Stories about Jean
This page is meant for the collection of digitized versions of sound recordings, written texts, video recordings of and website links to stories about Jean Oser, under the three broad categories of filmmaker, mentor, and friend.
Filmmaker (Artist)
An Interview with Brian Stockton
This interview was recorded by myself on August 29, 2017 at the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative. Thank-you Brian for the delightful story! (3:15 mins)
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Molly Smollett on Jean Oser...
Molly Smollett, who trained as an editor and worked with Jean Oser in New York in the mid to late 1960's, agreed to let me record a telephone interview with her on February 24, 2017. (Please excuse the poor sound quality of the recording.)
Molly now calls New Mexico home and still works as a filmmaker. Although we had not met or talked before we found a number of things to talk about as we became acquainted and in the following edited version of the interview we finally get back to talking about Jean:
Ian Reid and Belinda New accompanied Jean Oser to Germany in 1993...
Belinda New recalls:
"In this photo, Jean and I are speaking with film director Volker Schlöndorff [The Tin Drum, 1979; Death of a Salesman, 1985; Diplomacy, 2014]. It was taken at Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam-Babelsberg, just outside Berlin." (February 27, 2017)
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Ian Reid is also in the picture behind Schlöndorff recording the meeting. Of Jean and this project, Ian shared the following:
"I often find myself thinking of Jean, our friendship in Saskatchewan and his amazing life story at the crossroads of 20th century and world cinema history. Yes, Belinda and I visited Berlin with Jean back in '93, I think. A great trip!... Thanks for keeping his memory alive with your great project." (January 29, 2017)
Some of Jean's Favourite Stories...
NG: Arguably, one of Jean's favourite short stories, turned into an award-winning film by the French director Robert Enrico in 1962, was Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (American, first published in 1890). The original film was shown on The Twilight Zone in 1964.
As far as theatre went, his favourite plays were those of Bertolt Brecht (e.g., The Threepenny Opera, 1928; Mother Courage, 1939). Jean, in fact, edited G.W. Pabst's film version of The Threepenny Opera in 1931 and according to Rita Deverell, (theatre artist, television producer, and scholar):
"Jean Oser was an invaluable and charming guide in our rehearsals at the Globe Theatre when we were producing Brecht." - Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell, (December 1, 2016)
A late 19th century children's story found in what remains of Jean Oser's library...
NG: While in later years Jean and I often discussed the work of Austrian/
Swiss psychoanalysts (e.g., Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich) and their effect on 20th Century art and culture, one wonders what might have fueled the mind of a young Jean Oser. Could it have been this story about Max und Moritz (A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks) that I found among what remains of his library?
Max und Moritz is a late 19th Century cautionary tale by Wilhelm Busch about what could happen if boys did not go to school and church. And believe me it ends badly. More details about the story can be found here. (February 12, 2017)
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Mentor
Jean Oser at the Regina Public Library Film Theatre
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Here is a photo of Jean Oser with cashier Richard Moberg in the foreground.
It was shared by Belinda New, Programmer at the RPL Film Theatre (circa early 1990's, added to the site February 19, 2017).
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Jean is still the only public figure to have received a lifetime membership to the RPL Film Theatre.
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Richard Moberg recalls: "Jean was one of my favorite regulars at the theatre. He always wanted to talk film (naturally) and always seemed a bit disappointed that I wasn't a huge film nerd (the guys in the projection booth were the hardcore film students). Jean persisted though and was a lovely, knowledgeable man. Always glad to see him and wave him through after the lifetime membership!" (February 21, 2017)
An Appreciation of the RPL Film Theatre
by Jeannie Mah (2004)
The RPL Film Theatre is the lifeblood of film lovers in Regina. It began in 1975 as the brainchild of Regina Public Library’s Gary Deane and was a welcome addition to the RPL’s cultural programming. Screening only one film per week, the European Film Series was very enthusiastically received.
This was not by chance. The groundwork had been laid. Reginans have been keen film-goers almost since the invention of cinema, but in the years prior to the library series, Reginans had been cultivating a taste for international films.
