Dennis Nyback (left) Jack Stevenson (right) Pike St
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Dennis Nyback (July 30, 1953 – October 2, 2022) was an American independent film archivist, found footage filmmaker, historian and writer. Nyback operated the Dennis Nyback Film Archive, which has over 13,000
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s, from 1895 onward, mostly in
16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...
. It is located in Portland, Oregon. Working from his archive he created over 300 found footage film programs that he showed extensively in Europe, Great Britain, Scandinavia and the United States He was a guest at film festivals in: Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, the United States, and other countries. He owned and operated movie theaters in Seattle, New York and Portland, Oregon. Every autumn since 2014 he gave a walking tour of the former
movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...
and
nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
sites in downtown Portland as part of the
Portland Film Festival Portland Film Festival is a non-profit organization which hosts events and programs in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 2013 by Joshua Leake with the help of Jay Cornelius. Their main event called the Portland Film Festival is an annual indep ...
.


Found footage film programs

Dennis Nyback's most famous film program was "Bad Bugs Bunny: The Dark Side of Warner Bros. Animation" which he premiered at the Pike Street Cinema on January 15, 1993 for a three night run. He brought it back for a two-week run in March 1993. He took the program to Europe in 1995 where he showed it in 15 cities. It showed in England in 1996 with a London showing being the inspiration for the book ''Reading the Rabbit''. It also showed in several cities in Australia in 1997 including a screening at the first
Revelation Perth International Film Festival Revelation Perth International Film Festival began in 1997. Founded by Richard Sowada to showcase a large range of independent feature films, documentaries, short films, and experimental works, it runs every July in Perth, Western Australia and ...
. He took it to Europe again in 2005 for screenings in 14 cities. In 2007, it was featured at the Hole in the Head Film Festival in San Francisco at the Roxy Theater where it sold out several shows. In 2009, it was featured at the KLIK Animation Festival, Amsterdam and sold out
the Loft Cinema The Loft Cinema is a nonprofit art house cinema located in Tucson, Arizona. The Loft Cinema screens first-run independent American and foreign films and documentaries, as well as classic art films and special events. The theatre has 3 screens wi ...
in Tucson, Arizona. Some of his other programs that have played the United States and Europe are: "F&#k Mickey Mouse", "The Mormon Church Explains it All to You", "The Effect of Dada and Surrealism on Hollywood Movies of the 1930s", "Billie Holiday From First to Last", "Food: Is it for You?, Harlem in the Thirties", "I Know Why You're Afraid, Terrorism Light and Dark", and many others. For a jazz festival in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2000 he created ten feature length jazz film programs.


