Historic Northampton


The Weathervane: a Newsletter from Historic Northampton

Weathervane Newsletter Spring 2003


Hollywood Comes to Paradise: Northampton in the Movies!


Historic Northampton brings Hollywood home to Northampton Sunday, May 4th for a unique premiere at The Academy of Music. Host Bill Dwight will lead us through a special screening of excerpts from Hollywood classics filmed in the valley over the past half-century and more.

Northampton has been the setting for a number of feature films including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Malice, In Dreams, and most recently, Cider House Rules. It has also been the home of Hollywood legends like Mack Sennett, the silent era comedy king and Warner Oland, who portrayed the character Charlie Chan in the 1930's. Northampton has also inspired plots, jokes and characters for a variety of TV shows.

Today a number of film professionals make Northampton their home. Award winning screenwriters, composers, production designers and documentary film makers who live in this area make significant contributions to the film industry.

Bill Dwight will weave these stories together through commentary, anecdotes and historical sidelights as familiar scenes filtered through the lens of Hollywood fill the screen.

Showing Sunday may 4th, 2-4 P.M. Admission is $10.00. Tickets are available at Historic Northampton, Pleasant Street Video and at the Academy of Music. Support is also provided by 88.5 FM-WFCR, Public Radio for Western New England.