As you’re likely already aware, today is Veterans Day!  Chapman University never misses an opportunity to celebrate an important national holiday, especially when our nation’s heroes are involved.

Dodge College is commemorating the memorial with a series of short documentary films, presented by the Film Studies Program, recently restored by the Academy Film Archive (a branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences).  We are especially honored to have the Academy’s Archivist, Heather Linville, here in person, to introduce these rare documentaries.  She will also be on hand for a Q&A following the event, which takes place in our Folino Theater at 7PM tonight.

Here’s the lineup of films:

Brief introduction followed by three public service announcements:

A MESSAGE OF IMPORTANCE/THE FIGHTING GENERATION (1944) 4 min
IT’S ALL OVER BUT THE SHOOTING (1945) 3 min

Traditional short from the front lines:

THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY (1942) 17 min

War films that emphasize the stability of US government in wartime:

THE AMERICAN SCENE NUMBER 8: TUESDAY IN NOVEMBER (1945) 17 min
THE AMERICAN SCENE NUMBER 11: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (1945) 22 min

Women’s involvement in the war effort:

WOMEN IN DEFENSE (1941) 11 min

Instructional films for the home front:

FIGHTING THE FIREBOMB (1940) 6 min

Hollywood influenced propaganda:

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF TOM SMITH (1943) 11 min
PRICES UNLIMITED (1944) 10 min

 

Also, later today, Chapman will honor Veterans Day with a lecture, poetry session, and group discussion on the themes of Veterans Day.  Leading the presentations are Jennifer Keene, professor and chair of the Department of History, and Patrick Quinn, Dean of Wilkinson College.  The event, “Remembering World War I,” begins with a poetry presentation at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, in Waltmar Theatre.

Happenings writes,

Dr. Quinn is an expert on the poet Robert Graves and editor of the 24 volumes of the Collected Works of Robert Graves. He will read from the poet’s work as part of the program and discuss how that war profoundly changed Graves’ writing, as well as the writing of other poets from that generation.

Drs. Keene and Quinn will also join an interdisciplinary discussion and audience Q&A following the 7:30 p.m., Nov. 13, performance of “If All the Sky Were Paper.” That panel will include the play’s director, John Benitz, and playwright Andrew Carroll, who launched the Legacy Project – a national, all-volunteer initiative that works to find and preserve wartime correspondence from all of America’s wars.

We have so many events today, it’s impossible to see them all!  (Sorry about that.)  However you choose to participate, please take the time to remember the sacrifices of those corageous men and women who have fought to preserve our freedom and way of life.  On behalf of Dodge College, I extend our thanks to Veterans everywhere.