Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard recount the various video rental store in Moscow. They discuss the experience of browsing through the collection, as well as being able to find obscure films, talk to the clerks about films, and request the store purchase specific films. Janice talks about the special features of DVDs and how that extra knowledge affected the experience of watching the film. They discusses the impact of being able to find and watch obscure films. Also discusses is how the effect of online streaming and the Covid-19 pandemic affected the store. She describes the process of or going through the DVDs, figuring out what to do with the DVDs, and how and where the DVDs ended up going.

Monique Lillard: And it says it's recording, so I think we can assume it is actually i'm going to get this to speaker view so I don't have to look at myself okay.

Monique Lillard: So, my name is monique lillard.

Monique Lillard: I have been hired by the.

Monique Lillard: University of Idaho library to do this oral History project about the video rental store here in Moscow Idaho and I am speaking to husband and wife in a moment i'll have them say their names and I have double check the spelling actually of eric's name.

Monique Lillard: And so, let me just start off and first say, have you signed the release form provided by the University.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Yes, yes.

Monique Lillard: Very good, and can you state your names either one of you can go first stating your names, if you would.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: My name is Eric Nelson and janice willard.

Monique Lillard: Very good, all right, so can you describe how you first found out about the video rental store and how often you went and just take it from there, this is mainly about you talking not about me talking so just go ahead and take it from there, go ahead.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Sure let's see I found out about the video rental store just from being downtown in Moscow when.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Howard Hughes video was part of the back rooms of the Howard Hughes appliances store.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So I actually don't know what years that was other than that it was a really long time ago it was prior to the era of DVDs it was all videotapes.

Monique Lillard: You remember with me.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And yeah it was on a corner of sixth street as I recall.

Monique Lillard: Also, Washington somewhere.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I don't think it was six.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: It was this is a typical husband and wife thing you know.

Monique Lillard: Yes.

: Yes, I do know.

Monique Lillard: Wherever.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: This was yeah.

Monique Lillard: yeah I think that was fifth and isn't Washington across from what is now the Co op right the food co op.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: like this case yeah okay okay great great.

Monique Lillard: And so you just found at walking around and you saw it right and did you start going to it.

Monique Lillard: Did you ever go to.

Monique Lillard: Go to others.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah.

: um.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: We had another one for a while yeah this was a blockbuster yeah it was out at the Moscow mall.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And I actually didn't like it, that much it was kind of too bright and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I don't know I just didn't feel as comfortable there I don't know why I can't tell you why I just didn't like the place as much and and I like Howard Hughes better I guess it felt a little more homey.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Certainly the kinds of movies, that I was interested in seeing seem to be that are.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: represented at the Howard Hughes video.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: What.

Monique Lillard: And I also think it wasn't from.

: walk.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Oh sorry it was for me it was just probably driving past it and going oh hey look at that or maybe even going in there, to look at an appliance and saying Oh, I wonder what's back there that's probably how I first found it.

Monique Lillard: and

Monique Lillard: You said something about what yeah.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah and i'm interested in.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: science fiction movies, and action adventure movies, and you get action adventure movies in all video rental places, but a good selection of science fiction was hard to find in those decades.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And that was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: very, very nice for me and they even when it was in the back room of Howard Hughes appliance.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: They were still fairly responsive to requests, you know they actually.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: searched for an ancient.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Japanese black and white science fiction movie for me they ended up saying they couldn't find it, but they were willing to look, and that was very nice.

Monique Lillard: What was the name of that movie.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: It was a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Space cruiser a model.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: haha.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: It was a a yeah a classic black and white cyphy about raising the motto from the where i'd been sunk during World War Two and turning it into a spaceship.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: It was the yes, it was the basis for the anime series that was very popular in Japan called star blazers of the galaxy Rangers.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So, yes.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: My tastes were fairly out there.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And, and they even even when it was back in the appliance shop that they try to accommodate us.

