I’m in Michigan, on assignment for Big Hollywood, to cover a four-day film festival presented by The Center for Constructive Alternatives at Hillsdale College.
For the next few days I will screen some landmark films from, arguably, Hollywood’s greatest year, and attend lectures by distinguished film scholars.
First impressions: Hillsdale is sort of like a set for a Frank Capra film.
Hillsdale College Campus.
About an hour from Detroit, Hillsdale is in the middle of flat farmland where white-tailed deer graze in golden fields.
Most of the buildings are informed by peaked roofs and references to classical Greek and Colonial architecture. The school is situated on 200 acres, has 100 full time faculty members and approximately 1,300 students.
Refusing all Federal dollars, Hillsdale is one of the few Conservative American colleges–Claremont and Grove City are two others that spring to mind–thus the school is truly independent, not shackled by government grants or political headwinds.
Hillsdale, a co-educational, liberal arts college, established by Freewill Baptists on Dec 4, 1844, was the first American college to prohibit in its charter all discrimination based on race, religion, or sex. In the 1970s Hillsdale refused, on principle, to “submit Assurance of Compliance forms mandated by Title IX” of Affirmative Action programs, on the grounds that its own policies were less discriminatory than those of the federal government.
The Constitution and our American freedoms are taken very seriously by administration and students alike.
Over the next few days I’ll report on Hillsdale College, and the Films of 1939.
Here’s my schedule:
Sunday, March 7, 2010
4:00 p.m. Showing of “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (dir. Sam Wood)
8:00 p.m. “Hollywood in 1939”
David Thomson
Author, “Have You Seen…?” A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films
Monday, March 8, 2010
4:00 p.m. Showing of “Young Mr. Lincoln” (dir. John Ford)
8:00 p.m. “John Ford: Chronicler of America”
Dan Ford
Author, The Life of John Ford
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
4:00 p.m. Showing of “Ninotchka” (dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
8:00 p.m. “The Art of Ernst Lubitsch”
Scott Eyman
Palm Beach Post
Author, Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
“John Ford”
Lecture by John Marini
Claremont McKenna College, Professor of Political Science
4:00 p.m. Showing of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (dir. Frank Capra)
8:00 p.m. “Capra as Director”
Peter Bogdanovich
Director and Film Historian
Thursday, March 11, 2010
11:00 a.m. Faculty Roundtable
I need to keep track of three time zones: dual time piece displays (top) California, (bottom) New York. The second watch shows the local time. I know, I know, New York and Michigan are in the same time zone. What can I tell you. The redundancy is reassuring. If one watch quits, I have the second as back-up.
I have to tell you, I hate traveling. I hate being in new places. I hate not sleeping in my own bed. And I really hate being separated from the love of my life, Karen.
Look, when you’ve been in love with the same woman since age nine–I never said I was normal–being away from said woman induces a kind of inner chaos. It’s like, I’m gone for a few days and oh-oh, now she’s going to get wise to how easy life can be without yours truly always kvetching about everything under the sun.
Let’s face it, I’m a high maintenance husband.
Another reason I hate to travel, even to see great films, is because I always end up in some random corner of the universe–Japan, China, Kansas–where kosher food is not only unavailable, but not even a rumor.
But I have to hand it to Hillsdale. They have done everything possible to accommodate my religious observance.
Hillsdale’s Joe Cella, who assisted in promoting this film forum and invited me to attend, listened patiently over the phone and said:
“I’ll run the traps for some kosher food.”
I was like, “Huh?”
I felt like I was talking to Grizzly Adams.
Finally, Joe explained that running the traps is Midwestern talk for, y’know, getting stuff done.
So: I’ve got a refrigerator and microwave in my room. Tons of fresh fruit and salad, and of course all the food Karen packed for me.
Note to self: In the future, do not pack the diet Ginger Ale. The can explodes like a grenade at 30,000 ft.
I’ve been up for about sixteen hours.
Must get some sleep.
Stay tuned for further posts over the next few days.
Strolling along the Hillsdale campus, I discovered this statue of Margaret Thatcher. Be still my heart.
P.S. I am fuh-reezing.
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