Film tours in Europe and film festival appearances

Nyback first took films to Europe in March 1995 bringing the program "Bad Bugs Bunny" in 16mm and the feature film ''The Meatrack and She Devils on Wheels'' in
35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...
. "Bad Bugs Bunny" was shown in: Amsterdam, Groningen, Eindhoven, Kortrijk, Den Haag, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Osnabruck, Munich, Arhus, and Copenhagen. It was also screened at the Interfilm Festival in Berlin, and the Underdog Animation Festival in Oslo. In April 1996, he toured Europe screening "Sex, Jazz and War Cartoons" and "The Fabulous Animation of Ladislas Starevich". The programs were shown at the International Trick Film Festival in Stuttgart, and in: Munich, Nuremberg, Osnabruck, Amsterdam, Groningen, Nijmegen, Arhus, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Halle and Lille. The programs were also screened at the Interfilm Festival in Berlin in May. and "Sex, Jazz and War Cartoons" was screened at the Underdog Festival in Oslo. In November 1997, he was a guest at the KinoFilm Manchester Short Film Festival and he appeared at the Trickfilm Festival in Stuttgart in April 1998 where he showed "The Busby Berkeley Cartoon Show," "The Birth of Betty Boop: Or My Life as a Dog," and "F&#k Mickey Mouse" He remained in Europe showing the three programs in: Freiburg, Karlsruh, Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Bordeaux, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Goteborg and Viborg. He was a guest at the Interfilm Festival in Berlin in December 1998. In January 1999, Nyback was a guest at the International Film Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland, with a soft core sex program. In March 1999, the European tour featured the programs "The Effect of Dada and Surrealism" and "The Naughty to Nasty Sex Cartoon Extravaganza". The films were shown: in Munich, Freiburg, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Munster, Oslo, Bergen, Malmo, Arhus, Colmar, Bordeaux, Grenoble, and Paris. The film shows in Paris were on the Batofar, a former fire boat converted into a night club, moored on the Seine at 11 quai F.Mauriac Paris 13 ° – M: National Library / Wharf Station. He appeared at the Minimalen Festival, Trondheim, Norway, in March with the program "The Effect of Dada and Surrealism on Hollywood Movies of the 1930s". In July he appeared at the All Night Experimental Film Festival, The First World, New York City, with films made by the Mormon Church. In 2000, he was a juror at the KinoFilm Manchester Short Film Festival in October and November and presented three programs: "Black Experience USA the 1960s", "Black Jazz and Dance" and "The Blaxploitation Cartoon Special". Nyback took films to Europe in spring 2001 ("The Truth About the Disco Decade", "Kill a Commie for Christ") with showings in: Leuven, Osnabruck, Kiel, Copenhagen, Leipzig, Cologne, Groningen, Kortrijk, Munich, and Nuremberg. He was a member of the jury for the 17th Interfilm Festival in Berlin in November 2001 and he also showed "The Truth About the Disco Decade." In 2002, the programs for Europe were "Smoking, Drinking and Sex" and "Cartoons Not Intended for Laughs" with screenings in: Cologne, Bamberg, Nuremberg, Leipzig, Arhus, Kiel, and Stuttgart in April and May. He was a guest at the Exground Filmfest, Wiesbaden, Germany, in November. Nyback was commissioned by Johannes Schönherr to create "The Open Road: The Myth and Reality of the American Dream" for Europe in 2003. It was shown in: Kortrijk, Belgium; Osnabruck, Nuremberg, Leipzig, Cologne (Germany) and, Copenhagen and Arhus (Denmark). "The Open Road" was also selected by the PiFan 2003 festival ( The 7th Puchon International Film Festival) in Korea and was screened by Nyback in July 2003. At PiFan he also screened "The Blaxploitation Cartoon Special" and "Hillbillies in Hollywood." The films screened in Europe in 2004 were: "Europe Through American Eyes," "Cartoons Too Violent for Children," and "The Funny Funny Forgotten Men." The screenings in France were in: Bordeaux, Montpelier, Portiers, and Saint Etienne. In Germany they were shown in: Bordersholm, Cologne, Kiel, and Nuremberg. There were also screenings in Arhus and Oslo. During that same tour, he was a guest at Cherry Blossom Festival Japanische in Hamburg presenting a program of WWII anti-Japanese War Cartoons. He was a juror at the KLIK Animation Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands, in September 2009. In March 2011, he was a guest at the Tampere Film Festival, Tampere, Finland, screening "Good Intentions" "The Effect of Dada and Surrealism on Hollywood Movies of the 1930s" "The Age of Oil" and "Kill a Commie for Christ.". He was also a guest at the Winterthur Short Film Festival, Switzerland, 11/7–11/11 2013. Additional screenings were held in: Copenhagen, Kiel, Lausanne, Bern, Hamburg, and Freiberg and in England in: Manchester, Lancashire, and Bolton. In November 2013, Nyback was a guest at the Winterthur Film Festival in Zurich, Switzerland where his film "Goodbye Mommie (I'm Off to Kill a Commie)" was screened. There were also screenings in Bern, Brussels, Copenhagen, Kiel, and Nuremberg.


