Countering More Facebook Bullshit

[Richard M Roberts]

Well, more attempted Facebook bullshit being spread by a now former Mafia member, Lorenzo Tremarelli.

Earlier this morning, he posted this on his Charley Chase Facebook page:

"I have received reliable information that the 1928-29 Charley Chase Blu-ray Collection, distributed by Kit Parker and following last year's Blu-Ray Set, is not yet in production and will probably never be done.

Due to the negative response to the poor quality copies of BIGGER AND BETTER BLONDES and THE LIGHTER THAT FAILED released last year, they are likely concerned about making the same mistake again. It's a shame because, as I have pointed out several times, the intention was good, and some gems were brought back to life in splendid form. However, 1928–29 would be too challenging for them, I believe. They tell me this, and I am passing the information on to you. I think it's time to take some countermeasures, if you care about Charley Chase's best filmmaking period."

Paul Gierucki soon posted this response on Tremarelli's page:

"On behalf of the producers of the Chase sets, I can tell everyone reading that the "reliable" information presented here did not come from anyone associated with the Sprocket Vault Chase productions. Period. We do not discuss the status of any project, current or future, specifically because of the potential for inaccurate reporting like this. As to the rest of the speculation here, it is just that -- 100% baseless speculation. We are proud of the work that was done, and are absolutely thrilled with the overwhelmingly positive reviews for the 1927 set. As such, I have no idea what the goal here might be."

Tremarelli soon deleted Paul's post from his page.

Folks, what Paul Gierucki says is absolutely true, what Tremarelli claims in his post is complete and utter bullshit. He has absolutely no information from anyone who would be involved in any of our releases, we never make any advance announcement of anything we are working on until we are ready to release it, and we have a number of projects in various stages of completion going on at this time. He has been bothering various members of our production group trying to find out something about any future Chase releases and has been told the above, so we categorically say that neither he, nor any so-called "reliable source" he may claim has any knowledge or authority to speak accurately about any of our work. As Paul states, we were absolutely thrilled by the positive reviews and sales our 1927 set received, and feel no deterrent to continuing that work if we so choose.

Mr Tremarelli fancies himself a Charley Chase historian and so we must assume this attempt to smear us is some sort of sad jealousy on his part, having read his book, we can understand his petty attitude.

As Always, be wary of any BS rumor spread about our work out there. Any announcement or information about our work will pretty much appear here first, and we give you the facts when you need to know them, and we are ready to tell you. We leave Tremarelli to join the cinewhiners or Nitwitvile where the sad little pockets of folk who try to spread crap about us tend to congregate, most of you already know them and can easily discount their nonsense.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Ed Watz]

Whoa! Nearly fell out of my chair reading this Lorenzo Tremarelli person’s lies - what a despicable thing to do.

I cannot imagine why in the world Tremarelli would think it was a “good idea" to make up a baseless smear campaign like this. And then to delete Paul Gierucki’s factual response, where Paul respectfully corrected Tremarelli’s false insinuations. Tremarelli can’t handle the truth, obviously.

Tremarelli goes on to criticize the quality of two out of 14 shorts on the 1927 Chase set but he ignores the fact that the remaining 12 films look fabulous, or at the least, near-fabulous. I’d like to point out that Tremarelli has deleted his previous 5-star rave review of this set on Amazon where he also stated that he purchased TWO COPIES because he enjoyed it so much.

If lies and prejudice of this sort is the "new normal" on Facebook, I’m glad I haven’t been a member there for many years.

And if Tremarelli has any decency, he owes The Sprocket Vault members a sincere apology.

[Paul E. Gierucki]

I have just spoken with Mr. Tremarelli and discussed all of this at length. Apologies were exchanged and the threads were removed.

We are living in unusual times, folks. Everyone seems angrier, less thoughtful, more brash and aggressive than at any other point during my life. This community is a niche, of a niche, of a niche. We should try to get along and help each other rather than snipe, badmouth, or one-up. In the end, we are all working toward the same thing -- saving, preserving, and sharing the films.