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

party at the Fairmont. We got a lot of volunteers, other people, to pick up people at the airport. We
didn’t have a lot of money.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Was this why the president of the Junior League was involved, to help
get volunteers?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Well, Patty was more involved just trying to spread the tentacles out a little bit,
more than anything. We had a volunteer staff, but they weren’t a bunch of socialites. As for films, we
got Rapture for Opening Night, which was OK—that was a film with Dean Stockwell, from Twentieth
Century Fox—Shirley got that film. Later in the Festival, we showed The Shop on Main Street, which
was a great film, a fabulous film, one of the great Czech films.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Who did the selection? Was there a selection committee?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Yes, we did have a selection committee, and it was myself, Barney Conrad, Herb
Gold, Niven Busch—we tried to use people who had some background in film—Marshall Naify, who
was president of the United Artists theaters. That was our committee.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: What about Albert Johnson? Was he—
CLAUDE JARMAN: Albert was more involved in the tributes at that point. We were all getting
acquainted with each other, more than anything. And some of the interesting films—Passages from
Finnegan’s Wake for example, was a very interesting film that never went anywhere.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Was Crazy Quilt that year?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Yes it was John Korty’s film. Also, Saragossa Manuscript was a classic that
hung around for a long time. Also, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, which is still a classic Russian
film. So to begin with, I thought we had some very good films.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: How did you find them? Did you go to festivals around the world?
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