The Thousands

Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was a saloon keeper, actress and entrepreneur. Having made her silent film debut in The Wildcat, she took advantage of Prohibition in New York by opening a speakeasy called the 300 Club in a basement on 54th Street. She earned $700,000 in ten months in 1926 selling drinks to George Gershwin, Reggie Vanderbilt and Walter Chrysler. But do you know the BEST thing about Texas Guinan? She would welcome all her patrons by hissing "Helloo, suckers!"

Some people just deserve to succeed. Like film buff (and indeed other kinds of buff) Ghita Loebenstein, who’s opening her own Speakeasy Cinema this week at Paddington Town Hall. It’s a place where you can watch the films that slip through the cracks of mainstream cinema programming, while sitting on a couch or a beanbag, while eating off a little tray, while drinking a beer. Ghita’s also invited Melbourne-based animator Isobel Knowles to program a series of shorts that will show before the main features.**There are three films up on the program so far, while the Speakeasy Cinema project settles into its first home. Opening night this Saturday is Aaron Rose‘s documentary Beautiful Losers, about the art star nerdery who hung out at Alleged Gallery in the ’90s. Visit the Speakeasy site to read Ghita’s interview with Aaron about the film. It’s pretty much the same as Prohibition was, except Aaron was more like, "Helloo, f#!kers."