows that you saw from his collection for several decades…..me.

You’re welcome, and you still haven’t answered my question.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Rodney Bowcock Jr.:

Which groups have I been thrown off of? Less than you, that’s for sure.

Richard M Roberts:

Like I said, continued attempts to trash us, it becomes pretty obvious after awhile.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Samantha Glasser:

“we should be doing this why?”

As stated in the above review “..I hope RMR and Sprocket Vault decide that these films are worth releasing for the sheer pleasure of watching them and in honor of the memory of a hard-working funny man named Charley Chase”. Most people in this hobby don’t do the work they do for the money or the notoriety. They do it because they love the films and want other people to be able to see them.

Richard M Roberts:

That is why we do it, there is no real money in doing this, we have been doing it to get these films that we love and have worked hard to help preserve out to the public where they might have a shot at another generation of appreciation and when we have to deal with this sort of harassment from people like you with whatever misguided grudge or petty reason, or see the public who do appreciate it taking it for granted, we ask ourselves why bother to do it? There is no law saying we have to, and when one finds oneself having to stand up to this sort of bitter nonsense, one starts realizing that there are more pleasant and less timewasting things to do.

The community of this area of interest is rapidly shrinking, and it has always been a small group, and this sort of stupid sniping on the part of the cinewhiners just shows that it is all about them, not the films they claim to love and want to promote, and that just jeopardizes the opportunities for people to get this stuff from the few people who work to put it out, and when they quit, there will be no one to replace them, or the product will likely be inferior from those who try.

Like I said, the agenda of the people sniping at me here has nothing to do with the films, it’s all about them.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Samantha Glasser:

Don’t you see that by telling people that because there aren’t enough five-star reviews on Amazon that you might just stop releasing the films, you’re making it about yourself and not the movies, and you’re harassing and alienating the small audience who buys them?

“…or see the public who do appreciate it taking it for granted…” if we’re buying the disks, how are we taking it for granted that they’re available? And in the event that someone does not fully appreciate living in a climate where many obscure titles are completely unavailable, shouldn’t the old-timers who remember that era be happy that they’ve worked to contribute to a time when obscure films are plentiful?

Richard M Roberts:

No, we’re not, we told everyone when we started these releases that they had to support the sets as they came out if they wanted the sets to continue to come out, and that meant getting the word out on social media, leaving reviews on Amazon, and talking up the sets on newsgroups, and if that wasn’t done, the sets would stop coming out. Plain and simple economics for a niche’ release with a bigger licensing and production budget than usual for the type of numbers these sort of films sell. These are not Kickstarter projects, they are privately funded, and they need to pay for themselves.

What a condescending, arrogant, and foolish thing to say to someone who has been preserving, collecting, and saving this stuff since before you were born, and when we are getting more grief than appreciation from the self-absorbed, petty little people like the cinewhiners group, and not doing it for the money, to hear you say “can’t you just be happy that all these obscure films are now available” brings the words “go to hell” to our minds.

People like myself, Kit Parker, Ron Hutchison, and Paul Gierucki are the ones who have MADE these obscure films available for you to see, our work speaks for itself, and all we’re seeing from you is petty prissiness as you bristle when we say “hey, you’ve gotta keep your end of the bargain”. You spent more time slamming us on Nitrateville about this than it would have taken you to write a review here.

I will continue to say it, it’s all about you, not the films, and this tone of phony self-righteousness you’re attempting is completely false.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

B. LAWTON

Pretty obvious who this tempest in a teapot is all about…..

Richard M Roberts:

Lawton is one of the head cinewhiners, one of the disgruntled “contributors” .We quit working with him and cut off all contact in 2005, and he has periodically tried to trash us on newsgroups ever since, especially when he thought we could not respond. Yes, we know who the tempest is about Bruce, it’s about you.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

B. LAWTON:

The royal “we” has spoken—and to me no less! Not sure who “us” is…..

Richard M Roberts:

Like I have said, coordinated bashing, it gets pretty obvious very quickly.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Paul E. Gierucki:

As a contributor to these Sprocket Vault collections I can speak with absolute authority—no one is holding anything hostage. In fact, both Kit and Richard have been dedicated to releasing as much of this material as possible, and are bending over backward to ensure that they are presented in the best form possible. However, the continuation of a series is dependent entirely on the sales of each individual release, and the online reviews are critical to the success (or failure) of each entry and will directly affect the possibility of future efforts. Thankfully, the ad hominem rhetoric in these threads is pointless. The quality and scope of the collections speak for themselves. I sincerely hope that Sprocket Vault will be able to see this and other similar collections through to completion. Please continue to support the independent producers.

Edward WATZ:

These sets of Hal Roach comedies mark the first time-ever that a comprehensive collection of Charley Chase’s films were made available on DVD. No one has ever attempted this before, and the majority of the films in these sets, all meticulously restored, have never been easily accessible to comedy fans and the serious film collector. The sets that have been issued only appeared due to the considerable time, effort, and expense of Kit Parker, Richard Roberts, Paul Gierucki, and other respected film historians. The various Hal Roach series, although historically important and aesthetically often brilliant, represent a niche’ market for the serious film collector. In terms of sales, they are not going to be in the same league as the latest STAR WARS installment. To continue being able to release these Charley Chase and other Hal Roach comedies it is important – essential – to get the word out, and help promote them online. Amazon reviews are integral towards insuring that these films get coverage, but insulting any of the people to whom we owe a debt of gratitude is simply wrong. If we support these sets, and want to see the rest of Charley Chase, as well as Harry Langdon, Thelma Todd, and so many others- then we need to support the people who are making this possible.

B. LAWTON:

And conversely- threats, insults, browbeating and brickbats directed at customers (and overall general unpleasantness) who purchase and support these releases (rather than kind, cheerful, civilized requests for those positive Amazon reviews) has been a rather odd sales approach- and likely to leave a bad taste. Hopefully this approach is at an end.

Richard M Roberts:

I think the posts made by myself and people like Paul Gierucki and Ed Watz say it all, the general unpleasantness is all coming from this coordinated attack from the cinewhiners faction, we are merely answering it. This is the fun we have to deal with in just putting out old movies, the attempted backbiting from bitter individuals like the perennially ax-grinding Mr. Lawton, who has been acting towards us like an old spurned girlfriend for more than a decade, or the petty cinewhiner crowd who attempt to spread manure about us in hope that it will fertilize rancor. All seem to spend more time doing this than actually contributing to the vintage film community, and they pathetically try to distract us in having to deal with from continuing to put out the good things we put out. All of this over watching old movies.
But we do see that the regular citizens and customers of Amazon really do enjoy and appreciate our work, and even if we had to get some of your attentions to go post it, we thank you for the nice words. Doing this will indeed guarantee that more good works may be likely forthcoming.

RICHARD M ROBERTS"





Now, we thought you might like to see the backstage portion of this attempted attack by the cinewhiners group, we attach it below from their own FB page, unedited, as we received it.

