The Smiley Smile Message Board

Alright, yes, yes, we talk about Inside Pop a lot around here, and we probably don't need another SMiLE thread.
But I was reading some of the past threads about Inside Pop today, and I'm not really certain what the current state of affairs is. In the past few years it seems like efforts were made to find the reels, and a post by Jasper stood out to me:

"She also stated that they used to archive unused film reels in a archive in New York. The usual blabla I guess. But, I took the time to contact all film archives I could find in New York and even other ones that could possibly hold old CBS material all over America.
There was a positive answer from CBS News Archive, etc. I don't want to go into details."

After that the thread just turned into yet another discussion of open country vs. agriculture, but it was never revealed what Jasper meant by that post. Did he receive a positive answer that someone had them and didn't care to share, that they are confirmed to be gone forever, what?

Some leads were found in other threads, but there was never any follow through.

I know many people have attempted to find the reels without any luck, and there is a strong possibility they will never be seen again. I am wondering though, if there is any definite answer as to the tape's existence, or if the trail is just cold.

Am I crazy, or did somebody on here recently confirm that the reels do in fact still exist?

Someone on the Hoffman board claimed that the reels had been found in Germany, but there was a general consensus that that person was just falsely remembering information from past searches.

Also the fact that the upcoming release doesn't contain a dvd disc would suggest there hasn't been any official discovery of the tapes.

Stranger discoveries have been made. I'd like to think that if we all put our heads together and made a concerted, organized effort some headway could be made. Maybe that's just idealistic, maybe there's 0% chance of the reels ever seeing the light of day, maybe they were destroyed or trashed long ago, but maybe we'll get lucky. It may be good to just go over what we know again.

I came upon an exchange in an old thread where somebody said they'd give their left nut for the IP reels, to which another poster replied saying if he did that he'd have nothing to give for a SMiLE boxset. Well, the boxset is here, and the IP reels are still waiting to be found.

I totally agree. I have learned that in some cases, certain people want missing items to remain "lost". In other words, a big time hoader might have it, but he wants it to stay "officially lost". I'm not saying that this is the case with the IP reels. I'm just saying, it's something I've learned from past experience. I think that all of us here should take up a collection to finance a trip to Germany. Perhaps ADG or c-man would be able to track it down.  ;D

The positive response from someone who worked for CBS News Archive turned out to be nothing than hot air. Unfortunately, I have no idea where these reels could be if they still exist. But I tried.
All I can offer are copies of Oppenheim's handwritten transcripts. Or better - if they are of interest for the booklet - contact New York University's Elmer Holmes Bobst Library directly. They hold a huge Oppenheim collection, even 16mm film reels, but - as far as my researches went - not our golden outtakes.

Who is ADG?

Damn, they're out there, somewhere. I read that the place they were supposed to be was tracked down, but that they were missing. The log book said they had been "returned" but nobody knew what that meant.

Andrew Doe G. of course!

He posts here a lot, like that gbas guy...