Sooner Cinema Book Signing at Hastings-Bartlesville!

Larry A. Van Meter will be signing copies of Sooner Cinema at 1:00 p.m. at Hastings in Bartlesville on Saturday, July 11th.

Dustbury.com Reviews Sooner Cinema!

Blogger Review

Celluloid Soonerland

28 June 2009 @ 6:18 am 

Larry Van Meter spots an anomaly in a Forties Western:

Unable to find a seat on the train, she is rescued by Jim Gardner, who owns the luxury car at the back of the train. Jim as it turns out is one of the new Oklahoma millionaires, having struck it rich in the oil fields of Sapulpa. He’s also a cad, clear to everyone except this “New Woman.” Gardner takes a shine to Catherine, gives her the nickname “Kitten,” and invites her to get off the train with him in Sapulpa. Now, maybe [director] Albert Rogell wasn’t paying attention during this scene, or maybe he had forgotten his Oklahoma geography, but the train from Cleveland to Kansas City doesn’t stop in Sapulpa. But maybe this is Oklahoma’s fate in the American cinema, an indeterminate place somewhere on the American map.

Which explains, sort of, the premise of Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies (Oklahoma City: Forty-Sixth Star Press, 2009), edited by Van Meter, which collects nineteen essays on the image of the Sooner State as portrayed in American film, from the days of silents to the present, with stops at Cimarron, The Grapes of Wrath and The Outsiders, just to name a few.

Telling a tale set in “an indeterminate place” has its advantages: you can make it up as you go along, as Albert Rogell did in 1943 while shooting In Old Oklahoma, which he actually shot in even-older Utah, and nobody will raise a fuss: for the 297 million Americans who don’t live here, Oklahoma could be as remote as Timbuktu. They know we belong to the land, and the land we belong to is, well, kinda bland, when it isn’t openly hostile.

Sooner Cinema acknowledges this phenomenon without taking umbrage. Filmmakers tell stories, and sometimes those stories drown out considerations of place: those snowcapped mountains just outside McAlester in True Grit don’t resemble anything you or I have ever seen just outside McAlester. But True Grit’s story wasn’t about Oklahoma so much as it was about the No Man’s Land it was once thought to be in the territorial days — and ultimately, it was about John Wayne, a man bigger than any No Man’s Land ever was. In this context, getting the facts straight about Oklahoma is a secondary, maybe tertiary, consideration. In fact, Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory, a biography of Woody Guthrie, somehow manages not to mention Oklahoma at all.

Then again, being associated with a vague sort of mythology may work to Oklahoma’s advantage. Van Meter notes in his introduction:

[I]s there any Wyoming film that doesn’t show the Grand Tetons? or a Colorado film that doesn’t incorporate the Rockies? or a Hawaii film that doesn’t show a surfer? Oklahoma films aren’t compelled to show the state’s X to prove its Oklahoma-ness.

If you live here, and if you ever expect to have to explain to someone from New Jersey or New Brunswick or New Delhi what it’s like to live in Oklahoma, Sooner Cinema will make your task that much easier: you’ll know the difference between celluloid and reality, and you’ll be able to tell when that difference actually matters. And if this task somehow doesn’t fall to you, you’ll still have the pleasure of discovering some cinematic wonders set practically in your own back yard. If this be mythology, make the most of it.

First Annual “Literati Indie Book Fair” at I.A.O.

I.A.O. Gallery in OKC’s Automobile Alley hosted the First Annual Literati Indie Book Fair on Saturday, June 27th, from noon to 8:00 p.m.  A steady stream of supporters came out on a hot afternoon and evening (temperatures reached into the 100-degree F range) to check out vendors merchandise (from small presses to individual and self-published authors and poets).  Guests were treated to readings and music performances throughout the event, and despite the heat, a good time was had by all!

See more at http://www.skiptheopeningact.com/Index_files/literatiindiebookfairhome.html

Sooner Cinema joins newly founded Oklahoma Small Press Association

OSPA Deco Logo

Small presses in Oklahoma are on the move–and in a renaissance–preceded by some great models from earlier decades (like Point Riders Press)!  Forty-Sixth Star Press, Mongrel Empire Press, Red Flag Press, and Village Press are working on an association to promote publishing in our fair state!  More information to follow.

Lunching with Juanita

A surprise phone call this week resulted in a lunch date with Juanita Carr Rush, Paul Henry Carr’s youngest sister. If you’ve read my book, It Wasn’t Much: True Tales of Ten Oklahoma Heroes, you’ll know that Chapter 4 is devoted to Carr’s harrowing story aboard the Samuel B. Roberts,  a WWII destroyer escort, and his tragic, untimely death.

