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by
Bill Wisser /
May 14, 2004 |
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Dana Keith |
Darkly handsome Dana Keith, who's done everything from modeling for
Gianni Versace to managing a performing arts center in a restored 1931
movie palace in Santa Barbara, is the driving force behind the new Miami
Beach Cinematheque, which opened in July in a small building on South Beach's
Espanola Way.
There, in a little
screening room in a restored 1925 Mediterranean Revival hotel, Keith and
his cohorts from the Miami Beach Film Society plan to show
unconventional programs of experimental films, Latin films, foreign
films, gay and lesbian films, non-narrative films, and classic silent
films—as well as dance performances and other events.
A veteran showman who,
for the last decade has presented classic South Beach movie
extravaganzas, such as the incredible Esther Williams Film Festival held
poolside at some of the city's greatest hotels, and an Indian film
screening preceded by undulating classical Indian dancers, Keith says
that for an alternative movie program to work in South Beach "it has to
be fun."
Keith is a dedicated film
scholar, who has amassed a museum-quality collection of rare
film posters, vintage movie programs and other documents dating all the
way back to a screening room invitation from Thomas Edison, inventor the movie
camera. Keith is intent on making the Miami Beach Cinematheque a
center of cinema scholarship and education.
The screening room, still under construction at the
time of this interview, is at 508 Espanola Way, in the heart of a
unique, old-world-styled "Spanish
Village" development built in the mid-1920s as an neighborhood for
artists and writers. For decades, it has also been an entertainment
district amassing quite a reputation. Notably, it is said, Desi Arnaz taught America to rumba
here in
the 1930s.
South Beach Magazine
writer Bill Wisser recently spoke with Keith at the screening room about everything from
the lure of cinema, to his partying
experiences with celebrities, to his
views on the rapid commercialization of South Beach.
Dana,
show us around the cinematheque.
This will be the interior screening room. As you can see, it's very
intimate. And right through these doors here will be our exterior
screening room, which you've experienced. [He points to a charming,
tree-lined outdoor courtyard of the building where a few weeks earlier
I'd seen a classic Bollywood epic from India which the film society
had projected on a cloth screen strung up under the stars].
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1927 Metropolis Program
-from the MBC Archive |
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This location... this building...
was chosen specifically because of the charm and kind of
European pedestrian feeling of Espanola Way. I really can't imagine
this type of cultural venue anywhere else besides Espanola Way. Lincoln
Road is well beyond this type of thing now and obviously Washington
Avenue [site of many bars and nightclubs] wouldn't be appropriate for
this . . . [But] it fits in so well here. We're right next to A
La Folie Cafe. It goes along with the new Spanish
restaurant opening up on the corner. There's a kind of a West Village
or St. Germain Des Pres feeling here.
How
many people will this room seat?
Approximately 50, and 50 outdoors... it's perfect for film festival
panel discussions, it's perfect for press conferences, or maybe for
opening receptions.
What
are the economics? Let's say for an Italian theme night, maybe you show
La Dolce Vita
and you have a micro-cinema that seats 50 people, and you're going to
rent a film. Do you get a 35 mm print?
Along with the whole
concept of alternative space comes alternative formats of presenting—instead of 35, we'll be exhibiting by DVD, by video, by 16 mm, and
eventually by digital, which changes a lot of the prices.
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1946
Gilda Program
-from the MBC Archive |
From the viewpoint of a
film purist, is this less of an authentic experience than viewing a 35
mm print in a theater? After all, anyone can go to Blockbuster and rent
a Fellini or whatever on DVD and show it at home on their own TV. Isn't the whole idea that, you're
going to present it in a true movie theater context? Doesn't DVD or
video projection lessen the experience?
No, it doesn't lessen
things at all. As you know, technology is changing quite a bit. The
quality of many formats is changing. Even video projection these days
can be much better quality than it has been in the past. Remember,
watching a film on TV at home, with your telephone and your
refrigerator in the background, is not the same experience as an
intimate venue with people there for a common reason: to enjoy a film
together and maybe discuss it afterwards.
