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10 Films That Need to Be on the National Film Registry

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This year’s list of 25 films to be added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry should be announced in the next few days. And while the National Film Registry has many obvious classics – not to mention more than a few oddities – there are still a surprisingly high number of landmark works that have yet to be enshrined within its ranks.

For what it’s worth, I would like to offer my list of 10 films that are long overdue inclusion on the National Film Registry’s list of “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films.”
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The Bootleg Files: Broadway Open House

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BOOTLEG FILES 888: “Broadway Open House” (1950-51 television series that pioneered the concept of late-night television).

LAST SEEN: Two extant episodes are online.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A combination of music rights issues and a low survival rate of kinescoped episodes.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Probably not.

The other day, I was scanning through social media and I came upon a posting from a news organization with a headline that read something like “Jimmy Kimmel Rips Trump’s Economic Proposals” – and under the headline was a picture of the obnoxious late-night host squinting and scowling while he was reading his agitprop from a TelePrompter. My reaction to this was negative – really, who wants to end their day watching a painfully unfunny late-night host bloviating for the zillionth time about his hatred of Donald Trump? Then, another thought hit me. We all know where late-night television is today, with its emetic hosts spewing far-left political commentary before engaging in vapid faux-interviews with the current line-up of dreary talent. But I wanted to know where late-night television began and what yesteryear’s audiences enjoyed at the end of their days. The answer: it began in 1950 with a show called “Broadway Open House,” and the story of its rise and fall is nothing short of astonishing.
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