Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc’s Adventure in Plastic | Phranc, Lisa Udelson, Jenni Olson

oh my gosh what a nice audience you all quieted down before I even got into the stage good evening everyone and welcome to the Billy Wilder theater home of the public programs for the UCLA film and television archive my name is Amanda Salazar I'm a public programmer with the archive and I am so honored and thrilled to be here presenting on behalf of of the archive um doing our introduction for the closing night in the series mask trans men Butch dikes and gender non-conforming heroes in cinema before we begin as a land grant institution the film and television archive at UCLA would like to acknowledge our presence on the traditional ancestral and unseated territory of the gabino and tongva peoples we're humbled to do work in this community these programs and conversations that we've had over the last five days really actually Four um cannot come together without generous individuals and organizations that have helped make tonight's screening in the entire series possible and I would like to take a little extra time tonight on our closing night to thank them all of the archive screenings at the Wilder are free thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor and we are grateful for their support this screening Series has been made possible by the Andrew J Kean Jr Foundation I would like to give a big thank you to Criterion and therefore the Criterion Collection uh who partnered with us early on so that we could be the first first in-person place for this program of the series it will actually be traveling to New York in November so take if you have any friends out there make sure to tell them we have been lucky to work in partnership with so many amazing organizations and I would like to thank them as our Community Partners i' would like to thank outfest but butch monthly La everybody Los Angeles magic hour one archives Foundation outright magazine the UCLA lgbtq campus resource center and a special thank you to JQ International for their support of the second feature tonight Shinjuku boys many people at UCLA helped make this series a huge success so I'd like to First give a big thank you to our director of the archive may hang um I'd like to thank Jen re Marissa SoDo and Nicole usedto for from our Communications team a very special thank you to our digital lab manager Randy yant who did uh a lot of work to make sure that this whole series looks and is presented well and then for tonight's screening we have an amazing crew here working with us that also keeps it makes everyone seated and it's going to make sure the picture looks great tonight so big thank you to our house manager Lauren Brown the students that are here this evening and also our projectionist Leighton Hebert and finally as if there's so many thank yous as I told you I would also like to acknowledge and thank the filmmakers that have joined us throughout this series over the four nights and I would also like to thank you the audience that have graced this space over the last few nights we've watched works together the energy and conversation that has come out of this theater is something to be very thankful for so please give these tremendous supporters and yourselves a round of applause and on to tonight's program the show will go as follows um after our introductions we have a bit of a special guest performance and I hope you're all in the mood for that uh we will then screen we have a a little short clip I call it kind of what's part of I see the bigger picture series here at the archive that gives you an insight into what we do as an archive year round um and for long-term preservation we will then be screening the film lifetime guarantee Frank's Adventure in plastic uh ventures in plastic excuse me and then bring up a few special guests for the conversation we will open this up for audience questions so please be thinking about that to be ready take a short intermission but anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes we'll see how long the Q&A goes but plan on 10 and then have our screening of the closing night film Shinjuku boys so over the last few months I have had the privilege and great honor to work with the co-curators Jenny olssen and Kaden Mark Gardner on bringing the series to the Billy Wilder theater our conversations are filled with care generosity and an understanding of the responsibility of showing this work at this time see film is a medium that is projected larger than us as we're about to see where we transcend time and place for the length of the film and we get to see ourselves immerse ourselves in the lives and exper experiences of those that are like us and those that are not like us and we get to connect Jenny and Kaden curated a series using the moving image that Spann decades genres lengths and centered the stories of trans mask Butch Dy and gender non-conforming people and it connected us all that feeling is not lost on me and hopefully that is not on you in this evening or if you have joined us throughout the series I would now like to bring up our guide our rock star as she was so um she was called last night and which is true and one of the co-creators Jenny Olen who has taken us on an incredible journey thus far creating space for a very special dialogue that only happens around film and