John Carpenter leans against only some of his more than 3,000 film prints that he has amassed in his Massapequa Park movie archive.

John Carpenter's reputation as a filmmaker and as a highly reputed historian, who throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties has been visually and vocally singing the merits of the American movie industry of the 1920s and 1930s, was best illustrated on May 1. When Jody Brower, the programmer for Massapequa Park's Bar Harbour Library, signed Carpenter to a five-month contract for Classic film lectures featuring his 3,000 titles plus film collection, she had never expected that John's choice of the introductory Warner Brothers' musical Gold Digger's of 1933 would bring a standing room only house!

As an award-winning and theatrically presented Independent filmmaker on Long Island, Carpenter has gathered much respect proving to younger audiences and reminding senior audiences that the artistry of the motion picture doesn't depend on its technical effects or explosions to be heralded as a hit, but that the talent that its human creators incorporate from behind or in front of the camera are what brings life to a production. Via his program and audience discussions that Carpenter holds before and after each showing, this human element is a high point that Brower has been receiving much positive attention for instituting as a human touch to learn from.

So varied is Carpenter's collection that each genre is represented and the Bar Harbour Library will be presenting a wide variety of Classic Films to suit every taste. Some upcoming titles will be Stage Door Canteen - Laurel & Hardy's Sons of the Desert - Cagney singing and dancing in Something to Sing About - and on Oct. 30 for a special Halloween program - Abbot & Costello Meets Frankenstein. Some will be started by Betty Boop, Popeye or Bouncing Ball Cartoons, where everyone will be encouraged to "Follow the Bouncing Ball and to Sing Along.