Michael Schlesinger, aka cadavra, is no longer with us (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Agreed, but also a greater loss for film as well.

Yes, even if you don't know his name, you'll likely have benefited at some point or another from his advocacy that classic movies deserve to be seen. For over two decades at Sony, he was the reason vintage movies from Columbia stayed available for theatrical exhibition.

And there was no greater fan of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World ever.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

I appreciated his posts here, his commentaries and his Trailers from Hell videos.

Based on one such video, I’d held out hope that WAC might release a Blu of Sh! The Octopus, if only so that he might get to do the commentary.

R.I.P., Michael, from a fellow IAMMMMW fan.

 

[RBailey]

So sorry to hear this about Michael.
I will miss his yearly presence at the Columbus Moving Picture Show (formerly Cinevent) in Columbus, Ohio.
RIP.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am very sad to learn of this loss to this forum. While most of us here never meet in person, the bonds we form through shared interests are real and meaningful. His contributions will be missed. Rest in peace.

 

[OliverK]

Had the pleasure to interact with him a few times on this forum, this is a sad loss.

RIP Michael, you will be missed.

 

[sbjork]

Never met or talked with Michael, but FEEL like I’ve known him, and consequently am totally saddened by the news. There are just a handful of disc commentators that I know by name … the ones who shine cuz of the amount of knowledge and kinship with their chosen subject … who make the whole thing really work with their own special flair. Michael Schlesigner always delivered, and seeing his name on a commentator track was not only a major incentive to get the disc (even if it was a double-dip), but something I genuinely looked forward to, but of course now we won’t be hearing from him anymore.

Tho from another perspective … at this point I think almost the entire cast of Mad Mad World has also passed away, so I can almost imagine him looking them all up in the hereafter to arrange a reunion for a special screening so he can tell them all how much he loved them … and if that’s the case, I’d kind of like to join him … wait up, Michael!

As someone who actually writes about these things, I know far too many commenters by name, and I just don't enjoy listening to most of them anymore. It's a chore, not a pleasure. Yet I always looked forward to his. I just wrote up Kino Lorber's reissue of One, Two, Three a month ago, and while I already owned the previous disc and had listened to his commentary before, I ended up listening to the whole thing again, from start to finish. His voice offered the textbook definition of an "old friend".

 

[Dan McW]

Very sad news. May he rest in peace. I enjoyed his knowledgeable posts here on the Columbia Pictures library. In fact, it wasn't too long ago that I asked on the HTF about the much-requested Night of Terror (1933). I posted that I thought I read that Sony/Columbia may no longer own it, but he soon replied that they do. He provided countless updates like that here over the years (always in that blue typeface!).

 

[Robert Harris]

This is a rough one. Mike was one of the most passionate souls out there when it came to film and film history. We probably knew one another for forty years. Didn’t always agree, but in most cases did.

We always had a playful undercurrent going.

His work on Biffle & Shooster was so ingenious and perfect in re-creating that era and style of comedy, I refused to acknowledge that it wasn’t real. And when he’d do a really superb commentary - more difficult than one might imagine - I’d either mention it briefly or not - and he’d always respond - in blue - “Did you notice a commentary?”

He knew that I did.

Mike was a treasure, who will be missed.

I can just here him asking about Mad World… “Did you notice a commentary?”

Irreplaceable

 

[sbjork]

This is a rough one. Mike was one of the most passionate souls out there when it came to film and film history. We probably knew one another for forty years. Didn’t always agree, but in most cases did.

We always had a playful undercurrent going.

His work on Biffle & Shooster was so ingenious and perfect in re-creating that era and style of comedy, I refused to acknowledge that it wasn’t real. And when he’d do a really superb commentary - more difficult than one might imagine - I’d either mention it briefly or not - and he’d always respond - in blue - “Did you notice a commentary?”

He knew that I did.

Mike was a treasure, who will be missed.