There's nothing better
than a social environment that brings people together for a common cause,
and that is what this is meant to be.
Sometimes commercial
theater-going experiences are very cold; they're not meant to
encourage you to talk to your neighbor. In this case, the whole gallery
aspect, the bookstore aspect, the cafe aspect will invite a kind of a
social experience that you're not going to be able to get at home.
Tell
us about the Cinematheque's bookstore and cafe.
It'll be open several hours before and after the films and
between films on the weekends. There'll be graphics
displayed, for sale... rare, vintage graphics that I've been collecting for
over 30 years...
Dana, you don't look
that old!
Since eight years old, I've been into this...[laughs]... and there'll be a fireplace with a graphic above it.
It's going to look
like a library that becomes a screening room when we show films...not necessarily a
commercial traditional cinema... it's mobile... for the yoga and
film sessions, the chairs will move aside and it will become a studio
type of atmosphere and one space will transform several
times a week into different functions.
On certain nights, maybe the
Avant Garde or Views From the Underground night, we'll have more than
one screen... a screen on that wall, a screen on this
wall, and we might even be screening on the curtains... So it will become different
experiences, different nights of the week.
I saw something, I think it was
described as a "festival of film festivals," in which the winning films
from other festivals would come here.
Yes, like I said before, the idea of this space is a supplemental to all
the film festivals as they come to town. So besides our in-house
programming, we'll be working collaboratively with the Miami Film
Festival, the Brazilian Film Festival, the Gay and Lesbian Film
Festival, the new Argentinian Film Festival... all the film festivals
are invited to utilize this space.
But there was something
about awarding a ?Golden Seahorse? to the best film. Is that idea
still current?
Right... since what we're
doing is really about other festivals, the ideal,
kind of ultimate, project in development after we get going would be the
Festival of Film Festivals... taking the winners of all of the film
festivals that we worked with and making a separate film festival with
them together, because a lot of times
these winners disappear. You hear about them winning, then nothing after
that. Well, we're the kind of venue that can bring them back and show
them... the best of the best is still available to come and see.
Tell us about
the historic building that we're standing in and the historic street it's located
on " Espanola Way" and the nearly one million dollar "Plaza de Espana" which is
being built just outside the
Cinematheque's main entrance.
We chose this location for exactly that reason. Because they renovated this particular block
incredibly, and they have put almost a
million dollars into streetscape renovations here... upgraded
facilities, galleries and a hotel—the
Barcelona—which is going in
across the street.
Is that going to be a
boutique hotel? Upscale?
Exactly. Aimed toward the film and photography production market.
Tell us a
little about this street and the woman who owns the property, Linda
Polansky.
Well, Linda has been very helpful and very supportive. As you know, she
has had a vision for Espanola Way. Linda Polansky, the owner of the
entire south side of [two blocks of] the street, has been very
supportive of this type of cultural idea because it's in keeping with
the original reason for Espanola Way in the first place.
What was
the original concept?
Back in the '20s, pre-Deco, the original concept of Espanola Way was
kind of a bohemian village for artists and writers to congregate, to
live and to work together, and this is in keeping with that same
concept. It's kind of going back to the original purposes of what this
street was built for.
And when was this
particular building constructed?
Nineteen twenty-five, I believe.
What else is in this
building?
The Clay Hotel—originally the Matanzas Hotel—and Linda
has extended The Clay [a youth hostel whose main building is a block
away], so the whole block has a youth hostel kind of international
feel, which also is another reason we chose this... because of the
flavor of the variety of the people.
