NOW PLAYING ON OFF BEAT CINEMA
WBBZ-TV TIME CHANGE (OCTOBER ONLY): 10/5 @1am, 10/12 @2am, 10/19 @1am and 10/26 @1am. SCHEDULE NOTICE: Off Beat Cinema in the Atlanta/Beaumont and Texas areas airs on the Wednesday after the Saturday telecast.
ABOUT OBC
Off Beat Cinema is a two-hour hosted movie show that airs on television stations throughout North America on the retroTV Network along with a series of independent stations. Off Beat Cinema promises to show you “the movies that must be shown” – the good, the bad and the foreign (in their original languages, of course!)
Off Beat Cinema began on October 31, 1993 as a diversion from the flood of late night infomercials that seemed to consume the available airwaves of television’s last cool frontier: late night! Once a hip haven for insomniacs, second shifters, beatniks and kids who would sneak back to the TV when their parents were solidly in dreamland, late night television had become a vast wasteland of hucksters hawking everything from cooling systems to spray-on hair in a can.
The show is filmed in the Hungry Ear Coffee House, a whacked-out poetry basement located somewhere in downtown Buffalo, NY. The Hungry Ear Coffee House is a mad pad, Dad… and the kind of place where Boris Karloff could sit with Ed Wood and discuss the transcendence of the ego and how that applies to Moe Howard getting a cream pie in the face. A comfortable pad where former Beatle Pete Best could sit with the Goo Goo Dolls and discuss the merits of 3D giant insect fear films. I think you get the picture…
The beatniks also like to take the show on the road with gigs at Canalside or at far-out locations like Hot Mama's Canteen! Check out the fun in the portfolio section.
The Cast and Crew
The Mysterious Zelda
Portrayed by actress Constance McEwen Caldwell, this veteran of the theatre stage joined the cast of OBC in 1996, and adds some beauty and poise to the coffeehouse.
However do not let the cool calm exterior fool you. Behind those shades is a chick that is spirited and fervid. Especially when it comes to film noir and choosing the proper coffee to consume while you radiate in the glow of a black and white cathode ray tube.
Heed Zelda’s advice and you will soon realize that Godzilla was simply trying to make the world a better place.
Bird The Painter
An interpretation from Tony Billoni. This art and entertainment innovator sees Bird in many ways as an exaggerated extension of himself.
Given that he has immersed himself in the arts culture for decades and grew up with the likes of Vincent Gallo and Marc Freeland, it is a logical step for Bird to symbolize the stereotypical beatnik artist by tapping into all the characters that he has encountered through his experiences in the abstract ambience of the arts. For Bird, there are no bad films, only misguided actors.
The Cinematic Theologist
Theodore, Jeffrey Roberts' alter ego, spent his youth in the darkness of dusty second-run movie houses, soaking up the atmosphere while sticking to the seats. In between scarfing Milk Duds, he became well versed in essential topics like killer shrews, green slime, and Lon Chaney Jr. A promising early career blowing bubbles for The Lawrence Welk Show was cut short when Theodore discovered The Hungry Ear coffee house, where he promptly moved into the attic and went unnoticed for years.
Since emerging recently to bestow the lowdown on that week's film du jour with Zelda and Bird, his whereabouts the rest of the time are sketchy, though he can sometimes be found outside of bakeries where he is (in his own words), "waiting for good dough, man. Waiting for good dough..."
Music Director
- David Kane, Musician, Composer, and Bandleader since the later 70's
- Adjunct Professor at Niagara County Community College
- Member of the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame since 1988
- Has composed music for movies, commercials, industrial videos, dance, theater and performance art
- Past performing and recording projects include Trek w/Quintronic, Celibates, Alien Registration, Dobermen, Leash Laws, Electroman, Erectronics, Pageantry of Weens, Trelaine, Decay of Western Civilization, Double D, Nullstadt, Headhunters, Them Jazzbeards, DKQ, and solo works
- Current projects include Night Slaves, HEARsay, Impending Doom Theory, and solo works
- Tequila Mockingbird by David Kane's Them Jazzbeards is the main theme for Off Beat Cinema
Creator and Head Writer
james Gillan has won many national awards for creative excellence through his advertising agency in Buffalo, NY. He states, "Offbeat Cinema was created to provide a forum for films that are not regularly shown on television - and in many cases - are not readily available, even on DVD. There is an enormous cache of films out there that an entire generation grew up watching that are otherwise unavailable. We wanted to create a program reminiscent of the hosted late night film shows of the 1960s and 1970s - the kind of show that made you beg your parents to let you stay up late to watch. Where else can you watch Teenagers from Outer Space and a week later watch Bergman's Seventh Seal in its original language version?"
Executive Producer
Offbeat Cinema is produced by television executive John Di Sciullo of WBBZ-TV in Buffalo.
Mr. Di Sciullo is responsible for making all “the parts” of Offbeat Cinema come together. “We wanted Offbeat Cinema to be interactive with our viewers, and it is. We receive hundreds of pieces of fan mail from across the United States and Canada. We get it all – requests for films, original beat poetry, philosophic ramblings and we love it all! Putting the show together each week is a real labor of love.”