A three-day and night experience for those who love film and film making. In 2024, we are showcasing Women in Film, documentaries and locally-made vintage movies - some made more than 100 years ago. We will focus on film collectors and preserving cinematic trifles and treasures - oddities and classics! Film is NOT dead - Long live film! (even if we show some programs digitally because that is how they were created or because we need to show them in a non-nitrate format. All we can say is "It's all good!"

Schedule of Events

Choose one at 11:00am

Walking Tour of Niles

Wear some shoes you can move about in and find out what happened here one hundred years ago. Important landmarks will be discussed and stories will be shared! Meet at the museum and bring your camera. Includes your own copy of our museum Walking Tour of Niles booklet. ($5 donation)

Screening at the Edison Theater  (Free program)

Broncho Billy: The First Reel Cowboy    

(1998, Arkansas Educational Television Network) This half-hour video details the career of Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson, the very first cowboy movie star who acted in more than 200 silent Westerns and was instrumental in the formation of the genre. His influence is still seen today in films depicting the Old West. We thank the creators of this document for allowing us to screen it in Niles. (Digital presentation)

Followed by The Movies Go West  (1974, Bell) This film from the mid-1970's is one of the first visual explorations of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company as it existed in Niles 100 years ago. Filmmaker Geoffrey Bell was at the helm for this project, which was narrated by Hal Angus, one of the players at the old studio and husband to the head of the scenario department, Josephine Rector. There are invaluable images of Niles in the 1970's contained in this film, including film taken of the original barn that Gilbert "Broncho Billy" Anderson settled in when first arriving in town, before building a then state-of-the-art studio a block away. (Digital presentation)

1:00 pm: The Women of Essanay

We will screen a selection of Essanay Film Manufacturing Company films made in Chicago and Niles focusing on the feminine. Some of these actors had been making a name for themselves on the theatrical stage, a few had been toiling there for years and others had no experience whatsoever. At Essanay, they were stars, but most of them are not remembered today. We will offer a selection of films that highlight their work, shining a light on them once again. They include, Ethel Clayton, Martha Russell, Dolores Cassinelli, Ruth Stonehouse, Eleanor Blevins, Marguerite Clayton, Evelyn Selbie, Bessie Sankey and Margaret Joslin. We will share stories about others who were instrumental behind the scenes and involved with getting the productions completed.   

Gratitude (1909, Essanay)

The Price of Frame (1910, Essanay)

Two Men and a Girl (1911, Essanay)

From the Submerged (1912, Essanay, 35mm)

Broncho Billy and the Western Girls (1913, Essanay)

The New School Marm of Green River (1913, Essanay, 35mm)

Broncho Billy's Fatal Joke (1914, Essanay)

Snakeville's Champion (1915, Essanay, 35mm)

These film prints are "cut-downs" - not a complete print for various reasons, but the stories are complete.

David Drazin, Piano Accompaniment

3:30 pm: Garbo (2005, Turner Classic Movies)

A special Screening of the documentary produced in 2005, the centenary of the birth of Greta Garbo, one of the most iconic movie stars. Her early years in Sweden, film acting, and life after movies are covered through abundant film excerpts and interviews with family, friends, filmmakers who worked with her, biographers, and journalists.

She left the film business suddenly at age 36 and spent the next half-century trying to avoid fans, the press, and photographers. But she did have a life
as an ex-movie-star who remained perpetually famous against her will—and was given the moniker "hermit-about-town". Directors: Kevin Brownlow, Christopher Bird; Producer: Patrick Stanbury Narrated by Julie Christie with music by Carl Davis. (Digital presentation)

5:00 - 7:00 pm: Museum closed for Dinner Break

Evening Film Presentation   
7:30 pm  (Doors open 7:00 pm)

Flesh And The Devil

(1927, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) In Greta Garbo's breakthrough picture she delivers a luminous performance as a new type of vamp: less consistently cruel and more subtle than earlier styles. Director Clarence Brown recalled, "Flesh and the Devil was my first picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and it really made Garbo." Her name was listed under the title, which would change after the film's phenomenal success. She became the most famous woman in the world and the leading film actress.  Starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, and Lars Hanson, Directed by Clarence Brown.

Preceded by a salute to Billy Bevan!

The Golf Nut (1927, Mack Sennett Comedies)

(Billy Bevan) Billy as a nutty photographer and golfer, who brings disaster to the links.

Ice Cold CoCos (1926, Mack Sennett Comedies) Billy and Andy impersonate two ice-delivery men in a suburban town. Mayhem ensues.

Jon Mirsalis, Kurzweil Keyboard Accompaniment

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