Wikipedia Draft

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MARATHON
The Boston Science Fiction Film Festival and Marathon
By Anthony Di Salvo

The Boston Science Fiction Film Festival and Marathon is a 24 hour film festival devoted to science fiction films held every President’s Day Weekend in and around the Boston Massachusetts area. The first year of the festival was 1976 and it has continued uninterrupted until this day. The festival is organized around films being shown for 24 consecutive hours.

On October 30, 1938 Orson Welles scared the pants off of America with his radio version of H.G .Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS. Flash forward three decades. A group of dedicated film lovers have a dream of restoring the old Esquire Theater in the shadows of Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts on 1001 Massachusetts Avenue. They want to show a mixture of classic, cult and current art films. But, what to call it? Someone has the idea of naming the theater in honor of the great Orson Welles. Cool. Let’s do it. Just a short time before the grand opening a perhaps, more mature member of the collective, suggests that  maybe they should ask the permission of Welles himself! So, a mad scramble was on to find Orson Welles in time for the dedication. They find the Director overseas, and, despite some of Welles’ trademark gamesmanship, he agrees. On April 8, 1969, the Orson Welles Cinema opens[i].

           The winter of 1975-1976. These cold months are a traditionally slow period for movie theaters. What can be done to provide a spark? How about a day long uninterrupted “marathon” of Science Fiction films? After all, one of the midnight movies that played the opening weekend of the Orson Welles Cinema (sometimes referred to as the Orson Welles Cinemas) was Don Siegel’s 1956 classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (it was shown at the inaugural event). And, thus was born what was then called “It Came From the Orson Welles”, under the guidance of the theater’s manager Larry Jackson. On Sunday February 15, 1976 at 12 Noon and continuing until noon the next day (The Washington’s Birthday holiday – now called President’s Day. The event has been held that holiday weekend ever since.) a full day of Science Fiction movies was presented on the theater’s two main screens, kicking off with THIS ISLAND EARTH (theater one) and the original version of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (theater two) respectively. Appropriately enough, one of the films on the schedule was the 1953 version of H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS. Another H.G. Wells adaptation, 1936’s THINGS TO COME was accompanied by such titles as THE THING (1951), THEM and John Boorman’s ZARDOZ[ii]. For the princely sum of $4.75 attendees were treated to 14 feature films, and, to the “survivors” – a champagne toast at the theater’s restaurant at the conclusion of the event.

           In February of 1977 the second annual fest featured sneak previews of STAR WARS and Ralph Bakshi’s WIZARDS (called “War Wizards” on the program). In addition, collectible mylar STAR WARS posters were handed out to lucky ticket holders – worth far more than the $4.95 admission price that day! By 1979, the event had become so popular that sellouts were the norm, and thus begat the “Night Flight” – a 12 hour mini-marathon held in the Cinema’s basement Cinema Three concurrent with the 2nd half of the full Marathon. Over the years, the event maintained its popularity with sellouts as early as Christmas. J.D. Pollack, Mark Diamond and Bruce Bartoo amongst many more guided the Marathon during the Orson Welles Cinema era. For the 10th annual edition in 1985, the event was extended another 12 hours to 36 full hours of - as the program has often referred to - “cinematic excess”. It began at Midnight on Saturday night and stretched
until noon on Monday.

Just a few months after the 11th annual edition, on Saturday, May 24, 1986 a fire destroyed the theater. The popular version was that it was a ‘popcorn machine grease fire’, though the truth was that it was a faulty wire near the popcorn machine that begat the fatal blaze. Regardless, it seemed liked the Marathon had gone down in flames as well. Calls were made to try and re-locate the event. Eventually, Garen Daly was reached. A former Orson Welles Cinema manager, Daly was then running the Somerville Theater in Davis Square in Somerville Massachusetts (just 2 stops north of the Harvard Square MBTA station). The Somerville Theater was a venerable old time theater complete with balcony and a stage for live events. The event was nicknamed “It Came From the Orson Welles and Invaded the Somerville”. After the 13th annual event, the “It Came” nickname was no longer used. Instead, the nickname of choice was a simple “SF/X” acronym with the X
representing the number in years of the event. For example, the first year would be SF/1 and the 33rd year in 2008 would be referred to as SF/33.