: So my tastes run.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The same thing that he likes, but I also like a good drama and I also like a good comedy and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And I.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I like things that don't.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That I don't get to the end of the film and say well gee that was an hour and a half wasted.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So you know it's always nice to go out there and and find something and I liked being able to go back and find.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The movies, that I had watched when I was younger and the micro movie house was going in Moscow, because one of the things that the micro movie house was really, really good at doing was bringing in fairly esoteric art films and and things that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That really made you think so like I remember seeing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Oh shoot what was that one king of hearts mm hmm yeah king of hearts, which was a really potent kind of anti war movie but set in a in a very strange setting and, and so they used to bring in a lot of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: fairly uncommon movies, and because they would change movies every.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: You know they wouldn't keep something there for three weeks, like the regular movie theaters they were usually changing the movies out two or three times a week and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I attended a lot of those movies, and then they kind of disappeared and and it was really important to me to be able to go back and watch, some of them, because I thought, some of them were were.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Really foundational movies, but they weren't mainstream movies and Howard Hughes was the only place and when they turned into mainstream was the only place where I could actually find those movies.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And and watch them again and try to revive What was it about this movie when I saw when I was 20 years old, that made me see the world differently.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And so, being able to find those movies again and and watch them again later was really nice so that was the only place, I could find that kind of movie I doubt at this time I could go.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Online oh and and that's The other thing is, if you go online it's not the same as walking through some place where you can see all the titles.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I mean you could go down the row of all the titles and see a title go oh oh wait, I remember that or i've heard about that that's a good one, we should grab one and that's not the same as putting something into a search engine and you don't get that ability to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: browse to graze to to walk through and see all the titles in one place and and and have that trigger oh i've heard, this is a good one.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And, and then talk to a knowledgeable person behind the counter if you pull that out and you'd go back there usually somebody there and said oh yeah and knew something about it also so.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So there was a very good.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah I really missed that.

Monique Lillard: How often would you go to the store at either location, and of course we're talking about over 20 years, so your lives would have changed to some degree, also but just generally how often would you go how many movies, which you get.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Oh it's a once a week.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah him at least he he usually would.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: on his way home swing by and then kind of show up with movies, I think I was, I was less a part of the decision, less often because he already show up having gotten a couple and say hey we're watching this for the weekend.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But I remember plenty of times, where we go in together, and you know we would all drift to our different favorite places and come back with how about this one, or maybe that one and then then kind of do have.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: You know, put up a set of possibilities and then out of those choose one or two and so visit the store and maybe once a week but it probably been for three movies, a week yeah yeah yeah and.

Monique Lillard: Even even on average.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah.

Monique Lillard: yeah.

Monique Lillard: So certainly.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Certainly Howard Hughes had things.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That I wouldn't necessarily expect to see you know, a chain video store.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think that's where we rented rare exports oh yeah yeah Oh, that was a great movie and that's a movie that's in.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Finnish and English and it was kind of a small small low budget production about very old Santa Claus like.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: mythology and it was an amazing comedy and old style Sanchez we're not friendly know.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: and

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And it was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I mean really it was honestly pretty obscure and i'm sure I That was the only place I ever found it, and so we rented it at Christmas time for years.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: We would have friends go you really watch this at Christmas.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Because this mythological Santa is we're not Nice.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But yeah that was and and you know the other thing was is that if you went in there, you would almost always find someone else you knew, and they would.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: recommend something they'd say oh hey I watched this, this is really good.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And, and that was a that was an aspect of being able to go there and have that social aspect of other people there, and if you ran into somebody you knew hey I watched a comedy last week, if you're looking for comedy you know here's one I also really enjoyed the collections of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: of TV shows, because you know in lot of those times you, you had to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: show up at a certain time of day on a certain day in order to be able to see the next episode of a TV show.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And you know originally TV shows were kind of made with each episode being very separate but, after a while the better shows switched over to to having more of a story Arc where you could where you could see the progression of the characters and the progression of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Underlying storylines going through the whole season, so if you missed something, because you couldn't be exactly at your TV at exactly 9pm on exactly Thursday night.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Then you kind of missed that story Arc, and so there were times when I realized that I had missed enough episodes of a lot of season I just quit watching because I knew that six months later.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Howard Hughes would have that season and and then I could just sit down and watch the whole thing and, and so I didn't have to worry about having missed episodes are getting lost and and even now, if you go to the the online ones.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: they'll they'll put something up for a little while, but if you don't catch it in that time period, then you can't go back and find the rest of it and find out what was going on, they only have a few of them, and you can't watch the whole the whole series.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I also liked it, because now people binge watch and you'll walk through an entire.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: You know, five seasons of in a really short time and I, like the fact that I would go down there and i'd get it, I get a videotape that had or not a videotape was a CD.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That had maybe three or four episodes and then i'd watch those and then I would take it back then, you had to pause.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And then so so the binge walking was watching was spaced out better which, which I thought is a kind of a better way to do each episode as its own separate unit, but then be able to see the arc of the stories.

Monique Lillard: So, since the point of these recordings is history and sort of, among other things, the history of entertainment in the United States.

Monique Lillard: You left out the joy of when there'd be a serial show, many of us had a vcr and we try to program our vcr, but that was a complex thing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And sometimes for.

