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Bruce Brown is the innovator of modern day surf films.

The California filmmaker who directed The Endless Summer continues to fill seats around the world.

A Life of Endless summers.

The Bruce Brown Story celebrates the man, husband and father behind the most iconic surfing film of all time.

Tonight, we meet the film's producer to learn how he's keeping the legacy alive.

I'm so happy you're joining.

From Los Angeles.

This is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to Everybody with Angela Williamson, an Innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

The endless summer really stands.

Heads and tails above any of the other hundreds of surfing films.

It was lately earth shattering.

I think it's probably the greatest surf film.

It was the film that lifted the veil on the mystery of what surfing was for people, and exposed it to the world.

It was amazing.

It was everything that we thought surfing was and then more.

I think you can talk to anybody in the world who watched them last summer, and that movie impacted their life and therefore it pretty much changed my entire life.

Is this something you can do for a living?

Can you have an endless summer in your life?

It shows every surfer that you can have in the summer.

You can go and surf all the spots you want.

There wasn't just waves in your backyard, right?

There's waves all over the world.

It blew my mind.

Chasing warm weather around the world, looking for perfect surf.

The dream of perfect waves was just mind boggling.

The endless summer inspired us to look for that perfect glow.

They made me want to explore new cultures and places and waves just made me dream of like, how beautiful the world is.

Definitely inspired me to move around the world and want to be in and influenced by different cultures.

I wanted to go to these obscure countries and experienced cultures and use surfing as the vehicle of doing so.

You know, they want to read too many other movies that I was exposed to that had Africa in it.

It was awesome.

I mean, it made me feel like a little bit more part of the surf community.

Surfing cruises beauty makes me feel proud to be part of that.

Seeing the stereotypical surfer and then the non stereotypical surfer together, bridging the race gap.

I thought was really freaking cool.

It comes down to hope.

And when we watch a movie like that, we get hope that we too can have fun and adventure and get inspired.

We love surfing and you're like, hey, this is a fun thing to do.

That's an inclusive thing.

That's a positive.

This for everybody.

Genders, races, religion is, you know, I mean the movies for everyone.

Alex Mickle is our guest.

Alex, what a phenomenal trailer honoring this great legacy.

We're going to talk about that.

But before we get there, I would love to hear how does Alex get to making this documentary about this surfing filmmaker filmmaking legend?

You know, first of all, thanks, Angela.

It's it's great meeting you.

you know, it's a long story, but I'll try and make it short.

Bruce was just an amazing director.

He was an independent filmmaker, and I happened to have this opportunity straight out of college to meet Bruce up at his ranch in Santa Barbara.

And I was just so inspired by his creativity and his sort of approach to filmmaking.

and I said, you know, I'd been inspired ever since I was a kid by this, this movie that I didn't even realize at the time was just about surf.

It was really the poster that initially attracted me to The Endless Summer.

And, I said, you know, we really need to protect this legacy that you've created.

This movie speaks volumes.

It inspired so many people around the world, not just in the US, but internationally.

I grew up in, in Europe, so I was one of those people.

And so when I came to the U.S. and had this opportunity to meet my hero, I made the I really went to the full extent of trying to bring this thing back.

And that's when Bruce Brown Films was really created, you know, in the mid 90s, again, to take that movie back to the audience, get it into the American Film Archives, get the poster into MoMA.

so it's now sort of been instituted, institutionalized down to the point where at the Smithsonian, you know, we have a great exhibit there now, that's part of American culture.

So that was sort of my mission in life.

Well, and it sounds like up until the time you met him in person, that even though this is probably the most prolific, when we talk about documentaries, everyone knows about it.

I mean, it doesn't matter when you were born.

No, it does, you know, timeless.

It's timeless.

That's right.

But it looks like there was just some time where people weren't recognizing the legend that we had among us until you met him.

Right.

And were you shocked?

Yeah.

You know, I think it's, a lot of people ask me, like, how did you end up with this opportunity?

And I said it was easy.

I just got in my car, drove up from Los Angeles two hours north, and, met my hero.

And Bruce was just the kind of person he was.

he was a just a genuine, what we call old school kind of guy.

A handshake meant a handshake.

Whatever.

You said, you did it.

And that's really sort of how I've lived my my life.

And so meeting this sort of, again in my mind, hero that from a creative standpoint, really had done what I was hoping to do someday.

was really an opportunity that, has really sort of shaped my entire career from that point forward.

And you mentioned something earlier that I want to go back to and have you talk about a little bit more, because you actually said you lived in Europe for a long time before you came here to come to, what did you already start at the university here?

That's right.

And so my question is, because a lot of times what I find out is that we have these wonderful American icons that we just sort of put on a shelf.

That's right.

But in Europe.

So tell me about that.

No.

And you're absolutely right.

I mean, American pop culture, you know, goes back to really when you think about it.

And I'm not talking.

Well, again, if you look at Hollywood as a pop culture starting in the 20s and 30s, you know, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, these are names that most American kids today don't even recognize anymore in Europe.

We do, because we got to see all these old movies.

And those were sort of very inspiring.

It was sort of the entry into America for us.

I was an American expat that, you know, was born in New York, but when I was to had the opportunity to move to Europe with my parents, very creative family.

So going back, we were living this constant life between the United States and Europe, sort of gave me this opportunity to see things in a different way.

And that bicultural sort of, you know, influence that I had, I carried back into what I did in my life and the people I was trying to meet.

And Bruce was definitely one of those people, because I felt that he had contributed so much in terms of just his international travel that he did, and this movie that really transcended all colors and races and genders.

it was an amazing piece.

And so that's really what ultimately drove me to go back to Santa Barbara and find this amazing hero that I'd been looking for.

And were you shocked that because I was shocked when we first made our connection, I was shocked that it took until, you know, 2020 to actually have a documentary about Bruce.

Were you shocked about that?

Well, you know, again, actually, no.

And I'll tell you why.

Bruce was just a very humble, like I said, old school kind of guy.

When I first approached him and said, you know, Bruce, we need to protect this legacy.

This movie needs to be protect.

It's being ripped off.

You know, across the country, worldwide, the intellectual property was not protected.

So I said, my first mission needs to be to protect this.

That's number one.

So we went out, got all the trademarks, got all the copyrights we filed.

And so that was sort of step one in protecting that legacy.

Step two was to make people aware that it existed.

It's your point about how do you how do you make it, how do you bring awareness around it?

And that's where I think licensing and sort of my area of expertise at the at the time really helped quite a bit in sort of getting word out there that this exists and it needs to be protected.

Until that point, it was very niche, sort of within the surf community, but we really wanted to go outside of the surf community.

We knew that one day surfing was going to be a probably a national sport.

Now it's in the Olympics.

So again, 20 years later, you're absolutely right.

Like, why did this happen?

And there was sort of a path that everyone in the industry was sort of on.

My mission again, was just to sort of use this movie as, as really a piece of education, an educational piece to tell people what that era was all about.

I mean, think about 1964 Martin Luther King wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Mustang is born and released by Ford.

John F Kennedy two months, you know, in November in 1963 is assassinated.

We're talking about a pretty important part of American history that most people don't connect, quote unquote, to a surf documentary.

And that was really me trying to put that into context.

And I think we've been able to achieve that.

And you mentioned education because and I definitely want to spend some time to talk about that.

But not only did you mention education, but you talked about being part of a creative family.

Correct.

And so my question to you is and a lot of people are arguing about this now is that creativity is being taken out of education.

Right.

But it's so important.

It is I mean, so how can Bruce Brown's legacy teach us the importance of creativity.

Again, it's how he started, you know, getting into this himself.

You know, he had a sponsor, which was a close friend of his, Dale Elzy, also another surf legend.

He ran one of the first surf shops in California.

and, he recognized this talent that Bruce had to tell stories.

So he bought Bruce his first eight millimeter camera and that was really the beginning of that process.

So it was someone who recognized that he had talent and he wanted to help him.

And so he bought him a camera.

And that's the beginning of a creative, creative process.

And so Bruce, picked that up and ran with it.