Just a couple of things you might want to know in advance, the cinewhiners page is run by Bruce Lawton and Thad Komorowski, a little history on both:

First, I will quote what I said about Bruce Lawton on the Silent Comedians.com newsgroup back in 2009 when he tried to attack me there:

“As for Mr. Lawton, I ‘m afraid he is misremembering and misrepresenting some specifics regarding his parting from Slapsticon after the 2005 show. To begin with, he was not fired, he quit. Admittedly, he was told by myself after he called to resign from Slapsticon that we would not have rehired him, and explained to him in a very heated on his side phone call the reasons that we would not be again using his services, which was a decision made not only by myself, but Slapsticon’s chairman Linda M. Shah and Slapsticon’s founding father Robert Farr, and this stemmed from behavior on Mr Lawton’s part that I feel no need to discuss here as I have no interest in tarnishing his reputation as he seems to have in tarnishing mine. Bruce Lawton has had nothing to do with any of the Slapsticons from 2006 to present.”

And basically, since Slapsticon parted company with Mr. Lawton in 2005, I have had no personal contact with him, excepting to answer back various attempted slams against me on other newsgroups, like the above, which is pretty much the only times I have actually thought of him in recent years. Lawton has held an obvious grudge against me since then that has seemed to fester with him endlessly since. Basically, he has no personal knowledge of Slapsticons post-2006, having not been involved in them, and his only knowledge of me is the public video releases I have put out since, which seem to drive him to these envious and bitchy lengths as you will see in the cinewhiner thread.

Thad Komorowski asked to join the Silent Comedy Mafia when he was on a tirade against Warner Archives PORKY PIG 101 DVD set and wanted it boycotted by the public for some very insignificant and unimportant flaws (especially considering the low cost of the set), he was refused.

Thad also wanted to offer us his “digital restoration services” to work on the Sprocket Vault Hal Roach releases. We looked at his work (he worked on the Classicflix Thelma Todd/Patsy Kelly set, compare it to our Todd/Pitts set, `nuff said.), and said “pass”.

The word “cinewhiners” was coined by the late, great Ron Hutchison of the Vitaphone Project, during Komorowski’s ranting against the PORKY PIG 101 set. In fact, here are Ron’s own words about Thad from a Nitrateville post:

“Sadly the cinewhiner I referred to showed zero judgement and totally trashed the set with 43 petty gripes and then encouraged people not to buy it. This in particular was abhorrent as it undermined future releases because of truly petty gripes few even noticed or cared about. It had nothing to do with loving film and all to do with history of putting themselves above those who actually are productive. Fortunately the outcry over such unbalanced negativity was to trigger increased purchases and many happy customers. BTW I invented the term « cinewhiner ». It is definitely not a compliment.

Ron Hutchison Nov 18, 2018”

Ron’s banning of Komorowski and several others from his Vitaphone FB page started the creation of the Cinewhiners Facebook page, as like many narcissists caught being wrong, instead of admitting it and learning something to improve their character, they decided to double-down and pretend it is a badge of honor, not realizing that admitting you are one does not make you less of one. On the cinewhiners page, Komorowski, Lawton, and their little group of cronies(the ones allowed to remain because they don’t disagree with them) feel they can happily badmouth and spread bullshit about whomever and whatever they grudge against (Komorowski refers to Ron Hutchison as “the Vitatard” on the site, and Paul Gierucki as “Gierucki-sucky-fucky”). They have been railing against me and others there for a year or two, and we could have cared less as long as they kept within the confines of their little hidey-hovel, but of late they have taken to trying to bash us on Nitrateville or on the Charley Chase 2 Amazon page, so we think it is time to shine a light on some of their antics, like the backstage view of their recent attempted attack on Amazon. Below is their backstage bitch-fest to that, enjoy as much as you can stomach, in the post following it, we will offer a few comments on it.

RICHARD M ROBERTS


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Rodney Bowcock
August 13 at 6:59 PM
Zoom in to read this without interference from my work monitor. Richard Roberts is threatening to stop the Chase sets unless he gets more five star reviews on Amazon even though he admits they’re selling. What a guy.



12David M Wood, Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr and 10 others
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Thad Komorowski I wanna write a 5-star review but make it about the porn star of the same name. If this comment gets 10 likes I’ll do it.
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Jayson Wall Thad Komorowski Looks like he’s been hanging around Cinerama Boy too long
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Thad Komorowski OK thanks for the applause, folks, but guess what...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I8VP9HosZ4
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YOUTUBE.COM
I LIED.wmv
I LIED.wmv
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Rodney Bowcock You can’t steal facts. A crazy thing to contemplate in 2019, but you can’t.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr It's his research - and knowledge gleaned from same - that he wants acknowledged (TO THE HILT, DAMN IT!)
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Rodney Bowcock Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr It’s his research and he deserves full credit for the depths of that research, and if I was writing on this topic I’d give credit where it’s due. Morally it’s the right thing to do, but unless he’s being directly quoted, he can’t do anything about being cribbed, as much as he’d like it to be otherwise.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Rodney - EXACTLY (except take great umbrage - and TELL THE WORLD about it!)
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Twas always thus. RMR wields knowledge like a weapon - and in this case as a hostage threat to his ego. Better show that ego some love - or no more releases. So typical - and predictable.
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Jayson Wall Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr RMR has an ego? Oh, you’re kidding....lol
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Richard Finegan These sets deserve the highest ratings....just because it's Charley Chase!, no matter who produces/releases them to video/DVD. (Unless of course, the quality is bad, but it's been very good on these releases).
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Rodney Bowcock Richard Finegan Best copy of Pip From Pittsburg I’ve ever seen. Worth the price of admission.
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Jessica Rosner What or who is The Sprocket Vault? Assumed licenses from Sonar?
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Rodney Bowcock Jessica Rosner Yes. Sprocket Vault is Kit Parker.
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Jessica Rosner Oh OK got it.
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Rodney Bowcock They’re good releases worth supporting. Threats shouldn’t be necessitated to continue them. You know how it is...
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Jessica Rosner I am so bad I don't own a DVD player.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Rodney - indeed I do!
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Martin Grams I posted positive reviews today on those products on Amazon because I want to see more releases. For the record, I would have posted positive reviews if asked politely, too.
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Richard Finegan Just to get it off my chest somewhere, I wish mr. commentator would stop constantly saying "like I said" when it should be "as I said".
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Devon Baxter His commentaries ARE informative, but he always sounds like he's eating a big ol' sammich, breathing heavily in and out of the mic...
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Rodney Bowcock Devon Baxter Spoiler: He is.
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Richard Finegan I'm forcing myself to listen to them once to get it over with, then I can enjoy the films properly!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Michael Schlesinger One possibility: Give him the 5-star review, but then praise everything except his commentaries.
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Rodney Bowcock Michael Schlesinger Oh, I’m game for that.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Thad Komorowski I can't believe someone in such a unique position - not only getting to produce a set of films you love, but also adding extras and improving elements - can be so vindictive.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Again - not only the information and research - but the films themselves - are for wielding as weapons (for the greater glory and adulation of him) and besting others in his universe.
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1w Craig Davison Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr EXCUSE ME?
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Go back to the beginning Craig and see who we're talking about.
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Craig Davison Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Well, I know who I'M talking about. And, yeah, if this guy's post isn't a joke, then it's pretty pathetic.
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Eric Grayson Thad... I’ve had mine this year!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Craig - as I said at the beginning of this thread - twas always thus with this guy.
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Craig Davison Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Well, there's something to be said for his admirable consistency, no?
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr No.(poop emoticon)
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Imagine if Jack Lemmon's Professor Fate was a real guy - living in our time - and was dead set on being widely acknowledged as the king of silent and classic comedy history, second to none.
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Thad Komorowski Newsflash: he's also threatening to pull the plug on the Langdon set. Just because.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Yup. Actually don't know if he actually has the power or pull to do this - but he'd like everyone to THINK that he does.
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Nelson Hughes So much for whenever, if this is the amount of support the CC2 set is getting (six reviews on Amazon as of today!), we may not bother at all.