Monique Lillard: One reason or another, it would fail and then you would have missed this episode.

Monique Lillard: And I did the same thing I many times I just thought okay forget it i'm just gonna wait until it's in Howard Hughes and then I can watch it in a more organized fashion and you're right with me and control yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: it's also Nice, I never.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Go ahead yeah I never got good at doing the doing the getting my video to record things at a certain time anyway i've never been all that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: technologically adept I know that my brother in law eric's brother Chris who is extremely technologically adept.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: He he used to have whole series is that he had managed to videotape and the I think he had a whole you know videotape dedicated to nothing but that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And you could go over there, and he would have all that stuff and we kind of looked at each other and go gads luke's I can't remember to do all that you know so to me it worked out so much better that I didn't have to mess, with the technology or the poor quality.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: You know, when you when you did those those videotapes off your off your row your TV, it was they often weren't all that good right right.

Monique Lillard: Yes, and you know janice you.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: heard us was again pretty responsive to even fairly far out their requests, because they on my prompting ordered in the series called due south, which was a an obscure.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Chicago Canadian comedy series, and you know it's possible that more people than just me watched it yeah it's possible, in fact, I think the owner yeah he saw them and he watched them but.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But i've I actually years ago when I was thinking I should watch more of those and I didn't catch them all, I went online and tried to find them and could.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But at Howard Hughes they did they did manage to bring them in.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah there was a pretty funny show with an extremely honest Canadian mountie coming down to Chicago to work with the Chicago police department and getting assigned a very off the wall Chicago.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: detective to work with and who was really nonplussed by by the mounties constant honesty and goodness that always ended up being the thing that was what turned the tide, you know so they were.

Monique Lillard: Very well done.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah they had that they had a good day I had a good storyline yeah you know.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Now, where you're.

Monique Lillard: Trying to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Go yeah no I was just gonna say it was it.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Was it was it because we were watching these things our kids got introduced to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: A lot of more obscure kinds of things i'm not sure if we bought or if we rented.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: MacGyver series, but my kids loved them, and so, even though they were really, really outmoded you know they were old shows, I think that it gave my kids a lot of ideas about being self sufficient.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And so I really liked the fact that we could show them these these things, and maybe show them kind of a different view of the world, and what they were necessarily getting from from modern culture, and I think both of our kids turned out.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Enough weird that this probably made a difference.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And you know we essentially were able to instill some of our generations cultural literacy into them.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Like I think we watched the Kung fu series together yeah yeah which otherwise you know who would go back to who would who would find out if you were just searching yeah so yeah I think I think we end, and you know we were we were careful when we pick things that if.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: my daughter, especially was very sensitive to things that were too scary, and so we would make sure that when we when we watched the the movies, we wouldn't we wouldn't put anything on that she would find distressing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So that was something that helped the noise in the background is our talk sorry about that our talk is over.

Monique Lillard: that's funny yeah you know and earlier janice you and I were talking about DVDs and those great special features.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Can you.

