Bill Stamets Collection > SERIES I: Films by Bill Stamets > Subseries I: Completed Works

Dear Jodie, Love John

Transcript (Download)

Oh, what a shot.

Never had any.

What's your position on nuclear power? Nuclear power? Oh, talk to him.

They didn't care who they killed.

They just put people in war camps.

You don't know what you're talking about.

Hey! Why? What happened? Anti -nuclear leaflets.

Anti -nuclear leaflets.

That's right.

What did you do? You grabbed the leaflets out of his hand.

Where's your group? You're insane.

Nazis out! Nazis out! Nazis out! Five Nazis, these young kids, they're passing out literature which is claiming that the Nazis oppose nuclear power.

They claim they want to demand on, they banned nuclear power plants and they claim that they demand a clean environment instead of capitalist profits.

Here are the Nazis talking.

Can you believe it? So what the hell, I grabbed his stack of leaflets and I threw them away.

And I had five angry Nazis on my tail until the glorious We Serve and Protect Policeman of Chicago came to my rescue.

Communist cause of problem.

Not united.

Communist gives the people right on.

We don't care how you put them in.

They can jump off one hand or another.

Mercy, general hate, no more USA! Mercy, general hate, no more USA! Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen.

You make pictures for us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You don't work for every day, do you? No, no, no.

No? Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

...consuming the most homemade spaghetti with marinara sauce in 15 minutes and to raise money for the North Shore Children's Oncology Guild.

That's a children's cancer fund associated with Children's Memorial Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House.

Let us entertain you.

We'll donate $10 for each bowl of pasta consumed.

Now, our first contestant...

Mr.

Reagan will be escorted to the podium by an honor guard.

The guard will lead it out.

Jim Wright.

Texas.

Mr.

Reagan.

Go, go! Go ahead, all right.

Go ahead, all right.

Go ahead, all right.

Go ahead, all right.

Go ahead, all right.

East, East! United States.

Loser.

She was young.

Okay, Harvey is on bowl number two.

I ask you to join me in making it our plan.

Together, we can embark on this road.

Go ahead, Bob.

Jim Fodor, about to start bowl number three.

Look at him go.

If you had a stack of thousand dollar bills in your hand, only four inches high, you'd be a millionaire.

A trillion dollars would be a stack of a thousand dollar bills, 67 miles high.

The interest on the public debt this year, we know it's going to be $1 .5 trillion.

The interest on the public debt this year, we know it's going to be over $90 billion.

Bowl number three for Eddie.

That we share in restoring the promise that is offered to every citizen by this, the last best hope of man on earth.

Suck it up, Eddie.

Eddie, suck it up.

We've got a little less than three minutes.

Give us another cheer.

Munch and chew and swallow through.

Munch and chew and swallow through.

Munch and chew and swallow through.

And Swantek is starting to see.

With one minute and thirty seconds.

This guy means business.

Harvey is not playing around.

Harvey is on his seventh bowl.

There ain't nobody coming close.

Twenty seconds left.

Eighteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Harvey! Harvey! Basically what we're concerned with is this fellow who's a former member of our organization.

He took a shot at the President of the United States.

Now we want to make it absolutely clear that he was expelled from our organization for justice attitude.

And we don't believe that violence or terrorism is necessary to achieve our goals or our proposals in this country.

We believe that there's enough freedom in this country where terrorism and violence is unnecessary.

What was he like when he was a member? Well, he was only a member for about eighteen months, something like that.

And I only met him personally for about fifteen minutes in St.

Louis, Missouri.

At that time, he was participating in a march of ours in St.

Louis.

When was he based ever in Chicago here? That was March 12, 1978.

Mike, why was he kicked out? Well, for his attitude.

Mr.

President! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! Get him out! I personally voted for Ronald Reagan, and we offered an endorsement to President Reagan.

But his office in Washington declined to accept it, you know, for obvious reasons.

Just similar to the same reason that they denied the Klan endorsement.

But nevertheless, he is a champion of conservative principles.

And the only difference between the President and our organization is the racial issue.

Mike, again, the title of your organization is the National Socialist Party of America.

What did you say national what? The official name is the National Socialist Party of America.

But you're referred to as the American Nazi Party.

Commonly known as, right.

And your last name is A -L -L -E -N.

Right.

Would you call this your own name? No, I wouldn't call it anything.

I'm not a, no, I don't make any predictions.

What was the date of the rally in St.

Louis? March 12, 1980.

What was the purpose of the march in St.

Louis? Well, the march in St.

Louis, we had 45 stormtroopers in this parade.

And it was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the birth of the founder.

