The role that Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and other Hollywood actors played in opposing Nazism and censorship of political commentary on Europe between 1938 and 1941 will be the topic of a multimedia presentation and discussion hosted by IUP on Wednesday, April 18, 5:00–7:00 p.m. in McVitty Auditorium, Sprowls Hall. The program is free and open to the community.
Alexis Pogorelskin, a History professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, will present “The Plot Against Hollywood on the Eve of World War II” and discuss Jimmy Stewart's fight against isolationism in the filmThe Mortal Storm.
Phyllis Lassner, a Writing Program professor at Northwestern University will present “Romance and Propaganda: A Hollywood Story” and discuss Stewart, Sullavan, and aid for refugees and war victims.
“These speakers will each discuss the importance of Jimmy Stewart's role in mobilizing the country to protect freedom and civil liberties and to assert core humanitarian values in the fight against Nazism," said Michael Williamson, professor of English and one of the event organizers. Local residents have “much of which to be proud” in Stewart's being an Indiana native, he said.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Fine Arts, and Departments of Communications Media, English, History, and Political Science are sponsoring the event.
The Jimmy Stewart Museum will screenThe Mortal Storm at on April 17 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. for a self-guided tour of the museum, located on the second floor of the Indiana Free Library, at Philadelphia and Ninth streets. Admission to the museum is $7 ($6 for students and senior citizens).
For more information, contact Williamson at mtwill@iup.edu.