Save Excelsior Silent Film Company!

About Excelsior
     Hello! My name is Annie Lore. I'm the director of the Excelsior Moveable Movie Palace, my Excelsior Company being dedicated to bringing silent movies on real film to old-movie fans far and wide (or at least in Northern California, to start). It's not always easy to attend live screenings. Some silent film festivals (such as the superlative San Francisco SFF) come but once a year, or shows can be located far away from most of us (like those at the wonderful Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum) and screenings may not always fall on ideal dates. Happily, Excelsior can provide an alternative, with custom movie shows just about wherever or whenever they're wanted, enhanced by live accompaniment and other period trimmings. If you love those old movies, this could be just what the doctor ordered.

     Years of preparation have gone into the ongoing process of assembling all the diverse elements that go into our shows; the hundreds of films themselves (in 8 and 16mm), the fleet of appropriate projectors and editing equipment for both moving pictures and slides, the musical accompanists and live entertainers, the sets, costumes, props, sheet music and period literature... the details have just kept proliferating.

     These shows can enhance public and private events such as festivals, fundraisers, conventions, reunions, parties, classes, historic reenactments, period balls and a host of other appropriate gatherings... anywhere they'll be enjoyed as great old-time movie entertainment that's a splendid window --almost a door-- to the past. It's history right in your lap.

     We can set up in clubhouses, small theaters, homes, garages, barns, classrooms, auditoriums, hotels, restaurants, libraries, churches, museums, historic houses, wineries, B&Bs, offices, community centers, senior facilities, parks, even tents; if there's electricity and a way to dim the lights, we can make a Movie Palace. We have a wealth of wonderful things planned, but for some time now we've been stalled and struggling! It's a terrible waste of a great resource, and we're not giving up yet. Have a good look at what it's all about: Visit ExcelsiorCompany.com

Hard times! Our tale of woe:
   Neither the economy nor life's caprices have been favorable of late, with work opportunities evaporating and costs rising-- it’s a pretty familiar refrain, isn’t it?           The new owner of the property where my realist painter husband and I had been renting a very large live/work space for over 15 years conceived new uses for the place and gave us the heave-ho (deadline Christmas Day; how's that for melodrama?), which was a devastating blow. Despite our finances already being at a low point, two studios and a household somehow had to relocate, a monumental undertaking from which we haven't yet recovered. It didn't help that my husband was seriously injured during the dismantling of the studio, but we made our deadline nonetheless.


     Intensive househunting had convinced us that there were no comparable single facilities findable; by liquidating some irreplaceable possessions we were able to rent a separate studio and dwelling, where we now pay three times the rent for a third of the space we formerly occupied. Our little cottage and my husband's studio (with leaky roof!) are all but choked with the most perishable of Excelsior's goods, making it quite a challenge to live in one or work in the other. Month to month survival is a continual uncertainty, despite our best efforts, and the unending worry is wearing us down. Seems like I've aged about a decade over the last couple of years! Something has to change, and soon.

     It may be that GoFundMe isn't the right place for this sort of campaign. I didn't want to go with Kickstarter, though, because it's all-or-nothing, runs for at least a month, then takes a couple of weeks after that to call in the pledges and get the funds. I just couldn't gamble that way and possibly lose a full month, when help is urgently needed-- especially when I neglected other business while putting this campaign together.

    GoFundMe supporters mostly seem to be folks with a soft spot for needed medical, educational or funeral expenses, for humans and animal family members as well. That's wonderful! And I wish we'd known about it before we ended up even deeper in the hole with feline medical expenses during these last few years.
     Well, that’s how I’ve ended up trying crowdfunding! 

Excelsior needs a new home base.
     After being shunted about for months, Excelsior's movies and projectors, with other film equipment, costumes and sets, are presently distributed between not only the house and studio, but a large unheated, uninsulated chicken barn (it's Petaluma, after all) as well. Not all of these spaces are optimum for the preservation of our varied resources, and this arrangement makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to assemble what's needed for our best shows. And winter is upon us!

