The Rural We: Tom Schiller
Photo by Jacque Lynn Schiller
Tom Schiller is best known for his 11-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live. His films, often featuring members of the original SNL cast, aired in a segment called "Schiller's Reel." The California native now lives in Cornwall, Connecticut with his wife, Jacque Lynn Schiller, and will appear at the opening reception of a new art show at the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon. The exhibit will feature the work of Schiller’s longtime friend, writer and artist Henry Miller. A half-hour film by Schiller, Henry Miller: Asleep and Awake, will be for sale at the opening on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 4-6 p.m. I grew up in LA, and spent half my life there and half of it in New York City. We’ve been coming up to Litchfield County part time for 15 years, and have lived here totally for 5 years. I like the quietude and, since I grew up in California, I like the seasons…except for March. When we first moved here, I went outside and I was stunned by the quiet, then I heard the sound of thousands of cars on a freeway, and it was the wind in the trees which was just delicious. I met Henry Miller when I was studying with documentary filmmaker Robert Snyder. He had an assignment to film him for a BBC documentary. I was the soundman. I became enthralled with how he could tell stories, with that sonorous Brooklyn accent. He was so warm; he said, “You remind me of myself when I was your age. Come over and visit me; wake me up if you have to.” He was 76 or 78 and I was 18. He was my first teacher of life.
Tom and Henry Miller in 1973 by R.A. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Henry Miller: Asleep and Awake was a hit, it aired on PBS and through that I met Lorne. He said, “Come to New York and work on this new sketch comedy show I’m doing, you can be a writer.” I said, “I don’t want to be a writer, I want to make films.” And he told me, “Well, you can eventually make films, too.” So I was one of the first nine writers on the show, in 1975. I was there for the first five years, and later I was there again for six years. I made a short once every three or four weeks, and I made about 50 total. One of my favorite influences are Charles and Ray Eames. I was a model for them at the age of four, and later I worked for them as a delivery boy and other jobs. They had a marvelous house. Saul Steinberg also influenced me; I enjoy doing doodles and fun stuff like line drawings. Jeff Joyce at the Library asked me to do the show, and it’s refreshing not to have to write or direct anything; I just went into my archives. The show will include a group of Miller’s lithographs from his watercolors, six or seven copperplate etchings and prints made from those. There’s a line drawing he made for one of my birthdays. Some of these pieces I bought, and some he gave me as gifts of friendship. Recently, a couple of people asked me to be in their films, so that’ll be coming up. It’s fun to act after having directed for so long. Other than that, I like to learn all about the house we live in. I originally wanted to be an architect, so I now I spend time a lot of time doing that.
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