RICHARD M ROBERTS
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Tommy José Stathes I wonder if people like him ever sit around and think "You know, I'm gonna be dead one day..."
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr He does -- I've had that conversation with him (when we were on speaking terms.) He doesn't care what happens to it all once he's gone.
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Tommy José Stathes Typical narcissist.
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Nelson Hughes I notice that no one ever challenges him for some of the outlandish comments towards other sites or people he makes over at the SCM.
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Hibiscus Despres Nelson Hughes I guess you were never on Nitratevile when he posted.
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Nelson Hughes Hibiscus Despres oh I remember when he was a member over there.I do know he got banned.
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Thad Komorowski How can anyone call him out on a forum nobody reads or posts at?
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Rodney Bowcock Tommy José Stathes This is the same guy who has attacked fellow film fans for being young and stated that “if they’re the best we have, why are we bothering to preserve this stuff?”
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Tommy José Stathes Rodney Bowcock I don't get it. Why does any of it matter if he won't be alive for another 5-20 years?
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Rodney Bowcock Tommy José Stathes I’m just glad that William K Everson and others didn’t feel the same way.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Nelson Hughes He posted that CC2 has done well in sales, but he might yank volume 3 and the upcoming Langdon set because there's only six reviews on Amazon? What a work of art this guy is.
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Craig Davison Can we leave a bunch of 5-star reviews and comment " He threatened to discontinue the series unless he got more 5 star reviews?" It would be a win-win, right? ...right..?
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Nelson Hughes Craig Davison eh, could be!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Samantha Glasser Craig Davison I submitted such a review today (featuring a direct quote from him). Haha It hasn’t posted yet.
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Nelson Hughes Samantha Glasser Mine hasn't posted yet either. I just wrote something quick & simple.
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Craig Davison I just wrote a review and I tried to sound like a person who considers himself an expert as well as having a fifty-word vocabulary. But, hey, FIVE STARZ!
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Nelson Hughes You can't beat the five star rating Craig.
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Michael Schlesinger He doesn't OWN the films, does he? So what's stopping Kit from putting them out without his involvement?
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Nelson Hughes Michael Schlesinger knowing Roberts he can say that I serve as producer and he can do anything he wants on these sets, cause he's RMR.
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Michael Schlesinger I can also say I own the rights to Batman and Warners can't make any more movies without my input, but that doesn't make it so.
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Thad Komorowski Michael Schlesinger A very good question. I'd personally be concerned if my coproducer was acting like this.
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Jayson Wall Michael Schlesinger Fingers crosses RMR will produce a full 4K on SPUDS....also known as the second worst film shown at Cinecon!
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Michael Schlesinger Oh, it's not even in the Top Ten. (But in any event, it was the hit of the previous year's Slapsticon, so it may have been the audience rather than the film itself.)
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Jayson Wall Michael Schlesinger No, the film sucked. Period. As one Cinecon person sitting behind me said “that was too much Seamon even for a porn Star”. (laugh emoticon)
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Michael Schlesinger About what I'd expect from someone who doesn't like MAD MAD WORLD.
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Jayson Wall Michael Schlesinger well, since I just bought a tech scope print of IMMMW yesterday you must mean the black t-shirt wearing bag Cruncher that was sitting behind me.
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Michael Schlesinger Um, okay, sure. (wink emoticon)
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Jayson Wall Michael Schlesinger “You’ll see....You’ll see”.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr
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Jason Merrick "Gonna leave the big boy BEHIND, eh?"
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Nelson Hughes Isn't Roberts the reason why there's no more Slapsticon?
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Michael Schlesinger In a word, yup.
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Jayson Wall Michael so....Who did he piss off in Bloomington?
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Michael Schlesinger The theatre supervisor. Reportedly he grabbed him and lifted him off the floor while screaming at him for some minor oversight.
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Thad Komorowski Typical..
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Eric Grayson I'm not aware of that, Mike. What I am aware of is that the economics didn't work out and there were a lot of logistics with the hotel and the parking, and the event lost some money due to this. I did not see Roberts lose his temper at all at the Bloomington Slapsticon. There were certainly other times at other Slapsticons when he lost his temper, but not at this one.
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Eric Grayson To be fair, the logistics of running one of these things is enough to drive anyone nuts. The only one I never saw lose his temper at one of them was Steve Haynes.
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Thad Komorowski ^ Martin Grams is another.
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Jayson Wall Thad RMR sounds like the Faye Dunaway of silent comedy!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Eric - you are aware that the behavior Michael described did in fact happen - and was inflicted upon someone at some Slapsticon event - although maybe not the one that was held in your neck of the woods (unless he's been making a habit of this elsewhere.)
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Michael Schlesinger It may well be that the grabbing incident happened in Arlington rather than Bloomington, but I know for a fact that he was told "adios." And he wasn't alone: Rob Farr and his wife were also involved.
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Nelson Hughes I also heard he literally embarrassed Rob Stone in front of a group and that he's not allowed at the LoC from what I heard.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Yup.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr And furthermore...HYRAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!
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Eric Grayson Yeah, there was a similar incident that I witnessed personally at Slapsticon Arlington, and that was at the hotel. But not at Bloomington. Mr. Farr was not as involved at Bloomington at all as i recall, although he attended.
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Jayson Wall Michael Schlesinger This just in. Now....bug off. (laugh emoticon)
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Thad Komorowski G*d bless you Rodney.
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Rodney Bowcock I predict the blowback from this will be swift and harsh...but I said it was a GOOD sandwich.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr I'll guess now it will get released AFTER now!
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Devon Baxter It was a furshlugginer pastrami sandwich: https://getyarn.io/.../cd12a8dc-a7d2-4c ... 0fc407dbc2
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GETYARN.IO
And where's my furshlugginer pastrami sandwiches?
And where's my furshlugginer pastrami sandwiches?
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Was that Alfred E. Newman?
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Nelson Hughes Four people have already found Rodney's review helpful.
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Devon Baxter Bruce: Yessir!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Nelson Hughes So how is that pastrami sandwich?
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Rodney Bowcock Nelson Hughes It’s brined in indignation and unrestrained fury.
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Nelson Hughes
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Devon Baxter With filmed vinegar...
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Craig Davison Howsabout a link to the amazon page?
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYAAAAR!!!!!
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Rodney Bowcock Craig Davison Charley Chase: At Hal Roach: The Talkies Volume Two 1932-33 https://www.amazon.com/.../ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i...
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Charley Chase: At Hal Roach: The Talkies Volume Two 1932-33
Charley Chase: At Hal Roach: The Talkies Volume Two 1932-33
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Thad Komorowski Someone at Nitrateville PM'ed me this in response to all of this nonsense, superimposed next to the DVD covers.
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Rodney Bowcock Thad Komorowski I got it too!
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Craig Davison Perhaps Cartoon Roots would benefit from such an advertizing campaign? Buy Bobby Bumps or Fido gets it! Tommy?
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Nelson Hughes Molly Moo Cow would get it.
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Matthias Smith Nelson Hughes mmmm Beef
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Thad Komorowski Aren’t there only enough sound Roach CC shorts for a third and final set anyway? At least the whining would stop after one more round...
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Craig Davison Will this include that feature he did with Patsy Kelly? Patsy The Sceond (Or something like that?)
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Richard Finegan Whether they will be included on a third set or a fourth, I (and many others) are hoping they'll release the six 1929 Chase talkie shorts and more of the foreign language versions.
Hey how about this idea: after volume 3 which should finish the Roach …See More
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Thad Komorowski Mayhaps someone else will grab the license for that remaining material if the current parties are disinterested.
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Craig Davison Thad Komorowski I have a 1600' reel of all the HFE extracts from that movie. I think one of the retitles was "The Irish Washer Waman." Boxing ring hi-jinx, you betcha!
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Eric Grayson Universal says NO DEAL on Modern Love.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Bummer -- maybe they'll put it out on their Vault Series one day.
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Michael Schlesinger If they wouldn't license it to me when I was at Sony, they sure as hell aren't going to put it out on their own.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Well - as he always says - NONE of us are entitled to anything, so....
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Craig Davison I would think ponying up $27 would entitle you to get a DVD without a lecture about how you're not supporting the guy who put out the DVD. But, hey, that's just me.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr hyarrrr......
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Michael - maybe MODERN LOVE will show up on TCM one day....
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Michael Schlesinger And I might be married to Taylor Swift. But hey, stranger things have happened.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr I'll take P!nk over Taylor Swift, ANYDAY!
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Michael Schlesinger Well, I picked her because she goes through boy friends like popcorn and thus seems the least likely to marry anytime soon, especially someone old enough to be her grandpa.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Okay - make it Elle King then!
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Jayson Wall Michael Schlesinger correction: Great Grandpa. (laugh emoticon)
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Michael Schlesinger
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr No skin off HIS nose!
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Eric Grayson You guys all realize that Mr. Roberts reads this page even though he isn't a member of it. In fact, he reads the Dr. Film page more often than I do.
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Thad Komorowski The group has closed membership so he can’t read it unless he’s under a phoney name or a toady is forwarding it. Either way, I couldn’t care less.
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Eric Grayson I have no idea. There are lots of back door ways into FB.
