Sunday, February 27, 2011

Taste of Home @ CDPL!

Amateur Chefs are needed to participate in CDPL's, recipe-testing program, Taste of Home.

Come to the circulation desk, sign-up, and pick a recipe you are willing to bring in "made" for all participants to share before the meeting:

March 3rd (Thursday) at 6pm

Bring your own drink and appetite!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

In the Gallery -- Tri Kappa High School Art Contest and Exhibit

INGENIOUS HIGH SCHOOL ARTISTS EMBELLISH CDPL GALLERY
While anxiously awaiting the first breath of spring "outside"; the Library’s Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery offers you an opportunity to view colorful spring profusions "inside" at this year’s diverse Tri Kappa High School Art Contest and Exhibit. You will find an energetic explosion of over 250 images from the imaginations of young Montgomery County artists whose work is on display from Saturday, February 20th until Sunday, March 14th during regular Library hours. An Awards Reception will be Wednesday evening, March 9th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in lower level rooms A & B. Everyone is invited.

igh School Art Students, with the help of Art Teachers and Tri Kappa Sorority members, will wow you with their rich talent and focused abilities. Every art student who wishes may enter this event, in one or several of the twelve categories.

The High School Art Teachers, Sheila McCormick and Marianne Ballenger of Crawfordsville, Mike Strickler of North Montgomery, Eleanor Brewer and Milt Anderson of Southmont, stimulate students to try new things, teach necessary skills and encourage artists to put forth their best effort.

Ribbons and Financial Rewards, in each of twelve categories, are given for first, second, third place and honorable mention.

Each year Tri Kappa hires an experienced, independent artist to judge student’s work. Austin Gabriel Pittman, who was raised in Zionsville, is this year’s judge. He graduated from Herron School of Art and Design with a Bachelors Degree in painting with an emphasis on drawing. After Herron graduation, he moved to Philadelphia to pursue his Masters Degree in painting at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the country’s oldest art institution. The human figure became the focus of his studio work.

Today he is teaching at the Art Institute of Indianapolis where he provides instruction to bright and imaginative students who are trying to find their own voice. Providing guidance to others who are eager to find their voices is a valuable resource for his explorations of expression through the human form in a variety of wet and dry mediums that provide a different feel and articulation.

Without Tri Kappa volunteers this philanthropic event would not take place. Each year Tri Kappa women, most of whom are employed full time outside the home, work with high school art teachers preparing for the event, receive and tag the art and then on Saturday morning place finished art categorically in the Gallery and Display cases.

When you visit this exhibit, be prepared to be awed by the scope and depth of talent emanating from these high-spirited young artists. Enjoy!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Wallace's Ben-Hur on Screen

Turner Classic Movies will continue to highlight Oscar-nominated films with the showing of Ben-Hur on Thursday February 24th at 10pm.  Released in 1959, the epic film follows Prince Judah Ben-Hur as he escapes enslavement and battles his enemy Messala in a Roman chariot race.  The film won 11 Academy Awards.

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was written by Crawfordsville's Lew Wallace and published in 1880. Ben-Hur was the best-selling American novel until the 1936 publication of Gone with the Wind. To learn more about Lew Wallace, visit the General Lew Wallace Study & Museum in Crawfordsville.  CDPL has many items related to Lew Wallace in our circulating and local history collections.

If you cannot catch this classic film on television, come by CDPL and check the DVD out!

Monday, February 07, 2011

Happy Birthday, Steve Crane!

Steve Crane, second from left, in Tonight and Every Night
Stephen Crane was born in Crawfordsville on February 7, 1916.  After working in his family's local cigar shop, the Stephenson and Crane Cigar Store, and attending Wabash College, Crane moved to California.  Although he is most widely known as one of Lana Turner's husbands, Crane had a short-lived movie career before he created lasting success in the restaurant industry.

The 1945 film Tonight and Every Night is set in London during World War II. The Oscar-nominated musical features Rita Hayworth, Lee Bowman, and Janet Blair.  Stephen Crane plays Observer Leslie Wiggins, a friend of Lee Bowman's character.  Although his lines of dialogue are limited, Crane is featured in many scenes throughout the film. 

Turner Classic Movies will show Tonight and Every Night on Thursday February 10th at 11:00 a.m.  Don't miss out on the chance to see Crawfordsville's Stephen Crane in this classic musical!

View TCM's page on the film here.

Want to know more about Steve Crane?  Visit CDPL's Stephen Crane research page or come by the library and take a look at our Joseph Stephen Crane papers in the Local History collection.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Maurine Watkins and Libeled Lady

Released in 1936, the film Libeled Lady featured an all-star cast including Spencer Tracy, Jean Harlow, William Powell, and Myrna Loy.  The film, nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, credited four writers for its screenplay--one of the writers was Crawfordsville's Maurine Watkins.  After graduating from Crawfordsville High School in 1914, Watkins attended several universities before writing her Broadway hit, "Chicago".  After success on the stage, Watkins turned her attention to film writing.  Watkins' other screen contributions include Doctors' Wives (1931), No Man of Her Own (1932), and I Love You Again (1940). 

In Libeled Lady, an heiress sues a newspaper for libel after a false story is printed. The newspaper's editor then tries to set the heiress up in a compromising situation so that she is forced to drop the suit. 

Want to see Maurine Watkins' film for yourself?  If you have Turner Classic Movies, you're in luck.  TCM will be showing Libeled Lady on Monday February 7th at 12 p.m. and on March 15th at 11:15 p.m. 

Also, CDPL has a photograph of Maurine Watkins with the Sunshine Society.  You can view the photo here.

Sources:
TCM database entry for Libeled Lady

IMDb entry for Maurine Dallas Watkins