A little family lore: today would have been (is still?) my dad's birthday. He would have been 79.
Last night, coincidentally, I had a wonderful phone conversation with a gentleman from a production company that's producing a documentary on LA's fabled Z Channel, the first pay cable TV movie station, the same one that pioneered more cool stuff that we now take for granted than just about any other institution of film appreciation in this country.
Behind the scenes specials. Charles Champlin's "For Your Consideration." Old film news reels preceding movies. Themed festivals. Academy-oriented screenings...years and years before screener tapes and DVDs. A channel that grew into a highly influential platform that took an enthusiastic, playful, intelligent stand promoting the art of movies, from the best to the worst, the most obscure to the most popular; one that fought to restore the original, uncut visions of numerous directors' films, including, most notably, Cimino's "Heaven's Gate," Bertolucci's "1900," and "Fanny and Alexander." It helped propel "Annie Hall" to an Oscar, and revived certain actors' and directors' flagging careers, and won appreciation for otherwise underappreciated artists. The magazine that accompanied the channel became something of an icon itself, with in-depth interviews (as I think I wrote before, the last with Groucho Marx), intelligent criticism, useful and crisp reviews, and lots of other good stuff. The channel helped catalyze the careers of film writers such as F.X. Feeney, and would have continued to advance Jerry Harvey's career, had it not ended so suddenly and so terribly.
My dad--as programmer, writer, and creative director--more or less set the template for the channel, from its inception in 1974 through 1980, at which time the torch was passed to Harvey; my father became too sick to continue. Most of the ideas mentioned above were my dad's ideas; some made it into production under his stewardship, some not until later. Harvey refined and expanded many of them and introduced many of his own innovations, turning the channel into a premiere TV destination and an influential industry force.
I can't wait to see and hear some of the nearly 40 new interviews in the film with a whole raft of film giants.
I'm really excited about this project, and I think the team producing this film is taking a wonderful approach to the subject. It'll air on the Independent Film Channel later next year, and probably be included in a number of festivals worldwide. I'm told the interest is there.
I and my sister will also be submitting some material for inclusion.
So, in a roundabout cosmic kind of way, happy birthday dad: I only wish you'd been able to realize in your life how many people you touched and made happy.
