April 17, 2016 Live Music, Animation and the Immigrant Experience in May

During the first week of May, the Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia, will showcase three films in conjunction with the Library’s new exhibit, “Jacob Riis: Revealing ‘How the Other Half Lives,’ ” currently on display in the Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C. The films—“Pay or Die,” “Hester Street” and “Ragtime”—are all set in New York City during the late 19th or early 20th century, the period when photographer, journalist and social reformer Jacob Riis worked to bring attention to the crises in housing, education and poverty at the height of European immigration.

In celebration of the acquisition of the audio-visual portion of Grand Ole Opry star and multi-Grammy Award winner Marty Stuart’s collection of country music artifacts by the Library of Congress, Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives will appear live in concert at the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation on Sunday, May 15, at 7 p.m. The Library will present this event—a mixture of conversation and concert performance—in cooperation with The Marty Stuart Center and the Congress of Country Music Hall. This event is free, but reservations are required. Seating can be reserved beginning April 20, Monday–Friday (9 a.m.–4 p.m.), by calling (202) 707-9994 and leaving a voicemail message.

Animation is celebrated with a screening of the 2006 Dreamworks feature “Over the Hedge,” featuring the voice talent of the late Gary Shandling, and two evenings of classic Warner Bros. cartoons, presented by cartoon historian Rick Gehr. Other highlights in May include a retrospective of television game shows, a tribute to film collector Dennis Atkinson—who has donated hundreds of film titles to the Library of Congress over a span of more than 40 years—and a screening of “Sink the Bismarck!” to commemorate the 75th anniversary of this historic WWII event.

Short subjects will be presented before select programs. Titles are subject to change without notice. Screenings at the Packard Campus are preceded by an informative slide presentation about the film, with music selected by the Library’s Recorded Sound Section.

All Packard Campus programs are free and open to the public, but children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Seating at the screenings is on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Packard Campus Theater is located at 19053 Mount Pony Road, Culpeper, Virginia. For general information, call (540) 827-1079 ext. 79994 or (202) 707-9994 during regular business hours. For further information on the theater and film series, visit loc.gov/avconservation/theater/. In case of inclement weather, call the theater information line no more than three hours before showtime to confirm cancellations.

The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is a state-of-the-art facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings (loc.gov/avconservation). The Packard Campus is home to more than 7 million collection items. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board (loc.gov/film), the National Recording Preservation Board (loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb) and the national registries for film and recorded sound.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s first-established federal cultural institution. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at loc.gov.

Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater Schedule

Friday, May 6 (7:30 p.m.)
“Pay or Die” (Allied Artists, 1960)
After director-producer Richard Wilson scored a big hit with his 1959 picture “Al Capone,” Allied Artists hired him for another Italian mobster movie, which was set in early 20th-century New York City. The story is based on the actual account of New York Police Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino (played with gritty realism by Ernest Borgnine), an Italian-American police detective. Earning the respect of the immigrants in Little Italy, he formed the Italian Squad of the police department in 1905 to battle “The Black Hand,” the old Sicilian term for the Mafia. Borgnine spoke fluent Italian so had no trouble with the Italian dialogue used throughout the film. Wilson directs in a docu-realist style, and Lucien Ballard’s unobtrusive black-and-white photography brings out the period detail in the street-scene sets.

Saturday, May 7 (2 p.m.)
“Hester Street” (Midwest Films, 1975)
Writer-director Joan Micklin Silver’s first feature-length film, “Hester Street,” was an adaption of pre-eminent Yiddish author Abraham Cahan’s 1896 well-received first novel, “Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto.” The film brought to the screen a portrait of Eastern European Jewish life in America that historians have praised for its accuracy of detail and sensitivity to the challenges immigrants faced. Shot in black-and-white and partly in Yiddish with English subtitles, this independent production focuses on stresses that occur when a “greenhorn” wife, played by Carol Kane (nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal), and her young son arrive in New York City to join her Americanized husband. Silver, one of the first women directors of American features to emerge during the women’s liberation movement, shifted the story’s emphasis from the husband, as in the novel, to the wife. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 2011.

Saturday, May 7 (7:30 p.m.)
“Ragtime” (Paramount, 1981)
Based on E.L. Doctorow’s best-selling historical novel of the same name, this multifaceted story, set in the New York City area from 1902 to 1912, weaves together the stories of both fictional and historically prominent characters such as Stanford White, Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Houdini and Booker T. Washington. Perhaps best remembered today as the film that brought James Cagney back to the big screen after a 20-year absence, the huge ensemble cast includes such other seasoned veterans as Donald O’Connor and Pat O’Brien, as well as a number of actors in the early days of their careers, including Mandy Patinkin, Mary Steenburgen, Debbie Allen and Jeff Daniels in his screen debut. Elizabeth McGovern and Howard E. Rollins Jr. both received best-supporting acting nominations. Directed by Milos Forman, the film garnered six additional Academy Award nominations, including Randy Newman for best original score, Miroslav Ondrícek for best cinematography and Michael Weller for best adapted screenplay.