the audience Jenny Olen is a queer film historian writer and filmmaker who has been a leading figure in the lgbtq film world for many years in addition to being a founding member of The Advisory board for the outfest UCLA Legacy project for lgbtq film preservation she's a proud proprietor of but.org and if I can make one final plug and my very long introduction Jenny's film The Joy of life will be playing here on Sunday night and I highly recommend coming to see this on the big screen and getting to have them in conversation so please join me and welcoming the co-curator for this series Jenny [Applause] Olson thank you Amanda I'm going to get so much mileage out of that Rockstar thing um so you guys are in for such a treat um I'm just gonna I'm GNA bring uh director Lisa udon up in a in a minute um but I want to talk a little bit give you just a little bit of uh context for your enjoyment of the film um and so first I want to convey how lucky you guys are this film has not had a public screening in a very long time um and has been virtually unseen since it took the festival World by storm about 20 years ago where it won the audience awards at South at many festivals including South by Southwest and outfest um so on the one hand it's an extremely fun and entertaining film um it's also personally I'm it is such a moving film um for many of the reasons that Amanda was was pointing to in terms of the the themes of this series um I was saying to Frank earlier I I I think there's this sense of of Frank I mean as a person and as a performer and as a a figure in this film of that she as she just navigates the world being her genuine Charming humble self um that she's a hero um a a gender non-conforming hero um and a personal hero to me um and um and and you know I think to you know to to you um uh you'll see um and um I think so that's been one of the themes that as Kaden and I were pulling the series together that we thought about of this idea of Butch dikes transmen uh gender non-conforming uh aab assigned female at Birth folks as Heroes and um and it's been amazing throughout the whole series to have that sense and to experience that together um uh as a community and um so so I always love reading older uh reviews old reviews of of films from when they came out um my favorite review of lifetime guarantee from 2001 is from variety which referred to Frank as a 1950s sitcom dad styled androgine go Frank and the Rave review in the San Francisco Chronicle at the time describes how Lisa was inspired to make the film after attending one of Frank's Tupperware presentations it was completely perfect and crazy says udon when she picked up that guitar I practically tackled her to the floor I wanted to make a film with her so badly please help me welcome to the stage the director of lifetime guarantee Lisa udon hello everyone boy I haven't done this in a couple of decades introduced a film but um I would not be standing here and we would not be here without Jenny uh Jenny is indeed a rock star and a hero and a really nice person on top of it she's amazing so my greatest biggest thank you goes to Jenny um and to Kaden as well for putting this amazing series together and if you haven't seen any of the other films I really recommend them it's it's quite something uh I also want to thank Amanda and May and the UCLA film and TV archives uh for putting together this great week of films and um I don't really like to say much before the movie if you have questions or comments we'll do that afterwards but Jenny stole my thunder a little bit because I have reviews um I feel a little mad at Jenny right now um but I'm going to read these anyway about Frank and they came from letterboxed if anybody knows what letterboxed is it's um basically film reviews online by any kind of person that wants to so these are comments on the film and specifically about Frank a Butch lesbian who sells Tupperware while singing yes please Frank could sell me a lit stick of dynamite I love Frank so much I will think about her every time I put my leftovers away I would probably buy thousands of dollars worth of Tupperware if a hot Butch was selling it to me Frank is so authentic and joyous I would buy every piece of Tupperware she was selling a true National Treasure and I think you'll agree that she is indeed that and please help help me welcome Frank [Applause] [Music] it's cool to get old it's cool to get old it's cool to get old in La I do it every day so take your face lifts and your implants I'll get a wheelchair and a bus pass and for long as I can I'll eat at the Apple [Music] Pan cuz it's cool to get old it's cool to get old it's cool to get old in La that's where I'm going to [Music] stay I got some friends that I've been missing so I'm grateful just to be living and breathe every day the sweet small cuz it's cool to get old it's cool to get old it's cool to get old in La I can surve every day so take your Botox and your Macks I'll go see Albert and get a fresh flat top I'm not moving away my barers here in LA it's cool to get old it's cool to get old it's cool to get old in LA and if I'm going gr do it on the freeway and grow old in LA [Applause] thank you thanks for showing up tonight thanks to Amanda and May and the hammer and UCLA and uh thanks to Lisa udon the master director that made lifetime guarantee and for the friendship that we developed making it and