3D Meet Bob Furmanek: HTF Golden Age 3-D Consultant (7 Viewers)

[Quatermass II]

That's a really awesome find!

I love these kind of discoveries that put films into the original context, and it's even more exciting that it's actually in 3D!

Ditto for me - this really is an incredible find!

 

[revgen]

According to MisterLime, Cease Fire is being released on November 21st, 2017.

 

[aPhil]

Jack Theakston just posted this announcement on Facebook of our most recent - and in many ways, most historically significant - lost 3-D discovery!

Here's our big announcement this week: Out of the vaults of Paramount Pictures, a long-lost, stereoscopic rediscovery! The final film shot with the Paravision rig: a series of introductions to Paramount's CEASE FIRE! with Gen. Mark W. Clark, who signed the Korean Armistice Agreement in July 1953. General Clark attended a number of the film's openings, but for those key premieres he couldn't, this film was shown in its place. Three introductions were filmed, and we'll include all three on the upcoming Kino-Lorber 3-D Blu-ray. This will be the first time this footage has been seen since 1954!

View attachment 39856

I was a bit on the fence about whether I would buy this release, but this put me in the buyer's market.
Now I'm looking forward to it.

 

[SAM33]

Wow, that's great news Bob!
Just another example of the really significant HISTORICAL work you guys do, not just for the sake of entertainment, but of re-discovering and preserving out collective past. You just can't give you all enough credit!

S A M 33

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Thank you very much!

Finding this historic 3-D footage would never have happened if we didn't believe in doing original research in primary source documents. There is no mention whatsoever about this intro in any book ever written on 3-D.

Earlier this year - when doing research for the CEASE FIRE article by Ted Okuda: http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/cease-fire - we found two mentions in the industry trade journals. Archivists at Paramount were not aware of the footage and it was simply identified on their inventory as "trailer." Laura Thornburg pulled all the non-feature elements out of cold storage for us to inspect last April and it was found.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of doing original research!

 

[3D Projectionist]

Great news to come home to after a couple of days at the coast Bob, we shall very much look forward to ordering this classic 3D release.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Since July 1982, Jerry Lewis has been an important part of my life. I became his personal archivist in 1984 and there were SO many wonderful moments shared over these past 35 years.

As Jim Carrey so beautifully said yesterday, "I am because he was."

I was privileged to see the personal side of this remarkable man. His warmth, generosity and compassion were unbounded and when I suffered a hardship or loss in my life, he reached out and was there for me. And even when I passed the half-century mark, he would still greet me with "Hiya, Kid."

Moments shared behind the scenes at the Muscular Dystrophy Telethons were both heartbreaking and inspiring. He loved children so very much and the untold stories of what he did year-round for "his kids" and their families would touch your heart.

He has left an amazing legacy to the world and his lifelong charitable work is without peer. Please consider helping Jerry's House to continue their important work with children: https://www.jerryshouse.net/

Quite frankly, were it not for his encouragement and support, there would be no 3-D Film Archive today. His name opened MANY doors and much was saved because of his early involvement.

Every conversation began with "How are you" and "What are you working on?" I always kept him up to date on our progress and he was so delighted when I gave him our first releases on Blu-ray. He always took an interest - and he cared. That's the kind of man that he was.

Last year, Dave Kehr and I mounted a 90th birthday salute at New York's Museum of Modern Art which culminated in the premiere of his final starring feature film, MAX ROSE. He taped this introduction for the opening night program and even with his advanced years, his quick wit and sharp sense of humor were still very much intact:

It's very sad losing a mentor, a hero and a friend. God bless you, JL. Rest in peace, my friend.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Sorry, I had the clip set to private. This should work:

 

[Charles Smith]

A beautiful remembrance, Bob.

And wonderful quips in the clip!

 

[Steve...O]

That's a wonderful tribute, Bob and thank you for sharing that clip.

Jerry wouldn't have commanded 35 years of loyalty from you without being a fundamentally decent person so thank you for sharing that side of him. Clearly this went both ways as he obviously has a deep respect for you also.

I don't know firsthand but I've long suspected that "cranky Jerry" was at least partially an act because he knew that's what people expected and that the real Jerry was closer to what you see in the clip and the one who gave 60 years of his life fighting for his kids. When the now infamous 7 minute Hollywood Reporter interview came to light late last year I defended Jerry staunchly because the reporter deserved it. He was unprepared and somewhat condescending. If you ask yes/no questions, you are going to get yes/no answers.