The Miami Beach
Cinematheque developed out of the Miami Beach Film Society, which you
founded back in 1993. Tell us about the
history of the film society and some of the things you've done over
the last decade, such as the unforgettable screening of Fritz Lang's silent film masterpiece, Metropolis—which, as I recall, you presented in a beautifully colored print at
the Colony Theater on Lincoln Road with the live accompaniment of an
amazing new age orchestra from New York, playing a wildly imaginative,
post-modern score, specially commissioned for this classic silent film—for 10 years you've been doing interesting things. Tell us about
the history of the film society.
Well, we've been in collaborations with other cultural entities—for
example, that screening of Metropolis was a collaboration with the
Wolfsonian [Museum of Art and Design]. In 1993, we founded the
organization and we started with historically based presentations around
the beach that would bring to light really interesting things about
Miami Beach.
For example, the Esther
Williams Film Festival at the swimming pools of Miami Beach. We actually brought
Esther in... and she's quite a gal, let me tell you ...[laughs]...
she's quite a character...we brought her in and the idea was a uniquely
Miami Beach style presentation. It lasted about seven weeks and we
utilized outdoor screens, which will be a big part of what we'll do
here in our courtyard and the plaza.
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1941
Citizen Kane Program
-from the MBC Archive |
What were some of the
films you showed in the Esther Williams Film Festival ? all her films?
All her films... and she opened up the festival at the Raleigh Hotel, in
its heyday, with Million Dollar Mermaid; and we had synchronized
swimmers in the pool, with her signing posters... which will be for
sale, by the way, at the Cinematheque. That was in 1994...
You said she was a
character. What did you mean by that?
Well, she...[big smile]... was quite a gal. She is an opinionated, political
person. She's very to the point and she's very active in letting you
know what she thinks...[laughs]...
Like what for example?
Well, let me give you just one story here. I remember when she wanted
flowers on her table as she was autographing the posters. She goes, "Dana,
these are not flowers! Joan Collins would have flowers. Those, my
friend, are five erect penises. I want flowers! I want Joan Collins
flowers!"
...so we had to change
these dramatic lillies, which, you know, were the style at the Raleigh,
into something which were much more Joan Collins...
She was here for a week.
But for one day, she had to go to the Bahamas for some marketing thing
with her swimwear line, and she asked me to baby-sit her miniature
Schnauzer. The dog had this hot pink collar and leash. I was walking it by the
Lincoln Theater... and these drag queens came over to the dog and
were saying, "Oh, it's so cute." And I said, "Well, you know,
this is Esther Williams" dog." And one of them says,
"Yeah, right. And I'm Coco Chanel!"
Little did they know, it
really was Esther Williams' dog.
You said earlier that
Esther Williams was political. What did
you mean by that? Did she talk about war, redevelopment? What was
political?
Well, come in, get her
book...[laughs]...her biography will be for sale right here at the
Cinematheque.
One of the things I like is that you don't just put on a picture, you
put on a show. For example at the
Metropolis screening: that orchestra, didn't the ushers wear special uniforms that you got from the
1940s style, or am I just imagining that?
No, you're not
imagining that. That was the Alloy Orchestra, and they made a whole business
by supplementing silents
with the unique brand of their music.
The uniform that you saw
was a uniform that I brought back from the Cannes Film Festival. In its
day, about 10
years ago, it used to have usher uniforms in the classic way with the
pillbox hat and the buttons down... well, they were phasing that out,
and I said "what are you going to do with these uniforms," and they said
"they're going into the historical storage for the history of this
festival, but you can have one of them."
So we do have that on
hand, and on special occasions we'll be using that.
What other special
programs have you done?
Well, you mentioned showmanship, and that's very important in this particular
market, because if it's not fun, people in this particular neighborhood are
not going to come.
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Andy Warhol's Flesh
Program
-from the MBC Archive |
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And that's why I keep
going back to the uniqueness and the unusual aspects of what we will do.
"Food and Film" was
a five year success with us, because it combined the fine dining aspect
of what Miami Beach is all about with a screening tied in with it... For five years we
partnered with Gourmet Magazine from Conde Nast and they brought in a
lot of their sponsors to help us work with the chefs to create a meal
tied in with the film.