Friday, May 13 (7:30 p.m.)
“Come On Down! A TV Game Show Retrospective” (1950-1970)
The password is “FUN” as the Packard Campus digs into the vaults and “comes on down” for this one-night retrospective of some of TV’s biggest game-show moments. From such 1950s staples as “What’s My Line?” to the fill-in-the-blank madness of “Match Game” and the heart-pounding tension of “Name That Tune!,” this evening of unforgettable game-show clips is better than the “big-money round.” Along with a few surprises, there will be numerous down-to-the-wire moments, many buzzers and a lot of Betty White.

Saturday, May 14 (2 p.m.)
“Over the Hedge” (DreamWorks, 2006)
The late Gary Shandling provided the voice of Verne the Turtle with Bruce Willis as the fearless raccoon RJ in this animated family-friendly comedy based on the characters from the United Media comic strip of the same name. When a feisty group of woodland critters awake from a winter hibernation to discover that suburban sprawl has invaded their forest, mild-mannered Verne thinks they should give up and move on, while the ever-scheming RJ sees it as a chance to hoard food from their unsuspecting new neighbors. The voice cast also includes Steve Carell, William Shatner and Wanda Sykes. Film critic Richard Roeper said, “‘Over the Hedge’” is cute without being cutesy, satirical without being too cynical, and just a whole lot of fun.” The film was nominated for seven Annie Awards for accomplishments in animation, winning two.

Sunday, May 15 (7 p.m.)
“Marty Stuart Presents an Evening with the Fabulous Superlatives” (Live)
The Packard Campus Theater will host an evening of conversation and music with country music band The Fabulous Superlatives: Harry Stinson, Kenny Vaughan, Chris Scruggs and, of course, Marty Stuart. The evening celebrates the acquisition of the audio-visual portion of Marty Stuart’s vast collection of country music artifacts by the Library of Congress. Seats can be reserved by voicemail beginning April 20, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4p.m. Call 202-707-9994 and leave your name, the number of seats (limited to four per call), a phone number and email address. Reservations will be held until 15 minutes before showtime.

Thursday, May 19 (7:30 p.m.)
“What’s Up Doc? A Close-Up of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies, Part 1” (Warner Bros., 1932-1951)
Special guest Rick Gehr, a cartoon historian, editor and member of the Warner Bros. animation post-production crew for nearly 30 years, will be at the Packard Campus for two special evenings to talk about and present classic Warner Bros. cartoons. Tonight’s program focuses on the “History of the Cartoon Characters,” including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner, among others. Among the titles being shown are “A Wild Hare,” “Fast and Furry-ous” and “Lovelorn Leghorn.”

Friday, May 20 (7:30 p.m.)
“What’s Up Doc? A Close-Up of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies, Part 2” (Warner Bros., 1939-1957)
Cartoon historian Rick Gehr returns to present a second night of Warner Bros. animated shorts. This evening, he examines the “History of the Cartoon Directors.” Favorite examples of the work of Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, Robert McKimson and Chuck Jones will be shown. On the playlist are the live action-animation classic “You Ought to Be in Pictures,” featuring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig matching wits with producer Leon Schlesinger (as himself), “Thugs With Dirty Mugs,” “Feed the Kitty” and “What’s Opera, Doc?”

Saturday, May 21 (2 p.m.)
“A Tribute to Dennis R. Atkinson”
Many individuals have made generous donations of motion pictures to the Library of Congress throughout the years. One such donor is Dennis R. Atkinson, who has endowed the Library with more than 350 titles in both nitrate and safety film and in 35mm and 16mm formats since 1969. In celebration of Atkinson’s collection and enthusiasm as a collector, four rarely seen silent films, preserved by the Library of Congress Film Preservation Lab, will be screened. They are the 1926 Action Pictures Western “Twisted Triggers,” starring Wally Wales (aka Hal Taliaferro) and Jean Arthur, and three comedy shorts: “Starvation Blues” (1925), “Bungalow Love” (1921) and “Ko Koo Kids” (1922). Silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will provide live musical accompaniment for the program.

Thursday, May 26 (7:30 p.m.)
“Sink the Bismarck!” (20th Century-Fox, 1960)
The true story of the Royal Navy’s chase and sinking of Nazi Germany’s most powerful warship, the Bismarck, is chronicled in this British drama based on the book “Last Nine Days of the Bismarck,” by C.S. Forester. Although war films were common in the 1960s, “Sink the Bismarck!” was something of an anomaly because as much time was devoted to the unsung back-room planners as to the combatants themselves. Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Carl Mohner and Laurence Naismith are featured in the cast of “Sink the Bismarck!,” which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the actual event.