Jay Jennings | |
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| Born | August 23, 1965 Hollywood, CA, USA |
| Occupation(s) | Independent filmmaker, author |
| Years active | 1999–present |
Jay Robert Jennings (born August 23, 1965) is an American independent filmmaker and author. He has directed two feature films, Loanshark (1999) and Hell to Pay (2014), as well as, an assortment of short films and documentaries. Jennings uses handheld cameras and cinéma vérité techniques, shooting his films among old Hollywood buildings and streets. [1]
Jennings was born in Hollywood, California. He grew up making Super-8 movies and screening them for friends and family. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School and then attended film courses at Columbia College Hollywood (CCH), UCLA, and the American Film Institute. [1]
Jennings writes, directs, produces, and composes the music for his films. [2] He uses digital movie cameras and adds a grainy film look during the editing process. He shoots low-budget films, mostly without permits in a style called guerrilla filmmaking. [3] Film columnist David Del Valle referred to Jennings as a "maverick filmmaker." [4]
In 1999, Jennings directed his first feature Loanshark, a drama which the Los Angeles Times considered the "Best Bet" for film when it premiered at the Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. [5] Loanshark also screened at several film festivals in 2000, including Silver Lake, [6] South by Southwest, Santa Monica, and Melbourne Underground. [7] The film depicts the stressful life of a ruthless loan shark who drives around the streets of Hollywood looking for people who owe him money. [1]
In 2005, Jennings directed The Weird Museum, a documentary about a circus-like freak show which was located in Hollywood for many years. The documentary was shot just weeks before the museum closed in 1995 and is believed to be the only existing footage of the exhibits. [8] The film screened at the TromaDance Film Festival. [9]
Jennings wrote and directed The Drowning in 2013, an ambitious and fascinating short film about a father who loses his son in a swimming pool drowning after receiving a bizarre warning from a street preacher. [10] The film is constructed with a design that feels almost otherworldly. [11]
In 2014, Jennings directed his second feature Hell to Pay which was a loose remake of Loanshark. The film tells the story of a debt collector with a penchant for violence who dares to cross his boss. [12]
Jennings is also an amusement park historian. [13] In August 2009, his first book, Knott's Berry Farm : The Early Years, was published by Arcadia Publishing and features over 200 rare photographs that haven't been widely circulated. [14] The book goes into great detail in describing the history of Knott's Berry Farm and its founder, Walter Knott, including chapters about the park's Ghost Town, its attractions, street performers, and shops. [15] As of 2006, Jennings has been curator of The Knott's Berry Farm Museum, [16] home to the largest collection of vintage Knott's memorabilia in the world. [17] A copy of his book is housed in the Library of Congress. [18]
In August 2012, Jennings' second book, Beverly Park: L.A.'s Kiddieland, 1943-74, was published by Retro Image Publishing and features 175 never-before-published photographs. [19] The book tells the story of Beverly Park (also known as 'Kiddieland') and its owner Dave Bradley, who was a ride inventor and pioneer in the amusement park industry. [20] There are also chapters dedicated to all the kiddie rides, attractions, grounds, and party areas that made the park so popular for over 30 years. Beverly Ponyland, a place where children rode ponies around a track for 34 years and was located down the street from Beverly Park, [21] is also covered in the book.
In January 2019, Jennings' third book, Bob McAllister's Wonderama, was published, which chronicles the history of the popular, children's TV show from the 1960s and 70s. [22]
Knott's Berry Farm is a 57-acre (2,500,000 sq ft) theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In March 2015, it was ranked as the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America, while averaging approximately 4 million visitors per year. The park features over 40 rides, including roller coasters, family rides, dark rides, and water rides.
GhostRider is a wooden roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It is located in the Ghost Town section of the park, south of the main entrance. Manufactured by Custom Coasters International, GhostRider is the tallest and longest wooden coaster on the West Coast of the United States, measuring 4,533 feet long and 118 feet tall. The ride follows an L-shaped double out and back pattern, with a station themed to a mining building. There are three trains, each themed to a different precious metal, though only two are in use at any given time.
The Ghost Town & Calico Railway is a 3 ft narrow-gauge heritage railroad and amusement park attraction within Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park located in Buena Park, California.
Robert C. "Bob" McAllister was an American television personality, magician, and children's entertainer and a host of Wonderama.
Xcelerator is a steel launched roller coaster located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, United States. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Werner Stengel, it opened in 2002 as the company's first hydraulically-launched coaster and cost $13 million to construct. Following the early demise of Windjammer Surf Racers, a dueling roller coaster that briefly operated from 1997 to 2000, Xcelerator was soon announced as its replacement. It launches to a maximum speed of 82 mph (132 km/h) in 2.3 seconds and reaches a height of 205 feet (62 m).
