Old Town Music Hall hosts Cinecon for first time Labor Day weekend

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” are currently filling movie theater seats, but what attracted movie goers around 100 years ago?

There are few film festivals or theaters left standing that show films from cinema’s early days of the 1920s and 1930s.

The Cinecon Classic Film Festival, though, is the exception — celebrating rarely seen films from this era. The event, billed as the nation’s oldest classic film festival, will take place over Labor Day weekend at the Old Town Music Hall, 140 Richmond St., in El Segundo for the first time in Cinecon’s nearly 60 years.

Built in 1921, the nonprofit Old Town Music Hall is historic itself.

Home to a 1925 Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ, with its 2,600 pipes, it has accompanied many silent film screenings that have been taking place there off and on for more than 100 years.

“It occupies a place of reverence for people who are film historians and film restorers and people who are interested in film beyond the best 100 films ever made,” said Angie Hougen, an Old Town Music Hall boardmember and volunteer who helped bring the film festival to El Segundo. “It’s really neat to see these rarities come to light.”

Bill Coffman and Bill Field refurbished the Mighty Wurlitzer, which they purchased from the Fox West Theater in Long Beach, and reopened the music hall as a movie theater in 1968.

Stan Taffel, a professional motion picture archivist at Pro-Tek Vaults in Burbank and president of Cinecon, became friends with Coffman and Field when he moved to California in 1997.

“They used to come to my apartment on Beachwood Drive and they would come borrow films,” Taffel said. “I would never charge them because we’re all in the good fight together.”

Bill Field died in June 2020 at 80 years old.

“With new caretakers like Angie and James,” Taffel said, “we wanted to honor them and honor the theater.”

Cinecon will open Thursday, Aug. 31, and end Monday, Sept. 4.

“We try to find films that have not been screened, are not on home video, and aren’t on cable,” said Bryan Cooper, a licensing and clearance supervisor for Unscripted Programming at Warner Bros., as well as secretary of Cinecon, “rare films that studios and archives and collectors can share with us so that they reach a new audience.”

James Moll, an award-winning filmmaker and longtime music hall volunteer and boardmember, said the El Segundo theater’s audience appreciates classic movies — and that Cinecon, with its national draw, will help publicize the Old Town Music Hall.

“It’s certainly an opportunity to help spread the word about Old Town Music Hall,” Moll said, “while also helping spread the word about some little-known classic movies. They have a fantastic schedule.”

Opening night will feature a reception at the Richmond Bar and Grill, followed by a 100th anniversary screening of “The Gold Diggers,” which was recently restored. “The Gold Diggers” will be followed by an early John Wayne film, “Adventure’s End,” from 1937 and then Harold Lloyd in “Why Worry?” from 1923.

Besides the film screenings — many accompanied by the Mighty Wurlitzer — as well as some classic television shows, there will also be special programs and events throughout the five-day festival.

The highlights will include Boris Karloff Home Movies, which will be narrated by his daughter, Sara Karloff; Abbot and Costello rarities introduced by author Richard S. Greene; a look at the “genius” of Ernie Kovacs’s television work; and a rare clip of the 1956 film “Operation Three R’s,” with an introduction by Jason Culp, the son of star Robert Culp.

Question-and-answer sessions during the festival will include past Cinecon Legacy Award recipient Cora Sue Collins, star of “The Scarlet Letter” from 1934. The Tony Award-nominated Carol Lawrence will receive the Cinecon Legacy Award on Sept 2, while Nancy Olson Levingston, who was nominated for an Oscar for “Sunset Boulevard,” will receive the same award on Sept. 3. And Peggy Webber, star of “Submarine Command,” will also appear on Sept. 3.

“We’ve honored so many celebrities who didn’t get a chance to see some of these films and certainly their families didn’t get to see these films,” Taffel said. “So we’re actually giving back to them in a way that they’ve given to us our whole lives.”

With the death of Field in 2020 and the pandemic shutting its doors, the music hall has relied on the volunteer work from its board, which includes Hougen, Moll and Danny Tokusato, to keep the theater open almost every weekend throughout the year.

The musical hall, Hougen said, have many loyal customers, some who have been attending the theater since 1968.

“It’s been a labor of love,” Hougen said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

For a full schedule and ticket information, visit cinecon.org.