Quick Snaps: Wandering Seats from Hogg

in

Hogg seats

I was walking around the UT Austin campus recently and passed Hogg Auditorium. Hogg is used as a classroom these days, but when I went to UT, the student union showed movies there. I wish I had a photo of the inside for you -- it looks more like a movie theater than an auditorium, and even has balcony seating. It's lovely without being too fancy.

For some reason, some of the theater-I-mean-auditorium seats were outside of the building. Were they being sent off for cleaning? I have no idea. But I took advantage of the opportunity to snap a photo. I don't think the seats have changed much since I used to sit in them for movies.

Hogg was never what you might call the latest greatest high-tech theater. It was notorious for the bats that would fly behind the screen sometimes. But I had one of my most memorable moviegoing experiences there, my first semester at UT. My long-distance boyfriend had just broken up with me, it had been a miserable weekend with a lot of crying in the dorm-room shower (the only private place possible), and for whatever reason, I decided to go see a movie to cheer me up. Hogg was showing one of my favorite movies ... Brazil.

And while Brazil is not the cheeriest, most optimistic movie on the planet, by the end of it I felt a lot better. Brazil is a perfect film to watch with bat silhouettes swooping behind the picture. And I loved the old-fashioned clock above the exit of the theater, which was lighted in the dark without being distracting. After seeing Brazil, I was ready to deal with grad school and the rest of the universe again.

Years later, a group of us used to go to Hogg on the weekends to watch subtitled Jackie Chan movies, the only place in town (probably in state, for that matter) where you could catch these films. I loved sitting in the balcony and watching Armour of God II: Operation Condor and City Hunter and whatever else the student union could dig up.

Hogg's days as a movie theater are over ... but it still has movie connections. The auditorium was used in Bandslam as the location for the big band competition at the end of the movie. If you see the film, keep your eyes open for a few quick shots of Hogg. Too bad they couldn't hold a special screening of Bandslam there.

Here's one more detailed shot of the theater seats, which were more interesting than comfortable, but which I miss nonetheless.

Hogg seats

I remember seeing a part of

I remember seeing a part of WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN there with my suite-mates. It was the kind of theatre where employees would turn off the lights and lock up while leaving 4 college girls in the bathroom. Long story... good times.

Those chairs

I've got a love/hate relationship with those seats. They're not very comfortable, but I'd miss them if they were gone. "They don't make them like that anymore."

I remember taking one or two final exams in those seats with their tiny desks. I saw several free previews of bad movies in the early 90s in those seats. I can recall Toy Soldiers, Bird on a Wire and The Doors off the top of my head. I also remember seeing Hot Spot and Goodfellas there.

The Jeff Tweedy concert last winter was a lot of fun. Hogg seems well suited for that sort of performance.

Got to see Drunken Master II,

Got to see Drunken Master II, Wheels on Meals, and The Twin Dragons at Hogg. Also heard stories of the projectionist leaving before the last reel and people from the audience going up and trying to fix it.

Hogg Memories

Ah yes! I too saw those Jackie Chan movies in Hogg, along with some other amazing Hong Kong flicks, like John Woo's Hard Boiled and Jet Li's Fist of Legend.

One thing about those chairs -- I loved bringing a big subway sandwich in with me and eating it on the folding desk. Those were the days!

I, sadly, never thought to

I, sadly, never thought to partake of it while I was there.

Oh, by the way while I am here - I beleive I heard someting about there being video of Robert Forster at Cinemapocalypse (but have not yet seen it online). Pretty please???

Thanks for the reminder!

I had to split in a two-parter for YouTube, but it seems neither loaded to my profile. I'll work on the video and we'll get it posted ASAP.