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Jayson Wall Thad Komorowski he’ll park in your handicap space, Thad, if you keep this up. (laugh emoticon)
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Rodney Bowcock Eric Grayson I made sure this was a closed group before I posted this from a group that hardly anyone reads. I felt it was important that people be aware that the Roach shorts are being held hostage by someone who wants their ego to be stroked. I was also aware that someone here is probably going to tell him everything that’s said. That’s fine too.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Indeed - It's fine. He thinks we suck and we know that (he called us "a$$holes" to be specific) - and it's fine. We heartily welcome his displeasure.
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Nelson Hughes Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr, give em that famous line.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Only when it's called for Nelson. Don't wanna overdo it!
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Nelson Hughes Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr lol
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Eric Grayson I think I just remembered the line. He sure says it enough.
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Michael Gebert Eric Grayson what's he going to do to me? Make up playground names mocking NitrateVille? Refuse to be on my podcast? I'd have him on, but I don't need an interview that ends after four minutes with a hang up.
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Eric Grayson I have an aversion to trashing people in public. That’s my hesitation. I would feel the same about anyone.
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Rodney Bowcock I generally do too, but when you trash people that I care about, all bets are off. Then it becomes personal.
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Jeff Peters So much inside baseball. Who is stealing what and putting it where?
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Rodney Bowcock
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Rodney Bowcock
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Michael Gebert I am enjoying the new Charley Chase set very much-- especially because commentary on it, on the disc or out in the world, is entirely optional!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr I'm holding out for the "uncommentaried" editions of these.
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Rodney Bowcock
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Such a f$%king pleasant excuse for a human being.
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Nelson Hughes He truly is.
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Rodney Bowcock Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr He’s just sad that some of us actually have friends.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr I used to be his friend. I still shudder......
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Samantha Glasser I bought the set. I bought vol. 1 and the Pasty Kelly and the Zasu Pitts sets too. I didn’t post reviews on Amazon because I don’t use it much anymore but I raved about them to my friends. I figure my money (in fact my pre-orders) is enough of an indic…See More
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Thad Komorowski Hell, RMR himself is so technologically challenged he can't even change the "Linda Shah" handle he uses on Amazon.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
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Rodney Bowcock threat: (noun) a statement of an intention to inflict pain, damage, or other hostile action on someone in retribution for something done or not done.
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Thad Komorowski Whoever did this rules.
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Thad Komorowski
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Devon Baxter What, it’s not you?
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Thad Komorowski I only post under my real name. That's what gets me in trouble.
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Michael Gebert I should delete that, but the last time I hid something that ended in attacks on him he said I was censoring the part of the same thread that was complimentary to him so... it may take me a while to decide what to do. The way it took Dean Jagger a while to type up all the transfers in Twelve O'Clock High.
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Eric Grayson Amen, Thad.
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Nelson Hughes Don't you just love on how Roberts insults consumers who are buying this product and helping sales?
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Michael Gebert It's a novel strategy
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Rodney Bowcock To be clear: if these sets are no longer released, I pin the blame firmly on the shoulders of Richard M Roberts’ hateful and insulting rhetoric,not the consumers who coughed up $27 for each of his releases loyally.
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Nelson Hughes Rodney Bowcock I feel bad for the people who have to work with him on these collections.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Nelson - if they haven't bailed yet (as I did over a decade ago) then they deserve what they get. Actually, no one works WITH him - you enable him - and serve at his pleasure and for his greater glory. That's the deal.
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Nelson Hughes As of this writing. Nine people have found Rodney's review helpful. There are 11 reviews in total and someone "gasp!" only gave it four and a half stars. Surprised my review has not been posted yet since I posted yesterday afternoon.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYARRR!!!
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Craig Davison Nelson Hughes There a three-star review. This guy is going to ruin it for EVERYONE! (Yeah, my "review" isn't up yet, either.)
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr If he don't get his goose liver, he's going HOOOOME!!!!!!
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Eric Grayson I swear to you, if one more person buys the crap Grapevine release of Little Orphant Annie and then blames me for the fact it looks terrible, I’m not releasing another DVD or Blu Ray until Library of Congress lets me!
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Rodney Bowcock Eric Grayson No worries. I bought yours.
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Eric Grayson Yes but did you give it a five star review? Did you? DID YOU?
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Rodney Bowcock Eric Grayson I did not. I rarely post reviews on Amazon unless I’m threatened. BUT... I told people to contribute to your Kickstarter, which I’d have thought was helpful. I now know that Amazon reviews are the only things that matter.
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Eric Grayson Well, the actual fact is that Annie is not selling, and as a result, I haven't been able to do another release, even though the reviews are good. The other fact is that if I told you the whole story of why King of the Kongo isn't out yet, you wouldn't believe me, and you'd swear I was making it up.
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Rodney Bowcock Eric Grayson It’s a serial, so I can imagine who is involved...
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Eric Grayson No, although he is upset that I'm working on it apparently. It's much more of a CF than just that.
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Rodney Bowcock I’m excited for it, whenever it comes in whatever form.
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Eric Grayson Well, just when and how that will be, I have no idea.
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Samantha Glasser Me too!
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Rodney Bowcock Richard M Roberts loves to talk about the “nameless boneheads” that post on Nitrateville, but he refuses to acknowledge his incapability to post on Amazon under his own name.
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Rodney Bowcock You have an issue with anything I post, Richard M Roberts? Come at me directly. Or would you rather focus your wrath on those that want the handicapped parking spaces at LoC that they’re entitled to? I know you’re reading this. Let’s have at it.
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Jayson Wall Rodney You talkin to me? (laugh emoticon)
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Rodney Bowcock Tell me more about how much lazier I am than you. Make it soon. I have an early bike ride in the morning.
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Rodney Bowcock Somebody needs to order an extra big gulp for his walk to the living room tomorrow.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Eric Grayson This is like deliberately pissing on an electric fence just because you think it might be fun.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr hyarrrrr.....
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Eric Grayson I think you guys should all get together and spend this energy buying 20 more copies of Little Orphant Annie.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Can we get it with a RMR commentary?
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Tommy José Stathes Eric Grayson if it’s possible, someone is into it.
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Eric Grayson Seriously: he saw the Grapevine version, said it sucked, said I wasted my time restoring a bad movie. Refused to watch the restoration. So his commentary would be very short!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Not even worth a hyar....
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Tommy José Stathes Can you sub-license to Cinemuseum LLC?
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Rodney Bowcock Eric Grayson As a southerner, we did piss on electric fences for fun in the 90’s. Sometimes we’d pee on one while holding hands with 4-5 people with the last person dipping their hands in a water puddle. Stupid? Yep. Part of who I am? Also, yep.
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Eric Grayson After a while I get numb to people trashing my work. It’s rude and Roberts takes a back seat to Half Ass Pearson. It’s a lot of work to do this stuff, and the rewards are small. On some level I’m taking a risk and doing it. I think some people don’t like that.
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Tommy José Stathes Told ya so, Eric. More to the point: Would you sub for ANYONE?
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Eric Grayson I HAVE... I licensed to Kino and was in discussions about doing more. I’ve licensed stuff to Cinemuseum too, but I got paid.
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Rodney Bowcock Also, am I posting just to instigate RMR? You bet. Am I buying a second copy of Orphant? No. But will I give it a positive review on Amazon if it’ll help you? For sure.
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Tommy José Stathes FWIW, I also personally fulfill Eric's Amazon orders. Such a little Cinewhining Monopoly we have going on here...
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Eric Grayson Just stop pissing on electric fences, willya?
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Tommy José Stathes
(smirk emoticon)
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Eric Grayson I’m about resigned to the idea that there will always be 400 copies of Annie in my living room!
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Tommy José Stathes One day you'll know what it's like to *really* live, Eric. ;)
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Rodney Bowcock Eric Grayson I gave that up YEARS AGO. It hurts!
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Eric Grayson Look, when you live in my world, there are enough built in risks to get thrills. I don’t need to manufacture them. When your car throws a rod in rural Maryland on Sunday afternoon next to a beware of bears sign, that’s exciting enough for me. Add that to 95 degrees and a three hour wait for a tow...
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Tommy José Stathes Ah, the joys of growing up in Queens and not having a driver's license yet.
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Eric Grayson Well maybe you can get one now that you have a Sharpie porn mustache and a fake ID.
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Tommy José Stathes One of my favorite moments (beside legitimately lewd expressions of attraction from some people) from right after I first had the 'stache: the female owner of the laundromat near where I used to live, a Chinese immigrant, took one look at me and started laughing hysterically. Tried asking in English if it was real.
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Michael Gebert Tommy José Stathes My older son is growing that same mustache!
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Tommy José Stathes Michael Gebert kudos!
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Jason Merrick Is Roberts the illegitimate love child of Raymond Rohauer? Sounds just as obnoxious.
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Rodney Bowcock Jason Merrick Close. Raymond Burr.
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Steve Massa Sasquatch is in the mix somewhere.
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Thad Komorowski 22 Amazon reviews in a weekend is a nice start, but there's a lot more of you out there who can make the effort, we're not impressed yet.

