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Wharton Studio Museum’s 13th Annual Silent Movie under the Stars   

 Featuring BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK (1926) starring Marion Davies 

 Saturday, August 19, 2022 at 8 p.m. 

 Taughannock Falls State Park

 Live music by Cloud Chamber Orchestra 

 Presenting Sponsor is M&T Bank  

 A wonderful night of silent film for all ages! 

July 15, 2023 (ITHACA, NY)—A popular end-of-summer tradition continues on Sat., August 19,  2023* when Wharton Studio Museum proudly presents its 13th annual Silent Movie Under the  Stars at Taughannock Falls State Park in Trumansburg at sundown – around 8pm. Produced in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, the screening is FREE and open to the public. 

Live musical accompaniment by Cloud Chamber Orchestra featuring Chris White and Peter  Dodge. 

This year Wharton Studio Museum is thrilled to be featuring Beverly of Graustark (1926) on the big screen. Based on the 1904 novel Beverly of Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon,  the film stars Marion Davies, considered one of the finest comedic actors of the silent era. Davies started her career working in several Broadway musicals, including the 1916 Ziegfeld Follies, and  it was there that she caught the attention of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper tycoon. 

Davies became Hearst’s mistress and he managed her career for many years. Davies was a  successful actress, but also as a screenwriter and producer. She remained Hearst’s companion  until his death in 1951.  

There are two Wharton Studio-related connections to Beverly of Graustark: Creighton Hale, who  stars alongside Davies in the film, also worked for the Wharton brothers – Ted and Leo — when  he co-starred with Pearl White in the Wharton Studio serial Romance of Elaine in 1915. William  Randolph Hearst provided the financial backing for the Wharton Studio’s popular 1916 serial  Beatrice Fairfax, which was adapted from the “Ask Beatrice Fairfax” advice column – the  Whartons bought the rights to it– that appeared in Hearst’s New York Evening Journal. 

This family-friendly screening event is accompanied by live original music composed and  performed by Cloud Chamber Orchestra featuring Chris White and Peter Dodge. 

Bring a picnic, lawn chair, blanket and sweater and come early to enjoy lovely Taughannock Falls  State Park. 

The screening is FREE. There is a $5 per vehicle parking fee in the park which benefits Wharton  Studio Museum. 

*Raindate is Sunday, August 20st, 2023. 

From 1915 to 1919, Wharton, Inc. Studio produced hundreds of reels of films and serials — starring some of the most well-known actors of the day — at its production studio by the shores  of Cayuga Lake in Renwick Park – now Stewart Park. That original studio building still stands  today, an important artifact a time when filmmaking was an emerging art form and industry.  

Wharton Studio Museum is committed to preserving and celebrating Ithaca’s silent film history  and transforming the historic Wharton Studio building in Stewart Park into the Wharton Studio  Park Center — with exhibits, a café and lakefront terraces — in partnership with Friends of Stewart  Park and the City of Ithaca. 

Visit WSM’s permanent exhibit in the new Tompkins Center for History & Culture on the  Commons in downtown Ithaca. WSM is a partner, along with the George Eastman Museum in  Auburn and the Case Research Lab/Cayuga Museum in Auburn, in the new Finger Lakes Film Trail  which launched this past spring. Visit the Finger Lakes Film Trail on Facebook. 

Silent Movie Under the Stars is produced in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and made possible by Presenting Sponsor M&T Bank, and through the Community Arts Partnership’s “Grants for Arts Program” with funds from Tompkins County.  Other sponsors include Howard Hanna Real Estate Services; Lee Newhart State Farm, the Finger  Lakes Film Trail, and the Natural Heritage Trust.  

For more information, an interview, or for any visuals/images needed, please contact Diana  Riesman, Executive Director of WSM at 607-592-3017 or at  driesman@whartonstudiomuseum.org