[Going to the Movies exhibition events] Tapes 1-13

Date1996

Can DescriptionsBACKGROUND: 'Going to the Movies' is an exhibition that explores the history of movies and movie-going in northern New England, from the first moving images to the multiplexes of today. It is about people and their communities, how cinemas continue to bring us together. Funded by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Project Director: Karan Sheldon. NHF video documentation of 'Going to the Movies' exhibition held at the Maine Mall, South Portland, 1-11 May 1996. Tape 1: Exhibit arrives (May 1). Tape 2: 1. Biddeford Drive-In 35 mm. reference. 2. Maine Mall center space (ca.May 1-3). Tape 3: Charlie Chaplin's The Circus at the Maine Mall, Part I (Gillian Anderson conducting The Cinema Century Orchestra) (4 May). Tape 4: Charlie Chaplin's The Circus at the Maine Mall, Part II (Gillian Anderson conducting The Cinema Century Orchestra) (4 May). NOTE: See also acc.1380 for footage of Gillian Anderson conducting The Circus on May 4. Tape 5: Henry Jenkins (author of 'What Made Pistachio Nuts') on Star Wars, fan culture and hit movies. (May 5). Tape 6: Evangeline, Reels 1-8 (May 6). Tape 7: Evangeline at the Nickelodeon (May 8). Evangeline, based on poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first opened in 1929. The screening on 8 May 1996 was the premiere of a newly struck color-tinted print (film restoration by UCLA) with live accompaniment by Maine composers and performers Elliott Schwartz and Tom Myron. The event was co-sponsored by Hoyts and the Maine Humanities Council. Tape 8: Chester Liebs (May 8). NOTE: See GTM Collection/acc.1417 for videotape copy of Chester Liebs lecture slides. Tape 9: Mall viewers, etc (May 8-10). Tape 10: [Danny] Patt and audience (May 9). Danny Patt began playing the piano for silent films in 1924 in Union, Maine. For the Maine Mall exhibition, he accompanied Cupid, Registered Guide, a 1921 film made in Maine. Tape 11: Garth Jowett, Part I (May 10). Garth Jowett, University of Houston and author of 'Film: The Democratic Art,' gives a talk at the Maine Mall about the growth of the film audience. Tape 12: Garth Jowett, Part II (May 10). Garth Jowett gives a talk at the Portland Museum of Art 'Where Did the Audience Go? Myths from the Last Half of the Twentieth Century.' Accompanies the film Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean. Tape 13: Nancy Hoffman singing movie songs (May 11).