Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

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Richard M Roberts
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Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Richard M Roberts » Thu Aug 24, 2017 9:41 pm

Okay, since apparently some jackass involved with the distribution of future product has blabbed his stupid trap out over the internet on future product that he wasn’t supposed to, and the internerds are already spreading more blab and nonsense, winding themselves up to whine, complain, and talk themselves out of buying the product before anyone has even seen it, it looks like I’d better put out a few facts:

1. Yes, The Sprocket Vault is working on a set of complete Charley Chase Hal Roach Talkies, starting with Volume One, 1930-31, with many shorts featuring Thelma Todd. This set is co-produced by Kit Parker and Myself, and will feature some interesting extras, including commentary tracks on all the shorts by yours truly.

2. This collection will ONLY come out in Volumes, THERE WILL BE NO COMPLETE BOX SET RELEASED AFTER ALL THE VOLUMES HAVE BEEN RELEASED, and sales figures of the previously released volume will affect whether the next Volume will even be released. In other words, if you don’t buy Volume One, there may not be a Volume Two, and if you don’t buy Volume Two, there will not likely be a Volume Three. Support the product as it comes out if you want it to continue to come out.

3. This collection will be released on DVD only, THERE WILL BE NO BLU-RAY VERSION RELEASED. Get over it.

4. Yes, The Sprocket Vault, Kit Parker, and I are working on other collections of Hal Roach material, what they will be will be announced in their own good time, so do not bother us with ideas or suggestions or inquiries as to what they may or may not be, nor spend much time gossiping or whining on the internet as to the possibilities. The best thing you can do is support the product when it comes out if you want to see more of it and leave us alone to get it done.

5. These shorts will look as good as is the best of their ability to look good, but be advised that the surviving materials on the Hal Roach comedies are not the most pristine nor well-preserved materials in the Universe, so it is indeed likely that some shorts will look better than others. If your virgin eyeballs are offended by the possibility that not all of these shorts will look like a 4K scan of CASABLANCA……..tough. They are going to look better than any previous home video release of these titles rest assured.

Now, as you can probably surmise we have a lot of work to do, we did not intend to discuss this set or these projects at all at this date, and will give no further details. We’ll tell you more when there is more to tell that you should know, but if you have seen the other Sprocket Vault releases of recent like WHEN COMEDY WAS KING, GO JOHNNY GO, and THE MYSTERIOUS AIRMAN, you know we have been putting out some darn good product, let us get on with making more of it.

You’re welcome,

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Robert Moulton
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Robert Moulton » Thu Aug 24, 2017 11:01 pm

A fantastic announcement! I've been hoping for this for years, thanks for making it happen.

Jim Reid
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Jim Reid » Fri Aug 25, 2017 12:15 am

Excellent!

Nico Cartenstadt
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Nico Cartenstadt » Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:39 am

Great news! Count me in!

Richard, will there be English subtitles / SDH captions on these releases? Hope these can be included...

Richard M Roberts
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Richard M Roberts » Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:50 am

Nico Cartenstadt wrote:Great news! Count me in!

Richard, will there be English subtitles / SDH captions on these releases? Hope these can be included...



Number 4, mid-paragraph.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

Joe Migliore
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Joe Migliore » Fri Aug 25, 2017 5:25 am

This is very exciting news; I'm all in. (I never thought I'd see commentary tracks for any Chase talkies.) Thank you for persevering, Richard.

William Ferry
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby William Ferry » Fri Aug 25, 2017 9:11 pm

Richard, I don't care if you release it on Edison wax cylinders, with paper doll cutouts...I'm in for the whole shebang. Having missed out on the Super 8 sound versions from the old Blackhawk catalogue, I'm delighted to get them any way I can! I encourage everyone to exhibit 1.) patience and 2.) loyalty. Anyone who produces a set like this (e.g., DISCOVERING CHARLEY CHASE, HARRY LANGDON: LOST AND FOUND, THE MACK SENNETT COLLECTION, etc.) goes through hoops to do so. I never thought the Columbia Keatons or Chases would ever see the light of day, so this series is another dream come true.