Rose Bud Movie Palace

Nyback purchased the Rose Bud Movie Palace in Seattle in 1979. The Rosebud was dedicated to showing films from Hollywood's Golden Age. Part of that mandate included showing newsreels, cartoons and short subjects before feature films. It was then that he began purchasing short films to precede the features. The Rosebud Movie Palace closed on August 31, 1981. During the last month, one and two night runs of classic films were screened under the heading of "The Greatest Movies Never Shown" including silent films: ''The Black Pirate'' (1926), ''Blood and Sand'' (1992) ''Kriemhild's Revenge'' (1924), ''The Cat and the Canary'' (1927), ''Hearts of the World'' (1918), ''The Joyless Street'' (1925), and ''The Marriage Circle'' (1924). The last film was ''Sullivan's Travels'' (1941) on August 29–30.


Jewel Box Theater

In 1990, a selection of Scopitones was screened at the Jewel Box theater in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
by Dennis Nyback. In 1989 he began a four-year run showing films every Tuesday (and occasionally other nights) at the Jewel Box Theater in Seattle. The screenings were held under the umbrella term "The Belltown Film Festival." During that time he created programs on Burlesque, Tin Pan Alley Songwriters, Blues Music. One eight week series was called "A History of the World in 400 Minutes". In answer to the Gulf War he created the program "War: Is it for You?" In the early summer of 1990, Jack Stevenson arrived in Seattle from Boston having driven cross country with the trunk of his car filled with films. Nyback booked him into the Jewel Box for three days in August; with an extra fourth night being a free outdoor show to precede the Jewel Box shows. The urban drive-in occurred across the street from the Jewel Box in the parking lot of the Plumbers Union building. The wall of the plumber's building became the screen. A projector was set up on the rooftop across the parking lot and two feature films were shown: ''Viva Las Vegas'' (1964) and ''Hells Angels on Wheels'' (1967). Those in attendance were either in cars or on lawn chairs. Police did not disrupt the screening. In his year-end 1990 wrap up of film events in Seattle, William Arnold gave the Belltown Film Festival the award for "Most Consistently Daring Film Programs." Jack Stevenson arranged for Nyback to come to Boston in the spring of 1991 to show films at The Primal Plunge, The Somerville Theater, and the Coolidge Corner Theater. Stevenson returned to Seattle in the summer of 1991 for more shows at the Jewel Box. Around Christmas 1991 all of Nyback's projection equipment was stolen from the Jewel Box projection booth. That coincided with the owner of the Rendezvous accepting a better financial offer to host film shows in the Jewel Box. To honor previously booked films the Belltown Film Festival moved across the street to Occupied Seattle for further screenings.


