The City of Toronto is and always has been a mean spirited city.
A street person I had helped said to me one night around 3am when I was posting flyers near his tent,”I was offered $1,000 to kill you. If I have been offered this, others have.”
The fruit of the poison tree: James Gillis aka Dr. Jamie scuttles around the city like some monstrous creature constantly on the watch to do harm. He is a liar and a murderer. He is a murderer because he uses anonymous slander published on street posters put up by now in the millions around the city to bring harm to those he hates. Oliver Moore, in THE GLOBE AND MAIL, published a story on this most (including our city councillors, mayor and the police ignore. THE GLOBE AND MAIL stated: “The claims in the posters are false. Hartt knows the great danger he is in.”
Yes, I do know the great danger I am in. I have lived with it since I first saw Gillis posting flyers attacking me in 2000.
He hates many. Others he hates include past employees he has ripped off, clients he has ripped off and anyone who stands up to him.
Gillis posted flyers stating his ex-employee Terry Ross was a rat. Gillis is the rat. I have a police document which names Gillis as an informant. The police protect their rats. The police protect James Gillis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an6wuSoPjlc .
Shortly after he first posted anonymous slander attacking myself one of his ex-employees sent an email saying he could not believe it adding that when he worked for Gillis the man gave crack to a 14 year old girl and repeatedly had sex with her. At the memorial I hosted for an artist and friend who killed himself (Richard Karadza) the fellow who made the video in which he skinned a cat alive told me had filmed Gillis having sex with this child. He now denies it. Let him. He himself is a monster. https://www.enn.com/articles/32-film-on-cat-torture-draws-protesters-in-toronto
Daniel Goggin, who worked in circuses with lions and tigers, worked as a bicycle mechanic for James Gillis. He states that when he refused to certify unsafe bikes Gillis fired him. Daniel found himself facing a beast more deadly than the lions and tigers he faced in the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v96QfcjaR2U
I have Gillis’s posters attacking myself and others in my files. I have video evidence. The police refuse to look at it. The police refuse to listen.
A lot of people refuse to listen.
From the first attack on Terry Ross in 2009, for whatever reason, Olivia Chow has refused to listen.
That is not my problem.
I don’t have a problem.
This city has a problem.
Terry Ross confirmed that Gillis did repeatedly sexually assault the child.
He added that she is the niece of a police officer who at the time was at 14 Division. There is a pedophile on the streets. There is a rapist on the streets.
As for the criminal charges against myself reported in the media and on the street in millions of anonymous flyers, they were withdrawn. The police found no evidence to support them.
In the meantime I learned what a farce our justice system is, that far too many lawyers are dump trucks and that while there are a few decent ones too many of our police officers are lazy and, frankly, dumb. As for possessing child porn that, contrary to what the media in its frenzy reports, is not illegal if we have a legitimate purpose and if our use of irt harms no one under 18. That is the law in Canada though you’d never know that from reading THE TORONTO SUN or THE STAR.
When I told the judge my lawyers were dump trucks the judge said, “They all are.”
Not all. Perhaps most but not all.
Robert Cribb, author of the story on my charges in THE STAR, calls himself an investigate journalist. He isn’t. Hell, like too many at THE STAR, he isn’t even a writer. Oh. He puts words on paper. Any ape can do that.
Jason Silverstein, a former New York Times journalist now with CBS news came to my KID DRACULA program. As a result of hearing me speak he stayed after. We talked for a long time. I informed him, as I do every one of the child porn charges. Jason said, “I’m a journalist. I researched you before I came here. I knew you were innocent.”
Now there is an investigative journalist.
As for THE STAR, Jane Jacobs said to me of THE STAR, “I hate that paper.”
I don’t hate THE STAR. I know why she did.
THE STAR once mighty is a dying paper.
It is dying because there is not one person on THE STAR who stands up. How do I know that? STAR writer Ed Kennan told me. Coming through my door Ed said, “Reg Hartt, you are the only man in Toronto who stands up.”
That statement leaves out Ed. It leaves out Rosie Dimanno (I know she isn’t a man. Neither, from the sound of her, is she a woman. She’s a banshee). It leaves out Michael Coren. It leaves out Rick Salutin. It leaves out everyone at THE STAR including Ed.
Ed is not a stand up guy.
Why? Because if I am the only one standing up in this city Ed isn’t.
I am not, however, the only one in Toronto who stands up.
There are others. However, as is the case everywhere people who stand up are in the minority. Most often we are hated.
It is said a liar kills three: themselves, the subject of the lie and the one who hears it. The lies published against myself have killed their author. They have killed the many who have heard and believed those lies. They have not killed me. I am here to stand up to liars.
I am alive and kicking. I don’t hate the THE STAR. However it is impossible not to have contempt for it.
Together THE STAR and THE SUN are responsible for much of the climate of fear poisoning this city. That fear is the fruit of yellow journalism. It is the fruit of a poison tree. THE TORONTO STAR hounded former Mayor Rob Ford. THE STAR hounded former Mayor John Tory for being human.