I can just here him asking about Mad World… “Did you notice a commentary?”

Irreplaceable

"Did you notice a socko-boffo commentary?", to be precise!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I had a few conversations with him when I was programming repertory films and he was always extremely generous with his time and knowledge. RIP, Cadavra.

 

[Vegas 1]

R.I.P.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’m so sorry to hear this. I’ll remember him as a kind presence who was generous with sharing his experience and insight. And of course, can’t hear the phrase “socko-boffo” without thinking of him!

 

[Flashgear]

Very sad to hear of Mike's passing, R.I.P.

When I browse IMDB, I'll often notice with thanks that Cadavra had previously visited that movie or TV episode page and a million more adding highly valuable and informative annotations. And I of course have always enjoyed his wonderful commentaries.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

I was blessed with Mike's friendship since the mid-1980s when he worked at Paramount. Mike was a kind soul with a gentle heart. We've lost a giant.

May he rest in peace.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Michael's contributions, both here and to the home media community at large, were invaluable. He was extremely approachable through DMs and knew his stuff. Rest in Peace, cadavra.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Michael was a wonderful guy (and fellow Ohioan) who was a font of knowledge but always humble and low-key about his own amazing accomplishments, including the restorations he was responsible for (including 1988 THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE reissue), and his work with Larry Blamire, which ultimately resulted him in producing Larry's films following Sony's distribution of THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA, which is how I got to know him. I got to help him out a little trying to get a taker for his last film, ROCK AND DORIS (TRY TO) WRITE A MOVIE, and only wish I'd gotten to know him better. As I said on FB yesterday, I hope his impossibly-rare one-sheet of SH! THE OCTOPUS (which I FINALLY saw last year) finds a good caretaker. In a week full of sadness and tragedy out here in L.A., this one really hurts.

 

[Dick]

I was blessed with Mike's friendship since the mid-1980s when he worked at Paramount. Mike was a kind soul with a gentle heart. We've lost a giant.

May he rest in peace.

I am sad for those of you who knew him. I loved his MAD MAD WORLD commentary. From what I have read, he was an amazing man. RIP, sir.

 

[Into The Archives]

I first met Mike in the early 90s when he was still at Paramount…..since then, I always enjoyed playfully pushing Mike’s buttons when it came to that time he struck a 35mm “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” print, thinking it might have been an extended version, as the inventory records were not very clear….which turned out to be a FLAT TV PRINT of the film (I’m guessing the reduction IN/CRI was made for the CBS airing in the 70’s?). For whatever reason, he never junked it before he “left” MGM; somehow, after that, the print got into the rental distribution collection….and was booked at the Cinerama Dome for a Friday screening during its 25th-anniversary celebration. I was at that screening in 1988, and let’s just say the audience in the lobby after about 6 minutes was not happy (even if the box office had a small sign that said “Flat Version”) by seeing a P&S 2.76:1 film on the Dome’s big screen---I always said, “of all the Mad World screenings I see you at in LA at, you missed THIS one! The BEST one!”

Mike never restored films like Grover, Barry Allen, Scott MacQueen, Bob O’Neil and of course, Mr. Harris did, but he did have a way of finding funding to get these projects moving inside the studio (an enormous talent to have)---a few projects like: Blake Edwards’ directors cut of "Darling Lilly", Grover’s restoration of "Major Dundee" (ending up with a re-release push. placing many 35mm prints into the Sony Repertory) , working with MGM legal and Sinatra’s team on getting "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) back in the theater were some of his significant highlights (as well as "It’s All True"). I know there was the whole "Night of The Demon" (1957) fun as well at Sony, which I never got him to chat much about----

Mike wasn’t afraid of making new 35mm prints for the Sony Repertory program of deep catalog titles that Grover’s team was restoring and selling these to Repertory cinemas when he could. I would see the list of what was being offered and wondered if such-in-such title ever had been booked….but at the same time, it was great to know it could be booked with a fresh 35mm print from a Grover/Rita restoration! Maybe gamma wasn’t his thing, but he knew and championed some forgotten gems!!!