Pike street cinema

In 1992 Nyback opened the Pike Street Cinema in Seattle in partnership with Elizabeth Rozier. The theater was created in a storefront at 1108 Pike Street. The empty space was chosen because it had a loft at the back and the rent was cheap. The biggest expense was building a wall a third of the way into the space. That created the auditorium in back of it with the lobby in front. A 10 foot wide screen was hung on the new wall. 16mm and 35mm projectors were placed in the loft. Seats were placed between. The Pike Street Cinema showed a mix of Dennis Nyback productions, new independent feature films, silent features, and revival feature films. It was also a home for various film groups to have regular events. They included the Backtrack Cinema Society hosted by Fred Hopkins, Cinema Experimento hosted by Jon Behrens, and ISC (Independent Short Cinema) hosted by Galen Young, Scott Castle, and William Isenberger. The ISC showcased works by independent filmmakers (in 16mm and 35mm) including
Sarah Jacobson Sarah Jacobson (August 25, 1971 – February 13, 2004) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Early life Jacobson was born in Connecticut, moved to New Jersey in 1975, then to Edina, Minnesota in 1982. She graduated with ho ...
. Yau Ching, Bob Hutchinson and others. The ISC also brought in Bruce Baillie for a personal appearance that included screening '' Castro Street'', '' All My Life'' and other Baillie films. Most notably the Backtrack Cinema Society brought in Sam Andrew of
Big Brother and Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After some in ...
for a personal appearance. In 1993 Nyback drove to Cleveland to see a baseball game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium which the Indians would vacate at the end of the year. To finance that trip he showed films in Detroit while Johannes Schönherr came to Seattle to run the Pike Street Cinema while Nyback was gone. Among revival films screened was the curious 1975 Seattle production ''The Last Bath''. Two storefronts down from the Pike Street Cinema was a tattoo parlor which sponsored a revival of '' The Illustrated Man'' starring
Rod Steiger Rodney Stephen Steiger (; April 14, 1925July 9, 2002, aged 77) was an American actor, noted for his portrayal of offbeat, often volatile and crazed characters. Cited as "one of Hollywood's most charismatic and dynamic stars," he is closely assoc ...
on a double feature with the film noir ''
The Tattooed Stranger ''The Tattooed Stranger'', originally titled ''Backtrail'', is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Edward Montagne and starring John Miles, Patricia Barry (billed as Patricia White), Walter Kinsella, Frank Tweddell. Plot Rookie police ...
''. Anyone who showed a tattoo got a dollar off at the door. Also revived were a series of Frederick Wiseman documentary films including ''
Titicut Follies ''Titicut Follies'' is a 1967 American direct cinema documentary film produced, written, and directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall. It deals with the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a ...
'', ''
High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
'', ''Law and Order'', ''Meat'', and ''Primate''. The film "Sparkles Tavern" had its Seattle premiere at the Pike St. in October 1992. The world premiere of Sparkle's Tavern had been scheduled for the 1984 Seattle International Film Festival with Curt McDowell,
George Kuchar George Kuchar (August 31, 1942 – September 6, 2011) was an American underground film director and video artist, known for his "low-fi" aesthetic. Early life and career Kuchar trained as a commercial artist at the School of Industrial Art, now kn ...
and Marion Eaton in person. At the time of the screening no complete print was ready. The screening was attempted with a and B unmarried rolls projected with an interlock system. It failed with refunds given to the full house crowd. Silent Films at the Pike Street Cinema were often accompanied by
Lori Goldston Lori Goldston is an American cellist and composer. Accomplished in a wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, rock and free improvisation, she came to prominence as the touring cellist for Nirvana from 1993–1994 and appears on ...
. Those included ''Spies'' by
Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
(2/21/93), ''
The Blot ''The Blot'' is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Lois Weber, who also co-wrote (with Marion Orth) and produced the film (with her then-husband, Phillips Smalley). The film tackles the social problem of genteel poverty, focusing on ...
'' by Lois Weber (April 17, 1994), '' The Penalty'' with Lon Chaney (March 16, 1995), ''
Leaves from Satan's Book ''Leaves from Satan's Book'', also known as ''Leaves Out of the Book of Satan'' ( da, Blade af Satans bog), is a 1920 Danish fantasy film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and starring Helge Nissen as Satan. This was only the third film directed b ...
'' directed by
Carl Dreyer Carl Theodor Dreyer (; 3 February 1889 – 20 March 1968), commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his movies are noted for their emotional aus ...
(3/20-21/95), '' He Who Gets Slapped'' starring Lon Chaney (March 23, 1995),'' The Passion of Joan of Arc'' directed by Carl Dreyer (March 27, 1995), ''
The Blackbird ''The Blackbird'' is a 1926 American silent crime film directed by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney. The screenplay was written by Waldemar Young, based on a story "The Mockingbird" by Tod Browning (which was originally supposed to be the ...
'' starring Lon Chaney (March 30, 1995), ''
Vampyr ''Vampyr'' (german: Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Gray, lit=Vampyr: The Dream of Allan Gray) is a 1932 horror film directed by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film was written by Dreyer and Christen Jul based on elements from J. Sheri ...
'' directed by Carl Dreyer (April 3-4, 1995), and '' Where East is East'' starring Lon Chaney (April 13, 1995). In 1995 Nyback dismantled the theater, loaded it into a truck, and drove it to New York. He used the screen, seats, projectors etc. to open the Lighthouse Cinema. In 2002, in '' The Seattle Stranger'' 's ten-year anniversary issue, in an article entitled "Top 10 Great Film Events" Sean Nelson listed the closing of the Pike Street Cinema as the number 3 event


