Anniversaries Upon Anniversaries At Latest Someday Cinema Series Event
Moviegoers last weekend were treated to three screenings of The Wizard of Oz at Edmond Town Hall, where audience members of all ages filed in to the historic building's auditorium.
The screenings were the latest installation of Newtown Cultural Arts Commission's Someday Cinema Series, which lauched five years ago, in May 2014, with screenings of The Wizard of Oz and The Little Princess.
Series Coordinator Jen Rogers was outside the front door of Edmond Town Hall late Sunday afternoon, June 23, welcoming guests as they arrived. Ms Rogers and event sponsors Richelle and Bob Ward greeted guests for all three shows, in fact; the third show saw a steady stream of guests of all ages.
Ms Rogers smiled as one couple approached the building.
"We're back!" said the woman, ascending the steps. "We saw The Wizard of Oz when you started this five years ago, and we're back for it again."
"Thank you for coming," Ms Rogers said. "Enjoy the show. Again."
Inside the town hall lobby, sponsors Richelle and Bob Ward were also greeting attendees. The Wards had donated a lithograph to raffle as a door prize for anyone who wanted to enter. The authenticated image depicted three of the actors who portrayed Munchkins in the 1939 film: Mickey Carroll, who portrated a violinist; Jerry Marren, "The Lollipop Kid"; and Karl Slover, who was credited as 1st Trumpeter.
The series is now on its summer hiatus, but Ms Rogers reminded audiences last weekend that Someday Cinema will return in September, with two films scheduled that month.
The series will resume on Thursday, September 5, with True Grit (1969), for its 50th anniversary. Following that, Harrison Ford stars in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) on Sunday, September 29, in Ford’s first Someday Cinema Series appearance.
Pianist and historian Ben Model will provide live accompaniment to the vampire film Nosferatu (1922) on Sunday, October 27, and Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn will star in the zany comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938) on Sunday, November 17.
"That film has to be one of Katherine Hepburn's most hilarious roles," Ms Rogers noted Sunday afternoon.
The 2019 schedule will conclude on Sunday, December 16, with The Shop Around The Corner, starring James Stewart.
"I had hoped to bookend this year with James Stewart films," Ms Rogers said. The 1950 film Harvey, another Stewart feature, had been initially scheduled for January 20, "but weather changed those plans," she added.
Lily Novotny was among those to attend the 4 pm screening of The Wizard of Oz Sunday afternoon at Edmond Town Hall. Three screenings of the long-celebrated classic film, released 80 years ago, were offered on June 23 as part of Newtown Cultural Arts Commission’s ongoing Someday Cinema Series. Lily was seeing the film for the first time, thanks to her grandmother, Vickie Mack of Danbury, who decided to take the 5-year-old for the screening. Film sponsors Bob and Richelle Ward thought Lily was “so adorable in her brilliant blue dress,” according to Series Coordinator Jen Rogers, that they “gave her their basket with Toto in it, to make her experience of watching The Wizard of Oz for the first time event more memorable.”
—Jen Rogers photo
Someday Cinema Series Coordinator Jen Rogers holds a jar filled with entries for an autographed lithograph while Abby Rivas selects a ticket. Everyone who attended one of Sunday’s Wizard of Oz screenings was invited to enter the free raffle. Abby picked the winning ticket before the start of the 7 o’clock show.
—Bee Photo, Hicks
Bob Ward, who co-sponsored with his wife, Richelle, last weekend’s Someday Cinema Series screenings, donated a lithograph to offer as a door prize for anyone who wanted to enter. The authenticated image depicts Mickey Carroll (1919-2009), Jerry Maren (1920-2008), and Karl Slover (1918-2011), who were the last three munchkins alive at the time the lithograph was signed.
—Jen Rogers photo
Jen Rogers believes last weekend may have been the fourth time the film title The Wizard of Oz graced the marquee at Edmond Town Hall. The film was screened following its release in 1939, and then for its 50th anniversary in 1989, its 75th anniversary in 2014, and again last weekend. The 2014 screenings were the first for Someday Cinema Series, so last weekend’s screenings were also for the program’s fifth anniversary.
—Jen Rogers photo