really the biggest shout out of all to Jenny Olen the most amazing Butch you'll ever meet it's because of her that this film is having a Renaissance and uh we're all here tonight because she made sure that this movie that have been tucked away for over 20 years has now come into the light so here we are welcome to the Tupperware party hey I'm Your tuo lady yeah I'm your T boo lady I'm your Tu boo lady yeah I'm your T lady you can buy it from me it's got a a lifetime guarantee against chipping and breaking cracking and peeling so if you're feeling like you're a square just get to some typ from me you top lady oh yeah I loveer baby and I'll show you how to micro Steam and a crystal wave rock your rocking serve spin your Spin and save T where I was at face hey get some tuer baby from me tuer lady date a party with me I'll give you a Hostess gift free I'm so glad you're here with me toer Weare party yeah [Applause] yeah let's get started amazing to have this opportunity Jenny so thanks so much for making it happen oh my God I mean really oh um thank you um it's so amazing and I I it's so amazing to see it again after all these years um and I just have to say Lisa I mean the as a film it's such an amazing film I mean Frank you're amazing we'll get to that but but Lisa Lisa captured everything it's so as a as a film like the the the editing the the pace the velocity the the choices I mean it's just like like we're you know yes but what people don't know is that that Lisa udon made this film by herself now people say oh I need to get the camera person no I need to get a sound person I need to get an editor I have to have somebody to do this I have to have costume I have to have she had a camera and she came with me that's it it was just the two of us it was just the two of us and there's a lot of credits at the end of a lot of credits at the and when it was finished but on the road it was just us and we didn't know each other did we we had met actually it's pretty talk about story when you when you what is it I'll dedicate the screening to Rocky Peterson who Rocky Peterson no longer with us um but uh all the sh uh yeah I heard a message on her answering machine because it was 20 some years ago um hey Rock I'm having this my first Tupperware party and that's as far as it got before it's like there's a documentary Frank doing Tupperware and so we met through Rocky and when we first started we really didn't know each other at all and uh you know a friendship grew over that year that was very close and intimate and uh hopefully it shows in the film Lisa's idea is like she comes to the first Tupperware par and she goes uh I think we should make a movie about your first year selling Tupperware and I was like I did my first party I had even really done my first party so uh she had a vision obviously so and so can you just talk a little bit about that I mean you you how long was the production process and like clearly you like did like spend a lot of time together it was I guess about a year little over a year and a half it was pretty much the first year so what was it 99 99 200000 200000 finished it in 2001 yeah and and and in terms of the the reception at the time so it it played like really widely like around the festival circuit and like queer festivals and straight festivals and it played everywhere and and all over the place yeah and like so I I mean I love that I I don't know to me like I love that it's such a queer film and as a queer audience but it also and like you know obviously so much of it in terms of you it's also like you're so amazing and charming and like I people I just picture you know straight audiences falling in love with you I'm in my element because I'm just in another huge women's Community Jer Weare I mean how many guys are in the film right right there you go so the element is you know the women the women were just like that Community was just amazing as you could see I mean to watch in the theater to see Norma jeene to see Emma chus to see Anita Garcia all their names come back to me I mean it was Mo'Nique Jackson cook my manager Eric I mean you Lisa met all Lisa met all of them they were wonderful of them yeah it was really fun to hang around those women yeah I mean I found that also really moving that there's a sense of that they feel like these allies to you and like there's particularly one scene where like you really get that and um I'm sort of curious I mean there was that experience that you had at that time and and I you know we were talking before the show about kind of this moment in time and and I think it's so powerful to see it at this moment in time um in terms of the current um environment of anti-lgbt and especially anti-trans um rhetoric and attacks and um we you know need Heroes like you and need stories like this and um I don't know I I mean I'm curious if you you know what do you think about it right now um in terms of that and and you you know not to like put you on too much of a pedestal as my hero don't put me on a pedestal Jenny because I'll tell you you know one of the reasons I didn't stop telling TPP selling Tupperware and I'll be completely honest with you it's just like there's the Tupperware lady there's the Tupperware lady there's Frank disappeared into the Tupperware lady and my ego couldn't totally take it because I became just a t Tupperware lady and I had to get Frank back