Unfortunately, after only three years, new management took over the theater and the Marathon was again without a home. More calls. This time the well established community run theater, the Coolidge Corner Cinema in Brookline Massachusetts came to the rescue. The event was still run by Daly who rented the theater and coordinated the Marathon with the Coolidge staff. The Marathon had a long, successful run at the Coolidge Corner, marked by good attendance, special guests, premieres, contests and even a sporadic return of the 12 Hour Night Flight (held upstairs in what was origanally the Balcony). In 2003 a combination of events leads to the reluctant moving of the Marathon out of the Coolidge Corner Cinema. Daly was now running the suburban two-screen Dedham Community Theater in Dedham Massachusetts.

The 29th annual Marathon it was held in Dedham. For the first time since the Orson Welles Cinema era (save for the Night Flights at the Coolidge), the audience was split into more than one screen. An interlock system was utilized to show the same print in both screens at approximately the same time (the interlock created a short delay in the projection into the other screen, so if you were in the lobby you could actually hear a crowd reaction carry over from one theater to the next). In order to return the Marathon to the greater Boston area, the event was moved back to the Somerville Theater for the 30th anniversary of the event. In addition, that year opened with a Friday night screening of Christopher Coppola’s CREATURE FROM THE SUNNYSIDE UP TRAILER PARK was held with Coppola in person to present the film. The main 24 hour marathon was held on the Saturday and Sunday of that weekend with a closing event screening of Director Rex Dean’s THE ADVENTURES OF SPACE BABY & MENTAL MAN and  THE INTERPRETATOR with Dean in attendence. After a brief one year stay at the West Newton Theater, the event returned to the Somerville Theater in 2007 and the 32nd and 33rd annual events were held there. The 34th edition is scheduled for the Somerville Theater on February 15th and 16th, 2009.

Bruce Bartoo, who began participating in the Marathon in the first few years of it’s existence including a long stint as the Host for the event (dubbing himself the “Host Organism”)  moved to Columbus Ohio in 1986 and began his own sister Marathon in That event also continues to this day. Bartoo has maintained an involvement with the Boston film Marathon being of invaluable help in locating rare film prints, shorts and trailers, and attending whenever his schedule permits (including some guest hosting). Garen Daly has remained as the Producer and Head of the festival. He is assisted by many long-time confidants including Ed Symkus, Tom Chenelle (aka Major Tom), Anthony Di Salvo, Bob Cansler, Frank Urbano, Harry Lohr and many more.

           THE FILMS

           Over the course of over three decades, the Marathon has shown a wide variety of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror related films ranging from the Silent era to the present day [iii]. Averaging approximately 10 to 14 feature films per year, the festival has shown everything from George Melies’ A TRIP TO THE MOON to 50s classics such as FORBIDDEN PLANET, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (twice presented in 3-D) and INVADERS FROM MARS to the epochal Kubrick 2001 to blockbusters such as CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, STAR WARS, ALIEN and JURASSIC PARK. Cult items like the complete 13 Chapter FLASH GORDON serial, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE, INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS, ZARDOZ, the original DEATHRACE 2000 and the indescribable musical THE APPLE have delighted and, sometimes, baffled audiences. Many audience favorites have returned for repeat performances including the original PLANET OF THE APES, THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI,
BLADE RUNNER, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES and the original THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (shown a record 6 times). Considering the vagaries of film distribution and exhibition (not to mention the postal service) it isn’t surprising that snafus have occurred from time to time resulting in a scheduled film to not arrive on time or a wrong film entirely to be received at the Marathon. Perhaps the most infamous example is when THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO! was shown in back to back years because the same film was delivered instead of its sequel the 2nd time around – THUNDERBIRDS 6. In addition, the very R-Rated remake of  NOT OF THIS EARTH featuring the notorious Traci Lords was shipped instead of the scheduled 1957 G-rated Roger Corman original.

           The Marathon attendees have been treated to early/premiere screenings of such films as the now presumably lost French film HU-MAN, the deceptively marketed Stephen King “adaptation” LAWNMOWER MAN, and bizarre curios such as NIAGRAVATION and BREAKFAST OF ALIENS.