Lighthouse Cinema

The Lighthouse Cinema, at 116 Suffolk Street, at Rivington, on the
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...
of New York opened in the early winter of 1996. Nyback reused the projectors, screen, and seats from the Pike Street Cinema. He was assisted by Johannes Schonherr who ran the theater while Nyback was showing films in Europe in spring 1996. Between February 8–16, 1996,
Takahiko Iimura was a Japanese avant-garde filmmaker and fine artist. He is considered one of the pioneers of experimental and independent filmmaking in Japan. Iimura was born in Tokyo and was a graduate of Keio University. His film ''Onan'' (1963) won the Spe ...
appeared in person with his films. June 12 through the 20th, 1996 saw the first major retrospective of the works of
George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
and
Mike Kuchar Mike Kuchar (born August 31, 1942 in New York City) is an American underground filmmaker, actor, and artist. Kuchar is notable for his low-budget and camp films such as '' Sins of the Fleshapoids'' and ''The Craven Sluck''. Biography Raised in The ...
with an eight-day festival showing every film available, forty titles in 8mm and 16mm, from the Filmmakers Co-op. The opening night featured a book release party hosted by Creation Books for Jack Stevenson's first book ''Desperate Visions: The Films of John Waters & the Kuchar Brothers''. Appearing on opening night were George and Mike Kuchar, Jack Stevenson,
Taylor Mead Taylor Mead (December 31, 1924 – May 8, 2013) was an American writer, actor and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films filmed at Warhol's The Factory, Factory, including ''Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of ...
,
Richard Kern Richard Kern (born 1954) is an American underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to prominence as part of the cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films like ...
, Todd Phillips,
Tessa Hughes-Freeland Tessa Hughes-Freeland is a British-born experimental film maker, writer living in New York City. Her films have screened internationally in North America, Europe and Australia and in prominent museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern A ...
, Nick Zedd, and various people who had been involved in the Kuchar films from the early days.
Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...
and his wife came to the May 31, 1996 screening of the 1967 ''CBS Special Report: The Homosexuals'' and answered questions after the screening. The Lighthouse was mentioned in publications such as ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...
'' which reported on ''The Mormon Church Explains it All to You'' and also ''The Give Me Liberty Summer of Love'' Movie Festival. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reviewed the feature film ''
Highway of Heartache ''Highway of Heartache'' is a Canadian musical comedy film, directed by Gregory Wild and released in 1994."Campy, tragic road comedy wild film from reel Wild guy". ''Vancouver Sun'', August 11, 1994. The film follows the misadventures of Wynona-Su ...
''. There was a feature article titled "To the Lighthouse" in ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''. The ''
New York Native The ''New York Native'' was a biweekly gay newspaper published by Charles Ortleb in New York City from December 1980 until January 13, 1997. It was the only gay paper in New York City during the early part of the AIDS epidemic, and pioneered repor ...
'' ran an article entitled: "Welcome to the Lighthouse: Where Mormon Propaganda Movies Meet Battleship Potemkin and Wild in the Streets". It mentioned ''The Mormon Church Explains it All to You'', The Give Me Liberty Psychedelic Summer Anything Goes Films Festival, Marsha Brady Fetish Night, and others. It concluded: "At the time when your local fourplex is probably playing ''Mission Impossible'' on all its screens, with shows starting every half-hour, Lighthouse Cinema is the kind of movie house New York needs". At about that time, offered a deal by his landlord Mark Glass, Nyback accepted a buyout to vacate the theater and closed it. In 1997 ''The New York Times'' reported that the landlord Mark Glass had been arrested for attempted murder and arson against tenants of his building who did not accept payout offers to leave.


