Movie Magic: Noir and More!
Every month marketing coordinator Daniel Ungs curates the Capitol’s movie schedules with thoughtful creativity. This month, he scheduled a number of movies in the noir genre, holding that “There is no better time to indulge in the classic film noirs of years past than the brittle transition between autumn and winter. The deep, black shadows, suave attire, piquant dialogue, and earnest depictions of morality laced within these old black-and-white film reels evoke a tangible sense of nostalgia unreplicable in movies conceived after the Golden Age of Hollywood.” The Noirvember Movie Marathon on Sunday, November 9, will feature three classic films:
•2:30pm – An insanely jealous wife sabotages everything in her husband’s life until he finally leaves her. Despondent and more crazed than ever, she devises the ultimate revenge and vows to enact it no matter what sacrifice it requires of her. (1945)
•5pm – An insurance salesman is seduced by a conniving woman into a scheme to murder her husband and make it look like an accident in order to collect his impressive life insurance policy. (1944)
•7pm – Academy Award winner Humphrey Bogart stars in this classic film noir as tough San Francisco private detective Sam Spade in the classic, convoluted story of Spade’s involvement with a deadly band of international thieves who will lie, double-cross and murder to obtain a small, jewel-encrusted statue known as The Maltese Falcon. (1941)
Films by one of the world’s most influential directors will entertain those thrilled by mystery and suspense at the second marathon scheduled for Saturday, November 15. A Whole Day of Hitchcock will feature these timeless movies:
•1:30pm – An Avian Assault (1963, rated PG-13)
•4pm – A Game of Cat and Mouse and Espionage (1959, rated PG)
•7pm – Acrophobia’s Effect at 7 p.m. (1958, Rated PG)
Musical History: Celebrate the Story of the Blues!
The Capitol and Warren County Public Library are honored to be a part of this month’s Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival, an initiative of the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation in partnership with the Kentucky Folklife Program and with sponsorship from the Kentucky Arts Council. Following events on Friday and Saturday, the festival will culminate with a concert at The Capitol Saturday, November 22.
With the theme “Celebrate the Story – Feel the Music – Carry the Tradition,” the Porter Parish Grainger Blues Festival will be a three-day event celebrating the life and legacy of Grainger, a vaudeville-era Blues composer, playwright, and publisher who was born in Bowling Green’s historic Shake Rag community in 1891. This prolific songwriter, pianist, and arranger collaborated with some of the most iconic figures in American music in the 1920s and ‘30s, including such notables as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Mamie Smith, and Zora Neale Hurston.
This inaugural festival is designed to reconnect communities to Bowling Green’s Black cultural history and the roots of the Blues. Through narrative stages, interviews, historical presentations, demonstrations, and live performances, it will vibrantly showcase the rich traditions of Black American music and folklore.
•Day 1: Narrative stages, interviews, history presentations, and demonstrations at the Kentucky Museum.
•Day 2: The Jack Dappa Blues Workshop (instruction in traditional Blues guitar and song) and Main Stage Concert (location to be announced).
•Day 3: Closing concert featuring Doris A. Fields with her acclaimed performance Bessie and Georgia Blues phenom Jontavious Willis at The Capitol.
Lamont Jack Pearly, Founder & Executive Director of the Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Foundation, hopes that “Our aim is to make the festival a sustainable community effort, culminating in an online platform that connects the many communities, spaces, and individuals who have contributed to Bowling Green’s rich cultural heritage and shaped the early life of Porter Parish Grainger. Here, we wish to raise awareness and cultivate the culture, tradition, and music of the Blues by highlighting both legendary and emerging African American Blues practitioners of the region – particularly those connected to Bowling Green – ensuring their contributions are celebrated, documented, and shared for generations to come.”
For a list of the other events taking place at The Capitol, go to capitolbg.org. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for news and event reminders (@capitolbg), and sign up for our email newsletter at tinyurl.com/CapitolBGNews.
-by Ashley Fowlkes, Digital Content Manager
