On May 10, the New Rheem Theatre officially became the Classic Film Hall of Fame, marked by a weekend-long celebration including many film screenings and well-attended Q-AND-A sessions with inductees Cloris Leachman and Mickey Rooney and the daughters of Lou Costello and Boris Karloff.

The first Classic Film Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Sunday evening presented compelling moments.

Before radio/TV host and comedian Brian Copeland joined the hand-picked musicians accompanying the celebration to present the awards, the red carpet and meet-and-greet possibilities brought wonder to the face of 12-year old Tommy Diamantidis.

"I've been a fan for as long as I can remember," the seventh-grade Joaquin Moraga student gasped, clutching a poster Rooney had signed. "I'm a horse rider and when he did 'National Velvet,' I fell in love with his movies."

Diamantidis is one of the reasons Derek Zemrak's most ambitious endeavor as president and founder of the California Independent Film Festival Association matters. Meeting Rooney was, the star-struck fan said, "the most important moment in my life so far." And support from Hollywood is why the theater's plan to preserve classic films and honor the industry's royalty has a chance to blossom from seed to full flower.

"Cloris, Mickey, and Carl (inducted director Carl Reiner sent an "I can't tell you how excited -- yes I can: I'm very excited!" video acceptance speech) are very supportive. With these legends legitimizing and believing in this -- it's slow to start, but it will take off," Zemrak said.

A preshow interview with Leachman provided evidence of the rocket fuel on which the little town of Moraga might catapult itself into prominent film history.

At 86, Leachman's language is sprinkled with good humor, sly assertions and a considerable number of expletives, just to shake up the grandma expectations. There's fire in her eyes as she takes command of the LA makeup artist applying foundation.

"I need cream first -- oh, what's it called?" she demands. "Moisturizer! That's it."

Momentarily satisfied, Leachman explains why she chose to accept Zemrak's invitation to attend the event.

"I just go where they feed me," she jokes. "When I did 'Dancing with the Stars,' we'd cut out of rehearsal early and go have dinner. I gained a pound a day."

With more Emmys than any other actress and numerous films under her belt, Leachman says she hasn't even seen all of her own movies. Her favorite film is one she'd watch over and over: "The Last Picture Show."

"Remember the line, something about heifers?" she asks, referring discreetly to the film's sexual underpinnings. "It doesn't get any better than that."

Rooney, more sedate but no less opinionated at age 92, said in an interview he was "honored to be invited" and even had suggestions for the next semiannual induction ceremony.

"Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino should be invited," he said, declining to name female actors.

Rooney doesn't watch the 368 films in which he has appeared, saying they're made for other people, not for himself. And he proclaimed current films too full of special effects and void of "talking about meaningful things."

Accepting her award, Leachman remained true to her gustatory promise and said, "I'm going out to dinner and then I'm going home to think about what a lovely time I had." Rooney said the award meant appreciation and thanked the audience. Sara Karloff said her father's fans extended "the long legs of his legacy" and recalled his repeated claims of being "the luckiest man in the world."

Moragan, author and classic film expert Larry Swindell was the festival's local awardee, earning the accolade for his biographies of Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper and John Garfield. "Somewhere," from "West Side Story," won the song award: "The Sound of Music" was honored as the first film in the Hall of Fame.

MORAGA -- One step at a time -- that's how Hollywood stars made their way to Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre stage to accept their Oscars on March 2.

Locked in a long-distance tango with cinematic talent, it's the same way California Independent Film Festival president and founder Derek Zemrak hopes to make Moraga's New Rheem Theatre a destination station for movie-lovers.

Barreling into the 61/2-hour annual Oscar Party, Zemrak was like a kid in a candy shop as the red ribbon was cut, officially opening the world's only Classic Film Hall of Fame at the New Rheem.

A work-in-the-making, he said "we're just getting started" and pointed the way to the collection's highlights. Below a picture of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, the actor's signature and "2/12/1960." Zemrak said, "He didn't sign often, so it's rare."

Even more rare is passion like Zemrak's and the exceptional memorabilia he has been storing for years.

"I can't remember, I guess since forever," he admitted, when asked when he began collecting. Identifying his favorite item was impossible, it seemed. "This is a Charlie Chaplin letter, thanking a 'Mrs. Patterson' for her 'kind and interesting letter,'" he said. "But there's so much more."

Indeed there was. A batting helmet from "Rookie of the Year;" a mannequin dressed in Coach Gaines' complete costume from "Friday Night Lights;" a copy of Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" that was thrown out of a window in the film "Silver Lining Playbook;" Coach Cotton's zip-up jacket, khaki pants, clipboard and a playbook showing the "Huntley 30 Wedge" from "The Blind Side." And that was just the sports-related stash.

Crossing the boundaries from arena to animation, there were the green screen stand-ins of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck (scaled, 3-D models giving an actor an eye-line) that helped basketball legend Michael Jordan know where to focus in "Space Jam." Dakota Fanning's Granny Smith-green shoes from "The Cat in the Hat" and an Oct. 4, 1945 Abbot and Costello 78-RPM were separated by the theater's 57-year-old lobby but represented century-spanning entertainment. An original Life Magazine, dated March 1, 1954, carried the picture and autograph of actress-singer Rita Moreno, along with a price tag of 20 cents and the story title, "An Actress's catalog of sex and innocence."

Zemrak's cinephile enthusiasm was not a solo act at the party. "Derek has an amazing collection -- a warehouse of memorabilia. Just wait until you see it all," CAIFF Director of Community Marketing Edy Schwarz said.

Zemrak said there was no actual warehouse, but didn't deny he had plenty of material, and plans to rotate the collection every three months. If more people like Walnut Creek residents Van Tanega and Maria Baladagno are discovered, Zemrak's "destination dream" could become a reality.

"It's stuff I saw when I was kid," Baladagno said. "It's pieces of history and it's right here." She and Tanega said the Home Goods store and Ristorante Amoroma enticed them to drive to the cul-de-sac community and the Rheem caused them to return. "No lines, shopping, good food, great films," Tanega explained.

One of the most promising features, especially for folks who love to push buttons and swipe screens, are the interactive tablets paired with large posters of HOF inductees. Lining an upstairs hallway, biographies and award lists with sliding timelines inform the movie clips showing the best moments on film from Mickey Rooney, Cloris Leachman, Costello, Karloff and soon, Oscar Party special guest Margaret O'Brien (Academy Award-winning Outstanding Child Actress in Vincente Minnelli's "Meet Me in St. Louis," 1944).

Carrie Haraburda and Cassie Kays, both Moraga residents, said supporting the local theater motivated them to attend the party. But it is the VIP seats that are the real explanation for their twice-a-month moviegoing habits.

"They're just the best. The kids love them," Kays said. The additions they'd most like to see -- extending the new, black granite "Walk of Fame" hallway -- are embedded gold stars above their suggested stars' names: Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts. Knowing Zemrak, Julia and the Toms -- or a piece of their histories -- might just find their way to Moraga's destination station.