Hangin’ with the Ghosts of Buster Keaton and John Barrymore: Movie Palaces and Murals in Toledo, OH
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series In and Around Toledo.Every Thursday during July and August, the University of Toledo Urban Affairs Center and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library sponsor free walking tours of downtown Toledo. Held during lunchtime, the tours cover Toledo’s history and architecture: July 7: Trinity Episcopal Church (built 1892). July 14: Vistula, Toledo’s Oldest Neighborhood (estb. 1837). July 21: The Valentine Theater (opened 1896). July 28: Birmingham Ethnic Neighborhood (Hungarian neighborhood estb. in 1892; still home to the famous hot-dog joint,...
Read MoreAhoy, Matey: A Pirate in My Class
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series In and Around Toledo. Well, here’s a new one… Today, during a screening of Psycho‘s infamous shower scene, I stopped the film to give the students a bit of trivia: “This is the first toilet shown onscreen,” I informed the class of 120 as Hitchcock’s camera focused momentarily on the john at the Bates Motel. And then, shortly after this comment, I asked, “Does anyone recall, from our first lecture in particular, why it would take Hollywood until 1960 to reveal a toilet onscreen? After all, cinema has been around...
Read MoreToledo on Television and in Real-Life
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series In and Around Toledo.Toledo, Ohio has turned up in the national media at least three times in the last month. First, Toledo-native Crystal Bowersox brought attention to “The Glass City” during her stint on American Idol. [1] Second, major news channels reported on Northwest Ohio after a tornado destroyed 100 homes in the area, killing at least six people. Third, in the last few minutes of Hot in Cleveland‘s pilot, Betty White’s character humorously labeled Toledo “the Paris of Ohio.” As Bowersox stated on Idol‘s...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,