So let’s review: another unpredictably blazing hot summer is right around the corner, we’re in the midst of what everyone is too terrified to call a depression but actually is, and the overall stress level on the metaphorical street is higher than the entire cast of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.
Feeling down and out? Dispirited? Discombobulated? Depressed? Buddy, so are we, which is why the arrival in our in-box of The Paramount Theater’s 2009 Summer Film Series comes as such a blessed relief. Long an air-conditioned oasis of 24 fps classiness in the midst of our city’s scorched earth-meets-subtropical summertime sultriness, The Paramount has been sating the appetites of Austin’s cineastes and slackers for 34 years. You can download a .pdf file of the entire series calendar here.
This year they’re kicking things off in high style for low times with a pre-party on Thursday, May 21, for traditional series opener Casablanca, which means you can help help yourself to complimentary drinks, popcorn, and Moroccan-themed appetizers by becoming a member of their Film Fan Club.
They’ve also taken into account that “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” is back on top of charts (in our heads if not on our radios, yet), and programmed bad times/good movies sub-fest called “Good Times from the Great Depression.”
From the Paramount’s calendar: “Times were tough in the 1930s, too, and Hollywood responded with a series of smart, witty entertainments that
provided a wonderful, escapist tonic. Audiences laughed
uproariously at the foibles of the idle rich, swooned at the
grace of Astaire and Rodgers or the choreographic dazzle of
Busby Berkeley, and had their funny bones fractured and
heart-strings tugged by the genius of Chaplin. And
throughout, a spirit of hope prevailed amidst the laughter.
Now’s the time to re-visit some of these gems, and revel in
the artistry and the optimism that helped America get
through the Great Depression. Check them out on — mostly
on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — through July 1. All with
Warner Brothers cartoons!”
Gee whiz that’s swell, ain’t it? Some of our personal favorites/recommendations include 1934’s Dames, featuring Dick Powell, Zazu Pitts, and the aforementioned and incomparable choreography of Busby Berkeley (June 3-4); Chaplin’s masterpiece City Lights double-billed with — oh, the irony! — Modern Times (June 9-10); and Thin Man-to-be William Powell‘s classic turn as My Man Godfrey, paired with the Preston Sturges-penned Jean Arthur romp Easy Living.
That’s just a smidgeon of The Paramount’s perfectly-pitched programming for this ever-anxious summer, but you can bet your bottom dollar (or dime, as the case may be) we’ll be slouched in the black back of the balcony, ogling Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, and all our other favorite Hollywood dames as we try to come up with ever-more Runyan-esque turns of phrase and bask in the silvery stimulus that only Hollywood’s Depression-era classics can ever fully provide.
This article appears in April 24 • 2009.