Remember the 2008 studio fire?

[Lokke Heiss]

Another sad fact I just heard about - I'm sure many of you remember a fire at Universal Studios in 2008 that burned up a lot of sets, props and video tapes? I first was concerned when I heard about the fire, but was reassured when the press explained the losses were minimal. Ah, but it turns out that all the painstaking interviews David J. Skal did for his DVD supplementary sections for the Universal Horror films - the raw footage itself, many hours worth, with a lot of different people - was all burned up. That means I am now part of a larger story, since David interviewed me for an hour or so about the connection between Dracula and Nosferatu - and for his (short) documentary, and he naturally only used a minute of so of my clips for his DVD. The rest of my interview, along with the raw interviews he did with EVERYBODY, is gone forever. The problem is that a resource for future historians who would love to be able to use all the interesting information that was talked about for future projects is gone forevere. Instead we only have the very few minutes of clips used in the actual DVD's which for anyone familiar with raw interview footage, is like trying to see the Herbert Brenon's version of The Great Gatsby, but finding the trailer of film is the only thing left to look at. *Gack*

I have to admit, though, I am finding some strange solace in the fact that because I have had unrecoverable footage of me lost forever because of a studio fire - I (and the people David interviewed), have joined a strange and much honored film fraternity - a community rich and poor. famous and not so famous, but all sharing a common story - because our work is now LOST, AND PRESUMED DESTROYED. Hello Fellow Brethren, the present salutes the past!

[silentfilm]

Here is the original thread on the Universal fire.

[s.w.a.c.]

Can we start calling you Lokke "After Midnight" Heiss?

[itslefty]

I saw that fire out of the front window of my house.