so um I I slowly edged out of Tupperware and kind of reclaimed performing more as the Frank the Jewish lesbian folk singer not so much the Jewish lesbian folk singing surfing Tupperware lady although I still love Tupperware and I am wearing my vintage Tupperware badge from that time and I always will have great respect uh but um I think what you're talking talking about is identity and um you know I don't think we can have enough examples out in the world of people just standing up and being who they are and and that's like part of the essence and it's just like no matter who you are it's never too late to be yourself I mean come on I mean and we're hearing that more and more from different people everywhere are saying come on be yourself you know be authentic well you know it's never too late you know but I think that's what you're talking about and with the rise of anti-queer hate and uh transphobia and uh just you know the whole Pandora's Box um there's no better time to stand together as a community in being who we are and supporting each other and so to see that kind of support in the film I feel like that support I'm seeing in our community today too I mean we really people are standing up and standing together and I think that's the most important thing [Applause] yeah um so I want to ask you this um so it's been like 20 plus years and like what can you talk about like why it's been unavailable all this time time um and then and then also like what's the plan to make it more widely available now well the boring story is that 20 some years ago there were rights and clearances that made it prohibitive uh and there wasn't really much of a budget to do that and then when the phone rang and it was you and I was floored by this opportunity and um Eric darala my co-producer um has his company has grown from two people to I don't know how many but his company is roadside attractions if you're familiar with it and um he's a dear friend and like my brother from another mother and he said let's do this remaster so we did it now we put the money into it and remastered it and uh I can't imagine he did that without the thought that it will have a life longer than much is we're so grateful for the Criterion Channel and this screening and Brooklyn which we're looking forward to he I think he has other options and we'll soon find out what that is what those are yeah yeah Eric was very vital in the film like getting completed like I said Lisa shot everything and really did everything by herself but you know how much it takes to get a film finished and actually you know produced and out in the world and without him it couldn't have happened and especially now getting the film remastered when Jenny Jenny called I talked to Le and then Lisa called me and she goes what do you think what do you think and I'm like what yeah let's go you know so uh you know we got that Tupper feeling down in our toes and Eric totally made it happen so we're very grateful very grateful yeah um okay well everybody stay tuned to to hear the plans how it we get out there more but um it'll be very exciting um I think we can um open it up to the audience for some questions there's a couple of mics out there if you want to raise your [Music] hands so hi hi Jenny hi Lisa hi Frank um it's Amy um so beautiful to see the film on screen it's fantastic I have seen it but it was extraordinary to see it now so thank you um you know I'm thinking about um how I'm thinking about that thread of showing Frank on the phone and I didn't realize it when I've seen it before but how important that was to see you this character in isolation in the Tupper world and how um that was contrasted with you being in conversation with someone someone and showing like you as you know intimate and in um uh in relationship I just love that detail and I wondered if you could talk about how that happened and if you were always on the phone with someone and you know the decision to include that part of it well it was Lisa's decision on what she shot but I would call Lisa my partner who's here tonight um every night after the party before I came home and when I was at Jubilee and when I was in Prim at the convention um I would just I would call home every night and so that's who I'm talking to I'm talking to my beloved Lisa um telling her what happened filling her in because uh yeah so that was the connection that's the that's the conversation that you're seeing and then I think uh uh I called my mom on shabas and she's here tonight too so good shabas yeah it's an interesting point to bring up Amy because for me it's the only thing that that anchors it in the past is the phone with a cord um but you're right uh it is a moment of connection for Frank and I also um was very appreciative that she let me be up in her business all the freaking time from the time she opened her eyes I was was there you know so it you know she gave me a lot of of Grace and freedom um which I appreciated so thank you for mentioning that hi uh I love this film and I remember seeing it probably at outfest um back when it first came out and it's definitely a very queer film and yet when I was watching it this time I don't think the word lesbian or gay was ever mentioned in the entire film was it only when I introduced myself okay oh right yeah did you have any encounters with the women that you worked with in the Tupperware I