Richard M Roberts
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sat Aug 26, 2017 7:52 pm

Well, the internet has been ablaze with talk about this set the last few days, a lot of it good and supportive, and some of it nonsense spreading as usual. We have been doing what we can to counter that, but it really is wearying. I posted this response to a nameless one on a Laurel and Hardy forum who decided to post "speculation" on what is exactly going to be in this set after he pouted that I asked him the question that if it is all specuation, why post it publically where others will then pick it up and spread it as fact, which made him upset and say he'll never buy the set because I hurt his feelers, I responded:


"Sorry if the facts upset you, but thanks to everyone's "excitement", a lot of misinformation has been spread already about a set that was not supposed to even be announced to the public at this time. We now have to spend a lot of time stopping rumor and silliness that can do more harm than good in selling this set when we already have our hands full in just making it a reality.

This sort of fan nonsense and internet chatter really does more harm than good. Your comment and reaction says that your whole post was more for your own vanity than any support for the set, and if your support of it is that fragile, what does it say about you? We're on your side here, we're working to make these films available, and no ones gonna get rich off of it, and it's no fun when the fans either post made-up stuff, or complain about what is or is not in a release that they haven't even seen or doesn't even exist yet, these sort of things make we who are actually working to get this stuff out to you think seriously about going into more worthwhile lines of work.

We appreciate your support, but we do not appreciate irresponsibility, grow up, be happy Charley Chase's Roach talkies are finally gonna be available, but don't spread gossip or "speculation" just because you think you have a scoop on anyone else. No ones announced what is in this set, no one has announced any extras, this release is still in production. We'll let everyone know more when there is more to tell, acting responsibly about this shows real support."

Update: the fellow I was talking to eliminated the misinformation and apologized, to which I responded:


"Apology accepted and revision appreciated. What folk get from me is the truth, realize I respect you all enough to give you that, and frequently the truth does sometime rub folk the wrong way.

The internet is really a problem child in many ways, it spreads both information and misinformation at lightning speeds, and in this sadly shrinking area of interest, it is really nothing but hard work and labors of love that get any of this stuff out to be seen to those few who have any interest in it anymore. Of course when there is good news about a new release, everyone wants to talk about it, but it is bang your head against the wall time when you start reading people making assumptions about the work or talking themselves into not liking it if it doesn't fit the exact specifications the screaming voices in their heads demand when the thing doesn't even exist yet, so we want to stop any misinformation when we can, so we don't have to deal with people complaining about something being in or not being in a set that we didn't promise them in the first place.

That Amazon page is another good example of misinformation, it is not actually an official Amazon page for this release, it is an unfinished template that somebody dug up and posted on a Facebook group and it has now gone out all over the net, It has an incorrect release date, it lists the wrong company producing the set (it's a Sprocket Vault release, not a VCI release) and it does not list a price, it should not be seen by anyone in the general public and will either disappear or change drastically in the coming days. We did not spread this amazon page all over the internet, the fans did, but we have to deal with the consequences of that.

Like I said, we're just asking for a little responsibility on everyone's part in what is being said about this, and sometimes we have to speak a bit gruffly just to get your attentions, we really are on your side, I have prints of all these shorts, I can watch them at home anytime, and the profit from doing this is minimal to non-existent, but we really do want to share this stuff with those who want to see it in hope that it will continue to survive. We are actually doing it, not talking about it, and have been doing it now for decades, and frequently it is an uphill battle against a lot of nonsense. What we ask of you is to think about what you say and post before you do, it really can sometimes cause more harm then good."


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Richard M Roberts
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Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sun Aug 27, 2017 4:35 pm

http://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24666

Well, of course Nitwitvile was late to the news, but it is a hoot to see Gebert saying he didn't believe it until he heard from "solid" sources when he deleted the link someone put up to this page on there last night. At this point he now has no "solid" sources on the thread, pretty much like the whole site.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Richard M Roberts
Godfather
Posts: 2890
Joined: Sun May 31, 2009 6:30 pm

Re: Yes Virginia, there's gonna be a Charley Chase Roach Talkie set

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:03 pm

Now Gebert claims no link was removed, which is bullshit, nameless one Falsealarms posted it as the (then) third post in the thread last night, it has since disappeared.

And notice Gebert only copied my above comment, he didn't repost the link to this thread.

RICHARD M ROBERTS


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