Monique Lillard: Do you remember what we were saying and oh.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: spoke eloquently about it so.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah I thought that was that was to me, one of the the best perks of getting them into DVDs.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Was that you could go back a little bit later and look at the features and I usually didn't do it right at the close of the film because I kind of wanted to let the the you know films always present the universe, and you wanted to stay in that universe for a while and to end to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: suspend disbelief and and and suspend disbelief the disbelief that the that the film had produced, which was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Which is the point of film is that they they tell a story, and you can you can immerse yourself in that story, so I usually didn't like to watch the features immediately after sometimes sometimes he would.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But I really like to still have that DVD so that maybe a couple hours later, or the next day I would put on the features and i'd loved watching.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Because they usually showed something like how they did the special effects and they often had interviews with the the.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The actors about what it was that drew them to that character, but even more so, they would interview the directors and and the.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And usually they would have some person was kind of dedicated to be taking behind the scenes pictures during the entire time that the movie was being done.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And so you were able to see it in stages and to me being able to hear the directors and the writers and and and the producers talk about why they wanted to do that film and and get the backstory and you know we may now find out what some actor may have.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: felt about when they first got a script and looked at it and decided that this was something that they could do, but we see very much at all.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And about the directors and the writers and and the producers as to why it was that they were so dedicated to bringing that project to life, what what it was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: that the project said to them, and why it was important to them, and the one of the I think it was the last thing that I rented from Main Street was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: A movie that I remembered seeing when I was in my teens and we were smack DAB in the middle of the Cold War.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And there was this movie that was kind of funny I remember seeing it down at the paramount theater in Idaho falls, and it was called the Russians are coming the Russians are coming, and it was it was a comedy about a Russian.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Sub one ground off the coast of of Connecticut I think the story went.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And then they were attempting to get back off where they had run a ground and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And out to see without being seen, and so they had to sneak into town to try to find material, so they so the Russians were pretty concerned about being found out and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But you got a chance to really kind of humanize them in there worry about this, and that was That was all I remembered of the of the thing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: my daughter started dating a young man who had been born in Ukraine and I got back to thinking about how we felt about about the USSR at that time and how this show would kind of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: have been funny so I watched it again and there's a scene in the end, where the Russians have found out and they're there in in the harbor.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And they've got all of their guns pointed at the town's people in the towns, people have all their guns pointed at the Russians.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And and and they're screaming at each other and everything's about ready to blow up and a little boy who was watching slides off the roof.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And they all have to jump to help him and save them and it takes the both of them, it takes both the Russians and and the Americans to to save the little boy.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And so they part friends what I didn't realize until I watched the.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The director's cut afterwards the the interviews afterwards.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: was how difficult that movie had been to produce and how it had been designed to try to humanize and diffuse.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Basically, to try to do the same thing that that that second to the last scene did.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And, and how hard they they had planned to film it off of the coast of Connecticut and they couldn't do that, so they had to switch to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: California and they had to switch times of day that they did all of their taping because the sun was setting in the wrong place, and they were they were supposed to get a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Small submarine that they could use, and then they they were not allowed to do that, and they were going to bring in Russian actors and their visas were denied so they had to find American actors that could speak Russian and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And they just went through one battle after another that they simply could not but they overcame and still did the did the thing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And then, they also explain something that I had noticed that i'd puzzle that earlier i'd said we started showing it and there were no subtitles for when people were speaking Russian.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And in that in that description that was you know, in the features afterwards they said that that had been a deliberate choice because they wanted to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Have people a little bit they wanted people have empathy for this feeling of everything being a little bit off that you can't quite understand what all is going on and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And, and so they didn't subtitle it you had to listen to them and hear their tone of voice and look at what they were doing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And figure out what it was, which you could figure out what it was that they were doing and they had done this very deliberately in order to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: In order to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: create the feeling of tension in the.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And they ended up actually after showing the film here going over to Russia and showing the film over there and and they made the comment that they were actually fairly frightened they weren't sure if they would.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: get out of the USSR alive, because there was all this comedy in this and and what we didn't know, was it there was comedy on the Russian part two, there were there were there were jokes being said that we never got because they were all in Russian.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But at the end of it, they got an applause and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I just think that it was a pinnacle movie.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: to diffuse and humanize people that we were terrified of and at war with, and it was it was beautifully done, but I didn't know that I didn't know that when I saw the movie.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I when I saw the movie when I was young, I didn't know how hard they had had to work to get all of that out, but I think it made a difference in how I viewed the world when I watched it recently.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Again, I was taken by I mean I didn't pick up the fact that the sun was setting in the ocean or wrong or anything like that, but when I listened to the editors and then I put it into the framework of the Cold War, and when I listened to the features.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: It was it was hugely important and I doubt at this point in time, that I can go online and either find that movie or, more importantly.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: find them discussing how it was done and why it was done and and that, actually, I think, is the last movie I rented and man it gets to me that I can't go down there and do that anymore.

Monique Lillard: I know how you feel at and i've been doing a lot of these interviews and the sentiment that is shared now maybe that's who i've picked to interview but it's a sentiment that's been shared.

Monique Lillard: I think, once a week my husband, and I say, well, we could have gotten it if we could have gone down to the video rental you.

Monique Lillard: know and just for the sake of history, again, I just want to say on these DVDs under special features, there was often an actual interview with the Director or the actors, sometimes.

Monique Lillard: One about making of one about how did we get the screenplay sometimes even history pieces if it was a historical movie they'd show the actual people and show old Newsreels or whatever was appropriate.

Monique Lillard: One movie that really does, that is, the battle for Algiers, and that is in the public library, the Moscow public library i'm happy to say, but it's it's a I mean it's I think three DVDs.

Monique Lillard: In one case because there's so many special features, but then there was another thing.

Monique Lillard: which was they would replay the movie, but this time with often one actor and the director and somebody else just talking and it was odd because sometimes it was disappointing because their comments were bananas.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: or even stupid.

