I had kind of assumed we were going to see a movie.

That’s what Reg Hartt was supposed to be all about: Nosferatu scored with Radiohead. Instead, My friend and I made an audience of two in the infamous Cineforum on 463 Bathurst street, and four feet in front of us Reg waxed eloquent/insane on everything – for two and a half hours. It was an experience.

If you’re blanking on who Reg Hartt is, recall this: “What I learned from LSD.” Seen that on a poster around Toronto?

So Reg sat us down, gave us a beer, and talked about self-reliance, famous animators, 1968, linguistic inaccuracies, quoted the Bible, name-dropped famous friends, tore apart the education system, and told us stories about his life.

I flitted between thinking ‘this guy’s an egomaniac’ and ‘this guy has something to say.’ In the end I think he’s both of those things. And that’s what makes him interesting. While some of his rants were almost incoherent, or way too self-aggrandizing, his core message, a universal one, spoke to me: don’t be afraid of being yourself.

I know. That might sound a lot like the ultimate cliche: just be yourself. But old Reg emphasized the fear bit, which makes us crave 9 to 5 job security, iphones and ugly moustaches. At least that’s what fear makes ME want. Just be yourself isn’t that easy.

In any case, I liked that message. Some people will react negatively to this – it’s not easy taking conventional wisdom from an eccentric.

But Reg Hartt is a legend around here, (so I read), and I think everybody should give his unusual hospitality a chance. Better than watching Angelina Jolie shoot guns, I’d say.

After all, if he has a wikipedia write up, Reg Hartt must be more than a mad man who posters incessantly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Hartt

http://poundthecardia.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/reg-hartt-toronto-preacher-man/

Now take a look at the flyer that was posted with this.

Look at what it says.

Read it close.

Right there at the top.

It says:  “A REG HARTT SPECIAL TALK.”

No mention there of a movie. It says clearly that this is a talk.

“In any case, I liked that message. Some people will react negatively to this – it’s not easy taking conventional wisdom from an eccentric.”

“The initiation of all wise or noble things comes and must come from individuals; generally at first from some one individual. The honor and glory of the average man is that he is capable of following that initiative; that he can respond to wise and noble things: I am not countenancing the sort of ‘hero worship’ which applauds the strong man of genius for forcibly seizing on the government and making it do his bidding in spite of itself. All he can claim is freedom to point the way. The power of compelling others into it is not only inconsistent with the freedom and development of the rest, but corrupting to the strong man himself. It does seem, however, that when the opinions of masses of merely average men are everywhere become or becoming the dominant power, that the counterpoint and corrective to that tendency would be the more and more pronounced individuality of those who stand on the higher eminences of thought. It is in these circumstances most especially, that exceptional individuals, instead of being deterred, should be encouraged in acting differently from the mass. In other times there was no advantage in doing so, unless they acted not only differently but better. In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric.

“Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.”– John Stuart Mill, ON LIBERTY.

At the right is a fan letter to me from the late Jane Jacobs. Not many got one of those.

In the film JANE JACOBS: URBAN WISDOM which I have been showing on Sunday for the last few years to rarely more than two or three people Mrs. Jacobs says, “I had great teachers in the first and second grades who taught me everything I know. After that the teachers were nice but they were dumb.”

Later on in the film she says, “All of our education is a preparation. By the time pe0ple are prepared they are incompetent.”

My programs are about giving those who want to a chance to learn the art, business and history of motion pictures in my film programs. As for those who complain that they just want to see a movie, well, there are an awful lot of places you can go to to do that. I have elsewhere published a long list of great people who have said what I say about teaching in the conventional way.

I also published in the posting just before this one some of the material I am posting now:

“In every age, just as in every life worthy of the name, there is the effort to reestablish that equilibrium which is disturbed by the power and tyranny which a few great individuals exercise over us. This struggle is fundamentally personal and religious. It has nothing to do with liberty and justice, which are idle words signifying nobody knows precisely what…It consists not in denying these exemplars (of the past), but in absorbing them, and eventually surpassing them. Each man has to do this for himself….It is forgotten that the glorious Greeks, whom we never cease admiring, treated their men of genius more shamefully, more cruelly perhaps than any other people we know of. It is forgotten that the mystery which attaches itself to Shakespeare’s life is a mystery only because the English do not wish to admit that Shakespeare was driven mad by the stupidity, non-understanding and intolerance of his countrymen, that he finished his days in a mad-house.”–Henry Miller, AN OPEN LETTER TO SURREALISTS EVERYWHERE.

