As the title of this blog entry suggests, sometimes awesome things happen. And, said awesome thing I'm going to talk about happened on Sunday night, at the tail end of Orson Welles Week.
The master, with his name back in its rightful place: in lights on a movie marquee.
Last Thursday, my mom read about and informed me of a bunch of Orson Welles films (they're ~films~, not movies) being shown at our local one-screen theater, including a special screening of Me & Orson Welles followed by a Q&A with the novel's author, Robert Kaplow. (He's a local.) (And no, I did not stand up and go, "WHAT IS ZAC EFRON REALLY LIKE?!") So Joe and I went over there and yes, Me & Orson Welles was quite enjoyable, and the Q&A was interesting and informative. But what I really was impressed with was the theater. It's a little run down, but it has a lot of charm, and has a marquee you don't see very often anymore. So, I decided to return to the theater on Sunday to photograph the marquee, since Orson Welles Week was rapidly coming to an end.
Around 8:30 pm, I ventured out. It still wasn't completely dark out, but I was hoping the marquee would be lit up anyway. Well, it wasn't. And not because it wasn't dark, but rather (I'm assuming) because OWW was technically over, and with no screenings on Monday, and with Sunday's screenings completed, why light the marquee? I am an idiot.
But I got out of the car and started snapping anyway; luckily the part proclaiming OWW was still lit (see photo above, duh). I'm not the best photographer, and photographing at night is tricky. I pulled out my big flash (a Speedlite) and that was a little better.
Not too shabby.
As I was snapping away, the people in the theater were closing up shop. One man saw me and waved, I waved back politely. Finally, three people came out of the front and the man I waved to locked the doors.
"Hey! What're you doing? Who you talking pictures for?"
The man was the owner of the theater. I told him I just wanted pictures of Orson Welles' name on the marquee, and that I was an amateur photographer.
"You don't see Orson Welles' name on marquees anymore, especially ones like these," I explained. He replied, "Kids your age nowadays don't even know who Orson Welles is!"
So after we went through the mandatory "How old are you? No way!" conversation, he walked over to the glass case containing a huge Touch of Evil poster and a smaller poster for The Stranger. He unlocked it, ripped them out and passed them to me. "Here you go, these are for you."
AWWWWWWESOME.
You're mine now!
Now, these posters are cherry. One of the dudes from the theater helped me pull the tape off and the backs got tore up a little, but the fronts are still perfect. After that I told the three of them a little bit more about myself, I gave the owner my business card, and he went on his way. (To The Cheesecake Factory specifically, for a martini.)
After everyone left, I took a few more photos, but I just don't have the equipment or skill to take super awesome photographs at night. But I think my photos came out pretty nice. And, hey, free posters! Know what's even cooler about that? The Touch of Evil poster (besides being an excellent Orson Welles film) is the same one that Dr. Wilson has displayed in his office on House, my new television obsession!
Television's best couple. Marry me, House!
I'm a multi-layered fangirl. It's an art form, and I've got it perfected.
