Dartmouth in Hollywood!

It's billed as a survey of Dartmouth contributions to the movies, but the film potpourri Dartmouth in Hollywood! could easily have passed itself off as a brief history of the cinema itself. To celebrate the opening of the new Loew's Auditorium in the Hood Museum, Bill Pence, director of films for the College, assembled film clips from some two dozen movies featuring Dartmouth-connected actors, directors, screenwriters, or producers. Shown twice in Hanover, as well as in New York City at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater and in Los Angeles at MGM's Cary Grant Theater, Dartmouth in Hollywood! benefited the College's Orton H. Hicks '21 Film Endowment.

The program for the event noted that the clips "only hint at the wealth of talent, diversity, and significance of the Dartmouth film family." The survey began with a scene from Way Down East, a 1920 silent classic filmed on the Connecticut River near Hanover and starring Lillian Gish, recipient of the first Dartmouth Film Award. Also included were clips from Stagecoach, the classic 1939 Western produced by Walter Wanger '15; Disney's 1950 animated feature Cinderella, co-written by Maurice Rapf '35; On the Waterfront, the 1954 Oscarwinner written by Budd Schulberg '36; the landmark 1967 comedy, The Graduate, written by and featuring Buck Henry '52; and The Romantic Englishwoman, a stylish 1975 drama directed by Joseph Losey '29, plus many more.

Because the studios granted only limited rights for use of the clips, Dartmouth in Hollywood! not only reflected movie history but has become history: The film was disassembled after the four showings, but copies of the commemorative program are available free of charge by writing the Dartmouth Film Society, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755.