RICHARD M ROBERTS
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Samantha Glasser He posted a rude comment on my Amazon review so I copied and pasted this as a reply.
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Craig Davison This is because you are immature and undeserving of further Charley Chase volumes.
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Hibiscus Despres Where's the link to the Amazon review? Too lazy to search.
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Thad Komorowski This was Samantha's...
https://www.amazon.com/.../ref=cm_cr_getr_d_rvw_ttl...
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AMAZON.COM
Charley held hostage! Only you can help!
Charley held hostage! Only you can help!
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Thad Komorowski My book has sold thousands of copies and only has about 40 reviews on Amazon in like six years. And I’m thrilled for even that. Someone needs to explain to this dipshit how the world works.
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Rodney Bowcock Thad Komorowski Pretty much what I was saying from the start. The two are not mutually exclusive.
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Jayson Wall Thad Komorowski yeah, but you’re no RMR. We just live in the shadow of his greatness. (laugh emoticon)
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Gerry Orlando We wouldn't be having this ugly "hostage situation" if they had released the Taxi Boys shorts!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Leave it to Gerry to come up with the zinger that brings it all back to Earth! Thanks Gerry!
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Gerry Orlando My pleasure, Sir!
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Michael Schlesinger "Biffle and Shooster" has been out for 15 months and there are only 25 Amazon reviews, but you don't hear ME whining about it and threatening people.
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Jayson Wall Michael you mean 25 people bought it?(shocked emoticon, laugh emoticon)
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Eric Grayson You don’t do anything BUT whine, Mike.
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Michael Schlesinger Yes, but not about this.
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Michael Schlesinger Actually, KL says it's sold quite well for an "unknown" title.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr What was that about whining, Eric?
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Thad Komorowski There's nothing wrong with a shameless plea for reviews. I do it all the time be it for my book or the Disney stuff I work on. But it's along the lines of, "Hey, if you liked it, could you leave a review to help us out?" Not "We can do better 16 reviews in a single weekend. We're not impressed yet." Maybe he can get that old wheel-chaired lady he told to fuck off to write one.
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Michael Schlesinger Exactly right!
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Craig Davison
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Thad Komorowski I'd be OK with that.
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Eric Grayson Whining and begging aren’t the same, and if I can no longer taunt Schlesinger, I have lost the last person who doesn’t get offended on FB.
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Michael Schlesinger If you dish it out, you gotta be able to take it.
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Nelson Hughes Don't you just love it when Roberts said that fans are definitely not entitled to seeing this stuff? If he worked for Warner Archive and they saw him post such comments, they would have kicked his ass right out the door.
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Rodney Bowcock Nelson Hughes I’m not entitled to anything except the right to pay $26 for something and not have to shill for it.
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Thad Komorowski better queue up the Tire Trouble cue...
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYARR I SAY! HYARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!
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Matthias Smith Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Hyar?
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Thad Komorowski Linda you so sassy girl, don’t be hatin’
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Jayson Wall Thad Komorowski where is this from?
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Rodney Bowcock Jayson Wall It’s on Samantha’s review but you can’t see it mobile.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr
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Thad Komorowski Newsflash: RMR had Samantha's review taken down. What a coward. {EDIT: OK, it had just disappeared, so sorry.}
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Rodney Bowcock Right or wrong, stand up for yourself, DICK.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr HYARR just responded to you Rodney! Isn't that a darb!
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Thad Komorowski He claims he didn't have it taken down...
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr If he could take one down - it would be Rodney's.
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Samantha Glasser Funny, my review for the Zasu Pitts set wasn’t removed. Wonder why...
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Rodney Bowcock I did delete my review. I’m tired of wasting time on him and his negativity. Old movies are supposed to be fun. I’m sorry he doesn’t feel that way.
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Samantha Glasser https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... 73OYIOY4...
It is back! And slightly edited to address his “question”.
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AMAZON.COM
Help! Charley Held Hostage
Help! Charley Held Hostage
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Rodney Bowcock Samantha Glasser Very classy.
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Craig Davison Well, they never posted my "review" so guess I'm out of the loop. No wrath of "Linda" for me.
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Samantha Glasser His latest comment is verging on personal attack so I’m stepping away before I get angry. There is no changing a narcissist’s mind anyway.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Samantha - he is a rather frightening individual -- so sorry you had to encounter him.
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6h Eric Grayson Don’t feed the troll. He is getting attention this way.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Wish he WAS just a troll!
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Thad Komorowski That is why we do it, there is no real money in doing this, we have been doing it to get these films that we love and have worked hard to help preserve out to the public where they might have a shot at another generation of appreciation and when we are…See More
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Thad Komorowski He sure made it about him...
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Greg Method "This area of interest is rapidly shrinking" certainly sounds like a vague threat from someone who claims to just be doing this for the love of the films.
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Nelson Hughes You see, it would only be a threat if we were standing on top of something you were actually entitled to in the first place, and you are definitely not entitled to any of this stuff, nor is there any law saying we have to put it out . As said above, we figured out a way to do it and we told you up front what you had to do to keep it going. We’ve kept up our end, and as also said above,
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Hibiscus Despres Im surprised none of those Roach guys have ever asked me about the color home movie footage I have on the set of Captain Caution....
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Eric Grayson I’d still like to do those when my schedule calms down... those are cool bits of history.
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Hibiscus Despres Eric Grayson you know where I am.....
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Eric Grayson Hibiscus Despres Yes and I’m fighting battles righr now that take up most of my time. Roberts is right in saying that this market is small and shrinking. Many people hold on to things like they’re gold when they are less than precious. I still want to do them, though.
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Thad Komorowski What a condescending, arrogant and foolish thing to say to someone who has been preserving, collecting and saving this stuff since before you were born, and when we are getting more grief than appreciation from the self-absorbed, petty little people li…See More
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Michael Gebert I can't believe the Criterion Collection is talking about its customers like that
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Tommy José Stathes Spoken as if no one under 50 has ever restored or re-released very rare films. By the way, no one can speak authoritatively on Oswald Rabbit research if it all happened before they were born...
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Thad Komorowski When “before you were born” is invoked, you’ve lost.
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Tommy José Stathes A LOT of nitrate decayed, burned, or was melted down before any baby boomer 2-reel comedy proponents were born.
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Rodney Bowcock I guess we know who the first honorary guest at the new Columbus event is going to be.
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr Is it time for another HYARR?!
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Nelson Hughes Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr go for it.
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Rodney Bowcock
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Eric’s suspicions are correct. Someone is leaking posts from this group to those who aren’t members. Be aware.
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Thad Komorowski This has been a fun battlefield, but I'm calling a moratorium on discussing RMR here. And on that note... HYARRRR!!!!
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Bruce Burbank Lawton Jr I second the motion! Our work is done. Moving on...
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Richard M Roberts
Godfather
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Re: Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with to bring you old movies