JULIA SCUTARU, retired journalist, Bucharest, Romania, 2000:

“In Toronto, I discovered by chance, Cineforum. Pure chance but a fortunate one. In that small room exhaling culture, passion and dedication, I watched the movie TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, an important historical, political and social document., and real artistic achievement….As a journalist (in Romania) I worked in the cultural field, including film reviews. Therefore I came to the Cineforum not just as a movie lover, but as a knowledgeable professional…We live in an era authoritatively dominated by brainwashing and political correctness…I admired Reg Hartt’s courage and passion put in searching out and defending the human truth, the artistic truth, the historical truth; the Truth and unveiling it…Discovering Reg Hartt and his Cineforum was one of the most important events of my visit in Toronto.”

“Reg Hartt teaches like Neal Cassady drove a bus.”—Joe Fiorito, Toronto Star.

“Reg Hartt has a feel for film unique in this country…genius level.”—Elwy Yost.

MICHAEL VALPY, GLOBE AND MAIL:

“REG HARTT is what living in a metropolis is all about. He personifies the city as a meeting place of ideas, as a feast of experience and discussion and debate, as a triumph over the banal and soporific of the original and provoking .”

Paul McGrath, THE GLOBE AND MAIL:
Some audience members were visibly distressed by the frequency and force of Hartt’s interjections into the program but it is clearly his chosen way of doing things, and the payoff in information is worth it. He has many good stories to tell: about Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’s transformation into Mickey Mouse, Disney’s most enduring character; about the furor that greeted the creation of Tweety Pie, which subsided only when the artists painted him yellow; and much valuable technical information for the animation students. He has some interesting tales about Mel Blanc, Warners’ resident genius of voice characterization, as he continues the series with a full scale look at the Warner work of Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and others. It’s the best work of its kind you will see anywhere because, except in rare oases in the United States and Eastern-Europe, they don’t make them like that anymore.

DAVID BEARD, owner CINEBOOKS, quoted in THE TORONTO STAR, Nov. l, l979:

“This man has devoted his whole life to bringing the film classics to the public. He treats animation-cartoons, if you will-as art. He is under-financed, overworked and snubbed. I think we should pay tribute to him.

GREG WILLIAMS, MA (Ph, D. Candidate), President, University College Film Society, and Chairman of the Subcommittee for film, U. C. Symposium:

I wish we had more time to chat together last night about our respective (and mutual) interests in film.
‘Cineforum’ has attained the status of an institution; it represents an achievement of which you should rightly feel proud.

“I can only hope the ‘University College Film Society’ will someday approximate its success and that I will, personally, match your inspired delivery as a master of ceremonies.

“As a newcomer to the business of arranging film programs, so far I am your equal perhaps only in enthusiasm. Thus I find your presentations to be not only exceptional in their content but also edifying in their execution. As an academic (in the field of English) I am also impressed by the high scholarly standard that pervades your informed and witty introductions,

“I frequently wonder if you have ever considered writing a history…some very good books have been written…but no text has dealt with it in a definitive way. A marshalling of your knowledge would, I am certain, produce a very fine volume indeed.”

DOUGLAS ELIUK, education officer NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA, formerly Canada’s Cultural Attache to America:

“(REG) Hartt is acknowledged as a phenomenon in the film community. He is someone who does not rely on government grants, subsidies or institutional protection to generate his film activities. He depends entirely on his intelligence, talent and resourcefulness. His events are produced with care and good sense, in a clean and friendly atmosphere and with an almost avuncular consideration for his fans, As a film officer for the National Film Board of Canada for 30 years, I have seldom seen anyone who added so much substance and passion to the cultural fabric of our society as he has done with his lectures and presentations.”

