MCC Daily Tribune

MCC Libraries' Rick Squires presents, "Hollywood on the Genesee"

On November 15, Collection Management Librarian Rick Squires presented "Hollywood on the Genesee" to members of Rainbow Seniors ROC, an advocacy and social group for LGBTQ seniors. He featured his research into the lives of those of many Rochesterians known from various roles on the "big screen."

Among the more notable names with connections to Rochester are Ingrid Bergman, John Lithgow, Taye Diggs, silent film legend Louise Brooks, Robert Forster, Audrey Hepburn, and MCC's own Otis Young. Others, like George Melford, the director of the Spanish language version of Bela Lugosi's Dracula and local avant-garde filmmaker James Sibley Watson, are equally important, but lesser known to film fans. Rick shared photos of those artists along with pictures of local sites connected to them, such as homes, schools, and gravesites. He recounted Rochester's place in the film industry itself, including the production of film and the ongoing mission of the George Eastman Museum to promote film history. Of course, we know George Eastman was instrumental in putting Rochester's film scene on the map.

A long-time film buff himself, Rick frequented the George Eastman House's Dryden Theater during the late 1970s and early '80s and struck up a friendship with film historian and curator James Card, who first opened Rick's eyes to the strong connection between Rochester and film history. We can't wait until Rick makes his research available to us all as a book!

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Alice Wilson
Library
12/13/2022