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City Council Proclamation The month of November will be dedicated as “Los Angeles Big Read Month” by the Los Angeles Date: Friday, October 24, 10:00 a.m. The Big Read Kick Off Celebration
Students from participating schools who have been reading The Maltese Falcon will be taking a journey back to the 1930s. First stop: they’ll view a classic car exhibition including a 1931 LAFD fire truck, a 1929 Model A Ford police car, and several other vehicles of the period. Next, the time travelers will hear Max Zooi’s Student Quartet performing live jazz tunes from the era. After seeing, hearing, and sensing the 1930s, guests will venture inside the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre to be greeted by Dashiell Hammett’s own granddaughter, Julie Rivett. The 1930s are brought to life upon the stage by the Long Beach Shakespeare Company, presenting scenes from the play version of The Maltese Falcon. Celebrity Sam Spade aficionados will interact with the actors and students. The Los Angeles Zoo will close the show with a demonstration of a live falcon, which will bring us all back to the present - “The stuff that dreams are made of!” Date: Thursday, November 6, A visual exhibition, provided courtesy of the Hammett Literary Estate, will be presented throughout The Big Read Program in Los Angeles. The display will feature the American and British first edition prints of the novel, photographs of the author, relevant correspondence, as well as original movie posters and memorabilia from the 1941 film. Learn more about the author and take a visual tour through the early days of pulp fiction. Dates: November 3 to 30, The Sony Pictures Media Arts Program Sixty young people enrolled in classes offered throughout Los Angeles will learn film animation and computer editing techniques. Students enrolled in the fall program will read the novel and each site will create its own short film version. A selection of the final short films will be shown to the public at the culminating Big Read event film screening at the Warner Grand Theatre on November 22. Dates: October through November, After School The Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center and the Watts Towers Arts Center Banning’s Landing Community Center in San Pedro William Reagh Los Angeles Photography Center Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock San Fernando Gardens Housing Project in Pacoima Ages: 13 to 15 The Sony Pictures Media Arts Program is a partnership of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Sony Pictures, and the California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). In alliance with Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, the following high schools are participating in THE BIG READ Program in Los Angeles: Hollywood Entertainment Museum’s “The Film Academy” at Morningside High School Lincoln High School Marshall High School Roosevelt High School Santee Education Complex At Roosevelt High School, parents will also read the novel in Spanish along with the students. The Hollywood Entertainment Museum’s “The Film Academy” is a school serving youth on probation. Participating students will read the novel as part of the required curriculum, discuss the novel’s themes of honor and loyalty, and learn about the 1930s time period. Over 1,000 11th grade students will read the novel and engage in THE BIG READ activities. Dates: October through November |
Department of Cultural Affairs Programs at Neighborhood Arts and Cultural Centers DCA’s Neighborhood Arts and Cultural Centers are offering the following special youth activities and art projects based on the novel: Canoga Park Youth Arts Center Digital Darkroom - Students will produce still photos honoring the Film Noir tradition and learn about film techniques associated with this genre including black and white and atmospheric photo qualities. Students will create photographs based on the content of the novel. During the class, students will read selections of the story and view scenes from the film. Dates: Saturdays, Open Studio for Teens - Students will learn the art of shadow puppetry and create puppets based on characters in The Maltese Falcon, culminating in a shadow puppet version of the story. During the class session, students will read selections from the novel and view scenes from the film. Students will learn about the literature that influenced the films in the 1930s and 40s. Dates: Tuesdays, The work of students from both classes will be shown at the culminating event at the Warner Grand Theatre on November 22. Sun Valley Youth Arts Center Activities are designed for students in LAUSD schools enrolled in the Sun Valley Youth Arts Center programs. Students will read and create art projects inspired by The Maltese Falcon, and their art work will be on display at the Barnsdall Junior Arts Center Gallery throughout November. All programs are free and open to the public. West Mark Senior High School students will create a Photo Novela (graphic novel) version of the story. Sun Valley Middle School students will create a comic book version of the story. Sun Valley Youth Arts Center students will create Maltese Falcon clay sculptures. Dates: October 1 to 30 William Grant Still Youth Arts Center A series of one-day workshops will encourage young adults to read the novel through book giveaways, staged readings, and art projects. All programs are free and open to the public. Big Read Book Club for Youth - Free books and readers’ guides will be given, and tutors will