Monique Lillard: Other times, it was absolutely enlightening about now you see how the background is green there that's because we're trying to link it up with such and such that was great I mean I can't even start to do it, but so there's a lot of different special features.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Okay, let me ask you and yeah.

Monique Lillard: And you go ahead.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I was just gonna say you could go back and watch it again after having watched the features, so you could take the movie at its face value.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And and just appreciate the artistry of it and just get wrapped up in the story, but you could watch the special features.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: and learn more of this background and why they chose that background to be Green, you know and then watch the movie again and and be charmed by all of the things that are in it that you didn't even catch the first time through.

Monique Lillard: Exactly, yes, yes, let me change tax just a little bit ask you do you think the store was important to Moscow to the city, the community of Moscow, if so, how.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Well, certainly, it was important to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: My my own community of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: odd friends.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Just because it, you know gave us.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Things that we had in common that we could.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Do and talk about together.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And you know, especially.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: In the earlier days.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: science fiction watch fans were not as common and prevalent science fiction movies, were not as common and prevalent and it was pretty important to my own small community.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And you know many of those people have gone on to be.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: engineers and and you know we've kept track with some of them, so these are people who have this as a formative part of their upbringing.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And then went on out and are making their mark in the world, but that they had the ability to see these movies, as a as a formative part of their of their row being you know, especially.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: If they were watching them through high school and college I I just think it was a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: How to describe it's kind of like if you go to friendship square friendship squares kind of this little this little nexus that people gather in and it's just kind of little.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: warmness that's in downtown Moscow and and the the video store had that same feeling, it was it was this little point of space where people would gather together and it had just a very.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: warm feeling to it and, and it was one of those things where you could be talking to somebody and then you could mention a movie.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: or something that you learned from a movie and then you could say oh it's it's down at the video rental you can go and get it, I you know, it was this point of commonality and and I also I don't know we are kind of an educated community, but I think it was a way of of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Having a point of commonality for all of us.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: because everybody could go there and everybody did go there, I mean you find motorcycles parked out front with people you know in black leather, you know in there, looking at movies so.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I do think it was important.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: It really contributed to the charm of Moscow.

Monique Lillard: Why do you think the store struggled in recent years.

Monique Lillard: And i'll just say, since it's a little hard the back and forth here for for the future we're having a little disconnect still so i'll ask a compound question why do you think it struggled.

Monique Lillard: And what do you remember about those final years in terms of how should the store be owned How should it be run and all of that so go ahead, both of you.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Know certainly i'm thinking, the major point of struggle was the the evolution and development of online streaming.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Because that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think ended up being less expensive if you wanted to do it right, you could you could get a large number of movies less expensively through various online either rental or streaming services.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And certainly the when.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Things like netflix with a online streaming service.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: became popular people would just choose got in the habit of choosing their movies from there.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So that was apparently direct.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: hit to the economic base of a video rental place.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I thought that the Co op approach was as good and attempt to keep it going as any I had heard.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I was a member.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: You could always you could tell that you know the the owners in the co op days were.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: struggling that it was it was hard for them to make costs and payments.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And I don't know if there was any other system that would have worked any better.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Moscow is a fairly small population base to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: run a Co op like that, on a and when you're trying to keep your rates competitive with other services online.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So I don't know if it would have been possible to have kept a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Video rental place like that going.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: In a is smaller market, as we are.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: i'm wondering I don't know what they had to pay for rent.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So the combination of of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: paying rent for the space and paying salaries for the people who were there.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And I remember thinking.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I you know when I when I heard that they were thinking of closing and then we were trying to get the Co op to keep them open I remember thinking, I wonder if there's any place it could be that still was centralized that maybe cost less to rent.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And whether moving to a less expensive place would help or hinder because then it wouldn't be as easy.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: On the other hand, I think some of the complications in addition to being able to get things online and the perception that it's cheaper, but it actually isn't because there's so many different things on different streaming services, so you have to get Disney here, and you have to get.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: netflix here, and you have you actually if you look at it, you have to get Amazon prime you probably you're paying a lot more per month than you were paying to go down and and check out videos, so I think I think.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: People might have thought it was less because it was probably just a little monthly charge.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Coming out of their credit card and the and they set it up in a way, so that you wouldn't really notice, but you can only get some films here, and you can get them there, and you have to sign up for each of these different services, so I don't think it's cheaper.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think it was probably ultimately less expensive to go down to the video store.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think it was the having to go down that was also if you can just look through something on your computer and watch it at home, you don't have to.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Get in the car and go down there and then the second one was you know, trying to find parking the parking in that section of downtown is always tight, so you want to drop off your movies, to bring the back requires two trips in in each case it required.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Two times of parking.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Finding parking on that block which is not always easy, so that was where I kept thinking, I wonder if we could get a different location that had better parking and and cheaper.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: less expensive to stay at, and if that might have helped.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But then you don't have that centralized gosh I can just walk down Main Street of Moscow and find this wonderful eclectic place to walk in so.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Six of one half a dozen, of the other, but I think I think you know, obviously, it was the on online stuff, but I think people don't realize how much freedom they actually lost.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: They thought that it was more free because oh gosh I can just go online and find all these movies, but.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The movies aren't all there and they go out of, and then you can't find them again I don't think we really have the same freedom that we had down there, because we can see everything that we had we could request movies, and they could go and find them and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think, having you know the late charges would which would happen to us so that was the other issue is, you see the movies, and then.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Oh shit i'm supposed to bring this and, yesterday, you know, it was a was a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Oh dang I have to go back, but I know in eric's case he would go back drop off some movies, and then get more movies, you know it was, but I always I always wondered if paying those late fees was helping keep the place of low.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I never be discouraged a late fee because I always thought that was an extra extra way of.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: contributing to the place.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But yeah I said coming to streaming that with its with its own problems right.