Silver Bullet is a western-themed steel inverted roller coaster designed by Bolliger & Mabillard located at Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park in Buena Park, California. The $16 million roller coaster was announced on December 1, 2003 and opened on December 7, 2004. A first rider auction was also held where people would bid on seats to be the first riders. The track is approximately 3,125 feet (952 m) long and the lift hill is about 146 feet (45 m) tall. The ride lasts two minutes and thirty seconds and features six inversions including a vertical loop, cobra roll, zero-g roll, and two corkscrews.
Perilous Plunge was a shoot-the-Chutes style attraction located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. The ride opened on September 15, 2000, and closed on September 3, 2012.
Shuttle Loop is a type of steel launched shuttle roller coaster designed by Reinhold Spieldiener of Intamin and manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf. A total of 12 installations were produced between 1977 and 1982. These 12 installations have been located in a total of 22 different amusement parks.
Knott's Scary Farm or Knott's Halloween Haunt is a seasonal Halloween event at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It is an event in which the theme park is transformed into "160 acres of horror", via a series of roaming monsters, terrifying mazes and 'scare zones'. As of 2010, it was said to be the first, largest and longest-running Halloween event to be held at a theme park.
The School Gyrls were an American girl group that debuted in 2009. They were signed to Nick Cannon's NCredible Entertainment. The group starred in an eponymous movie that premiered on Nickelodeon on February 21, 2010. The group's self-titled debut album was released on March 23, 2010. The album peaked at number 118 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and was preceded by the singles "Something Like a Party" and "Get Like Me". Later that year, the group released another movie called "A Very School Gyrls Holla-Day", which coincided with the release of the album of the same name. Shortly after this, two of the group's original members Mandy Rain and Jacque Pyles, decided to leave to pursue solo careers. They were replaced by Brittany Oaks and Natalie Aguero.
WindSeeker is a 301-foot-tall (92 m) swing ride at several Cedar Fair parks. The rides are Wind Seeker models manufactured by Mondial. They opened for the 2011 season at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario, Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, and Knott's Berry Farm in California. Carowinds in North Carolina and Kings Dominion in Virginia opened their WindSeekers in 2012. The first four each cost US$5 million, while the remaining two each cost $6.5 million. Cedar Fair relocated the Knott's Berry Farm WindSeeker to Worlds of Fun in 2014, where it reopened as SteelHawk.
Loanshark is a 1999 black-and-white American crime film written and directed by Jay Jennings. The film is a notable forerunner in the digital filmmaking movement.
The Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Orange County, California, originated from a berry farm owned by Walter Knott (1889–1981). In the 1920s, Knott and his wife, Cordelia, sold berries, berry preserves and pies from a roadside stand beside State Route 39, near the small town of Buena Park.
Hell to Pay is a 2011 black-and-white neo-noir film written and directed by Jay Jennings. The film pays homage to 1950s film noir and 1970s crime dramas.
Coast Rider is a steel wild mouse roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.
Voyage to the Iron Reef was a 4D interactive dark ride located at Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California. Designed by Triotech, the underwater-themed attraction opened to the public on May 15, 2015. It was the second release in the Amusement Dark collection, a branded initiative to construct a variety of video-game-based dark rides at Cedar Fair amusement parks. Wonder Mountain's Guardian was the first in the collection that opened at Canada's Wonderland in 2014.
Marion Artemus “Bob” Speer (1885–1978) established the Western Trails Museum in 1936. He was a lifetime collector of Native American and Old West artifacts, and author. He built a building next to his house in Huntington Beach, California to house his collection and opened it to the public. Twenty years later, he donated his collection to Knott’s Berry Farm, where it remains.
Paul von Klieben was the key employee of Walter Knott in the early years of Knott’s Berry Farm and the restoration of the ghost town of Calico, California. He started his career in Chicago as a commercial artist and portrait painter. In 1941, he joined Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California as a staff artist, then served as art director there from 1943 until 1953. He traveled to ghost towns in the West, and designed most of the Ghost Town section of Knott’s Berry Farm. He created concept art for most of the buildings that were built there. He also drew up floor plans, oversaw the construction of buildings, and even spent some time painting concrete to look like natural rock. His Old West paintings and murals adorned the walls of many structures in the park, and his art was used extensively on menus, brochures, catalogs and other Knott’s documents.
Beverly Park was an amusement park located in Los Angeles, California, at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and La Cienega. Owned and operated by David Bradley from 1943 to 1974, it was considered an important source of attractions for children during the 1950s. It was also an important source of inspiration for Walt Disney who, following Bradley's example, later founded Disneyland.
The area welcomed a significant number of citizens and visitors, so Beverly Park and the other Kiddielands experienced popularity and success during their operating years.
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