Postby Richard M Roberts » Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:09 pm

Well now, it is pretty obvious that this is a bunch of petty bullshit, but there are some things that warrant a comment or two:

First, I would like to address Martin Grams, who doesn’t really have an axe to grind in this nonsense, but whom commented that he would have posted a positive review if he was asked politely too. Well Martin, frankly you didn’t. If you look to the mafia post on the Charley Chase 2 set, I first politely commented on August 5, with the set now out for several weeks and only 3-4 reviews up, asking folk to please go to Amazon and leave a review and that this support was essential to future sets coming out. Not seeing any further Amazon reviews appearing , on August 7 I racked up the volume on the appeal, adding a bit of humorous sarcasm commenting on the parasitical nature of some internet historians obviously gleaning info off my commentaries and adding it to their sites crediting themselves or their buddies for it, which I could care less about but letting them know they weren’t fooling me or anyone else and the least they could do is support the sets they were stealing from……….still four reviews and none forthcoming.

Around the 12th, I decided that this level of apathy was not acceptable, and upped the ante, Happy Thanksgiving!, and say, by the end of the following weekend we were at 22 heading to currently 31 Amazon reviews----including your’s Martin, apparently we had to work you a bit harder to actually get your and everyone else’s attention, being polite didn’t work at all.

Now, onto much sillier stuff, I see a lot of projection and denial here, along with scads of bitchy-teenage-girl level sniping and carping, at the level of trying to find fault in the most minor and meaningless thing just to try to keep the scorn going.