And it helped raise
money for this [Cinematheque project] along with the Academy Awards
nights, which is an annual thing we do with TMG Productions. And that is
now officially sanctioned by the Academy Awards itself. They choose one
party per city that's impressive and interesting, and we were chosen
as the officially sanctioned party... so therefore when you come you
get the official Academy Awards program and you get the links to the
Academy Awards sites. So that's one of our major fund-raisers that's
helped make this all happen.
Where were you born and when did you fall in love with the
movies. And do you remember the first movie you saw?
I was born in Sante Fe,
New Mexico, and grew up in New Mexico, went to school in Southern
California, and ended up in Europe for 10 years modeling.
All my life I've been
a film buff. I've been interested in the creative aspects of film and
even the construction elements of film, rather than merely the
entertainment aspects of film, believe it or not as long as I can
remember.
Nineteen sixty-four—Mary
Poppins—in a drive-in theater, I remember being
fascinated by the special effects and how she "flew." Rather than getting involved in the story, I was thinking
technically and artistically about how they were doing that. That was when I was five years
old.
And I started collecting
graphic and historically significant documents right about the same
time. In fact, the souvenir program collection I have started in 1968
with Carol Reed's Oliver at the Bonanza Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Now, for economic
reasons, souvenir programs are given out at premiers only. But at one
time, during the fifties, the sixties, and even going as far back as the
twenties and thirties, when movie palaces were in vogue, there were
dramatic marketing ways to attract people and to keep them interested,
and souvenir programs were one of the biggest.
About your
modeling years, weren't you based in Germany for quite a long time?
Well, actually I was
based in Paris and Milan. I ended up going to Europe to test because an
agency in Santa Barbara sent me. I thought, OK, give it three months,
I'll have fun—I ended up staying 10 years.
You also
have amassed a museum-quality collection of historic movie posters,
souvenir programs and other movie memorabilia, much of it collected in
Europe while you lived there during your modeling years.
Models have a lot of
freedom... traveling from place to place. And my film fanaticism went
crazy with the availability of really beautiful historical materials.
Like, for example, the souvenir program traditions of Austria, Denmark,
Spain, and France.
Where did you find these
things?
I discovered them in
places like flea markets. I didn't realize there was a whole group of
collectors... I ended up collecting them for years and years, and I
ended up with some of the rarest materials—that even they
acknowledged—such as the original program for
Metropolis.
My collection basically
tells the entire history of the cinema from 1895 to today, so Thomas
Edison with all the experimental work done at the end of that century,
his documents, his programs, or at least announcements of his
screenings. I went out of my way to choose the highlights and collect
them to tell the whole history of the cinema. So I'll be
supplementing our screenings appropriately with some of these stories of
cinema.
Some of your pieces have
been shown at the Wolfsonian Museum. Because it is a valuable
collection, where do you store it? What would be the security aspects of
having some of these things here at the Cinematheque?
Well, they won't have
a permanent home here, that's for sure. Certain ones that I have
duplicates of maybe will be on permanent display. As you see around the
room, there are possibilities of display cases, and as we present films,
I'll bring in some of the rare items.
Your bio says you have
two undergraduate degrees from the University of California at Santa
Barbara—one in Cinema, emphasizing film history, aesthetics, and
criticism, and one in Fine Arts, emphasizing graphic arts with
photography and photolithography. Did you have to write a
senior thesis for your film course, and if so what was the topic?
I actually wrote several
theses. Our film program was very liberal: they allowed us to create
projects how we saw fit and since I was a double-major, a lot of my work
was graphically oriented. I designed the magazine in college, the film
magazine, and also developed the summer film institute. And at the same
time being the graphic artist for it and handling all the visual
elements. So my theses projects were always about the color usage in
cinema or the graphic use of editing technique. It all went to the
construction and aesthetics.
About what year was
this?
