Thursday Night in San Francisco: ‘Meet Mr. Product’ Screening

San Francisco-based stock footage house Oddball Films teams up tomorrow night with authors and cultural historians Warren Dotz and Masud Husain for the latest installment of its Cinema Soiree Series.

Taking center stage will be the brand mascots that have been animated throughout history, as chronicled in Dotz and Husain’s books, Mr. Product and Meet Mr. Product. The Oddball Films event features “both the images from the book and the commercials they spawned,” Dotz said.

Dotz added that Oddball’s soiree also marks the public premiere of Bay Area-based filmmaker Jan Stürmann’s documentary short about his ephemeral advertising exhibit, ‘A World of Characters’ — which suitably debuted this June in the international terminal of San Francisco’s Airport. Stürmann will be on hand with Dotz and Husain to discuss advertising and film history and ephemera.

In additions to vintage commercials from Oddball’s archives, some short film curios will be screened including Dirty Duck director Chuck Swenson’s Sooper Goop, subliminal TV advertising explainer The 30 Second Dream, and an excerpt from John Nathan’s Emmy-winning Kentucky Fried Chicken documentary, The Colonel Comes To Japan. Admission is $10 and seating is limited for the throwback event, which kicks off at 8PM at 275 Capp Street in San Francisco. To rsvp, visit the Oddball Films website.