The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson, an Administrative Assistant at the Packard Campus.
Our guest programmer for August is Richard Hincha, a preservation specialist in the Packard Campus film lab.
My first theatrical film experience was Disney’s Sleeping Beauty on my fifth birthday, and I was immediately hooked. When I entered college, I knew that somehow, some way I was going to make movies my life. And I did. I taught college film courses at UW-Milwaukee for six years, biding my time until a position opened up with the Library of Congress motion picture film lab in Dayton, Ohio, in 1994. Shortly after moving to our new facilities in Culpeper, I joined Amy Gallick and David March as one of the projectionists at the Packard Campus Theater. My twenty years with the LOC has seemed more like indulging a favorite hobby than actually working, and I have no intention of retiring any time in the foreseeable future.
Thursday, August 6 (7:30 p.m.)
The Great Escape (United Artists, 1963)
Based on Paul Brickhill’s 1950 best-selling first-hand account, The Great Escape tells the true story of one of the largest mass POW escapes during World War II. Director John Sturges assembled a first rate cast including American actors Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn and Charles Bronson, and a number of British actors such as Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence, David McCallum and John Leyton. Sturges never wavered from his initial intention of making a true ensemble piece in which each character, each cog in the intricate escape machine, functions equally. Shot on location in Bavaria, Germany, it was selected by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 1963. The screening print is courtesy of MGM and Park Circus film distributor. 172 min.
Friday, August 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Captain Lightfoot (Universal, 1955)
This fourth of eight collaborations between director Douglas Sirk and actor Rock Hudson is a tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler beautifully filmed in CinemaScope on location in Ireland. The screenplay by W. R. Burnett based on his 1954 novel tells the story of Michael Martin, a naive and impetuous young would-be rebel in 1815 Ireland who turns to robbery for funds to support the cause against England. Forced into hiding, he crosses paths with the renowned rebel leader Captain Thunderbolt (Jeff Morrow), who takes Martin under his wing and makes him his second-in-command. Barbara Rush and Kathleen Ryan are also featured in the cast. 92 min.
Saturday, August 8 (7:30 p.m.)
“An Evening of Old-Time Radio” with The Metropolitan Washington Old-Time Radio Club
Club members will re-create two 1949 broadcasts: the very first episode of Dragnet, and an episode of My Favorite Husband, the Lucille Ball radio sitcom that foreshadowed TV’s I Love Lucy, and also demonstrate how various sound effects are reproduced. Founded in 1984, the Metropolitan Washington Old-Time Radio Club honors, collects and preserves information on all forms of vintage radio, meeting each month in Northern Virginia. Members have hosted OTR panel discussions and made presentations at the Smithsonian Institute, NOVA College, the National Air and Space Museum, the Newseum and for numerous senior citizens’ groups and retirement homes. Most recently, the club performed at the Lisner Auditorium in a tribute to WAMU-FM’s Big Broadcast and its host, Ed Walker.
For more information on our programs, please visit the web site at www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.