Hello and welcome to the page that is dedicated to The John Hughes Retrospectives that were produced for Tabern Live and GBN-TV Channel 27. In April 1996, Robert Tabern and Alex Rubinow got together to make ideas for the upcoming May 1996 episode of Tabern Live 4. It was then that Alex came up with a brilliant idea for a segment. Alex suggested he and Rob should travel to different sights located along the North Shore in which film-maker and Glenbrook North Alumni John Hughes filmed his movies. If you have never heard of John Hughes, you are destined to recall some of his movies, like the following: Home Alone, Home Alone 2, Home Alone 3, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles,  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Uncle Buck, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and National Lampoon’s European Vacation. Well, Rob and Alex went to several different locations where Hughes filmed and they put a segment together called "John Hughes Retrospective" that aired on Tabern Live 4 on May 16, 1996. There  were numerous people who commented favorably on the segment, and some viewers even suggested the two make a sequel in which they would visit additional John Hughes sights. The idea was put on the back burner because the end of the 1995-96 school year loomed closer, and all of our equipment was torn up to make way for the 1996 Glenbrook North Awards Assembly.

...immediate area surrounding Alexander's and Robert's  homes and, in fact, several scenes were shot right at Glenbrook North High  School in Northbrook, Illinois.

In August of 1999 an idea surfaced in the heads of the now-college students, Alexander Rubinow and Robert Tabern. They sought out to make another John Hughes Retrospective attempting to find some of the sties which were not included in the first two, and to even re-record some that were. They shot it on Alexander's 1976 GAF Super 8 Movie Camera. They shot it on Kodachrome 40 color-sound film. This production was by far the most costly. It cost 40 dollars to obtain a role of the out-of-print Kodachrome40, and it cost an additional 13 dollars for Kodak to develop it. All, in all, it turned out rather nicely. Alternatively from the other two, Robert has almost all of the screen time and acts as the host while Alexander stands behind the camera. Alexander is seen at the very end for a few seconds, but the role ran out. Regardless, it carries on the legacy of the Original John Hughes Retrospective series.

Again, Tabern and Rubinow's thirst for John Hughes locations was not quenched. They set out again to better themselves, and to improve upon the three previous John Hughes Retrospectives. This time they were shooting it for the Tabern Live FIFTH annivesary Show. The year was 2000, and the month was July, and the day was Independence Day (the 4th of July). They went around and video taped all the locations which they could fathom. This time Cameron Frye's house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off was included as well as downtown Highland Park from Weird Science, and some sites in Skokie from Sixteen Candles. This version, as well as the Super8 August 1999 version appeared on the Tabern Live Fifth Anniversary Show. That show aired in Spring of 2001 in Jonesboro, Arkansas on KAIT 8 (the ABC-TV affiliate). It was also scheduled to air on Glenbrook North Television, the station that gave birth to Tabern Live, but the station manager failed to program it into the lineup.

Fear Not - the ULTIMATE JOHN HUGHES RETROSPECTIVE (referenced in the above advertisement) is available now. Rubinow and Tabern returned to finding more locations of John Hughes films, and compiled them over a few years. This culminated in the creation of an ultimate retrospective that was created especially for the Tabern Live 10 Year Anniversary Show in November of 2006....and it can be ordered on home video.

©Salacious Crumb Productions May 1997, December 1999, January 2001, November 2006