Photo retrieved from Sask NAC 05/27/17
Jean Oser, a French-German filmmaker and editor, came to Regina in 1970 to become a professor of film at the University of Regina. Jean’s evening classes were legendary. With a 16mm projector whirring in the back of a dark room in the old Fine Arts Building on College Avenue, we sat on chairs and any available floor space. Students and non-students alike were all made welcome. Infected by Jean’s enthusiasm, we became aware at the art of film was much more than Hollywood offerings, but Hollywood films were discussed with equal seriousness. A city and a generation became “film nuts,” as Jean would say.
At the same time, Bohdan Szuchewycz ran a film series of popular, political and alternative films in the Education Auditorium at the University, often to full audiences.
In 1972, Jean Oser organized an Ingmar Bergman summer film series, and suddenly this city seemed to be more than a small prairie city. These films were a revelation in the art of film and the art of storytelling! The following year, Fellini’s Satyricon and Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St Matthew was the double bill at the Roxy on the evening before I left Regina. I considered this to be a great send-off and an intriguing introduction to my first year abroad. ​
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Images to the left were retrieved online from a scene in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957). Please note that these and the other images included here did not appear alongside the original text.
In the early 1970s, despite our small population and geographical isolation, we in Regina had a rich choice in film and film venues, with five downtown movie houses, a student series, and classes in the study of film. I returned to Regina just as the RPL Film Theatre began, and I was impressed to see the current films of Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol, and Alain Tanner.
Today, the RPL Film Theatre is the only place downtown to see films. Every purpose-built cinema has been demolished. Happily, the RPL Film Theatre continues to attract a diverse and dedicated audience for international and art-house films.
I have now spent a ‘lifetime’ in cinemas in Cambridge, Vancouver, Perpignan, and Regina. I have rediscovered the joys of film classes in France and Regina. A favourite moment on film is the bicycle scene, free-wheeling down the ramp of the Bay parkade, à la Jules et Jim, in Mark Wihak’s film The Ballad of Don Quinn. A perfect film moment for me happened during the first exhibition of The Antechamber in May 1999. On a tranquil summer evening, as the sun faded, we sat in the park and heard the soundtrack from À Bout de Souffle (Breathless, 1960) playing on a small monitor in the storefront of the gallery. I sighed with happiness! The touch of Paris, in our own Victoria Park in downtown Regina, is the legacy of the innovative and progressive RPL Film Theatre, which truly does bring us the world.
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Notes: This ‘story’ first appeared in Regina’s Secret Spaces: Love and Lore of Local Geography, 2006. Anne Campbell, Lorne Beug, and Jeannie Mah (Eds), Canadian Plains Research Centre (U of R), pp. 106-7. Minor re-editing has occurred to ensure accuracy, May 27, 2017. Permission for inclusion on this site was granted by the author and publisher.
An Interview with Mark Wihak
This interview was recorded at the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative on March 18, 2017. (8:14 mins)
Many thanks to Mark Wihak for expressing so many caring sentiments about Jean Oser and helping the rest of us to remember Jean well.
Jean is remembered by his former students...
"I would often attend public gatherings where Jean would speak, or film classes that he would lecture at. His anecdotes of working with the giants of German and US cinema were pretty enthralling. Here we had a direct link to the art form's origins. We could all imitate his accent and the way he would bark out the rhythm of editing. He was the only person I ever met who really knew how to use a moviola.
I also remember Jean making beef bourguignon before a screening at the original Filmpool [located on the opposite side of the Scarth Street Mall from where it is now]. It was a raucous affair, Jean holding court as he chopped mushrooms and added large glugs of red wine to the pot. It's pretty clear that he planted and nurtured the seeds of the film community in Saskatchewan and for that alone he should always be remembered and celebrated." - Marc LaFoy, Toronto, ON., March 29, 2017
Jean Oser sitting in the Scarth Street Mall, 1980, digital copy of photo courtesy the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative
"It was always a privelege to sit before class with him in the Education cafeteria for coffee and listen to him talk about every film that he had ever seen a hundred times as if it were the first time. The passion was infectious!" - Michael Dancsok (University of Regina 1985-1989), Japan, December 20, 2016
One of Jean's first series of students at the University of Regina included Christine Welsh (Prof. Emerita, University of Victoria) who recalls Jean Oser as a mentor:
[JW] What was he like?
