As a French Quarter teenager, I might have been the last of those who saw first-run movies at the Joy Theater. It gave downtown living another facet, long before Canal Place and even way before Black Pearl’s now-defunct Uptown Square movie house. Yes we had Prytania, but that was about it.
I welcome more activity to the American Sector to build more everyday life for the French Quarter.
The Historic New Orleans Collection presents three screenings in conjunction with the exhibition Drawn to Life: Al Hirschfeld and the Theater of Tennessee Williams.
Sunday, March 13, 2 p.m.
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story
An Academy Award-nominated documentary by Susan Warms Dryfoos, The Line King celebrates Hirschfeld’s many years of work for the New York Times, where his drawings were a centerpiece of the Sunday Arts section. With appearances by Lauren Bacall, Robert Goulet, and many others, The Line King is a fascinating portrait of the artist as a cultural icon. (1996; 86 minutes; not rated)
The exhibition will be open 12:30–4:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 20, 2 p.m.
The Fugitive Kind
Sidney Lumet’s stirring drama The Fugitive Kind (based on Tennessee Williams’s play Orpheus Descending) features Marlon Brando as a drifter who wanders into a small town in Mississippi and falls into a tragic love affair. Following the screening, Mark Cave, curator of manuscripts/oral historian at The Collection and co-curator of Drawn to Life, will discuss the film and the display. (1960; 120 minutes; not rated)
The exhibition will be open 12:30–4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 22, 6:30 p.m.
Journalist and anchor Eric Paulsen’s 1981 interview with Tennessee Williams
Noted news anchor Eric Paulsen conducted the final in-depth broadcast interview with Tennessee Williams in 1981, roughly two years before the playwright’s death. After the screening, Paulsen will discuss the interview and take questions from the audience. (1981; 47 minutes; not rated)
The exhibition will be open 9:30 a.m.–8 p.m.
Great movie made in 1966 starring Robert Redford and Natalie Wood. The scenes in New Orleans are nice, including Jackson Square, City Park, St. Louis #1 and the apartment on Dumaine (817?). Later on, Tennessee himself also lived on Dumaine…
Tennessee Williams wrote the original one-act play (which took place entirely on railroad tracks with younger sister Willie telling the story of her sister) but, as usual, did not participate or like the movie adaptation of his play.
The scenes in the little apartment are good, as are the characters one sees on the streets. Amazing to see Clover Grill and The Washing Well 40 plus years ago…
French Quarter block by block 
You must be logged in to post a comment.