I love Bruce Lawton’s accusation that I use my knowledge “as a weapon”, which leads one to think-----hmmm, there is only one group of people upon whom one could use knowledge “as a weapon” and who would perceive knowledge as such---------stupid people, much in the same way that the only people who call people who tell the truth “haters” are people that hate truth. It appears that Bruce has been corrected a time or two (by others apparently, as I said I have not spoken to him or even really commented upon anything Bruce has said or posted unless it was addressing an attempted slam on me since 2005)that has broken apparently thin skin.

I also hope someone will actually educate Tommy Stathes in the actual definition of narcissism, then he might begin to see it in himself and his friends here, he’s a young spudlet, he has lots to learn.

The projection is in the accusations that I want to be the “king of silent film and silent comedy history” or somesuch, I guess this is why I’m wielding the “sacred sword of knowledge” to smite those lesser mortals who try to steal my mantle. Hmmmm, this is what comes from the horrible internet crime of correcting people’s misinformation, their own fragile egos can’t take it, but like so many today (republicans are really good at this), they accuse the other party of what they themselves are actually doing or trying to do. The cinewhiners( or at least the head cinewhiners Lawton and Komorowski) are the people in this area of fandom that are “trying to make a name for themselves” in it, what we call “Best Leper in the Colony” syndrome, they are also crazy enough to be trying to make a living in this area of fandom, instead of having real jobs, hence the air of desperation in their bullshit.

There is no fame, no glory, and bugger-all little money in this area of interest, which is why it has always been a hobby for me (and why I will joke in the middle of some craziness like this, “This is my hobby, this is what I do to relax!”). This is also why I never take any of the crap from any of the whining and/or belligerent fans, because no one is paying me (or paying me enough) to do so. I love it when I hear some internerd opine “Who does this Roberts guy think he is, he acts like he’s doing us a favor”, to which my response is “I am”. I have been and remain wise enough to neither attempt a living, nor put my own money into, any of these projects that I share with you, just a lot of time (way more valuable than money) and hard work and energy that has brought you a lot of opportunities to see many of these wonderful things you crave to see and wouldn’t get to otherwise.

And this is the sort of appreciation I get.

Oh no, not all the time, and not even in the main, realize that this cinewhiners group is not even a double handful of humanity trying to spread nasty baloney about me, I know that most of you out there really do appreciate what I do, if the cinewhiners were in the majority I would have told you all to go to hell years ago and limited the sharing of my collection, knowledge and research to myself and my friends, but we’re not there----yet.

However, that is why when I see the nice folk taking the work for granted in ways that will stop the Hal Roach sets from coming out, I let you know, and when you didn’t listen to the nice requests, we got your attention. You know I have always been good at getting your attention.

Back to the cinewhiner bullshit: it really smacks of jealous desperation when they are madly trying to accuse me of various horrible acts (it also entertaining that Lawton and Komorowski have whipped their little group of toadies into some sort of actual fear of me by saying and repeating this crap) in this attempt to accuse me of grabbing someone by the neck and lifting them off the floor, except well, it didn’t seem to happen at Slapsticon at IU in Bloomington (like Michael Schlesinger piped in, who had nothing to do with Slapsticon except coming as an audience member and would not have had any opportunity to actually witness something like that, and was told he was wrong in any case by Eric Grayson)and then attempts to move the alleged assault to Arlington didn’t seem to come up with any names, dates or actual places.

C’mon think about it, to begin with, I love the fact that they think in my middle-aged, heading towards elderly dotage that I could be capable of grabbing and lifting someone off the ground (this is what Darth Vader did in the first STAR WARS movie, not me, and he only did it with the help of special effects and cutting), but you know, if one did that sort of thing, at a public event with witnesses, do you think I’d still be walking around free? People get prosecuted for that sort of thing. It didn’t happen.

And of course they try to spread bullshit about me and/or Slapsticon being told “adios” by the venues in Arlington and Bloomington due to my allegedly beating up various anonymous people. Fact is folks, neither venue told us “adios”, we actually said “adios” to Arlington in 2011, when the new suits in Arlington County placed the Spectrum Theater under the control of the new money losing boondoggle called the “Artisphere” which lost Arlington County several million dollars in the ensuing years before they closed it (google it if you want to do the research). The new Artisphere suits wanted us to sign contracts (something, as an unpaid volunteer I was not going to do, I only sign a contract when I get paid), and tried to convince us that we needed to purchase liability insurance for the event, even though Slapsticon was actually listed as one of the annual covered events on the Spectrums own liability insurance policy, and Slapsticon was completely underwrote by Arlington County Cultural Affairs (Slapsticon was never an entity on its own, it was an event put on and paid for by the venue hosting it). The suits tried to spring these contracts and demands just weeks before Slapsticon 2011 was going to take place, thinking we would acquiesce under pressure, and were somewhat surprised when we said “nope”, cancelled the event, and severed our ties with them.

You can read the original news about this on the Mafia and Nitrateville, where one can also get an idea of the nonsense and chicanery of the new suits in attendees trying to get their registrations refunded:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=547&p=2912&hilit=slapsticon+2011+cancelled#p2912

https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic. ... con#p58062

Jon Vickers and the staff of the IU Cinema couldn’t have been a nicer, more cooperative, hard working and professional group of people and the Theater itself was terrific, the problems in doing Slapsticon at IU in Bloomington were mainly logistical, the town being too far from a major city airport, the Hotel on campus not able to supply enough rooms and no other hotels close enough to the theater on campus, as well as the only time of year on their schedule we could do it was a June weekend when the campus and the town were deserted. The final kicker happened two weeks before the event when IU suddenly and without apparent warning to the IU Cinema, tore down their parking garage, forcing Jon to have to buy parking (at full college campus parking rates) at other farther away campus parking garages for every Slapsticon attendee for four days. That killed any chance of a profit for them and at the end of the show, we felt it was unworkable for us and unfair for them to continue Slapsticon there, yet they indeed wanted us to put together another Slapsticon for 2014, which with reticence, we agreed to do. Budget cuts to the theater at the beginning of 2014 made it finally impossible for them to do it, and with some relief we cancelled it that January.

You can read that news documented in this thread on the mafia:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1023

After that, any potential venues looked at had similar or other problems, or didn’t have the money to fund the event, que sera sera. But hey, it’s actually new and refreshing to be accused of killing the Slapsticon when usually the rumors were spread that we didn’t really do the Slapsticons ourselves, something Founding Father Rob Farr disproves in his post on the above mafia thread. Heck, even Bruce Lawton himself, in an odd lucid moment before the 2005 Slapsticon confirms this in an old alt.movies. silent post:

“And now we come to the third one. Richard Roberts and I are heading up
this one - and to be honest - it's Richard and Linda Shah who since
late 2004 have for the most part been immersed in the intense
preparations for this coming July. I have been consulting with and
assisting Richard on this, but he has taken on the brunt of planning
and organizing the next Slapsticon. “

And from 2005 till 2013, Linda and I were indeed the ones who did the majority of the heavy lifting to put on Slapsticon, with Rob Farr and Maggie Gaffen handling the Arlington County paperwork, Linda handling the administrative end and front of house, and I programming, coordinating, and hosting the show, supplying 50 percent and sometimes more of the program from my own collection, putting together and writing large chunks of the legendary program books, and getting it all into the theater and keeping it running in that busy week of the fest. We didn’t kill Slapsticon, we brought you shows that went down in the history books, made international news as we unveiled lost and previously unknown and formerly lost films like A THIEF CATCHER with Charlie Chaplin, numerous Keaton industrials, and other goodies, and a number of you had a hell of a good time at them, as the Lawton Household and other parts of the East Coast glowed green just as it does when our home digital releases come out.

