Scott, I am very sorry for your loss. He sounds like a fascinating person! I love " Kitty Carlisle once tried to identify a film industry person on CBS’s “To Tell the Truth” quiz show by asking, “Do you know who Eric Spilker is?”" I wish that could have happened to me!
On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 4:07 PM Scott Burns <[email protected]> wrote: > I’m posting this for those of you who may have encountered Eric Spilker, > the ultimate film fan, at the Columbus Cinevent. He was a regular for many > years and that’s where I became acquainted with him. Eric was one of a > kind, as his obituary posted below, clearly shows. > > > > His sense of humor was unusual—eating in a restaurant with Eric was always > memorable as he often would place a plastic cockroach on his dinner plate > to harass the staff. Eric knew a lot of golden age celebrities and I have > him to thank for my “Wizard of Oz” 8X10 autographed by the Wicked Witch > herself, Margaret Hamilton. I always found it interesting that Eric wrote > many of the movie plot descriptions used in TV Guide magazine. He became a > film distributor in 1971 when he purchased the rights to “The Gang’s All > Here” from 20th Century Fox and had dazzling new technicolor prints > struck—helping to revive public interest in classic Hollywood films, long > before AMC or TCM would enter the scene. Eric loved the old neighborhood > movie houses around Columbus, so it wasn’t surprising that in the early > 1980’s he spearheaded an effort to restore and reopen the suburban > Arlington Theatre. The theatre opened in 1935 but closed in 1950. The > effort sadly did not succeed. Declining health kept Eric from travelling > back to Ohio for many years, so I lost touch with him. But I will always > remember him….and will miss him greatly. > > > > Scott > > MoPo List Owner > > > > Eric Spilker 1939-2024 > > > > Eric James Spilker, 84, film distributor and writer, passed away in > Manhattan July 6, 2024. He is preceded in death by his parents, Francis > Spilker and Bernice Buege Spilker of Upper Arlington, Ohio, and his > brother, Allan J. Spilker of Grove City, Ohio. A number of Buege cousins > in Ohio survive. There will be no services. > > Fascinated with movies from an early age, Eric was born August 13, 1939, > in Toledo, Ohio, moved to Columbus in 1941, and graduated from suburban > Upper Arlington High School in 1957 along with friend Jack Nicklaus. As a > child he took buses by himself all over Columbus to see movies in small > neighborhood theaters, a passion he never lost. He also developed a habit > of never passing a dog on the street without petting it: no dog in New York > went unpetted. And few farmers markets went unvisited. As a young man he > worked for the Columbus Dept. of Water, and served in the Army. Following a > stint as a floor director for WLW-C (now NBC4) and WBNS-TV in the early > 1960s, he moved to New York, writing for the Muscular Dystrophy > Association, ASCAP and TV Guide, where he crafted capsule film reviews. He > worked a year at the 1964 NY World’s Fair, then returned to Columbus and > graduated from The Ohio State University in 1968 with a B.A. in Journalism > and a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. > > Returning again to New York, he was a reporter for Variety, a researcher > at Photofest photo agency, a witness to the Stonewall riot, and as a > continuing education teacher at Marymount Manhattan College, he brought > Celeste Holm, Otto Preminger, Margaret Hamilton and others to speak to his > classes. > > His life changed In 1971 when he purchased the distribution rights for the > 20th Century Fox film, Busby Berkeley’s “The Gang’s All Here,” (1943) > famous for its psychedelic Technicolor and iconic appearance by Carmen > Miranda. After a clip featured on the Johnny Carson show piqued public > interest in the film, Eric took it on the road. He was its sole distributor > for a number of years. He later licensed reissue rights to ten more 20th > Century-Fox classics, including “Laura” and “All About Eve.” > > He remained self-employed as the Spilker Film Company, renting films to > museums and film festivals around the world. In 2019 he sold his collection > of 2,000 film titles in both 16 and 35mm to the Harvard Film Archive. For > many years he was the proud owner of Clark Gable’s personal print of “Gone > With The Wind.” > > Eric counted stars of Hollywood’s golden age among his friends, including > Carleton Carpenter, Gale Sondergaard, Piper Laurie, Robert Osborne, and > many more. Kitty Carlisle once tried to identify a film industry person on > CBS’s “To Tell the Truth” quiz show by asking, “Do you know who Eric > Spilker is?” Besides his large film collection, he was known for his > encyclopedic knowledge of Hollywood films of the 1940s and '50s. He is > cited in accounts of the history of Technicolor and the history of > film. His final credits ran on July 6, 2024. > > > > ------------------------------ > > To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: > https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1 > -- Bruce Hershenson and the other 22 members of the eMoviePoster.com team P.O. 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