     As things stand, much of our gear will be vulnerable to damp, dust and unfavorable temperatures. Films require a stable cool dry environment, and some need actual refrigeration or freezing; however, many simply have to make do with whatever the house or studio are experiencing as to climate. Our film refrigerators are currently spread through the house, a nearby shed and the studio. At least these films have stable conditions, though it's far from ideal.

     So my hope is to find, not a theater (though we certainly wouldn't object!), but a base of operations, a facility where Excelsior's essential holdings can be safely housed, organized and maintained, ideally in the Petaluma area or not far from it. This could even be a donated interim space, one that would at least permit the much-needed sorting and proper cataloguing of our goods while we get back on our feet and can finally afford a space of our own.
 

A lot to like.
     Excelsior's concept and style have garnered immense enthusiasm! We love giving movie shows for people who love movie shows; what's a more perfect match? We also love giving movie shows for people who don't know they love our movie shows till they see one. We have special programs for children, too, for whom the non-digital movie experience can be a real revelation. And many of Excelsior's shows provide a showcase for period entertainers.

     So we hope that GoFundMe can make it possible to be presenting these shows on a regular basis-- and not incidentally, to help us out of an insupportable life and work situation. With a boost from supporters the Moveable Movie Palace can at last be up and running full-time and spreading celluloid (well, acetate) joy far and wide. Once we've become self-supporting, more and ever-better shows can be going forth into the world under the Excelsior banner! Especially in these troubled times, the world needs more wonderful things in it-- and all we want is the means to make wonderful things.

How we'll use funds-- more pipe dreams!
     The first money that arrives really must go to cover the most urgent/overdue bills, along with rent and personal loans, which will help move every aspect of Excelsior's plans closer to fruition. This could easily utilize $2500-3500, depending upon how soon it's available. If there are sufficient contributions, a new space could come next; a projected minimum move-in figure could be in the neighborhood of $2400.

PROJECTORS
     Projector upkeep is a constant concern, and some of our units will need servicing soon. I still owe our marvelous fix-it man $100 for part of the work he did over a year ago, so that's among the overdue bills. One of our principal units had to be retired when it developed a cracked worm gear, something very expensive to replace; the projector itself (a Bell & Howell 2592) can be replaced for much less at about $200. Projectors always need a supply of extra lamps on hand, some of which can be pricey.  Projector replacement, servicing and miscellaneous supplies could readily consume something like $500.

MOVIE ACQUISITION
     Oh dear, all the great titles that have slipped through my fingers due to lack of funds! Of course one can't have everything, but when WE get a movie, that means movie-lovers have it too, because we can share it on the screen. Some pictures were simply too essential to let get away, so I overextended to obtain Blackhawk's 16mm "Kriemhild's Revenge" to go with our "Siegfried", and then there was the Blackhawk "Beloved Rogue" in 16mm. Mary Pickford in "Sparrows" too. I picked up the Fairbanks "Three Musketeers", (with Barbara La Marr as Milady deWinter) using most of the first donations (you can tell I'm obsessed!), thinking that there would be a good bit more arriving before long.  Oops! Got that one wrong. But I did manage to acquire the Clara Bow  "Free to Love", and eventually pay off "The Nut" (also Doug Fairbanks w/ La Marr), though. However, all these treasures may have to go on the block if something doesn't change soon.

STALLED PROJECTS
The Excelsior Company website details some of our backlogged projects: decorative panels that can create the Egyptian and Cypress Glade Theatres, movies that need duplication or restoration, and movies to make...

And so...
       I'm still looking forward to making a broader connection with others who love old movies and visiting times past. Between us we can build Excelsior into a true Happy Place; after all, it's the Happy Places that keep us going.
       The aforementioned urgent/overdue bills, along with rent and personal loans are weighing quite heavily, so I'm hoping that those who are able can manage to chip in just a little. A $5 or $10 donation multiplied by a hundred people becomes $500 and $1000-- oh my, that would be a help! And any donation brings you lifetime membership in the Excelsior Old Movie Conspiracy, with admission to any Excelsior show that's open to the public, plus Mystery Benefits. Who could resist?