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

MARGARITA LANDAZURI: So this year you stayed on schedule with the retrospectives.
CLAUDE JARMAN: We stayed on schedule, exactly.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Was there any complaint about having to pay for the retrospectives?
CLAUDE JARMAN: I think people were relieved. They knew they were going to get in, so once we sell
the tickets, that’s it. You can’t get in. It’s sold out. And that worked.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: What about the Palace itself? Were there problems with being there as
far as no restaurants and that sort of thing?
CLAUDE JARMAN: We did have some sort of a snack stand that we set up for people to buy
sandwiches. A lot of people stayed for both films; come at 7:00 and then another film at 9:45. I think
you buy a drink and whatever. And back in the early ’70s, people were smoking. We finally had to say,
“That’s it.” And they weren’t just smoking cigarettes, either. So we finally just said, “No smoking,
period.” I think that went over well, once people realized that that was the way it was going to be.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: ‘74—
CLAUDE JARMAN: Lacombe Lucien was a really good Louis Malle film.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Yes, that was a wonderful film.
CLAUDE JARMAN: James Wong Howe.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Oh, yeah, let’s talk about him, because this was the first time that
anybody had honored a cinematographer.
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