Kinsey Film Collection: Stag Party Anyone?

[3113]

When Jon Vickers was interviewing for his job as the first director of the new Indiana University Cinema, he was told there might be a tricky problem if he was hired. "The comment I heard frequently was, 'You'll have to figure out what to do with the Kinsey Collection, because it's different than all the others,' " Vickers says. "There was an assumption the programmer would work with the collection, but how to do that was a question for everybody."

And, as he prepares to open the college cinematheque on Jan. 13, it still is.

The "Kinsey Collection" refers to the roughly 14,000 films and videos belonging to the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, which has offices on the school's Bloomington campus in southern Indiana. Biologist Alfred Kinsey, who started the institute in 1947 and died in 1956, and his researchers collected the films as part of his world-famous (and the institute's ongoing) research into human sexuality.

There are all sorts of films, including sex-education titles, racy vintage Hollywood fare and the erotic Brazilian art-house classic "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands." But the largest grouping, and perhaps the most historically valuable, consists of the one-reel historic stag films made independently from the 1920s through the 1960s. The Kinsey Collection has about 2,000 of these, slightly more than its Swedish erotica and art movies.

Full story here.

Makes me wanna write a story about a stag party circa 1950 showing one of these films....

 

[voluptuary_manque]

What should they do with them? Put 'em on DVD and sell 'em, of course. Whadda silly question!

 

[TxRad]

Full story here.

Makes me wanna write a story about a stag party circa 1950 showing one of these films....

Add about ten years to that time and I can give you a pretty good idea of what it would have been like.

Today those stag films would have more people ROFLing than anything else. They were rather campy to say the least and the best.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Add about ten years to that time and I can give you a pretty good idea of what it would have been like.

Today those stag films would have more people ROFLing than anything else. They were rather campy to say the least and the best.

the commercial stuff, yeah.
The amateur films are just about as good as the amateur stuff right now, as far as the people in them are concerned, I would bet-- the quality of the film of course, will be pretty bad by now, and the hairstyles will be dated... but pussy and prick are still pussy and prick...

 

[TxRad]

the commercial stuff, yeah.
The amateur films are just about as good as the amateur stuff right now, as far as the people in them are concerned, I would bet-- the quality of the film of course, will be pretty bad by now, and the hairstyles will be dated... but pussy and prick are still pussy and prick...

Back then, getting anything except the commercial stuff was harder than finding hens teeth in northwestern Louisiana. To many baptists among other things. They kept the good shit at home and wouldn't share.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The ones I saw in the Fifties, which might or might not be representative, were of very poor quality. They were jerky and disjointed, strictly B & W and lacked sound. The only appeal they would have now would be their campiness.

The film used was usually the cheapest and the "screen" was usually either a blank white wall or a bed sheet tacked to a wall, which might have had a negative effect on the quality.

 

[TxRad]

The ones I saw in the Fifties, which might or might not be representative, were of very poor quality. They were jerky and disjointed, strictly B & W and lacked sound. The only appeal they would have now would be their campiness.

The film used was usually the cheapest and the "screen" was usually either a blank white wall or a bed sheet tacked to a wall, which might have had a negative effect on the quality.

8mm film wasn't the best and the smoke in the room added a haze to everything. A good stag party had to have cigars even if they were cheap.