Hello! … the holidays are closing in …

Circulated by Joe Dante is a link to an IndieWire article by Ryan Lattanzio, about Stanley Kubrick’s final movie — a reminder that I need to review Criterion’s new 4K disc. We were harsh on Eyes Wide Shut back in 2000, but it’s sustained a weird mystery appeal.

The new disc reinstates the uncut, uncensored Kubrick original. The article is an extended interview with Nigel Galt, Kubrick’s trusted post-production wrangler. After Kubrick’s death, Galt was the person who shepherded Eyes Wide Shut through the censorship process in a way that kept it from being permanently vandalized.

A full 20 years ago Wayne Schmidt visited from afar, and I got the idea of stopping off on La Brea avenue to take a picture of him with good ol’  Gort,  from the old Fox film  The Day the Earth Stood Still.  ↘

I’ve posted photos from that day several times now, but never really mentioning the picture framers that displayed Gort in its shop window. So let’s make it an official ad this time, in thanks for a business that has made living here just a little a bit more fun: Gray Goose Framing.

The figure has been displayed this way seemingly forever. It appears to be an authentic dummy from back in the day, made for the movie or perhaps for promotional use in movie theater lobbies. There are likely several more out there somewhere. The shop has often posed Gort with his head turned to one side or tilted down. The robot can’t do that in the movie, but it looks good in the Up Angle. At least once, they put a Santa hat on him for the holidays, but so far not this year. He inspired my daughter’s festive Christmas banner, ‘Peace on Earth Or Else.’

For a number of years, the Gray Goose Framing shop moved across the street on La Brea, but then relocated again on North Hillhurst Avenue in the Los Feliz district. If you find yourself toodling through Hollywood, perhaps going to or coming back from the Griffith Observatory or the Greek Theater, it makes a nice Gort Drive-By for Sci-Fi fans.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson