At the very back of Nostalgia Alley — a small video game and gift shop in downtown Petaluma, Calif. — snugly tucked between racks of stuffed Pokemon toys and a row of classic arcade machines, stands what just might be the tiniest museum in Sonoma County.
It’s a simple glass cabinet bearing a large sign reading, “Nostalgia Alley’s Mini Museum.” And its current “exhibition” is a display of memorabilia and collectibles closely connected to the 1986 movie “Howard the Duck,” produced by George Lucas and based on the Marvel comic book character first introduced in 1973.
The film featured performances by Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins and Jeffrey Jones. Howard was portrayed by actor Ed Gale, who went on to play Chucky in the “Child’s Play” movies.
The movie was a notorious bomb at the box office, but four decades later, it does have fans who consider it a misunderstood masterpiece of bizarro sci-fi weirdness. One of those is Petaluma’s Jason Moorhouse, who co-owns Nostalgia Alley with his wife Rebecca.
“Here it is, my small tribute to ‘Howard the Duck,’ the movie that started it all,” said Moorhouse, pointing out some of the items inside the cabinet — press packets, T-shirts, comic books, bubble gum cards, an original “Howard the Duck” VHS tape, patches, hats, video games and more. He’s even got a Howard the Duck jacket, but that’s not in the case, because at that moment Moorhouse was wearing it. “Howard the Duck,” he continued, “was the first Marvel comic book character to get their own theatrically released movie. Before X-Men, before Spider-Man, before all of them.”
Sticklers might try to argue that Marvel’s Captain America appeared on movie screens in 1944, but that was technically a 15-part serial, released one chapter at a time over a series of months. So “Howard the Duck” does stand as the first feature-length movie to feature a Marvel superhero — if that’s the right word for the ornery, cigar-smoking, humanoid duck, skilled in the art of “Quak-Fu,” who is decidedly unhappy to be stuck on Earth battling second-tier bad guys like Doctor Bong, Garko the Man-Frog and Bessie the Hellcow.
“Most people who are into Howard the Duck are into the original comic series, but I don’t care about the comics at all,” Moorhouse said. “All I care about is the movie. I was four years old when I saw it for the first time. I watched it a lot when I was a kid. If my mom ever needed me to be quiet she’d just put on ‘Howard the Duck.’ I guess that’s maybe a little questionable, because there’s some stuff in the movie that’s probably not appropriate for a four-year-old. But my mom was pretty non-strict about things like that.”
It was not until recently that Moorhouse learned that portions of his favorite movie were filmed in Petaluma, with some of the shoot taking place almost directly in front of his shop.
“I had been re-watching the movie, and then I was walking down the street and went, ‘Wait a minute. This looks like the street where Howard gets chased in his flying machine,’” he recalled. “So I looked it up and, yeah, Petaluma was definitely part of the movie. Howard drives his airplane thing down Western Street and crashes into the Petaluma River. I was so excited, I ran outside and was telling everybody, ‘Howard the Duck’ was filmed right here!’”
Moorhouse makes the argument that “Howard the Duck” has as much cultural significance, if not more, than “American Graffiti,” also famously filmed in Petaluma.
“Everyone talks about how George Lucas made ‘Graffiti’ here, but to me, the George Lucas movie that really matters is ‘Howard the Duck,’” he said. “When the movie bombed, Lucas lost a lot of money, so he sold off the part of his special effects company to Steve Jobs — who turned it into Pixar. If it weren’t for ‘Howard the Duck,’ we might not have ‘Toy Story’ or ‘Finding Nemo.’ I know ‘Howard the Duck’ is a B movie and everything, but it really kind of changed the world.”
It was not long after his discovery of the film’s Petaluma connection that Moorhouse decided to show off his “Howard the Duck” collection, which has until a few weeks ago been in boxes in his garage. The timing is appropriate, since Aug. 1 marks the 40th anniversary of the original release of the movie.
“This is almost all of the Howard the Duck stuff I have, but there were a few things I couldn’t find,” Moorhouse said. “Someday I’d love to get my hands on one of the original animatronic Howards, like they used in the movie. That’s my dream.”
His favorite item in the case? A vintage Howard the Duck baseball cap.
“That was given to me by someone who worked on the film,” Moorhouse said. “He also gave me a package of, like, 100 Howard the Duck patches. I have one of those in the mini museum, too.”
Also in the case is a cassette tape of the movie’s original score and songs.
“It’s a really good soundtrack,” Moorhouse said. “I actually put it on and listen to it now then. It always makes me feel happy.”
Moorhouse plans to leave the exhibit up for at least a few months, hoping it attracts other fans of the film.
“I do meet people in the store who worked on the movie, and they have fond memories of it,” he said. “It’s one of those things where they might not be as proud of it as other movies they worked on, because it wasn’t very successful. But as a work of art, not everyone’s going to love everything you do. But still, if you enjoyed making it and you have good memories, and if 40 years later there are people who grew up with it and really love it, that’s definitely something to be proud of.”
Moorhouse said his hope is that the Mini Museum exhibit gets more people remembering and talking about “Howard the Duck.”
“It really doesn’t deserve to be forgotten,” he said. “We have the annual American Graffiti days in Petaluma. Maybe someday Petaluma will have an annual Howard the Duck Day, too.”
Perhaps with a short parade along Western Avenue and down to the river?
“That would be super cool,” he said.
Nostalgia Alley is at 36 N. Petaluma Blvd. It’s open from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Original article
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