San Francisco Film Society Oral History Project Interview with ...

have a place to go.” And he said, “All right, let’s figure this out,” because they got a new—what would
you call them, Grand Dragon. They had a top gun from Orange County who said, “Get ’em out of
there.” And we had worked very well with the people at the Masonic. It was a wonderful place to have
the Festival. I said, “We’ve got the dates, we’ve got everything set. You can’t do this.” And he said,
“You’re out.” So, we went to Alioto, and he said, “OK, let’s—” I think we had a contract that continued
on. Alioto went to the head guy and said, “Here’s what we want to do: we need to come to the Masonic
one more year, and then we’ll leave, but you have to let us have it for one more year.” And the top gun
said, “OK, one more year, and you’re out.” And [Alioto] had in the back of his mind what was going to
happen at the Palace of Fine Arts, and he went to an architect named Vince Raney, who did all the
Cinema 21 theaters for Syufy. He said, “We have a million dollars from the a foundation for a theater,
and you have to have it ready in a year. I want 1,000 seats, and I want it ready in a year.” And they
immediately went to work on it, and it was ready in a year. I mean, the guy did it, amazing. He used the
same formula that he did at the Cinema 21. So, anyway, we were set for another year at the Masonic.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Why did the Masonic want you out?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Too controversial.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: The dirty hippies?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Yes. The crowd that was showing up there—the hippie crowd, it was getting to be
a different crowd, and it wasn’t just a little event anymore; there were people pouring in and out of that
place all the time. It was a big event. And they didn’t want to deal with us.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: So the pie fight—
CLAUDE JARMAN: And then we had the pie fight! (LAUGHS)
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: That’s such a great story. How did that happen?
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