Chauffeured by her son Mike, Juanita was delighted that her brother’s story had been told in a way that appealed to children. She had lots of questions about how the book came to be published and about FortySixth Star Press in general. In turn, we had questions for her about what she remembered about Paul.

“For one thing, we always called him Brother,” she told us over a delicious meal of Thai food. Even now, Mike said, the surviving sisters refer to him in that way, rather than by his given name. Paul was the only boy in a family of 8 sisters, so he wasn’t likely to be confused with anybody else.

Juanita also had a gripping memory of the day the telegram was delivered. Her sisters and mother clung to each other in a group, while she sat on the couch, taking it all in. Later, she remembered her mother heading out to hang the wash on the line. Gut-wrenching sobs came from outdoors, and Juanita didn’t know what to do. There’s was nothing she could do, really. The loss of her only son was a devastating blow for Juanita’s mother.

Years later, Juanita was able to process the grief her mother felt by reading letters she had written to Paul when he was stationed on the Sammy B. It was a healing process for her, since she felt she’d never really grieved properly.

It was truly delightful to meet Juanita and hear about Paul from her firsthand accounts. She has also had an interesting life as the wife of a Navy man, with stints in both Iran and Italy. What a nice surprise it was to get that phone call and lunch with the sister of an Oklahoma hero!

OKC Screening and Panel Discussion with Sooner Cinema editor and contributors in the 46th Star Auditoruim at the Downtown Ronald J. Norick Library on August 30th!

August 30 / Sun / 2 – 5p Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library, 300 Park Avenue

Come see a classic “Sooner” movie in the 46th Star Auditorium followed by a panel discussion on the film and other movies about Oklahoma now included in Sooner Cinema Oklahoma Goes to the Movies. The book’s editor and several contributors will be present for a question and answer session after the movie, as well as to sign copies of the book available at a special event and library discount. Please call 231-8650 for more information.

Mingo Creek’s Menagerie (Big Foot, Coco, Alligator Gar, and Lion) at OKC Zoo’s Animal Authors’ Expo

Come and meet Greg Rodgers, the author of The Ghost of Mingo Creek, and his menagerie of animal-oriented Oklahoma legends, including Iyi Chito (Big Foot), the brave monkey CoCo, the wily lion escaped from the zoo (in OKC no less!), and that monstrous alligator gar! Greg will sign his book and show off his stories at the second annual ANIMAL AUTHORS EXPO at the Oklahoma City Zoo on July 25th from 8 am to noon.

Sooner Cinema Events Calendar

June 9th, 2009: Book Launch Party at 628 W. Sheridan, OKC, 5:30 pm

June 14th, 2009: Book Signing at Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 N.W. Expressway, OKC, 2:00 pm

June 20: Book Signing at Borders Books and Music, 3209 Northwest Expressway, OKC, 10:00 am

July 15: Circle Cinema 81st Birthday Bash, Sooner Cinema and a Movie, Contributors Larry Van Meter, Katrina Boyd, and Joshua Peck, 12 S. Lewis (1st and Lewis), Tulsa, 7:30 pm

July 17, 2009: Dinner and a Sooner Movie (afternoon as well as evening film screenings, books, and signings), The Canebrake, 33241 East 732nd Road, Wagoner, OK, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 pm

August 30, 2009: Sooner Cinema at Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library, 300 Park Avenue, OKC, 2:00 pm

Sooner Cinema Launches on Historic Film Row!

Our third book launches June 9th at 5:30 in the old Theater Supply Building on Historic Film Row–a part of downtown OKC that is a rich part of cinema history! We’ll be “book-ending” (thank Julie Porter at the OK Film Commission for the term!) deadCenter Film Festival (June 10-14) with our “book-out” and a book signing at Full Circle Book Store (OKC) on Sunday, June 14th at 2:00! Our book launch will give a hungry public their first chance to see the book, meet the editors and a good number of its contributors, get a good dose of Oklahoma film history from book plus location, and taste some wonderful hors d’oeuvres catered by The Canebrake!
(For more about Historic Film District development see: http://www.scriptfolio.net/FILMROWTIMELINE.pdfa)

Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies Gets Ready for Launch!

Our third book, Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies–edited by Larry Van Meter (with a Foreword by Gray Frederickson)–nears its June 15 release date!  The book is on the editor’s desk with proofreaders ready to roll out a fun and edgy read:  Sooners responding to the movies that define and sometimes defy the state they call their own.