Monique Lillard: I mean, I think what Eric was saying about a community of people who, like the same genre like science fiction, what happens is you say Oh, have you seen such and such Oh well, it's not on netflix you have to be on.

Monique Lillard: Paramount plus.

Monique Lillard: Oh, but let's not on this it's on this, and so you're right it's.

Monique Lillard: And I wonder as they're more and more of these streaming services, I wonder if that's going to break down that system, I don't know I really don't know but it's overwhelming to me i've just sort of say i'm sticking with netflix and that's it.

Monique Lillard: But then there are, I mean I saw maybe to have 10 academy award nominees this year because they just weren't on netflix you know.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Yes, interesting and we find we find that if you if, if you go and look at your at your statement your bank statement.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The problem is, is that all have been the one who subscribed to some of these things he'll have subscribed to some of the others and and you just don't notice that little oh it's yanking out five bucks a year yeah and and it's just oh it's only $5 a month, but you know that's.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Added them all together yeah and then you know they.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I just for the ones that were in the Academy, I like seeing them first in a big theater but sometimes I don't want to go and do the big theater thing and i'd rather wait and and and see it at home.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Especially if it's something that has a whole lot of action in it, because those tend to give me vertigo when i'm in theaters so I can't.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: i'm one of those people get vertigo very easily and like i've had troubles I can't do a 3D movie and I can't definitely because I got extremely sick do a 3D movie in an imax.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The that it's just way too much movement, and so, if I were to go to see an action type film.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That has a lot of I guess that's really popular now to just speed everything up to incredible speeds and that just kills me, I have to sit in the very back and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: and not get myself made physically ill from watching too much movement and the nice thing with having something at home is that you can stop it and go off for a little while and not have that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: not have that vertigo build up so that's the benefit of occasionally watching things at home, but I really missed the fact that I can't.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I liked how they would give us a waitlist a new movie would come in, everybody wanted to see it.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So they have a waitlist you know, and I just thought that was great because that just basically.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: increase you know if everybody can do it if everybody can see it.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: it's not the same as Oh, they just got such and such movie doubt Howard Hughes and you had to go down and get on the list, so that you could see it I just thought that was pretty cool to me that just increase the the special list of being able to see that movie yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: Any other thoughts on what Moscow last what the world of entertainment lost or, for that matter, what Moscow gained what the world of entertainment gained by the shutting of the store.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I don't think we gained anything.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And and and there was a good sense of community in the store around the store and and that was last you know, being able to talk with other people about your choices.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: was a part of being able to be there, I enjoyed that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think the pandemic.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: has really increased the the.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Not just this what you can call it social isolation but it's not it's a physical isolation and it's a mental isolation, so now we're not all going down to the same place and picking out movies we're all doing this in little distracted satellite homes and and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: we're really missing a lot of Community this way and, and I think we're intensified by the pandemic, but you know if if Howard Hughes we're open now I put on a mask and go down there, I mean I I that's one of the places that I would not neglect going, I mean I could go into.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: stores.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And you know I could go into stores and did a did a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: curbside you know, having them bring my stuff and.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think I still would have gone to Howard Hughes or I would have asked them to do a curbside.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Right.