Here in the White House.

That was wrong.

At least you...

Identifier
F.2005-08-0142
Date Of Production
1981
Abstract
Content Notice: This material contains depictions of hate speech at 3:40 - 4:50.

A completed work by Bill Stamets offers a variety of juxtapositions, primarily between Ronald Reagan's economic address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, February 18, 1981, the fifth annual pasta-eating contest at Lawrence of Oregano on February 23, 1981, and the Oxford Pub's pallbearing contests held in Oz Park. The title refers to John Hinckley Jr.'s 1981 letter to actress Jodie Foster, in which he explained that he was going to attempt assassinating Reagan to impress her.
Log
00:07 Several shots show various museum artifacts on exhibit, a brief look at an orchestral stage (likely during one of the two Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances at Holy Name Cathedral that Pope John Paul II attended), and then the pope as he greets crowd applause during an open-air mass held in Grant Park on October 5, 1979.
00:16 A clash occurs between a group of Nazis, counter-protestors and police situated in the Daley Center Plaza in 1981, followed by a flurry of shots that document activists as they protest against casualties committed by armed forces in the Salvadoran Civil War and advocate for federal gun control.
03:40 A series of shots capture jumbled slurs and death threats hand-written upon a park bench while marching band music plays.
04:50 Ducks and dogs enjoy themselves at a Lake Michigan beach.
05:58 Chicago Tribune columnist Aaron Gold serves as emcee at the fifth annual Pasta Eating Contest, known as “Pasta Pandemonium,” held at Lawrence of Oregano (662 W. Diversey Pkwy) on February 23, 1981. The restaurant is packed with a crowd of approximately 200, including bureau chief of People Magazine Linda Witt, Chicago Tribune entertainment editor Carolyn McGuire and Chicago Sun-Times columnists Rick Kogan and Sharon Barrett who all serve as judges, and fifteen contestants who include Chicago Bears players Dan Hampton, Dennis Lick, Terry Schmidt and Len Walterscheid He announces that for each bowl of pasta consumed, ten dollars will be donated toward the North Shore Children’s Oncology Guild.
06:24 A televised broadcast shows President Ronald Reagan amidst applause as he prepares to deliver an economic address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, February 18, 1981.
06:58 Pasta-eating contestant George “Eat It All” Michaels of Naperville, Ill. stands at the contestant’s table and claps along with the rest of the room.
07:03 Reagan smiles in acknowledgement of the chamber applause.
07:11 Honey Bear cheerleaders Teri Serletic and Debbie Anthony yell “Go!” to the room, emcee Gold blows a whistle, and Pasta Pandemonium ensues. The camera immediately zooms in on Michaels positioned at the no. 8 seat and the returning champion Harvey “the Gorge” Sandler right next to him at no. 9.
07:35 Reagan is introduced to the podium and receives further applause.
07:41 A WFLD-Ch. 32 camera pans from Michaels further down the table.
07:48 Reagan begins his economic address.
07:56 Two competing teams of four athletes race each other while carrying fake coffins through Oz Park.
08:02 A shot pointed down the table captures several contestants as they hurriedly consume spaghetti, and Gold announces that Gene Fodor is about to start his third bowl.
08:10 Reagan compares the U.S. national debt to a stack of a thousand dollar bills.
08:37 Gold announces, “Bowl number three for Eddie!”
09:15 Serletic and Anthony give an encouraging cheer: “Wash and chew and swallow through!”
09:53 With less than a minute left in the contest, the camera pans anxiously between table neighbors George Michaels and Harvey Sandler.
10:09 Gold counts down, “12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Harvey!” The room erupts in applause.
10:28 Reagan receives applause.
10:33 Nazi leader Michael Allen attempts to politically distance himself and the Nazi Party from John Hinckley Jr. in an interview while televised news footage shows Hinckley shortly before his attempted assassination of Reagan on March 30, 1981.
Format
Super 8
Extent
200 feet
Color
color and B&W
Sound
Mag Stripe
Reel/Tape Number
1/1
Has Been Digitized?
Yes
Language Of Materials
English
Element
Reversal Positives
Genre
Documentary
Experimental
Form
Short
Subject
Chicago Bears (Football team)
Chicago (Ill.) Police Dept.
Contests
Food
Marching bands
Neo-Nazism
Racing
Religious services
Celebrities
Preservation Sponsor

Related Collections
Subseries I: Completed Works

Related Places
North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago ➜ Loop

Main Credits
Stamets, Bill (is filmmaker)

Participants And Performers
Sandler, Harvey (is participant)

 
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