Hello!

Here’s a sidebar subject that I know will interest more than a few CineSavant readers.

Many of us have more than one uncompleted ‘project’ going at home. I won’t list mine, but I’m well into a new project that’s pretty important — resolving the glut of discs that threaten to take over the house. As kids moved out, mountains of discs moved in, and I’ve got parts of two rooms tied up with the blessing / curse of video discs. It’s a helluva collection. I give a few away but I don’t toss many: no hoarders here, but we don’t casually throw things away.

Off and on I’ve posed the question, what do other collectors do with their collections?  How many are just in a big mess, like me?  I have imagined driving to Cincinnatti, ringing the doorbell at the house of Timmy Lucas, and saying,  ‘Gee Tim, sorry to interrupt your recording session. Show me how you organize things, okay?’  Something tells me that Mr. Lucas has a system nobody but he could decipher.

 

The top picture of long shelves, 2 discs deep, is what I sometimes put up at CineSavant. Well, only now am I showing the pictures of random discs stacked on any available surface, and boxes of discs stashed in every available space. It wouldn’t stress a fire marshall, but it ain’t pretty. Some of these boxes are indexed but most not. When Gary Teetzel or Allan Peach asks to see something, I either (a) know exactly where it is, (b) get lucky because it’s where my failing memory says it will be, or (c) a search must commence to track it down. Sometimes I have to give up. Sometimes I’ll come across the desired disc a year later, happy that I didn’t accidentally throw it away.

I’m impressed by collectors’ endless custom shelving, but know that’s not the solution for me. The house isn’t that big. The idea is to make the discs accessible, find-able. And not let them inundate the place, like videodisc Kudzu.

 

Talk about first-world problems. This is precisely what a spoiled American calls a serious issue. 

Just the same, I can no longer pretend that I’m amassing a fabulous cinema resource for the ages. Who knows what happened to the fabled contents of The Ackermansion, or to the vast holdings of film collector David Bradley?  And who says that hard media will survive as a movie viewing format?  The corporations seem to want hard media video to become extinct. I’ve chosen to make collecting these movies a big part of my life, but I don’t want to stick my grown children with a disorganized mess … my influence in their informative years was enough.

Meanwhile, a lot of space here is decorated with lovely stacks of boxes.

 

Even Travis Bickle saw the need for ‘a change.’ 

I’ve finally decided how to make ‘a project’ out of resolving this mess. The strategy comes from friend Craig Reardon. He collects discs, but doesn’t retain their packaging. He has a system in which he places each disc in a paper envelope. His couple-of-thousand discs are filed alphabetically in a handsome heavy-duty cabinet. They take up one-twentieth the space of keep cases.

Craig’s system ought to work for me … my problem is that I didn’t choose all of the discs I have here. I have no idea how many there are, really — I’ve reviewed 7,500 but have received many, many more. I am presently archiving discs in envelopes, like Craig, but giving them random numbers and keeping a digital index for them (on more than one computer). But unlike Craig I’m keeping the cover sleeves and the insert pamphlets, all numbered as well. You can see them bundled in the close-up photo of the drawer. I’m saving some keep cases, but tossing the rest. At the moment I’m preserving special packaging.

The idea is that my disc shelves will hold fewer, but more cherished discs. The visible collection might better reflect my personality.

 

They’re much heavier than I thought. 

Right now, with about 900 discs ‘enveloped,’ the big surprise is how much they weigh. I’m putting them in an ordinary chest of drawers, but they’re so heavy that no drawer is more than a third full — it feels like more strain would break something. So what’s the solution to that?  Do I invest in archival cabinets?  Do I put the discs in expensive, sealable plastic bins?  Is there a cardboard solution?  We’ll see what happens.

So far I’ve not been discouraged by spending hours numbering and stuffing envelopes, because I like seeing the boxes start to disappear. I should eventually free up this place for something great, like receiving family vistors!

 

This has been yet another personal CineSavant sidebar, but it’s at least related to disc collecting. My impractical advice to film fans is: (a) move down the block from me here in L.A. (b) Show up a my door with cookies or brownies. (c) Borrow whatever you want to see.

 

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson