Filming Maryland

Abstract

Temporary exhibition, April 15–Oct. 8, 2000. 5,200 sq. ft. Nancy Davis, project director; Heather Venters, exhibition coordinator; Leith Johnson, guest curator; Charles Mack and Vincent Peranio, guest designers; Jed Dietz, adviser. Who knew? Who knew that Maryland had been the setting, and often the theme, of so many films? And who knew that an exhibition on just that could be presented with such a wealth of graphic, manuscript, artifact, and film materials? That, indeed, was the reaction of many visitors to the Maryland Historical Society's fascinating and immensely entertaining exhibition, “Filming Maryland.” Not formally a part of the exhibit, but an excellent introduction along the entry-way, a gallery of period black-and-white photographs of Maryland movie theaters first greets the visitor. The photos capture not so much the large movie palaces that once loomed over major downtown thoroughfares as the compact architecture and community presence of small movie houses tightly wedged between groceries, hardware stores, and other small businesses. The sense of place, the feeling of neighborhood rather than urban expanse, is particularly evident in such images as a 1960 photograph, Kiddie Matinee at the Apex Theater, opened in 1942, as well as views of the Avalon Theater (1925) in Easton and the Waverly (1910), Echo (1914), and McHenry (1917) theaters in Baltimore.