be available at the center. Date: Saturday, November 1, Staged Reading of The Maltese Falcon Film Script - Come and enjoy a great story presented by Date: Saturday, November 8, Poster Workshop - Youths will create their own movie posters to take home. Poster boards, markers, and paint will be provided. Date: Thursday, November 13, Poster Workshop - Older students will create their own movie posters to take home. Poster boards, markers, and paint will be provided. Date: Saturday, November 15, Location: William Grant Still Youth Arts Center DCA’s Community Film Screenings of The Maltese Falcon in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley Free screenings of the film will be shown in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. Hollywood Screenings: Date: Saturday, November 8 at 12 p.m. (with subtitles in Spanish) and San Fernando Valley Screening: Date: Saturday, November 15 at 7 p.m. |
“L.A. NOIR-chitecture Tour”
Join us as we explore the literary and cinematic landscape of the historic city, where the buildings are as dramatic as the stories themselves. This tour, presented in partnership with the Los Angeles Conservancy, will feature docent-led tours of seven historic locations from the works of Los Angeles-based noir authors Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and James Ellroy, among others. Date: Sunday, November 9, 2008, Tour stops include: The Warner Bros. Studios lot where Dashiell Hammett’s The Formosa Café, the iconic West Hollywood watering hole featured in the 1997 film adaptation of The Glendale Railroad Depot, featured in James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity. Parva-Sed-Apta Apartments in Hollywood, where Nathanael West lived while he penned The Day of Ages: All The Los Angeles Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization that works through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic architectural and cultural resources of Los Angeles County. In coordination with the Zócalo Public Square Lecture Series, join us for a free brunch and panel discussion. Topic: Dashiell Hammett...in L.A.? We can be forgiven for thinking of Dashiell Hammett as a San Francisco writer. The Maltese Falcon takes place in Northern California, where Hammett somehow transformed himself from a tubercular detective for the Pinkerton Agency into a novelist for the ages. But Hammett’s roots in Los Angeles run deep. Here, in the 30s, he worked on several pictures while under contract to the studios. Here he began his lifelong affair with Lillian Hellman. And here he returned frequently over the years to visit his beloved daughters. Zócalo and DCA bring together a panel of writers, family members, and scholars to culminate L.A.’s month-long celebration of this great California novelist. Among the mysteries and questions sure to crop up are: Why did Hammett fall creatively silent for the last three decades of his life? How did he influence the L.A. Noir scene? And the ultimate, unanswerable question: Hammett or Chandler? Panelists: David Kipen, Director of Literature, National Reading Initiatives, NEA - Moderator Richard Layman is the editor of Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade, and has written six books on Dashiell Hammett, including Literary Masterpieces: The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett: A Descriptive Bibliography, and Shadow Man: The Life of Dashiell Hammett. He was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for editing Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett, 1921-1960 and has been nominated for another Edgar Award for Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade. Tom Nolan reviews mystery fiction for the Wall Street Journal and has been a contributing editor for California and Los Angeles magazines. He has also written for Rolling Stone, Playboy, TV Guide, and the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of several books, including Ross Macdonald: a Biography. Julie Rivett is one of four grandchildren of Dashiell Hammett. Working with Hammett scholar Richard Layman, she helped to edit both Selected Letters of Dashiell Hammett 1921-1960 and her mother’s memoir, Dashiell Hammett: A Daughter Remembers. To celebrate the publication of Selected Letters in 2001, she also curated Dashiell Hammett: A Life in Letters, one of the most successful exhibits ever held at the San Francisco Public Library. Vince Emery is the publisher of the Ace Performer Collection-Books by and about Dashiell Hammett. Date: Saturday, November 22, Bringing together an extraordinarily diverse group of Angelenos, Zócalo - ”Public Square” in Spanish - seeks to create a non partisan and multiethnic forum where participants can enjoy a rare opportunity for intellectual fellowship. The Maltese Falcon Culminating Film Screening Event at the Warner Grand Theatre Rarely displayed in a theatrical setting, a 35mm print of the 1941 Warner Bros. film, The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart, will be shown on the historic Warner Grand Theatre’s 30 by 50 foot screen courtesy of Warner Bros. Classics. Preceding the film will be a presentation by family members and a noted Hammett scholar who will provide a behind-the-scenes introduction of the making of the film, and discuss relationships between Dashiell Hammett, John Huston, and Humphrey Bogart. In addition, film shorts from students in the Sony Pictures Media Arts Program and DCA’s Canoga Park Youth Arts Center will be shown. |
culturela.org/bigread |
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