Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/23/2025
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
Virtual Event
Category(ies)
Filming (Photo – Ivan Radic)
Emmy-nominated documentarian and author Steven C. Smith will present a lively look at some of Hollywood’s greatest behind-the-scenes stories in Pasadena Senior Center’s three-part Masters Series, “Behind the Scenes: The Films and Filmmakers that Changed Hollywood.”
Beginning on Tuesday, September 23 , the series will be on consecutive Tuesdays through October 7 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm via Zoom.
To attend all three lectures, tuition is $45 for members and $54 for non-members. The lectures are presented via Zoom and recordings will be available to all who register. Register at this website or call (626) 795-4332. Interested in coming to the Pasadena Senior Center to watch a livestream of the Zoom presentation? Contact PSC for more information.
The three-part Master Series presentation with Steven C. Smith includes:
- September 23: Hollywood on Hollywood
Hollywood loves to show itself onscreen. Participants will see how filmmakers have dramatized moviemaking, in ways both affectionate (Singin’ in the Rain) and searing (Sunset Boulevard). You’ll also discover how real-life scandals, and changing times, influenced the ways Hollywood held a mirror to itself. - September 30: When Movies Go Wrong
Occasionally, Hollywood’s smooth factory system goes off the rails. Participants will celebrate two notorious examples. First: 1967’s Valley of the Dolls, a camp classic intended to be Judy Garland’s comeback. Then, 1963’s Cleopatra, infamous for the affair of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (even the Vatican condemned it!), and an out-of-control production cost. - October 7: The Ultimate Theatre: When Movies’ Greatest Directors Went to War
Discover how WWII changed the lives of five of Hollywood’s top directors: John Ford (The Grapes of Wrath), William Wyler (Wuthering Heights), John Huston (The Maltese Falcon), George Stevens (Shane), and Frank Capra. See how WWII inspired them to make post-war classics like The Best Years of Our Live’s and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Steven C. Smith is an award-winning author and four-time Emmy-nominated producer. Steven’s over-200 documentaries on film history include collaborations with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Sondheim, Julie Andrews, Cicely Tyson, Harrison Ford, and Sidney Poitier. He has lectured at the Library of Congress, the American Film Institute, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and other venues. The author of biographies of composers Bernard Herrmann and Max Steiner, his latest book is Hitchcock and Herrmann: The Friendship and Film Scores That Changed Cinema.
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