Bloch Events
(Nov 11, 13, 2024)
by William Gillard
(Nov 11, 13, 2024)
by William Gillard
William Gillard is an English professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh who is involved with much work involving Robert Bloch. Below he relates two recent events in Bloch's "backyard" in Wisconsin.
Two Events in Bloch Country
I participated in two very fun Robert Bloch events last week. First, on Monday, November 11 (2024), I spoke to close to a hundred people at Winchester Academy in Waupaca, Wisconsin. This community organization is run by volunteers. It has been putting on Monday night lectures for forty years, and they bring “free programs to the community to stimulate learning about a variety of topics. A key concept still found in Scandinavian folk academies today and retained at Winchester Academy, is lifelong learning outside the traditional structure of high school and college. The speakers bring superior scholarship or expertise yet are understandable to an adult audience with any level of education. The topics are diverse, mostly in the humanities, liberal arts and sciences.” I was happy to talk about Robert Bloch’s growth from a Lovecraft fan and contemporary through the 1940s and 1950s as he edged closer and closer to the crowing success of Psycho. I met many wonderful people there, many of whom asked great questions about all aspects of Bloch’s life and work. There was strong interest especially in his connection to Lovecraft, how Hitchcock’s film came to be, and what Bloch did afterward.
Two Events in Bloch Country
I participated in two very fun Robert Bloch events last week. First, on Monday, November 11 (2024), I spoke to close to a hundred people at Winchester Academy in Waupaca, Wisconsin. This community organization is run by volunteers. It has been putting on Monday night lectures for forty years, and they bring “free programs to the community to stimulate learning about a variety of topics. A key concept still found in Scandinavian folk academies today and retained at Winchester Academy, is lifelong learning outside the traditional structure of high school and college. The speakers bring superior scholarship or expertise yet are understandable to an adult audience with any level of education. The topics are diverse, mostly in the humanities, liberal arts and sciences.” I was happy to talk about Robert Bloch’s growth from a Lovecraft fan and contemporary through the 1940s and 1950s as he edged closer and closer to the crowing success of Psycho. I met many wonderful people there, many of whom asked great questions about all aspects of Bloch’s life and work. There was strong interest especially in his connection to Lovecraft, how Hitchcock’s film came to be, and what Bloch did afterward.
Two days later, on November 13, I appeared at the Weyauwega International Film Festival in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, Marion Bloch’s hometown and the place where Bloch wrote Psycho. The film festival is among the unlikeliest events you can imagine. Weyauwega has about 1700 residents and a pristine but fairly sleepy downtown. Main Street’s Gerold Opera House, built in 1915 and lovingly restored by Ian Teal and Kathy Fehl, hosts the four-day event which is packed with films from all over the world—and their filmmakers, too. On Wednesday night, they screened Psycho, and I served as the introducer of the film and hosted a discussion afterward. There were close to one hundred people in attendance for this event, as well, and the energy in the room was immense as we chatted about Bloch and his novel just two blocks from the house where he lived and three blocks from the spot on the lake where it’s easy to see the sign for the Lakefront Motel, the long-closed roadside stop that may or may not have inspired him. I met people who knew Bloch, who remembered how he waited for the Milwaukee bus every Friday afternoon on his way south to do TV and radio shows. I met a guy who went to school with Sally Bloch and who remembered her fondly. Ian, the organizer of the festival, reports that interest in Bloch in Weyauwega has never been this high. I felt it in the room that night, for sure!