He started creating his first movies in the 50s, and then over the course of literally ten years, created all these blockbuster documentaries that if you look at on any Sunday, which a lot of people also forget, which is the famous motorcycle movie, right, that documented the entire motocross and sort of, motorcycle industry.

that movie ended up being Oscar nominated, ended up losing, unfortunately, in 1971 to a bug movie, which Bruce always laughs about.

But the point being that independent documentaries, who started basically ten years prior, was able to go all the way to the Oscars, tells you that that process is is is just it's it's not linear.

It goes up and down and sideways.

And ultimately you just have to believe in what your passion is and follow that dream.

And he did.

And so I think that is the biggest inspiration I got out of having met him.

And that was the message he tried to really sort of, you know, portray to everyone that he met with, you know, be creative, do what you love, follow your dream.

Again, going around the world, right?

Those are all educational things that school probably can't teach us, but that you you can be inspired by and try and live out through your actions.

Well.

And I love that you brought up any given Sunday because I know, when I was majoring in communication, I don't know if you majored in communication as well.

In that intro class, they talk about it for one paragraph, but they don't even really mention Bruce Brown.

I mean, because there's a celebrity tied to it.

And I mean, that's another way that sometimes legacies get taken over.

Over.

That's right.

Because of how it's told.

Well, let me tell you an interesting sort of anecdote that Bruce always shared.

And it's really interesting because these are two people that we all know.

one is Lucas from Lucas Films, obviously Star Wars, and the other is Steven Spielberg.

Obviously.

No need to further explain.

So both Lucas and Steele were Spielberg were, in the audience when Bruce was invited to USC film school to give a speech about being an independent documentaries and he recalls when actually both of them that Lucas and, and, Steven Spielberg were in the audience.

One of the questions that was asked, how do you make a good movie?

And we know where it ended up with those two guys.

But ultimately it's and Bruce's answer was, which I truly support and believe is the right answer is you have to have a good story.

It all starts with the story.

If you don't have a story, no matter how hard you try and how many people you hire, you won't have a good film.

That is good advice for anyone who thinks that they want to go out there and make their own film.

It's to start with a good story.

That's right, and turn it into a great story.

Well, I think this is a perfect way to end our segment because when we come back, you are going to tell us how you not only made a great story with the documentary about Bruce Brown, we'll talk about that.

But then you have another great story that you are working on right now that hopefully by the time this airs, you, the documentary will be out there.

So I want you to talk about both.

I know I'm putting you on the spot, but hold on and we'll come right back.

Come back and hear more of my conversation with Alex and learn about the Bruce Brown documentary that's out right now.

With me is surfing photographer Bruce Brown.

And Bruce, let me say I like the movies you take in.

Surfing is just superb.

This is the story of an icon.

They have been working on a long, understanding Mr. Kennedy and also a filmmaker.

Nobody's doing documentaries like that.

I mean, Bruce really opened up the door for a flood of filmmakers to copy what he did.

Motorcyclist I don't think seriously, I'd be doing today what I'm doing today without seeing that movie.

You know, it showed the heart and soul of Poseidon, razor surfer.

They were the foundation of this sport of surfing that's grown into this gigantic, you know, mega million dollar industry.

Now, I don't think you ever see a group of men like that again.

You know, they fish, they dove, they surf, they rode motorcycles, they built things, they design things.

They change sports.

So how does that happen?

How did you become like, how does somebody turn into some legend?

Just get old.

You get old enough.

You.

You may become a legend.

It's funny because when you're a kid, you know, your parents are like, furniture.

You know, they came with the house, they couldn't even know.

I couldn't get a date or anything.

And he shows up.

This beautiful woman in a forest in Merrick.

That's your mother?

They were married.

They.

All this stuff becomes a good marriage.

But, I mean, mom was dad's co-driver when he rally car race.

Mom.

Mom was like his sidekick as well as his wife.

I've never seen any other couple.

Really.

It is just bizarre love affair.

In 2006, my mother died.

And for a few years, dad didn't leave the house much.

So my brother's sister and I took him on a road trip to see some of his old friends because everybody thought, you know, Pat goes to it's all over and, didn't happen.

It's off to the races and on the green of going around visiting all my heroes and, him was that.