From a letter to Ottawa’s Towne Cinema:

“Last week I finally got a chance to see a film I have been trying to see for literally years. That film is METROPOLIS, and I don’t mean Giorgio Moroder’s head-banger version. No, I’m talking about the most complete version of the film as it was meant to be seen in a l6mm print so clear, so clean you’d think the film was made a year ago. Wow. I mean I have been hearing stories about METROPOLIS for a long time, but I never thought my expectations would be met let alone far surpassed. And this without the “help” of Mr. Moroder. Does this mean there wasn’t a soundtrack?

“Far from it. Accompanying the film was a brilliant (and I mean brilliant) soundtrack combining both modern music and classical pieces. This soundtrack suited the film when we all know Moroder’s didn’t. So who has this print of the film? Reg Hartt….If you know anything about Reg Hartt you know his lectures are anything but boring. He’s thrown chairs at people, kicked non-believers out, slandered near everyone under the sun (who usually deserves it) and started near riots. In other words, a real entertaining guy. Honestly. Reg is a lot of fun, he knows more about film (and the politics of film) than all of my teachers combined. And his soundtracks!”

PETER MOORE, British Artist:

“I am a Brit artist. I love Toronto. I have sometimes heard it said that Toronto is boring. It is a comparatively well ordered city. Maybe that is why some imperceptive people think it boring. The thing is I keep having amazing successes in Toronto. My friend Bob Welton who decided he was much happier in Warsaw than in London used to say in London everything is possible and nothing is probable. I just find in Toronto not everything is possible but lots of things, important things, are quite probable. Does this make sense?

“ANYWAY, a wonderful surprise in Toronto is Reg Hartt’s Cineforum. I was walking down Bloor Street with my friend Alan, a composer, a Torontonian who, searching for fulfillment in London, has realized that everything he wanted existed in his original home, Toronto. It was my birthday. He said, “What do you want to do for your birthday?” I said, “I want to go and see that!”

“I was pointing at a mysterious poster for TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, (the film of Hitler’s l934 Nuremberg rally). I’d always wanted to see that.

“So we went and I found myself in the most perfect place on earth to watch a film. With the film was an unexpected treat….a brilliant, unbiased, sensible and stimulating introduction by the amazing Reg Hartt.

“So once again, in German mode, we went to see Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS. Reg had somehow spliced on to the film his own soundtrack. Now this was interesting because a while later we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario where the same film was shown-much bigger screen-and with piano accompaniment. It was interesting to compare the two showings. Reg’s came out winning.”

Now if you took the time to read (or to re-read) that you found some extremely good things written about the work I have done over the years.

“It is forgotten that the glorious Greeks, whom we never cease admiring, treated their men of genius more shamefully, more cruelly perhaps than any other people we know of. It is forgotten that the mystery which attaches itself to Shakespeare’s life is a mystery only because the English do not wish to admit that Shakespeare was driven mad by the stupidity, non-understanding and intolerance of his countrymen, that he finished his days in a mad-house.”–Henry Miller, AN OPEN LETTER TO SURREALISTS EVERYWHERE.

Now if you seriously think things have changed since the days of the Greeks and Shakespeare, well, I have a bridge to sell you.

The word “preach” means “publish.”

“The scariest part of visiting the Cineforum is just making it through the door. I have been to Reg Hartt’s living-room movie theatre at 463 Bathurst maybe two dozen times, but still feel trepidation walking up those front steps with “abandon all hope, ye who enter here” written in Greek scrawled on them.”–Will Sloan.”  http://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=5284

Well, the words on those steps are not written in Greek. They are written in plain English: “I want God. I want poetry. I want danger. I want freedom. I want goodness. I want sin.”–Aldous Huxley.

Now I like Will. I like him a lot. I also very much enjoy it when he comes here.

But the guy has been here, he says, maybe two dozen times, and he can’t even get that right.

“Men are born ignorant not stupid. They are made stupid by education.”–Bertrand Russell.

That is as true in our day as it was in Russell’s.

The thing is, this is the norm.

The title of Jane Jacob’s last book is DARK AGE AHEAD.

She is on the mark.

Shortly before she passed away Mrs. Jacobs, who came to every program of mine that she could from her arrival in Toronto in 1968 until her health no longer permitted her to go out, Mrs. Jacobs invited me into her home for a coffee. Inside she said, “I think you would prefer a beer.”

She got two of them.

In front of her was an open copy of  THE TORONTO STAR.

