"Thank God for film archivist Dennis Nyback. If not for his encyclopedic knowledge of rare films and his tenacity for acquiring them, we would never have the privilege to view some astounding works of cinema." Kim Morgan


Dennis Nyback takes his films around the world. Find out how to book a show, what programs are available, how to arrange for custom programming, and just about anything you would like to know about Dennis Nyback.

Film Programs

You can watch trailers for two of my film shows: Terrorism Light and Dark and I Know Why You’re Afraid.

The fully explained titles below are some of my most successful programs shown in  Europe and various United States cities.

Strange and Vicious War Cartoons

Bad Bugs Bunny
The Effect of Dada & Surrealism on Hollywood Cinema in the 1930s
Billie Holliday: First to Last
The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss
The Birth of Betty Boop

Subversive Animation
Hillbillies in Hollywood
The Open Road



Stag Party Special

Hobo, You Can’t Ride That Train
Jazz, Sex, and War Cartoons
The Blaxploitation Cartoon Special
Compare To Disney™ (aka F@!k Mickey Mouse)
The Mormon Church Explains It All For You
Defining the 1970’s Through Classic Commercials
Other Programs Without Descriptions




Bad Bugs Bunny Bad Bugs Bunny The truth about American history revealed in fabulous Warner Brothers cartoons! It is all here, the racism, sexism and violence.
Ruby Keeler The Effect of Dada & Surrealism on Hollywood Cinema in the 1930s Hollywood took Dada and Surrealism and cheerfully dumped them into American movies with no explanation or framing devices in the early 1930s. This program shows great examples of films that jumped on the Dada and Surrealism bandwagon to delight and mystify viewers reeling from the Great Depression.
Billy Holiday From First To LAst Billie Holliday: First to Last The one and only Lady Day in all of her film appearances. Includes the complete “Sound of Jazz” television show from 1957 which features the greatest assemblage of jazz talent ever assembled before a camera.   As an added bonus, the show starts with the greatest jazz film ever made “Jammin the Blues” from 1944.  Total running time 85 minutes.
The Dark Side Of Dr. Seuss The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss This could be called “What did you do in the war, Doc?”   For most of his long career Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss) wrote hugely popular children’s books.  Early in his career he wrote for humor magazines and made money in advertising. For a brief time in the 1940s he was in the US Army making gung ho propaganda and army training films.  Is there a correlation between attracting young readers and influencing the minds of adults?   With this program you can examine Dr. Seuss’ adult oriented work and make your own decision.
The Birth of Betty Boop The Birth of Betty Boop Betty Boop was a huge star in the early thirties with a whole line of tie-in products and a nationally syndicated comic strip. By 1939, her popularity had waned and the production of her cartoons was stopped. In the 1960′s she was rediscovered by a new generation and became more popular than ever.  This program features her first cartoon appearances and shows her cinematic evolution from dog to woman.
Hillbillies In Hollywood Hillbillies in Hollywood Alternate title: “The Incredibly Strange Country, Western, and Rockabilly Film Show”. Over three hours of great music from 1927 to 1964, from the justly famous (Bob Wills, Jimmie Rogers, Spike Jones) to the unjustly forgotten (Hank Fort, Smoky Rogers, the Korn Kobblers), and many, many others.
Strange and Vicious War Cartoons Cartoons from a time when war was defined clearly as good versus evil and a victory came.  Can we learn anything from those days?  Now we seem to have what Orwell warned us against, eternal war.
The Open Road The Open Road What is the myth and reality of America’s long love affair with the automobile?  This program contains both and it’s only a ninety minute ride at 36 feet per second. The myth includes carefree vacations, the joy of hitch hiking, long haul trucker warriors of the road, carefree bikers on their hogs, leaving the driving to Greyhound, and more.  The reality includes being busted for drunk driving, becoming one of the fifty thousand  a year who die in a horrible wreck, ending up a quadriplegic after a ride on a Harley, and road rage turning a mild mannered milquetoast into a vengeful maniac.
Dixie Evans from Stag Party Special Stag Party Special: A Delightful Evening of Vintage Smut A program made up entirely of stag films (hard core short films from 1925 – 1950) would be tedious. In fact, most stag films are boring. This program features five truly great stags interspersed with selected risque rarities called “nudie cuties”, “tease films” and Soundies. See my notes following this list.
Reviews: Illusionaire’s Musings


Tex Avery Jazz, Sex, and War Cartoons After my first tour of Europe in 1995 with Bad Bugs Bunny, I was asked to come back in 1996 with more animation programs. Jack Stevenson suggested I do a “Sex, Jazz and War” cartoon show. I was mystified how these topics would go together, but trusted Jack that there would be bookings for such a program. He was right
Hobo, You Can’t Ride That Train A look into a fascinating subject few are personally privy to.  Mr. Nyback rode freight trains across the United States while in college and has long been interested in freight train riding and the people that do it.  These rare films are a primer into a very little understood subject.
The Blaxploitation Cartoon Special Extremely rare cartoons from 1916 to 1943 offer an unvarnished look at how black people were portrayed during what is called “the golden age of animation”.  They include work by some of the most famous cartoonists of all time. All of them are now suppressed.
Creepy  characters with candles on their heads  are chanting WANNA BE A MEMBER at Bimbo in Bimbos initiation cartoon  from Fleisher Brothers Studios Subversive Animation A fast-paced roundup of wildly subversive animated shorts from cartoon history, many censored, banned and rare. Featured shorts include: screw the two party system with “Betty Boop for President”, drug happy dwarves in “The Sunshine Makers”, off the police with Woody Woodpecker in “The Screw Driver”, fighting prohibition with “Mickey’s Whoopee Party” and pro-commie, anarchist shorts, revolts against royalty and more.
F@!k Mickey Mouse Compare To Disney™ (aka F@!k Mickey Mouse) Is it true? Is there a segment of the population that believes Walt Disney invented animation? This programs examines how the other Hollywood animation studios reacted to the Disney juggernaut in the 1930′s and 1940′s.   I focus on three tactics by his competition:  Rip him off, beat him to the punch, or make vicious fun of him.
Reviews: New York Daily News


The Mormon Church Explains It All For You The first film made by the Mormon Church that I had ever saw knocked me over. It was called “For Time or Eternity”. It was so skillfully made and had such wacky ideas. It was a film like no other I had seen.
Reviews:New York Native
Quick Commercial Defining the 1970’s Through Classic Commercials From the ridiculous to the sublime.  Thank God you won’t be suckered into buying a lot of these products, since many of them are no longer on the market. For the others, this is warning to enjoy the ads, but don’t buy the product — especially Rely Tampons which were pulled after killing many women with toxic shock syndrome.
Other Programs with no descriptions I Know Why You’re Afraid
Barbershop Blues
Hong Kong Hodge Podge
Behind the Scenes in Hollywood
Mondo Commie
Politically Incorrect Humor
The Fabulous Fatty Arbuckle
Cross Dress Extravaganza
Dating, Driving, Delinquency