Independent in New York

After closing the Lighthouse Cinema, Nyback remained in New York partially supporting himself by screening independent films shows. His program "Screw the Mouse: Ripoffs, Parodies and Deviant Versions of Disney Cartoons and Characters" ran for one week at the Cinema Village, on East 12th Street, in Manhattan, from January 3 to 10. From January 15 to February 19, 1997, he had a six-week screening every Wednesday at the Cinema Village. Patricia Thompson reported on it:
....Nyback's eclectic series offers some true rarities, like the patently racist jazz films (1/22) in which Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway and other jazz greats not only play, but act. The series then jumps to cross-dressing clips(1/29) existential educational films from the gray-flannel '50s (2/5), '60s vision of the year 2000 (2/12), and cigarette and beer ads (2/19). Nyback will be on hand to introduce his quirky fare, which alone should be worth the price of admission.
''Bad Bugs Bunny'' remained in England with a screening at the Harbor Lights Cinema, in Southampton in February 1997. His next engagement at the Cinema Village was Scopitone A Go Go, in April 1997.
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
transferred the program to
videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...
and Michael Shore interviewed Nyback for a news item that played on MTV news. At the
Grand Illusion Cinema The Grand Illusion Cinema is the longest running independent cinema in the city of Seattle, Washington, and has become a landmark of the film community. Opened as The Movie House in 1970, the cinema became the city's first intimate arthouse and sh ...
in Seattle, in June and July, he ran 32 nights of silent films. He was at the Clinton Street Theater in the fall and showed films in San Francisco at the Minna Street Gallery before flying to Manchester, England to be guest at the KinoFilm Festival in November. He returned to San Francisco for shows at the Minna Street Gallery between Christmas and New Years. In February and March 1998 he had a weekly film series at the Cinema Village. He showed films in Europe April and May; his first summer west coast shows were at the Minna Street Gallery in June. He did a program of films featuring barber shops at the Wedig Blues Barber Shop in Seattle on July 25, and had engagements at the Clinton Street Theater in August and November. He was a guest at the Interfilm Short Film Festival in Berlin in December. Nyback was a guest at the International Film Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland, in January 1999. He showed films at The Collective:Unconscious in February and April, and in June showed films at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland. He did another silent film series in Seattle at the Grand Illusion Cinema in June. In Seattle he made a deal with Anne Rozier to take over the Clinton Street Theater in Portland. His last independent New York shows were at The First World, New York City, All Night Experimental Film Festival and a Scopitone show at Rubulad,
Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...
, in July.


Clinton Street Theater

In September 1999 he moved to Portland, Oregon to take over the Clinton Street Theater During his time operating it with Anne Rozier, the theater showed a mix of new and revival films, as well as Nyback's creations using his archive. His shows included: "Defining the 1970s Through Classic Commercials","Bad Bugs Bunny", "Strange and Surreal Industrial Films", "F&#k Mickey Mouse", "Scopitone a Go Go", "Jazz on Film", "The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss", "Forty Years of Classic Commercials", and "The Genius of
Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...
". In July 2000 he produced a monthlong festival of
blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...
films. In ''
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...
'' review Shawn Levy wrote:
Some things you're lucky just to be around for. Take the month long celebration of African American cinema at the Clinton Street Theater. Availing himself of his remarkable archive of films, Clinton co-owner Dennis Nyback has put together a string of films an earnest person could use as the basis of a book: documentaries, rare bits of TV programming, Hollywood features, films made for the all-black market, silent movies, footage of the likes of Billie Holiday and the Nicholas brothers – a true cinematic panoply of the black experience of the 20th century.


