THE OSCAR HOLMEN FILM FESTIVALS
During the late 1970s the wonderful Oscar Holmen ran campy commercials for his Saint Paul carpet store on KSTP-TV, Channel 5, Minneapolis/St. Paul. The commercials were also produced at Channel 5.
Oscar and Channel 5 agreed to let me tape portions of two Oscar Holmen Film Festivals at Channel 5 and to use Oscar’s commercials for the Timid Video Theater parodies which were produced a year apart. These were send-ups of the Academy Award Programs and artsy fartsy film criticism on PBS and at the Walker Art Center. Both Oscar Holmen Film Festival parodies aired on KTCA-TV. The first ran on University Community Video’s “Everyone’s TV Time” and the second one on KTCA’s Wyld Ryce.
The Second Oscar Holmen Film Festival was taped at KTCA’s Studio A on Como Avenue, the classy restaurant at Rothschild Young Quinlan Department Store on Nicollet, the Tribune newsroom and the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis. At the time the Cricket Theater Company was residing at the Ritz. Our Oscar show featured Star and Tribune newsroom wonks Steve Berg, Larry K. Hanson, John Carman and Margaret Morris as well as author Tom (Larry) Adcock, humorist Allen Brookins-Brown, Plunge commandos, Patty Stillwell, car dealer/TV ad celebrity Don Powell and actress Mary Jo Fibuch as festival host Jane Blandly. The Blandly character was based on the kind of television hosts that in the 1970’s were favored around the country to class up local, low-budget public television cultural fare. But mostly these ladies just left the scent of moth balls and French cheese on the shows they fronted.
You can click to the Minnesota Video Vault to see “The Second Annual Oscar Holmen Film Festival” right on this link – http://www.mnvideovault.org/search_results.php?q=holmen&search-go.x=0&search-go.y=0
The Wyld Ryce announcer is my one time broadcasting colleague Vicky Lofquist who at the time worked at KUOM Radio and did occasional voice work for KTCA. Lofquist provided Wyld Ryce and this particular segment of it with the appropiate tone. I remain forever grateful.
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