On the evening of October 30, 1938, CBS radio broadcast an adaptation of H. G. Well's War of the Worlds, the 1898 novel about a Martian invasion of Earth, as part of the radio drama series Mercury Theatre on the Air. Written and directed by Orson Welles (left), the program was mostly in the form of simulated news bulletins. For decades stories have been told about the panic that ensued when many listeners jumped to the conclusion they were listening to an actual news broadcast.
The... Read Post
On this day in 1778, King Louis XVI of France recieved at court two representatives of the newly declared United States, Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin. Their reception by an absolute monarch was an astonishing coup for a fledgling nation rejecting the very notion of monarchy, but Louis' hatred of Great Britain trumped concerns about encouraging rebellion againts kings. The fact that one of the emissaries was Benjamin Franklin made Louis' decision easier: Franklin was the equivalent of a... Read Post
The Dallas Buyers’ Club starring Matthew McConaughy, Jared Leto and Jennifer Gardner is about a blue collar electrician, in Texas, in the 1980’s, who is infected with the HIV virus. The movie portrays the stigmas surrounding AIDS and homosexual men of the decade.
The main character, Ron (Woodruff), a heterosexual man, loses his job and home due to workplace and housing discrimination. He loses all of his friends, but gains new ones, including Jared Leto’s character, Rayon, a cross-... Read Post
I never would have thought, but DVD's from your local library are a great way to help you through the winter. Lately, I've been taking home three or four movies a week and watching one almost every night before bed. Going outside when it's 30 degrees isn't really something I'm very keen on, especially when it's 30 degrees and nighttime. I typically tend to be a summer person, so staying in on a cold winter's eve is much preferred. Not only do I have something cheap (absolutely free with my... Read Post
Last weekend a friend I hadn't seen in a long time stopped me on the street and asked me what the library was doing to commemorate the 200th birth year of Richard Wagner. The library has too many programs for me to keep track of, so I said, "I'll get back to you on that." There is no question that Wagner is a towering figure in Western culture. He influenced later composers such as Claude Debussy, Hector Berlioz and Gustav Mahler. And his cultural impact extended beyond music: the works... Read Post
I didn't submit my suggestions in time to be included in the last post but I'll throw a few out there now. I recently saw Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery [1993], which was a lot of fun. Woody re-teams with his erstwhile muse Diane Keaton, and the inspired addition of Alan Alda and Anjelica Huston makes the whole thing even better. Carol and Ted (Keaton and Alda) are sure that their elderly acquaintance Paul (Jerry Adler) has committed the perfect murder. Hard-boiled author Marcia Fox... Read Post
© 2015 Somerville Public Library
Site designed & developed by bartlett