THE STAR is inhuman. Chop the tree down. THE STARS have everything in common with those who persecuted Jesus and nothing in common with The Christ (as do so many journalists).
Joe Cressy, when he ran for City of Toronto Council, said, “Reg Hartt, I have seen those posters attacking you. They are hate. Why aren’t the police doing something?”
I replied, “The police are doing what they can. When you get into office you do something.”
His jaw dropped.
Joe did get into office. He did nothing. Joe’s office never got in touch.
Former Councillor John Filion told me, “You have been informed by Joe’s office that the city can do nothing.”
That is not true.
When Adam Vaughan was a City of Toronto Councillor his office did something. His office acted to stop this. Before Adam the office of Toronto Mayor David Miller acted to stop the attack on Terry Ross. As a result of standing up Adam was attacked by James Gillis.
I am sick unto death of the current administration in this city. The renaming of Dundas Square is a key example of the spirit of this city now. That spirit is one of complete forgiveness of the past. Those who refuse to forgive can’t be forgiven. That spirit is destructive and expensive. That has been the case with taking the name “Dundas” of the square. That is the case everywhere that spirit lurks. It lurks like James Gillis, a viper waiting to strike.
I am here to handle serpents. I am Reg Hartt.
Find the girl, now a woman, he gave crack to. If she’s still alive, find the girl he repeatedly assaulted. Let her family know what Hell their child walked into. Help them rescue her from it.
As for James Gillis, GOD will send him to the Hell he has tried to put so many in. With Gillis in that Hell will be those who believed him.
As for me I believe him who said, “If you are with me you will handle serpents. If they give you any deadly thing, it will not harm you. You will lay your hands on the sick. They will recover.”
Why do I believe? Because I have handled and am handling serpents, because I have drunk dry the poison cup, because I have laid my hands on the sick and have seen them recover.
The time is past for repentance. The hour has struck. The moment is now. The die is cast. The poison tree is dead. Its fruit is going off to the garbage pit to be burned.
A new day has dawned.
I am looking at a wonderful sunrise. I am filled with joy. My cup runs over.
We do not say, as did the daughter of Alice Munro, “I tried to forgive.”
As David Mamet has wonderfully pointed out, when people use words like “try” it is because they never mean to do. I do. I forgive all.
However there is one sin GOD does not forgive. The City of Toronto has committed that sin. It did nothing for me. I can do nothing for it.
Toronto is transforming into a new, wonderful city despite the mean spiritedness of the old Toronto, despite the mean spiritedness of those who insist Dundas Square become Sanka Coffee Square (or whatever).
This is happening because so many wonderful people of all ethnic backgrounds are coming here.
This city is a smorgasbord of cultures, of delights and wonders.
For every cop that shot Sammy Yatim there are hundreds who, as with that man on Yonge Street who killed so many with his van, use patience to save lives that many after feel should not have been saved. They say, “If he had killed him it would have saved us the cost of a trial.”
This city is filled with decent cops.
It is filled with decent people. Toronto is a wonderful city. It is just that at the top, as Jane Jacobs said, “There is a high level of mediocrity.”
That, too, is being transformed.
I have fought hard and long to be a part of that change of heart for the better.
Why?
Because I love Toronto. This is a city worth fighting for.
Olivia Chow, Councillor Dianne Saxe, all those folks at city hall have turned a deaf ear to me.
When I sent these videos to Olivia Chow and Councillor Dianne Saxe the only reply I got was silence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G97W2Iy4yw&feature=youtu.be
Not my problem.
Mine is a voice the world is hearing: https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-male-orators/reference
If all of this is overwhelming you, well, two things:
First there is a whole lot more I haven’t posted.
Second, I have personally lived with this for decades.
Every time I leave my house I hear someone say, “I hate you.”
–Reg Hartt (416-603-6643)
Lazy journalists (the writers for The Toronto Sun The Toronto Star, Blog TO and too many others) have called this a feud.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL made it is clear that it is not.
What people other than James Gillis and those who believe him say about Reg Hartt:
“Reg Hartt’s CineForum is everything Jane Jacobs wrote about in THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES. She was a regular.”—Laura Lind.
Q: Did growing up in Toronto influence your obsession?
A: My knowledge of silent films, German and French cinema, came an awful lot from Reg Hartt’s Cineforum. At first he showed films at Innis College, then he had a place on Mercer St. for a while. Reg showed some really incredible silent films, from Phantom of the Opera to D.W. Griffith’s films. His strength was putting incredibly good soundtracks on the films. He has a really good ear for movie music and back in the good old days when it was all analog, he would splice them together himself.