: And they all show me.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Show me show me your show me your, but it would almost have been best if they had if they pans through the photographs, so that you can see all the titles, you know that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: just go and you could have you could have had a video that showed you well that this is what's in this section here, and you could click on that, and you can go oh look there's that one yeah.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah and then and then had to have a you know delivery out to this out to the curb for it, you know that would have been that would have been really cool you know just doing that, until until the pandemic was over, and we could go back to just browsing again.

Monique Lillard: So.

Monique Lillard: What is your happiest memory or funniest memory of the store or if something related to the store.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I think my happiest memory is going back and talking to the people in the back and finding out that they had seen that movie and had some of the same thoughts I had about it.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So just just basically going back to the back to the check the movie out and then good oh yeah you're really gonna like this.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That, I think, was what.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: made it special you don't go to netflix and check out a film and have you know somebody there say oh you're going to like this, you just don't have that personal that personal contact anymore.

Monique Lillard: Eric any funny stories any.

Monique Lillard: happy man.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I just enjoyed being there.

: yeah yeah.

Monique Lillard: i'm looking at my notes here.

Monique Lillard: Anything else that you would like to say, excuse me we've been going just about an hour anything else that comes to your mind anything I should have asked you.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Is there any chance that this.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: This collection will mean that that they will somehow revive the ability for people to check these out.

Monique Lillard: Well, actually the University of Idaho actually doesn't have as many titles, as I had originally thought they have some.

Monique Lillard: The kenworthy kept some they kept the criterion collection and they kept some of the foreign films, especially the French films.

Monique Lillard: But I don't think that kenworthy has any plans to rent them out, and I didn't do the interviews with the with Jamie Hill and the people who ran the kenworthy so I i'm not sure, but I don't think that.

Monique Lillard: I still don't know if the Moscow public library got some of them up i'm going to speak with cody more, who was the lawyer who kind of brokered the deal.

Monique Lillard: And he said that actually there was quite a bit of excitement within the Community of Moscow buying the movies from the kenworthy.

Monique Lillard: And that that money really helped the kenworthy stay stay going during the pandemic and that was sort of a competitive process in the sense of oh I got this when I got that one.

Monique Lillard: I mean, I think all of us sort of say yeah but we don't know where they are you know I mean I can name some movies i'd love to know where it was I would borrow it I would pay somebody just to see it again because I.

Monique Lillard: You know, things have reminded me of it i've given it back you know but.

Monique Lillard: I don't I think it's too scattered for us to dream of having it that get recreated, which is a pity, now I don't know if you've been to the Moscow public library recently they do have a pretty big video collection, by now, and you know you can get some of that same feeling.

Monique Lillard: And I am not sure how big the video collection is at the ui library, I need to go there in person and i'm going to study that because it's come up several times, these interviews.

Monique Lillard: I guess I just personally agree that we lost a lot of control over those movies, you know netflix or any of those streaming services.

Monique Lillard: With a flick of a finger, they can decide something's not marketable something's not politically correct.

Monique Lillard: That i'm in for a while, for a few days last summer, they took gone with the wind away from their collection and you think.

Monique Lillard: Oh, my and i'm not trying to defend everything about gone with the wind, but.

Monique Lillard: that's a hugely important movie in terms of cultural references for the entire 20th century alright, the second two thirds of the 20th century.

Monique Lillard: And it's just going to vanish you know and it's troubling to me.

Monique Lillard: Whereas we are at least people we knew and our town owned those copies, you know so again they're scattered around I don't know if you could put out a call i've almost thought of that before you throw those away good job give it to me i'll store or anything like that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: But please form i've got a farm.

Monique Lillard: There you go all right.

Monique Lillard: Well, maybe that's the next movement, but I don't know.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: If you ever find any of them getting lost will make a dedicated space out here that can preserve them.

Monique Lillard: that's really good to know, and I, you know I don't know that I would know, but I just.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And I think.

Monique Lillard: With this proliferation of these streaming services i'm feeling completely overwhelmed i'm not paying 20 bucks or however much to these people, all these different places, you know and then there's this free offering that free offer it I don't know yeah.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah good.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: We have done the Oh well, we really want to watch the new the new star trek and then we have to sign up for a particular streaming service and the plan was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: We would watch it as soon as we were done, we would shut off our streaming service that we didn't have to pay for it, when we weren't using it.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: That I don't think we've done a very good job of that we probably need to put a.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Calendar up somewhere and say Okay, we played for this yeah we can because, being able to drop them back and forth that's that's really hard.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Now I wanted to ask these you these aren't the same as the DVDs that we purchase because the DVDs we purchase aren't in our own personal collections that we've bought, these are not allowed to be rented out correct.

