Release Date: August 29, 2023
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-128-9
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-57869-129-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022920874
eBook: 978-1-57869-130-2
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Info Here or at Ingram.

Synopsis

Rick Winston's lifelong love of movies led to the creation of one of Vermont's leading cultural institutions, the Savoy Theater in Montpelier, Vermont. With humor and heart, he takes us behind the scenes of the hard and rewarding work of building a film venue over decades in a grateful community. Save Me a Seat! is the story of how a vibrant film culture took root in unlikely surroundings, and the story of how a boy from the New York City suburbs landed in Vermont and became a preeminent film programmer and historian in the Green Mountain State.

Praise

“Save Me a Seat! is a chronicle of a lifetime love affair with cinema. Rick Winston carries his enthusiasm for the NYC independent theaters’ fare of the ’50s and ’60s to the Green Mountains of Vermont, where it takes root in virgin cinematic soil. He describes the origins and growth of a community of film lovers far from the traditional centers of popular culture. Every page throbs with Winston’s passion for movies. If you love movies, you will love this book.”

—Paul Hirsch, Oscar-winning film editor and author of A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away . . .

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“Pop some corn, pour a drink and find a comfy chair. You’ll want to settle in for this autobiography framed by the author’s consuming love for film. Save Me a Seat! is part romp and part documentary, culled from Rick Winston’s earliest moments as a fanboy in the 1950s to his years as an encyclopedic cinema owner and teacher decades later. Serious cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike will enjoy the show.”

—Pamela Polston, co-founder and art editor of Seven Days

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“This memoir by one of the early heroes of film culture brings back the adventure of moviegoing in the glorious heyday of that phenomenon. Establishing a beachhead in Vermont, Rick has done it all as teacher, programmer, and finally running a theater and opening a video store. The bumps and joys of his journey, the portraits of the films and people he encounters along the way, make for a buoyant read. This is an irresistible feast for serious moviegoers.”

—Molly Haskell, film critic and author of Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films

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“Author and film scholar Rick Winston tells us the genesis story of Vermont’s landmark Savoy Theater, which for decades has satisfied the cinematic hunger of Vermonters. But beyond starting the Lightning Ridge Film Society in 1973 that evolved into the Savoy, for so many of us Rick was the scholar and educator about a broader film culture. This outstanding memoir and history encompasses both the origins of the Savoy and the naissance of a film culture in Vermont that understood film both as art and entertainment.”

—Bill Schubart, author of Lila & Theron

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“As huge film lovers, whose independent distribution company we started from scratch 34 years ago, we identified mightily with both Rick Winston’s great satisfaction as well as the tribulations he experienced in starting his wonderful Savoy Theater. And as tremendous fans of Rick we couldn’t be happier that he put this fascinating account down on paper for others to read and be inspired by. It’s a vivid personal history of a world that is relevant to everyone who loves movies, from audiences of a ‘certain age’ to twenty-somethings who have just discovered the marvelous world of repertory and specialized cinema.”

—Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, Zeitgeist Films

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“Winston’s book is an immensely engaging personal history that any passionate filmgoer will instantly relate to. By reliving his lifelong love of movies, he also allows us to relive our own.”

—Peter Rainer, Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism, author of Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in a Turbulent and Transformative Era

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“Anyone who opens an art or repertory cinema, especially one in a small town, should have their head examined. But we should all be grateful to dreamers like Rick Winston, who’ve managed to turn their young passions into, not just careers, but into cultural touchstones that enrich everyone. Add Rick’s charming book to the rarefied few that explain how.”

—Bruce Goldstein, founder of Rialto Pictures and repertory artistic director of New York’s Film Forum

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“Rick Winston’s passion for movies led to a lifetime devoted to advocacy—and to bringing contemporary and classic films to new audiences. He writes with verve and joy about great movies (Children of Paradise, Sullivan’s Travels) as well as can’t-miss films that are less well known, such as the British anthology picture Dead of Night. What Rick has written is, in effect, a charming autobiography in the form of a chronicle of a love affair with an art form.”

—David Lehman, author of The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir

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“Graham Greene said he’d ‘like to write the biography of an inimitable movie house.’ Rick Winston has done just that! In this splendid memoir, he exhibits the most generous writing ethic: sustaining an intimate tone while at the same time providing a behind-the-scenes education. Also, with just his second book, Rick has become an indispensable historian of Vermont, who can bring the political and emotional dimensions of a given decade to us with vivid immediacy. Late last night, reading certain passages aloud as if to ghosts, it felt as if decades of Savoy evenings knocked on our farmhouse door, and we had a joyful reunion.”

—Howard Norman, author of No Conversation Long Enough: Last Drawings of Edward Koren

Reviews & In the News

Midwest Book Review Wisconsin Bookwatch, December 2023 Issue: Review of "Save Me a Seat!: A Life with Movies"

Vermont History Journal, Vol. 91, No. 2 Summer/Fall, 2023: Book Review Rick Winston, Save Me a Seat! A Life with Movies by Erik Esckilsen

Vermont Public Radio, Vermont Edition, September 6, 2023: Montpelier's Savoy Theater features prominently in new memoir

Seven Days VT, August 30, 2023: Book Review: 'Save Me a Seat! A Life With Movies,' Rick Winston

The Times Argus, August 13, 2023: Editorial: The show goes on

The Times Argus Weekender, August 12, 2023: Review: 'Save Me A Seat!' is a personal journey through movies

The Montpelier Bridge, August 8, 2023: Rick Winston Behind the Scenes at the Savoy Theater and the Green Mountain Film Festival

Meet the Author