Beatles film clip exhibit at Houston Museum of Fine Arts

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by toptentwist, Apr 26, 2010.

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  1. toptentwist

    toptentwist Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    I spotted a notice in the newspaper last week that the Houston Museum of Fine Arts was planning a night of rare Beatles film clips.

    The admission fee was modest ($10 per person for non-MFA members) so I asked my 15 year old if he was interested in going with me. I figured I had probably seen some of the footage before, but it might be the precursor to some sort of official promo clips DVD from Apple. The sort of thing that I believe was dismissed a few years back as being "too obvious" by Neil Aspinal.

    The presentation was somewhat odd. They advertised it as starting at 7 PM, but when I walked into the theater at 6:45, it seemed to have already started.

    Apparently, they felt it would be good to show Beatle clips before showing Beatle clips :)

    The actual quality of the presentation was pretty low tech... apparently the presenter brought a DVD (or two) with him and that is what we watched. No actual film was apparently projected. The audio quality wasn't very special either.

    That being said, it was still an interesting night. It looks like they oversold the tickets to the event. The theater (which held approximately 150-200 people) was completely full.

    The presenter was a guy named Bill Shelley from Long Island. Apparently he collects old film footage and keeps it archived in two separate vaults ("in two different states - in case there is a fire...") He gave a brief talk before the main presentation and he did a Q&A afterwards. He was grilled pretty quickly about his right to exhibit these clips. He seemed to be pretty adamant that he will not come do a night like this without first getting permission from the copyright holder.

    Bill did go on record to say that his permission is limited to small presentations in non-profit theaters where his compensation is strictly tied to a modest "speaker's fee." He indicated that he has always been interested in film, and that his film collection started when he worked at the Brill building in NY and his boss indicated that they were planning to throw away a bunch of reels in the basement.

    He claims to have sold some of his footage TO Apple but I suspect that most of what they were interested in was not what we saw Friday night. For example, many of the clips he displayed are in the Beatles Anthology collection (in much better quality than what we saw at the HFMA presentation).

    He said he is a frequent resource when someone needs to license a 10 second clip for a documentary. I have no reason to doubt that claim.

    From what I've been able to read via googling his name, he apparently has supplied George Martin some film footage for a documentary that is still in production. Apparently Martin, wanted footage of himself in the studio with the Fabs and he was told Shelley was the most likely person to have it.

    He apparently did something similar with some George Harrison footage.


    To be clear, Shelley does NOT specialize in Beatle film footage. It just seems to be the footage that most people inquire about.

    As for the actual footage we got to see - the most fascinating stuff for me was the promo videos from late 64, early 65.... Everyone got a good laugh watching the clip that showed Ringo riding an exercise bike (while George sang into what looked like a punching bag). The one with the Beatles holding the umbrella with falling snow was also cool. I don't think I've ever seen either clip before. I suspect they were aired on the Ed Sullivan show at one point in time (and probably elsewhere in other territories).
     
  2. jjh1959

    jjh1959 Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Charles, MO
    Those were never aired on Ed Sullivan. Those are the "Intertel Promos"...early videotape promos of the Beatles that were used in Europe and the UK. Widely available and bootlegged for years, and owned by Apple. This Bill Shelley guy certainly didn't get permission from Apple to show these in any presentation. Sounds like a load of hype.
     
  3. toptentwist

    toptentwist Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Houston, TX

    You are right to be skeptical. I was before I went.

    I do think he inherited/rescued a huge treasure trove of film reels
    at one point and he has used that to establish some sort of
    credibility.

    He wasn't evasive at all on the topic of licensing and he sounded
    like a guy who understands the word "no" if the copyright holder
    tells him no.

    People in the audience told him they would like to see "him" release
    DVDs of "his" stuff and he was quick to point out that he doesn't
    own the material and its up to the copyright holders. I suspect
    he has been able to obtain very limited exhibition rights in
    exchange for access to rare films in his archives (most of which
    I suspect is news reel footage).

    He mentioned having this wonderful color film reel of an interview
    with Janis Joplin that has no sound and he has been trying for years
    to find the corresponding sound. I think he said he got it from a TV
    station in the bay area...

    He also said he's at a point where most people come looking for him
    with film...

    I would still be skeptical if I wasn't there - and I'm still somewhat
    curious if he was lying through his teeth... but he did SEEM
    pretty honest.

    If he's just a hardcore bootleg collector, I suspect he collects
    actual film reels - not video... which puts him in a very
    rare category...
     
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