SH: A little bit. TIFF occasionally runs a silent film. The Revue has a silent film program. It runs from, I think, September to June once a month. People like Reg Hartt, who’s really done a fantastic job since the 70s and 80s putting up really wonderful silent films, he doesn’t have live accompaniment, but he’s extremely good at putting scores together for films. Those are the three main avenues for that. Occasionally other film festivals have too, depending on what their theme is. Some of them are certainly a lot more open to showing a silent film.
https://www.throwdown815.com/single-post/INTERVIEW/Shirley-Hughes
Toronto alternative-theatre founder stands up to bullying threats – The Globe and Mail
Jane Jacobs My mother loved Reg Hartt Jim Jacobs – YouTube
Reg Hartt has a feel for film unique in this country…genius level.”—Elwy Yost.
“Reg Hartt had an incredible impact on the city. No one else is doing it. No one else has ever done it.”–Rob Salem.
I honestly believe Reg Hartt is the greatest teacher I know for only he teaches the evil of teaching. Well, not only he. For confirmation of everything he has been saying all along read David Mamet’s book TRUE AND FALSE.”—Emo Philips
“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.”—Michael Valpy, THE GLOBE AND MAIL
“Reg Hartt speaks like Neal Cassady drove a bus.”—Joe Fiorito. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2010/09/15/fiorito_we_gotta_have_hartt.html
“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 of the original and provoking over the banal and soporific.”—Michael Valpy, THE GLOBE & MAIL
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford recently came to the rescue of Reg Hartt, an individual who had run afoul of the law. Hartt’s violation? As explained by city authorities, he was illicitly running “a place of assembly.” Hartt’s actual crime? He is a non-conformist in a city that makes just about all commercial activities illegal, including those in the home, unless some city bureaucrat says otherwise.
Hartt has been a credit to Toronto for decades. His Cineforum, which screens noteworthy films for small study groups in his living room, has long won acclaim from critics in Canada and abroad and endorsements from Canadian icons such as author Pierre Berton and urban guru Jane Jacobs. Lonely Planet lists 463 Bathurst St, his modest abode on a major Toronto thoroughfare, as among the top 30 sights to see in Toronto and in the top 30 of sights to see in Ontario. That’s quite a credit to the city. Yet although neighbours don’t complain, the city’s Municipal Licensing and Standards department periodically shuts him down.
Lawrence Solomon: Jane Jacobs rules as Ford strikes a blow for film freedom | National Post
A city that sees value in rules, but no value in letting Reg Hartt bend them, has no right to claim Jane Jacobs’ legacy, writes Edward Keenan.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/06/27/cineforum-deserves-a-happy-ending-to-its-saga-keenan.html
The city should drop its misguided fight against Reg Hartt…
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/06/28/the-city-should-leave-cineforum-alone-editorial.html
“I am a friend of Reg Hartt.
“So is anyone who can appreciate a man who teaches the way Neal Cassady drove a bus.
“I mean that, where you have style wrapped around content and tied with a ribbon of beat improvisation, there you have angels.
“Harvey Pekar was an angel.
“And I’ve never met anyone with wings who did not have an ego. Nor is this an easy town for a man who is larger than life, and does not care to suffer fools.
“You might like to know that the friends of Reg Hartt included the non-fool-suffering Jane Jacobs, who knew a thing or two about what, and who, makes life worth living in the city; that’s good enough for me. His philosophy as a teacher of film? “My programs are designed for people without money.” Yeah, but how does he earn enough to pay the rent? “The Lord said, ‘I will take care of you.’ The I Ching says the same thing.” A long time since I met anyone who throws those bones.
The city will do what it will.
And you will permit me an observation: if Martin Sheen can come to town and stand on the picket line with striking hotel workers, why won’t our senior cineastes stand up for Reg Hartt, as the city moves to strike him down?
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2010/09/15/fiorito_we_gotta_have_hartt.html
https://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=33438
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.
JULIA SCUTARU, retired journalist, Bucharest, Romania: “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.”
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 underfinanced, 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 marshaling 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!”
DOUGLAS ELIUK, education officer National Film Board of Canada; Canadian Cultural Attache to America: “I have left so many cinemas looking like I’ve been smelling onions for two hours that it is a pleasure and a catharsis to alert you to a redeeming film experience I enjoyed recently. It was not exactly an epiphany, but when something brilliant comes along, it deserves comment beyond self congratulations on managing to stay awake.
“What I’m referring to is a recent screening of Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS I attended at Reg Hartt’s Cineforum. I’ve seen the film with every sort of accompaniment except organ grinder and a monkey. When organ and even the now rare orchestral accompaniments have been attached to one of the “silent” classics, it is still hard to avoid the giggle factor what with all the usual silent movie grand overwrought gestural school of acting methods. However, Reg Hartt has completely transcended the predictable approach and has presented a classic film with a brilliant multi-layered sound track that forgives the histrionic giggle factor. Hartt allows us to see a great film with a fresh perspective.
“I am not Mr. Hartt’s P. R. council but as someone who has been in the film industry for decades and who celebrates cinematic excellence,I hope you will take the opportunity to experience this superb revitalization of METROPOLIS with its innovative music track.”
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 Ontatio 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.”
http://www.artisgallery.eu/pm/
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