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[CW] He was an amazing man. He was one of these people who saw good things everywhere. He would look at a students’ really clichéd, deeply flawed little film effort and always find something wonderful in it. Of course they are going to have things wrong with them, but that’s not what you focus on. You focus on the wonderful, and you make them think they are capable of wonderful. He taught me that.
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Source:
https://teaandbannock.com/2016/04/25/kitchen-table-talks/
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An Interview with Norm Sawchyn
Norm Sawchyn, now a retired CBC editor, was another of Jean's first students at the university. This interview was conducted in his home on September 19, 2017.
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As you will hear, things were a little less formal back then....
Friend
Linda Payeur shares a fond memory...
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I loved the way he adapted people’s names. I was Lindishka and Pascal was Princess in his thick accent. I loved his teddy bear collection, his wife's paintings and the way he celebrated occasions like Christmas and New Years. I loved making him a plate of prosciutto and Gorgonzola that he would celebrate as well, such a strong spirit!
My favourite story of all was when I was around 25 years old and I was walking down 1900 block Hamilton Street. It was a day where I was feeling sorry for myself and wallowing in self-pity. I turned the corner and there was Jean – smiling, of course - I asked him how he was and he replied, "How am I?! How am I?! Well I am great! I am out for a walk and a beautiful young lady is happy to see me. I am GREAT! " Made my day and many, many more. I cannot help but smile when I reflect on that moment. I miss him immensely still. (February 6, 2017)
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Jean's 90th Birthday Celebration
In 1998, Jean spent his 90th birthday in the company of friends at the home of Linda Payeur for a warm celebration in Regina, Saskatchewan. A few photos from that occassion were shared by Belinda New this past year (2017).
Christmas at the Bessai's...
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NG: The Bessais, Gertrud and Frederick (PhD), were friends of Jean Oser's since his earliest days of teaching about European film history in Regina. Later, their friendship would also include the Bessais'
children, George and Margaret. It was my pleasure to have been able to conduct an interview with Gertrud early on in the project:
The Blue Angel (1930)
Among the first enduringly great movies of the sound era, The Blue Angel was made simultaneously in German and English version by the 35-year-old Viennese-born Hollywood director Josef von Sternberg. The great German character actor Emil Jannings, who'd won the first ever Oscar for best actor under Sternberg's direction in The Last Command (1928), insisted on Sternberg being brought to Berlin for his first talking film.
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This turned out to be The Blue Angel in which Jannings gives an exquisitely detailed performance as the pompous, middle-aged Professor Rath, a high-school teacher whose life is destroyed through his romantic infatuation with Lola Lola, a wilful young singer he meets at the eponymous nightclub....
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Superbly designed and lit, The Blue Angel is a modern tragedy and an erotic masterpiece with fine songs by Friedrich Holländer, among them Dietrich's signature number, Falling in Love Again. - (www.theguardian.com)
Filmmaker, Mentor & Friend
NG: I created this fourth category under the "Stories about Jean" section because there were those few, very notable people in Jean's life who fell under all three categories and of whom he was very proud to have known. Peter Smollett was indeed one of these. Below is a photo of Jean and Peter working together in the early 1950's in New York and the recollections of Eleanor Smollett on how they met, worked together, and how Peter persuaded Jean to come to Regina and the faculty at the University of Saskatchewan (Regina Campus) to make a place for him:
ES: Here are some bits and pieces of information for your site [about] how Jean Oser and Peter Smollett met and Jean’s work in New York:
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Jean had a cutting room in Manhattan, in a building that housed various theatre and film enterprises. This was about 1950 or so, and Peter was going door to door in that building, knocking on doors, introducing himself, looking for a job as an actor. Jean told him he didn’t need any actors, but he sure could use a “gofer".
Peter took the job. I don’t remember Peter’s account of what followed, but I presume that Jean became aware of what a bright and curious learner Peter was. In any case, he trained Peter first as an Apprentice Editor, and then as his Assistant Editor. I’m not sure how long Peter continued to work with Jean, but they became good friends and continued to be in touch.
