Return to Lecture Hall 6
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 7pm
Light Industry, 361 Stagg Street, Suite 407, Brooklyn
Presented by J. Hoberman
Scotch Tape, Jack Smith, 1962, 16mm, 3 mins
Skeleton Dance, Ub Iwerks, 1929, digital projection, 5 mins
Blue Moses, Stan Brakhage, 1962, 16mm, 11 mins
Unsere Afrikareise, Peter Kubelka, 1966, 16mm, 13 mins
Valentin de las Sierras, Bruce Baillie, 1968, 16mm, 10 mins
Airshaft, Ken Jacobs, 1967, 16mm, 4 mins
Wait, Ernie Gehr, 1968, 16mm, 7 mins
Calling All Girls, Jean Negulesco (uncredited), 1942, 16mm, 20 mins
Although I knew Ken Jacobs by reputation and had seen at least one of his films (Little Stabs at Happiness), I first met the man in the spring of 1969 when along with his wife Flo and their two-year-old daughter Nissan Ariana, he materialized at the State University of New York-Binghamton, a/k/a Harpur College where, an indifferent lit major in my junior year, I was on academic probation. I recall a week of annotated, seemingly all-day screenings in the capacious Lecture Hall 6. The films included the mind-blowing Man with a Movie Camera, execrable Yiddish talkie Catskill Honeymoon, Busby Berkeley compilation Calling All Girls, and complete Stan Brakhage Art of Vision, presented with Ken’s voluble introductions. To say I was mesmerized was to say the least.
When, somewhat miraculously, Ken received an appointment in the newly established Film Department for the 1969-70 academic year, I took both of his two lecture courses. My attention was enhanced and grades improved—doubtless helped by the Kent State confusion, which effectively shut down classes in early May, not to mention Ken’s disinclination to assign papers or give exams. The test was my work-study job, serving as his projectionist. Ken was then working on Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son. His instrument was the Kalart-Victor analytical projector. Thus, every feature film shown in class was “tom-tommed” by fellow projectionist Michael Gersten and myself according to Ken’s exasperated (and exasperating) directives. Among those I remember: The Birth of a Nation, October, Trouble in Paradise, Bicycle Thieves, The White Sheik and above all, Nick Ray’s They Live by Night (Ken loved that movie until he met Nick). There were also films that, as projectionists for the Harpur Film Society, Michael and I brought to class: Detour, Touch of Evil, and most memorably Island of Lost Souls, which prompted Ken to nickname LH6 the House of Pain.
More relaxing were the short, avant-garde films which we simply watched with Ken. Jack Smith’s Scotch Tape, Ub Iwerk’s “Silly Symphony” Skeleton Dance, Stan Brakhage’s Blue Moses, Peter Kubelka’s Unsere Afrikereise, Bruce Baillie’s Valentin de las Sierras, Ken’s Airshaft, and Ernie Gehr’s Wait are some. These were screened multiple times as Ken talked over and after each projection or at times just let the movies speak for themselves. All classes were attended by Flo and Nisi, sitting in the front row, along with a student monitor who recorded Ken’s fantastic monologues on a reel-to-reel Wollensak. Where are those tapes now? They would be priceless and not just to me.
- JH
This screening is part of The Whole Shebang, a month-long, city-wide tribute to Ken and Flo Jacobs.
Tickets - Pay what you can ($10 suggested donation), available at door.
Please note: seating is limited. First-come, first-served, except for members subscribed at $8/month or more, who may reserve a seat by emailing information@lightindustry.org at least two hours prior to showtime. Box office opens at 6:30pm. No entry 10 minutes after start of show.