“I hate that paper,” she said as she sat down.

Then she said, “The best part of what you offer is what you have to say.”

Now nothing in the world is going to stop people from bitching that they “kind of assumed we were going to see a movie.”

But her words gave me an overwhelming burst of strength that has allowed me to endure with grace the comments of the many people who disagree with her assessment of the value of what I have to say.

I am glad they exist because without them the world would be constipated.

“Ode, Inscribed to William H. Channing”

Though loth to grieve
The evil time’s sole patriot,
I cannot leave
My buried thought
For the priest’s cant,
Or statesman’s rant.

If I refuse
My study for their politique,
Which at the best is trick,
The angry muse
Puts confusion in my brain.

But who is he that prates
Of the culture of mankind,
Of better arts and life?
Go, blind worm, go,
Behold the famous States
Harrying Mexico
With rifle and with knife.

Or who, with accent bolder,
Dare praise the freedom-loving mountaineer,
I found by thee, O rushing Contoocook!
And in thy valleys, Agiochook!
The jackals of the negro-holder.

The God who made New Hampshire
Taunted the lofty land
With little men.
Small bat and wren
House in the oak.
If earth fire cleave
The upheaved land, and bury the folk,
The southern crocodile would grieve.

Virtue palters, right is hence,
Freedom praised but hid;
Funeral eloquence
Rattles the coffin-lid.

What boots thy zeal,
O glowing friend,
That would indignant rend
The northland from the south?
Wherefore? To what good end?
Boston Bay and Bunker Hill
Would serve things still:
Things are of the snake.

The horseman serves the horse,
The neat-herd serves the neat,
The merchant serves the purse,
The eater serves his meat;
‘Tis the day of the chattel,
Web to weave, and corn to grind,
Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.

There are two laws discrete
Not reconciled,
Law for man, and law for thing;
The last builds town and fleet,
But it runs wild,
And doth the man unking.

‘Tis fit the forest fall,
The steep be graded,
The mountain tunnelled,
The land shaded,
The orchard planted,
The globe tilled,
The prairie planted,
The steamer built.

Live for friendship, live for love,
For truth’s and harmony’s behoof;
The state may follow how it can,
As Olympus follows Jove.
Yet do not I implore
The wrinkled shopman to my sounding woods,
Nor bid the unwilling senator
Ask votes of thrushes in the solitudes.
Every one to his chosen work.
Foolish hands may mix and mar,
Wise and sure the issues are.
Round they roll, till dark is light,
Sex to sex, and even to odd;
The over-God,
Who marries Right to Might,
Who peoples, unpeoples,
He who exterminates
Races by stronger races,
Black by white faces,
Knows to bring honey
Out of the lion,
Grafts gentlest scion
On Pirate and Turk.

The Cossack eats Poland,
Like stolen fruit;
Her last noble is ruined,
Her last poet mute;
Straight into double band
The victors divide,
Half for freedom strike and stand,
The astonished muse finds thousands at her side.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“Things are in the saddle,
 And ride mankind.”

The smartest thing you could possibly do after reading this is come to The Cineforum in Toronto and park yer ass at every God damn event I put on.

Then you just might discover why Mrs. Jacobs said, “The best part of what you offer is what you have to say.”

No one who wants to build muscles lifts feathers.

Albert Einstein:  The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

“It is forgotten that the glorious Greeks, whom we never cease admiring, treated their men of genius more shamefully, more cruelly perhaps than any other people we know of. It is forgotten that the mystery which attaches itself to Shakespeare’s life is a mystery only because the English do not wish to admit that Shakespeare was driven mad by the stupidity, non-understanding and intolerance of his countrymen, that he finished his days in a mad-house.”–Henry Miller, AN OPEN LETTER TO SURREALISTS EVERYWHERE.

Do you really expect to be treated any better than was Shakespeare? I sure as Hades do not.

For us to grow strong we need opposition the way a plant needs water.

If a man wants to be champion boxer he needs good sparring partners not afraid to hit him with everything they have because the man he is going to meet in the ring is sure not going to pull his punches.

So bring on yer mediocrities. Bring ‘em one by one or all at once.

I can handle them.

At left is the cover of Marvel Comics’ THE PUNISHER # 2.

