Sidetracked

I have to admit, I was a little surprised this spring when I heard that the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival was planning on doing a tribute to surf film maker Bud Browne.

Not because of the tribute — Browne was certainly worthy. But what surprised me was that Browne was going to be there.

 ”Bud Browne’s still alive?” I wondered aloud.

This was a guy, after all, who started making surf movies in the early 50s — and he was a middle aged man at that point.  So I just assumed he had passed on.

Yet, it turned out that not only was Browne alive, but he also lived in San Luis Obispo.

This past weekend, though – a little more than four months after he was honored at the film festival – Browne died peacefully at the age of 96.

While he wasn’t the first to shoot surf movies — Doc Ball and Don James shot some great film before him — he was the first to do it commercially. And while he would never achieve as much fame as Bruce Brown would with “Endless Summer,” no one could dispute that Browne was the godfather of the surf movie genre, the man who would inspire all those who followed.

An accomplished swimmer and former teacher, Browne quit his day job so he could dedicate more time to his movies. So he hit the road, showing his films at small venues in coastal towns.

“He would come in and sell the tickets,” Gerry Lopez told me when I previewed the festival last March. “Everyone would get settled, and he’d come up and make a little presentation, welcome everybody. Then he’d run upstairs, turn on the projector, then come back down and narrate the movie.”

The auditoriums at those showings were known for their raucous atmosphere.

“The crowd would just erupt whenever you’d see a big wave or a wipeout,” surfing hall of famer Linda Benson told me. ”Everybody was surfing the next morning. It was just a total stoke.”

Browne’s last big project was “Big Wednesday” in 1978. But he would continue to frolick in the water until his 80s. He eventually moved to the Central Coast to be near Anna Moore, the daughter of famous surfer Buzzy Trent. Moore looked after Browne, who had never married or had kids of his own.

At the festival, Browne’s age showed. But even as his health was deteriorating, Moore said, he was still able to appreciate the tribute, which included appearances by Lopez, Benson, Joel Tudor, Bruce Brown, Peter Cole and other surfing legends.

“There are times he’ll talk a lot about surfing,”Moore said before the festival. “But more than surfing, he’ll talk about the people.”

Many of the people Browne talked about have passed on as well. Through his films, though, they will live forever.

For more on Browne, check out this in-depth piece that includes lots of great stories and quotes.

To check out some of the posters that were made to promote Browne’s movies — many featuring the great art of the late Rick Griffin – check out this site.

Meanwhile, here’s the one they made to promote his appearance in San Luis Obispo:

Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Surf stuff