You know, your father had many, many, many friends.

And I says, you know what?

We don't see him very often, but when we see him, it's just like yesterday.

Oh, go, go through your life.

I say find the people with the same common interests, same character, the same is tough.

So we have all these wonderful memories.

I don't have a single bad one sucker that's not here to be with us.

Yeah, it was.

It was tough.

Could you sleep in a bedroom for six months?

I slept out in the hall, but there's like 60 minutes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like the guy who makes, like, pets.

Can shine a light.

Wherever you can come when no.

Your dad's kind of.

An institution here.

And, created a lifetime memories.

And not only for people your age in mind, but, you know, harking back to the days of old.

It's an example.

It's a measuring stick.

It's something for you to walk away and go.

It's probably some room in my life to acquire this or that.

Welcome back.

I'm going to continue my conversation with Alex.

Alex, thank you so much.

That was such a wonderful first segment.

We not only did we learn a little bit about you, but we learned why it's important to keep legacies alive.

And you're doing that.

You have two documentaries, but I want to start by talking about the Bruce Brown documentary and give me the title again.

Bruce Brown, The Life of Endless Summers.

The Life of Endless Summers.

I love that title, and there's a lot behind that, because at the time that this documentary started shooting, Bruce lost the major love of his life.

That's right.

So I'm going to let you continue that story.

Yeah.

That was, that was I mean, for all of us.

I mean, she was, she was like our mom.

she was.

We called her the captain.

Bruce, really?

Everything he did in his life, really, relied heavily on his partner.

And he always made that a point down to the, story where I went to Santa Barbara.

she was sitting right next to him when we had our conversation, because.

And she would just sit there quietly and observe and listen.

But you knew behind the scenes she was the captain, and that's, that was his.

That was his stronghold.

And that that's also what made him feel confident.

And I think that that's where that partnership, when all of a sudden your partner passes, and it it was a hard time.

I mean, I remember calling and, the first couple of days, he couldn't even speak on the over the phone, didn't want to see anyone.

And it took about 2 or 3 years until he kind of came around.

And I think our work that we do at Bruce Brown films really sort of, was a stabilizing factor at that time because he really appreciated what we do at Bruce Brown films and the approach we take and the community we're trying to take care of.

And so that's something he really supported.

And I think that's actually what helped him kind of work through this, this era of, of grief and sorrow at the time.

And it was really interesting because he agreed to do it, but he has to take along his friend.

And I think, okay, that's what makes the documentary, because it shows.

That's exactly right.

How during our greatest loss, how having the companionship of your furry friend can help you move to the next.

That's right.

And you see that.

You see that in that.

When they're in the van traveling, you know, cross-country all the way over to Hawaii.

you know, there's just such a such a close bond between the family members.

he had three kids.

one is a family, another, filmmaker, Dana Brown, who ended up actually.

And that's why we ended up choosing Dana, obviously, for this legacy piece of Bruce.

Bruce Brown.

The life of endless Summer was then directed ultimately by, by Dana.

And he did a great job.

We it was a it was a long journey to get it done because we wanted to do it right.

We also felt that, you know, potentially bringing it out during Bruce's lifetime might be premature because he was such a humble guy.

So in a sense, you know, we maybe that decision to wait, for that special day.

And when he passed it, it all hit us all.

But it was, I think it was the right timing at that point to really release it.

And we did.

And it's been well received by by the audience and by the fans around the world.

I mean, it's a remarkable film, but I think one of the things that I was just in awe about, and I love to hear the story behind it, was when he goes and he visits all of these friends.

Yeah, yeah, former surfing legends that in their own right, they are humble people as well.

That's exactly right.

I mean, how difficult was it to tell these stories because they just they seemed like regular people.

I could just go and bring them a plate of brownies and have some conversation.

You know, you're absolutely right.

And that's again, back to my generation.

That is on the heels.

You know, the baby boomer generation.

You know, we were influenced by that pop culture that we just talked about in the first segment.

And when you see how that relates to our lives today, it's prevalent across society.

And so in many ways.

And, like I said, I think what Bruce hadn't had an ability to do is tell those stories so that they connected with anyone, no matter how old you were.