Jazz Singer

Nyback sang with the
John Holte John Holte (December 10, 1943 – January 8, 2003) was an American musician, who led the West Coast Swing Band revival of the 1970s by creating the New Deal Rhythm Band in Seattle in 1972. He played reeds and also wrote arrangements. He later cre ...
Swing Band in 1979 and 1980. He also sang with various small bands in many Seattle taverns being backed by Ham Carson, John Draper, Buck Evans and other jazz musicians, doing primarily Twenties and Thirties material. Nyback sang one song,
Them There Eyes "Them There Eyes" is a jazz song written by Maceo Pinkard, Doris Tauber, and William Tracey that was published in 1930. One of the early recorded versions was performed by Louis Armstrong in 1931. It was made famous by Billie Holiday, who recorde ...
, in his cabaret show Can't We Be Friends: The Women of Tin Pan Alley, that played in Seattle for two weeks in 1993. The show was performed by Nora Michaels, who asked Nyback to do the one song so the audience could see who created the show. The pianist for the show was Jack Brownlow. In New York Nyback sits in and sings with
Vince Giordano Vince Giordano (born March 11, 1952 in Brooklyn) is an American saxophonist and leader of the New York-based Nighthawks Orchestra. He specializes in jazz of the 1920s and 1930s and his primary instrument is the bass saxophone. Vince Giordano and ...
and His
Nighthawks Orchestra Nighthawks Orchestra is a New York-based musical group, led by music historian Vince Giordano, that concentrates on recreations of the hot jazz and dance music styles of the period between 1919 and the mid-1930s. Recordings by the Nighthawks Or ...
.


Radio host

Nyback, under the pseudonym of "Buck Dollars, the Man with no Musical Sense," hosted the show "Vintage Jazz" on KBCS 91.3FM, Bellevue Community College, every Thursday from 9:30AM to noon, from early 1989 to early 1992. The station director there when he started wa
Harriet Baskas
In Portland he has hosted shows on KBOO 90.7FM including The Outside World and Radio Lost and Found as well as appearing frequently on The Film Show and The Monday Sampler.


Art and installations

In Seattle, Washington in November 1994, Nyback created an installation using three 16mm projectors providing images on walls and the ceiling at oblique angles in an industrial setting for the Northwest Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies gala event "Fantasmi di Fellini". In New York in 2005, he created an installation involving
back projection Rear projection (background projection, process photography, etc.) is one of many in-camera effects cinematic techniques in film production for combining foreground performances with pre-filmed backgrounds. It was widely used for many years in ...
onto a scrim curtain to be viewed as spectral images from the sidewalk outside a storefront on W 37th Street as the first event of the
Chashama ChaShaMa is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City. ChaShaMa nurtures artists by transforming unused property into affordable work and presentation space. __NOTOC__ Description Since being founded in 1995 by Anita Durst, daughter ...
"The False Body" series curated by Alice Reagan. In 2006 in Portland, Nyback teamed with
Mack McFarland Mack McFarland is a curator and artist living in Portland, Oregon. He is the Director of Center for Contemporary Art & Culture at Pacific Northwest College of Art. As the curator for PNCA, McFarland has worked with several Tactical media artis ...
on the PICA
TBA To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...
artist with the project the Portland That Was. It consisted of an interactive websit
portlandwas.com
and the staging of three outdoor film screenings in three different public spaces along the
Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...
. The culmination of the TBA event was the "All Night Long Film Caravan" where Nyback projected films on the outside of downtown Portland buildings that were related to historic events of the past in that site specific place. The films were projected in 16mm with sound; all equipment was transported between sites on bicycles. In March 2011, in
Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
, Germany Nyback worked with the Film Group Chaos and Karsten Weber to create an installation using three 16mm projectors, three 8mm projectors, and three slide projectors, situated on, and among, disabled water works machinery for the Filmfest Schleswig-Holstein Augenweide.


Motion picture projectionist

Nyback was hired to be a projectionist at The Movie House theater in Seattle, by Randy Finley in 1973 while he was student at the University of Washington allowing him to work his way through college. In 1975 he was hired as a projectionist at the Moore Egyptian Theater in Seattle by Dan Ireland. In 1976 he was the lead projectionist for the first Seattle International Film Festival at the Moore Egyptian. During the third Seattle International Film Festival, in the Spring of 1978, he ran every screening. That same year he became a member of the Seattle Projectionist Union I.A.T.S.E. #154. One of his first union jobs was at the Green Parrot Theater. He worked through the projectionist union until 1993.