Monique Lillard: I have not sure about that i've tried to figure that out, and I really don't know I I think especially toward the end they were just buying DVDs along with the rest of us, and so, then that's a copyright question my husband good answer family but.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I I inherited the DVD collection of a friend of mine who was.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: A hermit.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Very socially and he actually used to work for NK wsu and then, when he retired from that he just basically never went out, he was very, very.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: very, very much to shut it and when he passed away.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I got his video collection and he had very, very esoteric tastes and i've got a bunch of really interesting DVDs that that.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: You know, it would be the start of a very interesting collection let's put it that way, is that I haven't even had a chance to go through and look at all of them or.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: anything like that i'm i'm sure he kept them in pristine condition, because that was he was electronics technician and that was kind of what he did oh yeah if we wanted to recreate Howard Hughes so i'd have this collection to add to it.

Monique Lillard: Right, well, I thought that Duncan has an amazing collection of ballets and operas on DVD.

Monique Lillard: From time to time, I thought about lending them to Howard Howard Hughes or Main Street video co op and.

Monique Lillard: I don't know I wasn't quite sure we'd get them back in great shape, you know but.

Monique Lillard: To me, these are the kinds of things that it's worth talking to a librarian about either at Moscow public or at the ui, but you have to be careful because nowadays.

Monique Lillard: libraries are really concerned about space and sometimes they've actually horrified me by just throwing away books or giving away books and you think wait a minute.

Monique Lillard: You know i'm kind of counting on those books from like 1910 to be at the library, because I do take them out every now and then and i'm sure that they don't circulate all that often and I understand i'm a little quirky I get all that but.

Monique Lillard: that's just it it's like what do we quirky people supposed to do.

Monique Lillard: You know it's.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Nice to it's me finding really amazing science books.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Obviously, somebody has cleaned out some some professors.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: office and now they're throwing away all of these really good books and I find them down at recycle Center.

Monique Lillard: Oh.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And I look at.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah the little book place there, and I look at them and I go oh my God, this should be in a library somewhere and and it's sad that that yeah I guess.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And, and I don't necessarily think to just digitalized and everything is the safest way to preserve things for the future, because digital goes away really easily and books actually don't go away as easily.

Monique Lillard: Exactly yes and digit don't get outdated and you don't have the right machine to to obtain a to access it.

Monique Lillard: yeah and also and I Eric I didn't mean to cut you off, and I said I was supposed to be about you not me, but I will just add to me there's importance in the history of science, for example, the history of what we knew when.

Monique Lillard: i've often said that the movies that were not considered oh so great they're not gone with the wind it's the throwaway movies from the 1930s that's really important people watch those and they shaped our culture.

Monique Lillard: yeah and it's it's important, I think, to keep them that our grant us, you know I see that, eventually, you know when it's just overflowing I do understand but.

Monique Lillard: To me.

Monique Lillard: They go very quickly saying oh it's fine it's on digital oh it's fine it'll be available and you think.

Monique Lillard: First of all, not for free, and second, of all you know you're just handing your power you just stand in your power to huge corporations, who are not motivated by the same sensibilities i'm off my soapbox sorry go ahead Eric I think you want to say something.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: Actually, I was I am I am needing to wrap up actually I need.

Monique Lillard: To okay.

Monique Lillard: All right, I understand I don't think there's anybody else we should be speaking to.

Monique Lillard: And you can get in touch with me later.

Monique Lillard: You know whether don't have to take.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah maybe so we're gonna be talking to this brothers to play, tomorrow, we could ask them what their memories are, and if they have any useful information because they're also great science fiction people and they would be talking about Howard Hughes from.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: gosh when they were still in in high school also so that was a long time ago.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: So okay.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah I went to high school here in Moscow.

Monique Lillard: Ah okay okay go ahead john excuse me.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: yeah no I was just gonna say well we'll ask them.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: And they might I mean they probably won't have a really and and and chris's is on the forefront of technology he's one of those people who, who would have he's the one who who constantly had.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: The the best the best record a video recorder and knew how to program it and all that kinds of stuff so he's probably on the forefront of the technology that sort of replaced something like an old video store.

Monique Lillard: Well that's great get in touch with me if they want to say anything and.

Monique Lillard: Anything else before I turn off the recording and feel stick around for just a minute or at least janice that'd be great Okay, so I really want to thank you for your time and your insights I knew you'd be good and talking about this so anything you want to add.

Eric Nilsson and Janice Willard: I just appreciate you doing this yeah.

Monique Lillard: it's a pleasure it's been very interesting and very fun so Okay, I will turn off the recording hey.