Since 1991 Sag Harbor resident Joe Lauro’s HISTORIC FILMS ARCHIVE has provided historical film footage and vintage musical performance footage to countless feature films, museum exhibits and television programs.  This presentation will include excerpts from several recently preserved films and televisions programs which are housed at Historic Films. Joe Lauro will be on hand to introduce each segment.

EAST HAMPTON’S INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE ( 1915,  Pathe News)

Discovered in the archives of East Hamptons’ LTV Studios this lovely  one of a kind film documents East Hampton’s  annual 4^th Of July parade  from locally constructed floats to a  children’s summer dance display. Main Street East Hampton and 100s of it’s residents are captured 106 years ago in this fleeting time machine of local history.  6 min.

AND THIS IS FREE ( 1964, dir Michael Shea)

Shot on multiple Sundays during 1964 by director Mike Shea, the film documents  Chicago’s  now vanished MAXWELL STREET market. The peddlers, the live street performers, Gospel and Blues music and the carnival atmosphere are brilliantly conveyed in Shea’s film  . Legendary musician Mike Bloomfield had a behind-the-scenes role in getting this made.
Shea embraced a cinema verité style similar to D.A. Pennebaker’s DON’T LOOK BACK which was made the following year. HISTORIC FILMS has just completed a new 6K transfer  and restoration of the sadly deteriorating 16mm negatives.  (25 min)

LIVE FROM THE FILLMORE EAST ( 1969-71) Noted photographer AMALIE ROTHSCHILD spent her NYU student years working at Bill Graham’s  legendary  NY rock palace. On occasion, her  npr eclair 16mm camera in hand, she filmed some of the venue’s most amazing moments. JIMI HENDRIX “BAND OF GYPSYS, FRANK ZAPPA jamming with JOHN LENNON, CROSBY STILLS NASH & YOUNG’s  1st tour.. Historic Films has recently re-transferred the original 16mm reversal prints and upgraded the sound.  ( 15 Min )

OPEN END: Martin Luther King (1963)  OPEN END was producer and provocative talk show host David Susskind’s first hosted program. The show began in 1958 .Open End,  referred to the fact that the program was open-ended, with no set scheduled end or timeslot restrictions. 1963, shortly after the Selma March REV MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. sat down for a long form, perhaps the longest in existence interview with Susskind. The program was believed lost for 50 years and to this day has never been re-released., Historic Films played a major role in it’s preservation. (15 minute excerpt )

SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO ( 1955 ) among the very first African-American music variety series this ground breaking program presented the best of the R&B, Jazz, Comedy and Dance performers ( Ruth Brown Big Joe Turner, Count Basie, Dinah Washington and Duke Ellington among them!) then appearing at the legendary Apollo Theater. Historic Films is currently in the process of  scanning and restoring the original 35mm fine grain materials. (10 minutes excerpt)