Sherman Torgan- R.I.P.
Written by Joe D on July 24th, 2007
It rained the night before last in Los Angeles. That’s something that doesn’t happen very often. The sky was crying, the tears were falling from the eyes of the Gods of Film. One of their high priests had passed on. Sherman Torgan. Yesterday all of us that went to Mt. Sinai got to hear some great stories about Sherman, a couple of themes seemed to be evident in all of the remembrances. Sherman marched to the beat of a different drummer, he was his own man, he didn’t compromise and he did what he wanted to do. He was generous, open minded, he loved film, and he was a great guy, a mensch. My own interactions with him back all this up as well. A little while ago i approached Sherman at the New Beverly. I was scouting locations for my film One Night With You. I really wanted to have the theater in my film. Los Angeles is a character in ONWY and the New Beverly is a huge part of my LA. It’s a huge part of anyone’s LA that loves film. Anyway Sherman was great to me, he agreed to let me film there, he was generous, a pleasure to deal with. Another time I was talking to Sherman, he told me he believed the New Beverly was the last privately owned non-subsidized revival house in the country! What a comment on our times and what a comment on Sherman. He kept that theater open at great personal sacrafice, he did what he wanted to do, show great films at one of the last bastions of individuality in our increasingly bland corporately controlled culture. Sherman you were a mensch, you will be missed.
Production still from One Night With You