I also find amusing this other obsession that I have been somehow banned from the LOC and the Mostly Lost symposium, for some wacky reason about parking in a handicapped parking space------wow, pretty strict rules at LOC if one could be banned for that, think about it kids, parking in a handicap parking space in the rest of the country would mean-----a parking ticket----maybe having your car towed away?

Sometimes the c-whiners add something about me telling a woman in a wheelchair to “F--- Off”, hmmm, well, I’m not saying I would have any trouble telling a woman in a wheelchair to “F--- Off” if the situation warranted it and she deserved it (people in wheelchairs are capable of being assholes too), but—Names?----place?------actual documentation or formal complaint?----I drove in and out everyday to the 2013 Mostly Lost with Sam Gill and Dave Denton, and they do not seem to recollect these things happening.

Nobody’s been banned from LOC or Mostly Lost, I basically bailed on a show that, as far as I was concerned was reaping diminishing returns (the unidentifieds were becoming more footage of riveters and asphalt spreaders than interesting material, and archivist and historian self-backpatting presentations taking up more and more of the time), coupled with Culpeper being a real burg, with lousy hotels, no particularly good places to eat, high humidity and crappy weather, and we had happily quit having to fly to Arlington in June of recent, and now we were flying back there for that (and how many times have all of you been stranded in some airport coming or going to Mostly Lost?). Rob Stone embarrassed himself that year, blowing a thirty-year friendship, and I was not impressed with some of the other LOC staff in their treatment of me or others who had come there on our own dime to give them free work, so it was so easy to drop it from the itinerary, but they still send me an invite every year, to which my response is something like, “If I’m a little late, start without me” or “Gee I’d love to, but I’m having a root-canal that weekend and don’t want to miss it”. LOC sure didn’t think I was banned a couple of years later when they offered me the “privilege” of letting them digitalize my entire collection for free, to which I responded that at this current point I would be unlikely to rent them so much as a cookie.

I love that whenever I’ve quit going to a festival or convention with regularity (and I attended more than most of you), usually Bruce Lawton or John Aldrich (another old axe grinder) would claim I had been “banned” from the show, which was always bullshit. They tried to claim this when I quit making the Syracuse Cinefest every year (flying across the country in March was not my idea of fun, so it took enough films in the schedule I wanted to see to make me do it), but odd, I still turned up there from time to time, including the last one. As flying has become more of an uncomfortable nightmare, I do it less and less, and feel no need to go to film conventions whose program I can basically recreate in my own living room, which has become more and more of these. Hey, as I understand it, Bruce Lawton hasn’t been to Mostly Lost in a number of years either, what’s he been banned for?

Like I said (and screw you Finnegan, I’m gonna keep on sayin’ it) the cine-whiners thread is just a bitchy-girl bullshit fest led by a couple of envious bitter people with old grudges, joined in by a few without particular axes to grind but happy to join in a bit of trashing when they think no one’s looking (sad to see Steve Massa calling me “sasquatch”, but it’s a good example of some of the petty pointless rivalries going on between this very small group of sometimes very small historians, and hey Mike Schlesinger, speaking of blowing thirty-year friendships, you blew one here, I have this strange standard about my friends not telling lies about me behind my back) and a few regular-issue toadies, whose bulbs do not seem to display major wattage (how dumb is Rodney Bowcock? Well, he’s stupid enough to have pissed on electric fences in his youth for “fun” with his friends, and now is apparently still stupid enough to admit it in public, and Samantha Glasser is apparently still smarting from my awarding her for the most vacuous and shallow review I had ever read on Nitwitvile (and that takes some doing) several years ago for a pretty brain-cell lite take on MR ROBINSON CRUSOE with Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and the ensuing years show little improvement when I see her insightful comments on the Charley Chase 2 set consisted of “I did think it was interesting that although the Thelma Todd sets got animated menu screens, this one is a shot from one of the movies.”) and whom obviously can’t be too bright when you see who they are following and believing.

We have just decided that this needed shining a little light on, just so when you all see the trashing again whenever and wherever from now on, the names will be familiar, as will the genuine impetus for their phony outrage. At the end of the c-whiners thread, Bruce Lawton says “our work is finished here”, this is indeed their work.

Our work is CHARLEY CHASE AT HAL ROACH VOLUMES ONE AND TWO, THELMA TODD AND ZASU PITTS: THE HAL ROACH COLLECTION, THE MYSTERIOUS AIRMAN, WHEN COMEDY WAS KING RESTORED, WEISS-O-RAMA, SILENT DISCOVERIES, THE MACK SENNETT COLLECTION, SLAPSTICON, SLAPHAPPY, SMILEAGE GUARANTEED, SILENT COMEDY MAFIA.COM and much more.

We leave it to you to decide whose work is the most worthwhile.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Mike Schlesinger

Re: Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

Postby Mike Schlesinger » Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:26 pm

Just for the record: I was not merely an audience member. I cleared all the Columbia stuff you ran, even though non-theatrical was technically outside my jurisdiction. I did it as a favor to a friend.

Mike S.

Richard M Roberts
Godfather
Posts: 2895
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 6:30 pm

Re: Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

Postby Richard M Roberts » Thu Sep 12, 2019 5:34 pm

That is correct, but you were only an audience member when you were at the show, you were not involved in any way in the on-site operation of the fest. We also comped you for Slapsticon, picked you up at the airport and dropped you off when you left when it was in Arlington, and took you out for a number of meals wherever we met over the years. I thought we have treated you rather well, certainly well enough to be undeserving of this.

Just for that record, make it "former friend".

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Mike Schlesinger

Re: Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

Postby Mike Schlesinger » Thu Sep 12, 2019 8:02 pm

As you wish.

Richard M Roberts
Godfather
Posts: 2895
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 6:30 pm

Re: Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

Postby Richard M Roberts » Thu Sep 12, 2019 8:33 pm

Wishing has nothing to do with it, you are responsible for your own actions, common sense and self-preservation are the motivations for mine.

Or as they say, "with friends like you........"

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Richard M Roberts
Godfather
Posts: 2895
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 6:30 pm

Re: Light-shining the Cinewhiners: What we deal with just to bring you old movies

Postby Richard M Roberts » Fri Oct 18, 2019 2:59 pm

bump


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