Also, Mike had no problem picking up the phone to tell you to go and see a film, like the first Lost Skeleton ---I thought the trailer was funny as hell, and Mike said “the film is 100 times more hysterical”, so I drove over to the Nuart in West LA opening weekend, and by the end, I thought he really said on the phone “the film is 100 times more terrible” as I really didn’t care much for it. When it came to DVD, Mike sent me a copy and the original parody one-sheet as a joke (which I still have). Yet, I will say his work on "Godzilla 2000" was pretty funny---

Due to various things, I’ve only seen him a handful of times over the last 5 or 6 years, and the last time was at UCLA’s Wilder---chatted quickly about his new film and asked, “Does this mean no more Biffle and Shooster Holiday cards now”? He laughed and said, “For you, a P&S shot of Mad World from now on”.

You will be missed, Mike.

 

[Robert Harris]

I first met Mike in the early 90s when he was still at Paramount…..since then, I always enjoyed playfully pushing Mike’s buttons when it came to that time he struck a 35mm “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” print, thinking it might have been an extended version, as the inventory records were not very clear….which turned out to be a FLAT TV PRINT of the film (I’m guessing the reduction IN/CRI was made for the CBS airing in the 70’s?). For whatever reason, he never junked it before he “left” MGM; somehow, after that, the print got into the rental distribution collection….and was booked at the Cinerama Dome for a Friday screening during its 25th-anniversary celebration. I was at that screening in 1988, and let’s just say the audience in the lobby after about 6 minutes was not happy (even if the box office had a small sign that said “Flat Version”) by seeing a P&S 2.76:1 film on the Dome’s big screen---I always said, “of all the Mad World screenings I see you at in LA at, you missed THIS one! The BEST one!”

Mike never restored films like Grover, Barry Allen, Scott MacQueen, Bob O’Neil and of course, Mr. Harris did, but he did have a way of finding funding to get these projects moving inside the studio (an enormous talent to have)---a few projects like: Blake Edwards’ directors cut of "Darling Lilly", Grover’s restoration of "Major Dundee" (ending up with a re-release push. placing many 35mm prints into the Sony Repertory) , working with MGM legal and Sinatra’s team on getting "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) back in the theater were some of his significant highlights (as well as "It’s All True"). I know there was the whole "Night of The Demon" (1957) fun as well at Sony, which I never got him to chat much about----

Mike wasn’t afraid of making new 35mm prints for the Sony Repertory program of deep catalog titles that Grover’s team was restoring and selling these to Repertory cinemas when he could. I would see the list of what was being offered and wondered if such-in-such title ever had been booked….but at the same time, it was great to know it could be booked with a fresh 35mm print from a Grover/Rita restoration! Maybe gamma wasn’t his thing, but he knew and championed some forgotten gems!!!

Also, Mike had no problem picking up the phone to tell you to go and see a film, like the first Lost Skeleton ---I thought the trailer was funny as hell, and Mike said “the film is 100 times more hysterical”, so I drove over to the Nuart in West LA opening weekend, and by the end, I thought he really said on the phone “the film is 100 times more terrible” as I really didn’t care much for it. When it came to DVD, Mike sent me a copy and the original parody one-sheet as a joke (which I still have). Yet, I will say his work on "Godzilla 2000" was pretty funny---

Due to various things, I’ve only seen him a handful of times over the last 5 or 6 years, and the last time was at UCLA’s Wilder---chatted quickly about his new film and asked, “Does this mean no more Biffle and Shooster Holiday cards now”? He laughed and said, “For you, a P&S shot of Mad World from now on”.

You will be missed, Mike.

Perfect.

Now please explain Gamma to the folks at home.

 

[borisfw]

R. I. P. Mr Schlesinger