Even though Jerry had been hospitalized recently this still came as a shock because he had persevered over every health obstacle previously and I just assumed Jerry would fulfill his promise to "beat Burns". The most legendary comics seem to live a long time. Hope / Burns made 100. Jerry, Rickles, Berle, Reiner, Van Dyke, and Rose Marie all made 90 or more. Benny and Skelton made 80.

 

[ahollis]

Wrong thread, sorry.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Steve, I really appreciate your last post.

Thank you!

Yesterday was surreal. I went to the corner deli (where I've gone since I could walk) and Jerry Lewis was on the front page of every newspaper. I just stood there staring and the young gal at the counter - who knows me quite well - said, "Are you alright?" I told her my friend died and she offered her condolences. Then I said he was on the front page of every newspaper. She was shocked but didn't have a clue who Jerry Lewis was. (She's about 20.) Then I went for dinner in a Mexican restaurant and a middle-aged couple seated at the bar were talking about him. it was like being in the Twilight Zone.

I really didn't expect the loss to hit me this way. There are so many wonderful memories and they just keep flooding back into my mind. Some make me laugh, and others make me tear up. I only wish we could have had just one more conversation.

I was a very lucky guy.

 

[Rob W]

Bob, based on the way you have conducted yourself on these forums over hundreds of posts over the years, and having met you in person twice, I'd say Jerry was a very lucky guy.

Your friends here are thinking of you.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The people who schedule the re-runs of Johnny Carson's tonight show on Antenna TV called an audible last night. I checked-in and found that an episode featuring Jerry Lewis had replaced the scheduled episode.

It must've been from 1982 as he was promoting the film Slapstick of Another Kind (based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel) which also featured Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman.

There was no highlight or special moment which resulted from that interview (nothing that ever made a clips show, let's say)...but what a treat to watch two giants in the industry just take part in a public conversation engaging in some gamesmanship and great humor along the way. Jerry had also just received some of those big awards from the French government.

It was the kind of show which makes you appreciate all those great talents from our youth. Such big, big talents.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Thank you, Robert. You're too kind!

 

[Camps]

Bob, a nice paean to Jerry that I thought you might like to see, by longtime NY-based TV columnist Adam Buckman -- acknowledging Jerry's complexities but with clear affection:

https://www.mediapost.com/publicati...lethon-man-jerry-lewis-went-the-distance.html

 

[RolandL]

No no no. If it was The Stewardesses, only the boy would be awake. Everybody else would be asleep. It's obvious that they are watching Friday the 13th Part 3.

Hi Todd,

Please respond to my entry in Converstations - icon to the left of the Search, upper right corner of the screen.

Thanks,

Roland

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Starting Friday, September 1, don't miss 3-D FUNHOUSE at MoMA!

The entire 3-D Film Archive team - Greg Kintz. Jack Theakston, Thad Komorowski and yours truly, will be there for most of opening weekend.

As a special token of appreciation for the great people at the Home Theater Forum, we'll have a special gift for the first five members of HTF that stop by and say hello.

Please join us and see our restorations as they were meant to be seen; on the Big Screen!

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/3872?locale=en

 

[Dick]

Well, I can fess up here. I enjoyed Lewis when I was a kid because his screen persona was that of a kid (and schizoid at that, since he bounced back and forth between being a slapstick nerd and being a much more serious wannabe lover with an entirely different voice, sometimes within a single sequence).

Later, I developed a distain for him because he began to come across to me as a narcissistic clown who only wanted adoration from his fans. This seemed especially apparent during his t.v. marathons where he seemed to want love from the audience more than he really cared about the sickly kids he was supposedly there to support. The whole "Jerry's Kids" thing just seemed like a moniker for someone who needed to be admired. I have always enjoyed THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, in which I thought he actually gave an Oscar Nominee-worthy performance, and THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY, which is my favorite Lewis film (still not available on Blu-ray). But the ego thing has interfered with my general appreciation of this man for years.

Reading Bob's reminiscences about Jerry, plus other testimonials from various sources, have led me to the conclusion that I was only half right. Actors have large egos (or low self-esteem, which can produce the same visible personas), and Lewis certainly had one or both of these qualities. Yet, had he not held his marathons, children with MS would not have been endowed with over a billion dollars over the years. Although he was an enormous show-off and very needy artist, he did provide help for countless children, and his motives for doing so become rather insignificant.

So, even after his death, I have an ambivalent reaction to the man. But I do acknowledge that he had a humanitarian streak, which I wish all of us had. He used his fame to provide for children who were ill. How many people have done that? Why haven't the oligarchs of this country, who almost all seem greedy to a fault, stepped up to the plate the way Mr. Lewis did?

 

[Stephen PI]

From American Cinematographer Magazine March, 1953:
"All Hollywood Studios Shooting 3-D Films"