This was '82, the same
year I used to work at the Academy Awards.
Tell us about that.
Yeah, well, I was
working at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for the Academy Awards; that
was quite an experience.
You were a greeter?
It was an unusual job.
They needed people in the lobby just basically just to help people feel
at home and welcome.
There I was, as a 21 or
22 year old kid greeting people like Paul Newman, Raquel Welsh and
Cher—and, you know,
Dustin Hoffman, you name it, they came through those doors. I did end up at a
barbecue at Cher's house among other... several wild things Hollywood
people do.
That begs the question:
What are the "wild things" that Hollywood people do?
...[laughs]...Well,
hopefully, they come and appreciate cinema here at the Cinematheque...
Going back to the school
thing, did you ever make or act in any student or professional films, or
how about TV commercials during your modeling career?
Well, since my emphasis
was aesthetics, theory, history, criticism, I had very little actual
production experience.
However, I was more
behind the camera than in front of it during my student days. I was the
apprentice of Robert Boyle who was a production designer in Hollywood.
In fact, he designed some of Hitchcock's films, like The Birds and
Marnie. He kind of took me
under his wing and taught me the craft. But I discovered I really was
more interested in the appreciation of film rather than the production
of film.
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Fellini's
81/2
-from the MBC Archive |
For those who may not
know, what is a production designer?
He designs all the
creative aspects that have to do with sets, the interior design, the
exterior design, sometimes the composition, working with the
cinematographer.
Most of my work done
with Robert Boyle was with pre-production; it had a lot to do with
conceptual designing, ideas, based on research on the project and that
has a lot to do with the architectural design of the set.
Your bio says your
background includes management of the Arlington Center for the
Performing Arts in Santa Barbara, and The Red Rock 11 Theatres—at the
time, it says, the world's largest theatre complex. Tell us about your
experience as a theater manager and impresario.
Well, this performing
arts center I worked for in Santa Barbara was actually a movie palace—a 1931 Fox movie palace, which became a performing arts center because
of the typical economics of movie palaces turning into arts centers. So
my favorite aspect of that was the retrospective film type of
programming between the B-52s or maybe Tokyo Ballet, or everything from
Leontyne Price to David Byrne and the Talking Heads.
My favorite was always
the avant-garde screening that attracted fewer people than the 2,000
people that were there the night before. [laughs]
You've had to raise a
lot of money and organize a considerable amount community support to
fund the Film Society and this Cinematheque.
How much is the
renovation of the Cinematheque space going to cost?
Well, the renovation has
been a lot bigger project than we ever dreamed or wanted. This space,
which we fell in love with, unfortunately had its problems. It was
virtually crumbling. It was a storage unit for years, so it had to be
completely brought up to code. The walls were falling apart; the ceiling
was caving in. Little by little it came together thanks to Linda
Polansky who has been instrumental in helping fund the renovations.
Our side of it came from
private donations, a couple corporate sponsors here and there, and the
generosity of people realizing the importance of helping at the
beginning, which is a lot more difficult than bringing them on to
promote funding for programming.
For example, it's a
lot more difficult to convince someone to help you put in a $6,000 air
A/C unit than getting a lot of acknowledgement at a sexy, fun event.
You seem to have been
pretty successful over the years in raising money. I mean, wouldn't
you say so?
[Barbara Permagament,
the Film Society's chairman of the board, interjects]: He's the hardest working
person I've ever known in my life... dedicated beyond dedication...
[Dana replies]: Well,
the fund-raising aspect comes from the Board's help as well... the
Board is the base of the fund-raising activities.
Well, let me bring you
back to one part of my question: how much is the renovation and rental
of this space costing?
It's hard to put a
dollar value exactly on a project like this because it goes through so
many phases, but like I say the landlord has handled a lot of that.
We've helped a lot with some of the design aspects we've chosen:
these are some of the less expensive renovations.