           Rare, archival prints have been unearthed through the painstaking efforts of the festival’s organizers including 35mm showings of the original Japanese language version of GODZILLA (shown at the Marathon over 20 years before it’s supposed debut U.S. release in 2004 by Rialto Pictures), the Esperanto INCUBUS (featuring William Shatner),  such Silent Films THE LOST WORLD and METROPOLIS accompanied by live musical perfomances (as well as the Russian AELITA QUEEN OF MARS with live performance by the Alloy Orchestra),  and a restored print of A BOY AND HIS DOG that was especially struck for the event by its Director L.Q. Jones.

           In addition to the feature films, many short subjects have been presented including Pixar’s first short ADVENTURES OF ANDRE AND WALLY B, BAMBI MEETS GODZILLA, HARDWARE WARS, the SUPERMAN Fleischer animated shorts, and the perennial favorite DUCK DODGERS IN THE 25 ½ CENTURY (the film which kicks off the event now for the past couple of decades). In 2007, a Shorts Competition was introduced to the event and audience and juried panel awards have been given out. Trailer reels, movie concession stand ads and assorted short curios are also part of the event.

           GUESTS

           Many aspects of the event have become part of Marathon lore over the years. Contests such as the Costume and Alien Mating Cry (where contestants attempt to attract members of other species) have become parts of the Marathon. Director Stuart Gordon introduced his films ROBOT JOX and RE-ANIMATOR. Other filmmakers such as Julie Corman (representing Roger Corman; she presented CARNOSAUR and NIGHTFALL), W.D. RICHTER (BUCKAROO BANZAI), MIKE JITLOV (WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME), MIKE CASSUTT (MAX HEADROOM), GREG PAK (ROBOT STORIES), James Bai  (PUZZLEHEAD) have also appeared live at the event. In addition to the Alloy Orchestra, musical guests have included Chris Noyes, Yakov Gubanov, James Coleman, the Borg, Vocomotive (aka Serious Fun) and Astroslut. Burlesque performer Miss Firecracker (aka Carrie L’Amour) did her routine at the 28th event. Director L.Q. Jones taped a recorded message that was played before a screening of A BOY AND HIS DOG at the
2008 festival.

           THE FANS

           Anywhere from 350 to 600 people attend the event. Many veterans of the festival have attended since the 1970s, with two, and, having attended every single year thus far. Whether they be long-time or a newcommer, the fans come from far and wide. While the bulk of the attendence base is in the greater Boston and New England area, people often fly in from around the country and overseas. T-Shirts, Buttons, toy rayguns and other memorabilia are sold at the event and online. Attendees often wear the buttons as sort of badges to show how many years they have attended. And, yes, there are some who stay awake for the full 24 hours. With a large like-minded crowd, it is not surprising that audience participation has become part of the ritual, with callbacks such as “Mark!” (springing from showings of PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES with the oddly named character of Mark Markary), “G-rrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” (whenever a policeman, soldier etc. grits their teeth
in anger) and “Rice Chex! Wheat Chex!” (begun when a SPACE PATROL episode was shown complete with Chex cereal commercials) among them. Every year, some bit of dialogue or action in a film is picked up by the audience and echoed in later films on the schedule. Think of it, as a mass MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER. However, the audience is well-behaved and due respect is given to the films.

           MARATHON OR FILM FESTIVAL?

From the very first year of the event, attendees referred to it as “The Marathon”. To long-time veterans, it will always be that way. But, when booking films from Hollywood studios the organizers of the event have had problems explaining what a “Marathon” is. Thus, over the past several years, the term Boston Science Fiction Film Festival has been adopted as the public “official” name.

           The event continues today. Not only has the Marathon outlived the Orson Welles Cinema itself, but as of 2005 the event had lasted longer SINCE the 1986 fire than the Orson Welles Cinemas’ entire existence as a movie house!

LINKS:

Messageboard: www.sf.theboard.net
Main Website: www.bostonsci-fi.com
Direct Link to Filmography of films shown:
Ohio Marathon website:
Somerville Theater Website:
Cinema Treasures Orson Welles Cinema page: www.cinematreasures.org/theater/6492/
Article on the opening of the Orson Welles Cinema:
Articles on the Marathon: