Thursday, November 18th, 7pm
The Wharton Brothers and the Magic of Early Cinema
Presented by Historic Geneva
A virtual presentation by Barbara Tepa Lupack, historian and author who has written extensively on American literature, film, and culture, including Silent Serial Sensations: The Wharton Brothers and the Magic of Early Cinema (Cornell University Press, 2020)
Join Dr. Lupack for a presentation about brothers Ted and Leo Wharton, considered “masters of the serial,” who were among cinema’s most prolific and pioneering silent filmmakers. Their profitable and influential productions included The Exploits of Elaine and The Mysteries of Myra, which starred such popular performers as Pearl White, Irene Castle, Francis X. Bushman, and Lionel Barrymore. Working from the independent film studio that they established in Renwick Park in Ithaca, New York, the Whartons expanded the possibilities of the serial motion picture and defined many of its conventions. Weaving contemporary events and scientific and technological innovations into their productions, they introduced sensational techniques and character types that are still being employed by producers and directors more than a century later. And, for a few years during the 1910s, they succeeded in turning their adopted town of Ithaca into Hollywood on Cayuga.
Register at https://historicgeneva.org/programs-and-exhibits/calendar-of-events/
The event is free.