So our main cost was
really more the rent, which eventually had to start, naturally... inevitably. She can't go on forever giving us free rent. So of course
the rent has started and we've been raising money.
What sort of rent is it?
Well it's surprisingly
good if you compare it to Lincoln Road prices...
How much do tickets
cost?
Tickets are going to be
typical of movies, probably from $8 to $10. Membership gives you a
discount on that ticket. Special events will obviously be more if it
includes a meal or includes maybe a lecture or a yoga class.
There's a wide variety
of membership starting at $50. That's Basic Membership. And $100
membership, what we call Premier Membership, gives you even more perks.
And then the Founding Circle, the people who have really helped us out
either with in kind donation or cash donation, those starts at $500.
We're still developing that, by the way, if any of your readers are
interested, we'll be happy to add to our Founding Circle, and see how
they can fit in any way they can.
When and how did you
come to reside in South Beach?
As a model...the German
market usually shot here...and that was in the mid-80s when South Beach
was a combination of crumbling buildings and new directions. So I ended
up here. I became friends with several locals, and I decided this was
European and pedestrian-oriented, and interesting and varied and
cultured, just like I'd been used to in Europe ? not exactly,
obviously with a more Latin side to things. But it's not Middle
America...
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Dana Keith in
Italian Vogue |
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I
understand you were a major house model for Gianni Versace and worked
closely with him. Tell us about that.
Well, yeah, I worked
with Gianni for five years, doing all of his shows, the male shows and
as a supplement to his female shows as well and vice versa. He used to
sprinkle his favorite female models in male shows and mix his male
models into his female shows. And sometimes his photo shoots. I debuted
his first couture line for men in 1986, I was the main model for that,
the fitting model for that . . .[the murder of Versace
on the steps of his South Beach palazzo] was devastating, of course. I
was actually here that day and it was just a horrible thing that
happened. And it changed
the whole South Beach scene.
You've been here quite
a while. How do you see the development of South Beach? Many people
contend it has become less bohemian, much more mainstream, and far less
artistic than it was a decade ago.
On the other hand, this
part of South Beach, the picturesque Espanola Way shopping and dining
district, is booming now. And there are still quite a few artists?
studios in the Espanola Way Art Center building that Scott Robins
Companies owns on the corner of Espanola and Washington Avenue.
What's your take on
South Beach's development direction and the role of artists and art
institutions in its commercial success?
Well, there's been a
combination of good and bad happening in South Beach. The gentrification
of the area is good in many ways. It brings money to the area. However,
it pushes out the artists and the cultural institutions.
Lincoln Road, as you can
see, is basically, slowly, little by little becoming kind of a shopping
mall. The day the Miami City
Ballet practice space went out and Victoria's Secret went in, was very symbolic of what Lincoln Road has become.
To me, Espanola Way is
still an escape from the commercialization and standardization of
things.
It's got individual
charm, it's got the bohemian aspect, and now with the renovation—as I said the good and the bad—it's enabling a combination of
markets to come and enjoy it. That's why I think we fit in, and
luckily we found this space just in time.
Do you have a long-term
lease?
Luckily we do... ten
years.
Do you think City Hall, the politicians, and
the real estate community share your vision? Or will they say, 'Gee,
this is the perfect place to put in another Gap or other chain store?'
I don't think Gaps
will ever come to Espanola Way, because it's ? there's not enough
foot traffic here. It's in the middle of everything, but it's an
escape from everything.
This street leads into a
residential neighborhood. This particular west end is very residential
as well as being commercial now. You
know the nightclub boom in South Beach, which was a great thing
economically for South Beach, was a wonderful thing that hit this town.
However, there's always been a need, I think, for small cultural
activities, along with the major institutions, the anchors, if you will
of the Wolfsonian, the Bass Museum the Jewish Museum . . .
There's always been a
need for kind of a St. Germain Des Pres or West Village atmosphere, and
this is where it should be.