And so when we brought this piece out and decided to do this movie, the idea was to share sort of that legacy, not just about himself, but as he says in the movie, about his friends, because they did it.

It was a collective.

It was it was a group of people all, all from California.

And so it tells you also sort of the positioning California held at the time as sort of this new frontier of, of innovation, new things.

And every one of them grubby.

Clark, Hoffman, Walter Hoffman, they all sort of went in a separate direction.

Bruce chose filmmaking.

Walter Hoffman chose fabrics.

Oh, hobby.

Hobie again.

Hobie alter, Hobie alter who famous for the Hobie cats.

These little boats that you see out.

Yes.

All amazing inventions that came out of that era that we take for granted today and nobody really knows where they came from.

It was all this small group of people in Dana Point that started this, and it just evolved and grew.

And as California started developing and the population grew, became part of our pop culture.

And we take it for granted today.

And I mean, I completely agree with you about taking it for granted, but also too, I see this documentary not just as one story, but the story as the umbrella to several other stories.

Where you're teaching the next generation is, you know, when you go to this boat and there was a surfboard in there as well.

That's right.

You know, when you pick up the surfboard, it's from here.

I love to transition right now as we end our program.

Because.

Dory, because you found and I call another diamond that you're about to bring to the mass audience that we should know this story, but no one's telling it.

Yeah, it's a great story.

And it's it that's this story is another one of those timeless pieces.

It's about humanity, something that we all again take for granted.

And we see with the Ukraine situation right now in Russia, it's we can't take it for granted.

We've had 67 years of peace, and all of a sudden the world has been turned upside down.

So this piece that we're actually shooting right now, it's called the Garden Bridge, and it deals with a very sensitive topic of, the Jews in that during the Holocaust and trying to escape Nazi Germany and the world pretty much similar to today.

Where do we put all the Ukrainians that are trying to, flee their country that's being invaded?

Same situation, obviously, on a much worse scale at the time.

the Jewish that were looking for a way out of Germany knew what was going to happen, expected it.

And yet the world shut their doors.

And that includes the United States.

I mean, countries all around the world.

There was one spot, however, or one city in the world, and it wasn't a country.

It was a city that had an open door policy.

And that was Shanghai.

Shanghai, China.

And so what many people don't realize is that, because of one, general consul that was based out of Vienna, he saved essentially 5000, Jewish immigrants that went to Shanghai, this open city that welcomed them.

And, as a sort of a result of trying to survive.

They taught one skill they brought with them because they couldn't bring any possessions.

You weren't allowed.

You were allowed one suitcase, and that was it.

So you have to put yourself into that area.

But the one thing that that no one could strip them was their talent of music.

It's great to stand on 44th Street Broadway in front of amazing theaters dreaming big one day, I hope a musical written by an immigrant from China could make Broadway one day.

All human beings are musical.

Everyone has the capacity to appreciate music.

To respond to.

Music, to make music and connect with music.

The human ality, the unifying power of music can happen anywhere to any people.

Music has really no border.

It's really quite amazing.

Something as dark as the Holocaust would come.

Such incredible, flourishing beauty.

The Jewish refugees, they came to Shanghai.

They had nothing left but music.

They were able to find some kind of human commonality through music.

They were able to connect.

Change the outcome of classical music in China forever.

With what you do to continue the legacies of so many people that have made our lives just so different today.

But before we end, I just want to get a commitment from you that when the Garden Bridge.

That's right.

Yeah.

When the Garden Bridge comes out, that you'll come back to talk.

Oh, I definitely will.

And I want to thank you for this great opportunity to be able to share these stories and, the legacy that, really needed to be told.

but I also, I have a, a piece of that legacy that I want to share with you that I brought today.

Oh, and, it's the, the actually the original endless Summer poster that, you can obviously, share with your team here as well.

Oh, I have to share it.

I guess so, Oh, my goodness.

Thank you so much, Alex.

Let's just keep this up.

This is wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for just keeping this memory alive.

And we'll talk in 2023.

Look forward to it.

Thank you so.

Much.

Thank you.

And we'll hold this up to you.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

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