mean we saw that one really awkward one where the one thought you were a man but were there times when you were able to share your life or be challenged or you know raise awareness well I think I raised awareness being at the conventions which you could see but in my community I think you could see how I was embraced I mean I'm there were definitely women in in my um uh Tupperware ship dealership that weren't completely like-minded but they were still embraced me and uh yeah no I mean I it it was pretty positive I mean people are always asking me like where the negatives are and uh you know where where I've experienced all the great negativity and um I I did not you could see at the end my feelings were very hurt that my Donnie and Marie show didn't get included I thought that was really a slight and perhaps slightly homophobic but but in my Tupper world I felt very loved hi um this is the first time I've seen the movie so thank you very much and um I I'm fascinated by documentaries in that when you heard that message Lisa you you didn't know what was going to happen and I've seen so many documentaries that it starts before you know the end of the story so what made you hear a story and think that's a movie it's a good question there is a gigantic leap of faith there where you get a seed of an idea and they're very well could have been no movie there you know you start down the road and you wonder and then you're like there's a lot of good stuffff here and now Eric's gotten on board and I this isn't the short film I thought it was going to be and then I mean I know it sucked for you but there was the end of my movie was she just got slided by Tupperware so you know it was um you know it's for me that's the drug involved is like when things happen in front of your camera that you don't expect you have no PR addiction like just a couple things from the film the airplane when she's Sayang on the airplane I I you know moments like that are just like oh my God you know like they're just that woman had the cereal store but like you know and you're like in the right place to shoot over her shoulder and get the women's fa you know like you can't make that up it just it happens and then you cross your fingers and have some faith that there's going to be an ending and then there was so maybe just a little bit of luck and keeping at it um so we have time for two more questions there's someone down here someone right here here right here oh right there I want to thank you very much it's the first time I saw this there is a background of sadness in this film for me and um I think it was so delicately portrayed H and I think it pre the contrast between the embracing of the people and it cannot erase the sadness because to fight so hard for acceptance it is really exhausting but now I often think doesn't everybody have that one way or another life is very difficult so I congratulate you for uh both of you and the producer I mean it's really very sensitively done and it's beyond the current frantic environment we're in where we're kind of at each other it's really sad and thank you I appreciate that thank you um thank you uh Frank I'm sure I'm not the only person here who used to see you at highways in Santa Monica it's been a long time and you sound and look fantastic tonight so it's it's so great to see you I didn't see the film many years ago and I absolutely loved it just a quick comment and then a quick question if I may I was very touched just by the the energy in the room when you were with all the Tupperware ladies and they just loved you and you were you you seemed so comfortable and confident and humorous and it was just touching to see all of these women loving you it was it was great my question is uh can you talk a little bit about whatever you're doing musically or coming up thank you oh uh thank you um I'm still singing my music has just uh started streaming on all platforms which it's never been available before so it's up there and I'm preparing for a uh show called the the butch closet which will include my art and sculptures and all of my music so it's going to be uh I some flyers for after the show October 28th at the Craig Kow Gallery in Santa Monica I've been signaled that we have time for one more question um yeah um it seemed to me that that the con a mechanism for the connection with the straight Community was your Artistry and creativity and your music and the energy and the spirit that that embodied do you think that there's a opportunity for us now to bridge some gaps through that kind of connection I think that uh music I think performers uh have a wonderful platform and ability to kind of connect and spread a message sometimes uh that um get the message out into the world and create that connection maybe easier because we have a platform and a vehicle but I think that every single person can make a difference just by um standing up and speaking out I want to thank Amanda and May and Jenny Olen who put together this incredible uh series and included and made this film happen again and thank you so much Le Lisa udon for everything I love you well it it's all you I was there thank you Jenny thank you and um so we're gonna have a 10 minute intermission and then I want to encourage everyone to come back for our second part of our double feature for more amazing gender non-conforming heroes in Shinjuku boys woohoo