Behind him is a display of REG HARTT FILM FEST posters.

When you enter The Cineforum you enter the world of Spiderman, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four and more, including, since they did crossovers, the world of Superman, Batman and Green Lantern.

Jean Cocteau put it best: “Whatever the world condemns you for, make it your own. It is yourself.”

P.S. This year THE STAR (Toronto) has been reminding us that Ernest Hemingway once wrote for it. What they neglect to mention is that everything THE STAR accepted for publication he threw in the crapper while everything THE STAR rejected he sent to Paris. That was his editing system.

And like I said, the smartest thing you can do is come to everything presented at THE CINEFORUM.

TIFF’s BELL LIGHTBOX is rated in THE LONELY PLANET, the world’s # 1 travel guide, as 364 of 571 things to do in Toronto.

THE CINEFORUM is rated # 5 of the top 5 places in Ontario to see, # 3 of the top 5 places in Toronto to see and as the NUMBER ONE place in this city in which to see a movie.

John Kricfalusi, who once lived in my house, is in Toronto this week (July 6 thru 8) for an animation event at TIFF.

The folks at TIFF don’t come to The Cineforum. When THE CINEFORUM was under attack the silence from TIFF was deafening:     http://www.thestar.com/news/article/861001–fiorito-we-gotta-have-hartt  .

And John, well a lot of water has passed under the bridge since the days when he and I got drunk together.

My mentor is THE STONE THE BUILDERS REJECTED.

That stone is beautiful in the eyes of The Lord.

But you folks who are in town for this animation festival ought to come by The Cineforum 7pm Saturday night. You can bring your own food and drink. There is a Beer Store across the street so that ought to make it easy for you to find.

Then get drunk with me on the best of what Hollywood did before the men in gray took over.

But be warned.

I’m gonna talk (and I might just talk so much you won’t see any films).

Paul McGrath, THE GLOBE AND MAIL:
Some audience members were visibly distressed by the frequency and force of Hartt’s interjections into the program but it is clearly his chosen way of doing things, and the payoff in information is worth it. He has many good stories to tell: about Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’s transformation into Mickey Mouse, Disney’s most enduring character; about the furor that greeted the creation of Tweety Pie, which subsided only when the artists painted him yellow; and much valuable technical information for the animation students. He has some interesting tales about Mel Blanc, Warners’ resident genius of voice characterization, as he continues the series with a full scale look at the Warner work of Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, and others. It’s the best work of its kind you will see anywhere because, except in rare oases in the United States and Eastern-Europe, they don’t make them like that anymore.

DAVID BEARD, owner CINEBOOKS, quoted in THE TORONTO STAR, Nov. l, l979:

“This man has devoted his whole life to bringing the film classics to the public. He treats animation-cartoons, if you will-as art. He is under-financed, overworked and snubbed. I think we should pay tribute to him.

GREG WILLIAMS, MA (Ph, D. Candidate), President, University College Film Society, and Chairman of the Subcommittee for film, U. C. Symposium:

I wish we had more time to chat together last night about our respective (and mutual) interests in film.
‘Cineforum’ has attained the status of an institution; it represents an achievement of which you should rightly feel proud.

“I can only hope the ‘University College Film Society’ will someday approximate its success and that I will, personally, match your inspired delivery as a master of ceremonies.

“As a newcomer to the business of arranging film programs, so far I am your equal perhaps only in enthusiasm. Thus I find your presentations to be not only exceptional in their content but also edifying in their execution. As an academic (in the field of English) I am also impressed by the high scholarly standard that pervades your informed and witty introductions,

“I frequently wonder if you have ever considered writing a history…some very good books have been written…but no text has dealt with it in a definitive way. A marshalling of your knowledge would, I am certain, produce a very fine volume indeed.”

Left is a Christmas card from Chuck Jones sent the last Xmas of his life.

There are damn few to whom Jones wrote, especially at that stage in his life, “Your thoughts are always close to my heart.”

I don’t join groups.

Said Katherine Hepburn, “I want no part of the group dynamic. The group dynamic is always second rate.”

In the eyes of a whole lot of folks the world over (an it is on the public record) Reg Hartt and The Cineforum are First Rate.

Don’t waste time at TIFF.

‘Nuff said.

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