Museum presents silent film screenings and talks

Cuddebackville, N.Y. — If you love the movies, then there is no place you should be but Cuddebackville, N.Y. the weekend of Sept. 28-29. On that Friday and Saturday, the Neversink Valley Area Museum will present a symposium focusing on the silent films made in this region and the legacy they have left us. This event will include lectures and screenings of silent short films made both in the early 1900s and as recently as this year. It will be held under a tent on the lawn behind the museum’s main building, so bring a blanket or low chair and be ready to join an event every lover of film should not miss. On Friday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m, the museum will hold a screening of silent films made in this region or made by those who worked here. These film pioneers include D.W. Griffith, Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and Anita Loos. In order to show the full scope of films of the silent era, the films shown will include melodrama, comedy and horror. Eileen White a film director, who teaches film theory and history at Queensborough Community College will speak about the films and their creators. On Saturday, Sept. 29 at 4 p.m, Edwin Thanhouser, grandson of the founders of the Thanhouser Film Company of New Rochelle, N.Y. will speak about the history of that company, which filmed “The Forest Rose” in Cuddebackville in 1912. Thanhouser, a film preservationist will screen films made by his grandfather’s company. Immediately following this presentation will be a screening of submissions to the museum’s first annual silent short film competition. To help celebrate its 40th anniversary as an institution promoting the history of its western Orange County, N.Y. region, the museum asked film makers to submit short movies without any synchronized sound. “This competition was created to help the museum foster the work of emerging film makers and to promote the history of this important industry that began to mature right in our neighborhood,” said Seth Goldman, the museum’s executive director. “The Biograph Company came to Cuddebackville in July of 1909, three months before they first arrived in Los Angeles. Lillian Gish commented in her later years, that had we had southern California’s climate, there would have been no need to ever leave this region, and what is known as “Hollywood” would probably be here in Orange County.” The Neversink Valley Area Museum is located at 26 Hoag Road, off U.S. Route 209) in Cuddebackville. Admission to the event is $5 for adults and $2.50 for children and museum members. Memberships will be available at the door. For more information, contact 845-754-8870, or www.neversinkmuseum.org .