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In 1952, Peter (by then married) and his wife (Molly Smollett) left New York for Buck’s County, Pennsylvania. They remained there for about 8 years before returning to New York. When they returned to New York, about 1960, Peter established his own film company, Calpenny Films. Molly worked for Jean (in the 1960’s) for a couple of years as his Assistant Editor.
In late 1966, Peter and I were married. I can’t remember how often or how many times he and I visited Jean and Ellen at their home in Manhattan, quite a few times I think. Even then, Ellen was frail and didn’t go out much. My recollection of what I saw of their lifestyle, and what Peter told me, was that it felt nomadic in a way. They had no children, no pets, [few] possessions - not even any furniture or cooking equipment of their own. They lived in an apartment hotel, in furnished quarters (very nice, and well located), and they had their meals sent in. Except for the goose fat at Christmas (probably familiar to you!), which we would bring.
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What kind of work was Jean doing in New York?
After the splendid list of films Jean worked on in pre-WW2 Europe, and his wartime work for the U.S. gov’t, we can see a gaping hole (in the filmography reproduced on your website) during the period of the 1950’s and 1960’s. At least until he landed the film, Napoleon. And I remember how we gasped with astonishment when that job came along!
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Why the long drought in Jean's work in cinema? And what was Jean doing in the meanwhile?
I believe the drought was caused by the lack of interest (in the New York of those days) in the work of the cinema masters of pre-WW2 Europe. The fact that Jean had been the Editor for the films of people like G. W. Pabst didn’t bring him cinema work in New York, so Jean did the work he could get - mainly industrial films. Some of these were through a company [Madison Films] owned by Larry Madison, who he worked for. He also did some very beautiful travel films (mostly for American Airlines, I believe) about vacation destinations. Some of these were just a few minutes long, some much longer. I believe there are still a couple of those travel films among the film cans in our basement here in Toronto…. By the mid-1960’s, the apprentice system for learning filmmaking was waning. Film schools were being established, attached in many cases to universities. Jean was contemptuous of the notion that one could learn filmmaking in a school. [However,] he was more and more frequently unemployed.
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How it happened that Jean Oser landed in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada:
In summer [of] 1968, Peter and I moved to Regina to work at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus; later the University of Regina. I taught in the Dept. of Anthropology. Peter began with administrative work, but then created some night courses analyzing the Politics of the Mass Media (especially film), which he taught. He was absorbed into the Dept. of Social Studies, where he later created additional classes concerning the relationship of artists and society. Peter wasn’t teaching filmmaking per se, but his experience as a filmmaker was profoundly woven into his ability to analyze films for students, especially their political content and impact.
Knowing that Jean was becoming very short of work in New York, Peter began to discuss with him the possibility of coming to the University in Regina, where perhaps a job could be created for him [using] his rich resources of experience in European cinema to create a course on Cinema History for the university? I don’t recall how easy or difficult it was for Peter to persuade Jean to give it a try. [However,] when Jean did agree, the next task for Peter was to persuade the university to bring Jean into the faculty. This involved Peter writing up Jean’s history, explaining his experience and erudition, distinguishing him from other potential faculty members who might have learned about cinema history in their studies, but who had never worked in film, any kind of film. And Jean had been one of the film greats of Europe. It involved many conversations with those involved in hiring, who wanted to be reassured that this wasn’t an attempt to establish a film school at the university. And it involved repeatedly reassuring Jean that it would be cinema history he would be brought in to teach, that he would not be asked to establish one of "those film schools" for training filmmakers for a film industry. So… Jean was hired; Jean and Ellen came, Jean taught cinema history…. and … Jean [also] trained filmmakers.
All this is well known (I would presume…) to the older members of the Saskatchewan Filmpool. And perhaps it's known also to others in the… film industry in Regina - which Jean Oser had, of course, a leading role in creating.
[Signed,]
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Eleanor Smollett
[Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, University of Regina], wife of Peter Smollett
February 3, 2017
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ES: Peter Smollett is no longer able to write this account, but approves of my doing so.
NG: Peter Smollett passed away on February 19, 2017 in Toronto, a week before his 87th birthday. My condolences to his family and sincere appreciation for all Peter did on behalf of Jean over his lifetime.
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