South Beach is changing
with the addition of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high-rise,
high-end condos on the water. Despite a worldwide recession, these
luxury condos are selling like hotcakes.
And for many of the wealthy buyers from around the world, these
South Beach apartments are their second or third homes. Generally, these folks seem
less enamored with the nightclub culture of South Beach than the
twenty-something trendoids who congregate in the clubs. At least some of
the owners of the new condos are protesting powerfully against the
endless noise in their neighborhood. Whatever the merits of
that controversy, it's clear South Beach's demographics are
changing. What does that mean for the film society? Are these well-to-do
condo dwellers interested in the cinema?
Well, I think it's
becoming a more well rounded neighborhood with a variety of locals,
rather than a party town full of partiers. The condos are bringing a different type of person... looking for interesting things to
do. They obviously enjoy the nightclub atmosphere and what it can give
them — but I think they're looking for that something more that they
can get in other cities like New York.
A lot of these people
are New Yorkers. They're used to neighborhoods with galleries and
cafes and cultural things going on. And this is exactly the type of
project I think a lot of these people will appreciate.
When you worked as the
concierge at the rather chic and very trendy Astor Hotel—which is
near the both the Wolfsonian Museum and a whole string of nightclubs on
lower Washington Avenue—did more people ask you about going to the
clubs or going to the museum?
Definitely the clubs... [laughs]... they come here to party.
But I enlightened many
people by mentioning the Wolfsonian was right across the street and
surprising them with the world class aspects of what's right across
the way.
And what about requests
for escort services—call
girls and call boys—isn't that a part of the famous South Beach
mix?
That's definitely part
of it, but if you ask any professional concierge they'll tell you that
there are two things they don't do: and that's offering connections
to prostitution and to drugs. So we're not pimps and we're not drug
dealers. We're expediters of a good time in other ways.
With the chic
boutique-style hotel [like the Astor], luckily we got a wonderful variety of upscale and
interesting people as well as interesting bohemian artist types -- that's the best thing about
working in the hotel industry. And that's one of the things that kept
me interested in staying in South Beach.
What were the most
common requests you'd get as a concierge?
Where are the best
clubs? Where are the best restaurants? What's the thing to do tonight,
and how can you help me get on the guest list?
What were the most
unusual requests you have ever received?
Well, the chic, little
boutique-style hotels attract a kind of celebrity clientele — and I'm
not going to name any names. But sometimes the more famous someone is,
the more, kind of... detailed their requests are.
You know, some of hotel
staff maybe would complain about the details of a request, but I kind of
find it interesting and challenging.
So one particular
celebrity guest of ours, I kept an entire list of his absolute, adamant
requests that must happen every time he comes to town, so you should
realize and know that without him asking. Things like, for example, no
safety pins on his dry-cleaning.
And no strawberries near
the scrambled eggs. Just a whole list of unusual things. So as long as
you knew them, everything was great.
How long were you a
concierge?
Well, right now I'm
still working at The Nash as guest relations manager.
I actually opened The
Astor, with [owner] Karim [Masri] back in 1995 and opened The Nash with
Laura Sheriden and [owner] Gregg Lurie, who's one of our sponsors by
the way.
So in addition to your
work with the film society and Cinematheque, you do what most people
would call a full-time time job, like 40 hours week at the hotel?
See, now you're
learning the complexity of a non-profit organization with limited
funding. Someone's got to work; someone's got to have a life aside
from it. Luckily, the owner of the hotel is understanding of what I'm
doing and is helping out.
MIAMI
BEACH CINEMATHEQUE MEMBERSHIP There are nine
levels of participation in Miami Beach Cinematheque, from $50
Annual Memberships to $25,000 Founding Circle Members whose
names will be prominently displayed on a Founding Circle Members
plaque at the Cinematheque.
Each of the
nine membership levels provides a different type of
acknowledgement, and there are numerous ways corporate level
members can receive exposure and positive publicity.
For
more information visit:
Miami Beach Cinematheque |