Café Roxy -- Into the Future!

"Greetings, my friends. We are all interested in the future because that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives." That's one of my favorite lines by Criswell at the start of Plan Nine From Outer Space. I'm old enough to actually remember watching the "Criswell Predicts" TV show where he ESPed audience members, except that show is not listed at the IMDB so I must have dreamed it all!

Anyway, I started this blog and the Café Roxy website just over a year ago. Happy Birthday to us! I don't even know which day that might be. I did weekly blog entries, plus a few extras, all through 2009. Then around Christmas time I got into a big project and got out of the habit of weekly jottings. Some may have thought I died or the Café closed. Not the case, but I am remodeling. The Café Roxy website has exploded with hundreds of programs and no sign of slowing down. However, no one goes to the Roxy website unless I tell them to go look via email or they find the link at my www.fesfilms.com site. I just googled "Café Roxy" and the following came up at the very top of the list:

Festival Films: Your #1 Source on the 'Net for Posters and Films!
Cafe Roxy is an idea for coffee houses and all eateries to increase traffic by ... Check out the Cafe Roxy Blog for insights on using public domain films. ...
www.fesfilms.com/ - Cached - Similar
Public Domain Films
Don McGlynn
Stock Footage
Bing Crosby
Exclusive Videos
More results from fesfilms.com »

Of course, no one in the world is going to google Café Roxy because it is not famous! If anyone googles "Cartoon Brunch" they will find a link to my blogs about that subject, but Cartoon Brunch is not a concept that many are looking for info on. However, the general public has heard of "Public Domain Films." Google or Yahoo search those words and Festival Films does come up on the first page. That is how new customers tend to find me. This past week I have had two discussions with individuals who are just starting small TV stations and are looking for public domain programming and two others that start out "We have a community movie theater and...." It has been wonderfully convenient for me to tell them to go check out Café Roxy, browse the posters to see what looks exciting, show the posters to your friends for their comments, then use the posters to promote your shows.

While the Roxy site was growing weekly, my Festival Films site where everyone was going first was languishing. I have started a revision at the Festival Films home page that clearly (I trust) delineates the two aspects of my public domain business: 1) Public Domain films -- What they are, and which ones are, and 2) Café Roxy Programs that entertain today. You can click on the new logo/poster above to go to Café Roxy or click on the image to the right here to go to the public domain Catalog, etc., home page.

In fact, all of the Café Roxy pages are now part of the Festival Films website, which makes for a much stronger site and also means.... I don't really need a separate Café Roxy website. Or do I??? I will keep the domain name for the time being, but the Roxy website may close shortly with a re-direct link to Festival Films. Please email me at fesfilms@aol.com from now on.

Saturday Matinee # 3, Week #5, features Joe E. Brown in Earthworm Tractors (1936) with Guy Kibbee, June Travis, Dick Foran and Carol Hughes. Alexander Botts is a self-described natural born salesman and master mechanic, who is trying to make a big sale of Earthworm tractors to grouchy lumberman Johnson. Since Botts doesn't really know anything about tractors, and since the old-fashioned Johnson is opposed to tractors of any kind, it isn't going to be an easy sell. But Botts perseveres, encouraged by Johnson's daughter. It still entertains with some great slapstick scenes of the Tractor running amok. Joe E. Brown will eternally be remembered for his role in Some Like It Hot, which was on TCM again just last night. The added short subject is Buster Keaton in One Week. The Parkway told me this week an interesting fact that I had suspected -- whenever there is a single Keaton short on the bill, some people come just to see Buster!

The Parkway also told me that in the few weeks their Saturday Matinee had gone dark, they got lots of inquiries to keep it going! Many, many cities and small towns have neighborhood theaters that are being under used. All you need is a good video projection system and the free posters you can download right off the website.

Visit my spiffed up website at Festival Films.