Friday, August 16, 2013

A Twist to the Note about Being One Man away from Eisenstein--Shared DNA in Chicago Union Station

One man away from Eisenstein

We are watching a wretchedly written The Story of Film on Netflix because of bits of interesting footage. The third episode has a little on Eisenstein. I got to thinking about Eisenstein having a student, Jay Leyda, who once had possession of the only complete footage of THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN and who began THE MELVILLE LOG as a birthday present for Eisenstein. How strange as Leyda's heir in expanding the LOG to be one person away from Eisenstein. Leyda really did love us both.  How strange. What a funny world.
That's what I posted yesterday.
But there was much more stirring than what I posted yesterday. From the steps of Odessa The Story of Film went to Chicago Union Station, which had memories for me from the 50s and 60s, and Brian de Palma's homage to Eisenstein in which the thin young great great grandson of my great grandfather John Andrew Jackson Costner, CSA, shot at a bad man while a baby carriage rolled down the steps. What a strange 5 or 7 minutes of film to witness from the coast of the Pacific, so far removed from the world of the movies. What memories of Jay Leyda (all his last year and more I was the only one who cut his toenails in his hospital bed) and memories of my frail old grandfather Costner who with his brother, Kevin's great grandfather, had homesteaded in Guymon, Oklahoma Territory. What a poignant world, and a funny one.

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