Education

At the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
he studied short story writing with Jack Cady, play writing with David Wagoner, psychology with Elizabeth Loftus and dance with Ruthanna Boris and
Tommy Rall Thomas Edward Rall (December 27, 1929 – October 6, 2020) was an American actor, ballet dancer, tap dancer, and acrobatic dancer who was a prominent featured player in 1950s musical comedies. He later became a successful operatic tenor in the 1 ...
. He finished his college education in 1978 with a BA in Psychology.


Historian and writer

Nyback wrote, produced and directed the cabaret musical ''Can't We be Friends'' in Seattle in 1993 which played in May and June, starring Nora Michaels, featuring the pianist Jack Brownlow. ''Can't We be Friends'' was the inspiration for the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
special ''American Masters Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley'' (1999). His memoir "Seattle Art and Grind" about events at Seattle movie theaters is in the book ''From the Arthouse to the Grind House''. His six panel cartoon about the life and career of Rudy Vallée "The Man with the Megaphone" was first published in WFMU's magazine ''Lowest Common Denominator'' in 1999 and reprinted in ''The Best of LCD:The Art and Writing of WFMU-FM 91.1 FM'' in 2007. He contributed articles to ''Otherzine'' from 2000 to 2006 including: "The Rat in the Popcorn", "Europe on 99 Pfennings a Day", "A Reel of Fire" and "Hollywood Garbage and How to Smell It". He booked the films; Shakespeare Wallah, The Lusty Men, Talk Radio, Smoke Signals, A Soldier's Story, Marked Woman, and with the
Oregon Cartoon Institute The Oregon Cartoon Institute is located in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 2007 by Anne Elizabeth Richardson, dedicated to raising awareness of Oregon's rich animation and cartooning history. The OCI has produced projects on Mel Blanc, Harry ...
, arranged for Bill Plympton to appear, for the 2009 Sesquicentennial Film Festival at Marylhurst University; as well as overseeing the installation of a 35mm projection booth for the festival. His radio play ''Ten Cents a Dance'' was performed on stage at the Clinton Street Theater in April 2013 and broadcast live by remote on KBOO FM Radio. His book musical play ''The Past is Calling'' was performed on stage as part of the 2014 Portland Fertile Ground Festival. From March 2012 to 2015 he reviewed stage plays in Portland for ''Portland Stage Reviews''. His musical radio play Calvi
Coolidge Goes Crazy
was performed live on the stage of the Clinton St. Theater as a benefit for
KBOO KBOO is a non-profit organization, listener-funded FM Community radio station broadcasting from Portland, Oregon. The station's mission is to serve groups in its listening area who are underrepresented on other local radio stations and to provi ...
Radio on November 10, 2016, and live on the air from the KBOO studio on March 23, 2017.


Educator

Nyback taught at
Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...
(Hollywood Does the Cakewalk, 2001), the NW Film Center School of Film (Not for the Faint of Heart: A History of Avant Garde Filmmaking, 2001) and Marylhurst University (Social History Through Animation, 2008). He presented a paper at the Washington Women's History Consortium, 2011 "Miss Lee Morse: Pioneer of Pop." At the conference his presentation included him showing 16mm films on three projectors. Once asked the length of one of his film shows, he replied that all of them are "Entertaining, educational, and 90 minutes long."


Death

Nyback died after a long battle with cancer at his home in Portland, Oregon, on October 2, 2022, at the age of 69.


References


External links

* http://www.dennisnybackfilms.com * https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1104087/reference *Interview May 22, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032744/http://knowyourcity.org/2014/05/22/qa-dennis-nyback/ *Interview February 13, 2010 http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2010/02/dennis-nyback-on-nitrate-film/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyback, Dennis 1953 births 2022 deaths American film historians American male non-fiction writers University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Clark County, Washington