Part of Nashville: A City on Film and Belcourt 100 Seminars
General Admission: $16 | Belcourt Members: $13
*Ticket includes the seminar and a screening of THE YEARLING (35mm) immediately following at 12:00pm.
Our next Belcourt 100 Seminar, Nashville in Hollywood’s Golden Age, traces the rich, often overlooked legacy of actors and filmmakers who began their journeys on Nashville stages — many on the Belcourt’s historic 1925 Hall stage — and went on to leave their mark on the silver screen. Spanning the 20th century, this seminar highlights the city’s surprising contributions to cinema history, from early appearances in Pathé and Vitagraph films to roles in MGM musicals, made-for-TV movies, and major studio productions.
This historical overview brings to light the careers of local talents who secured bit parts in Hollywood classics, as well as those who rose to become leading stars, earning Golden Globes and Academy Awards along the way. By weaving together archival research, film history and performance culture, this seminar explores how a city best known for its music has also nurtured a legacy of cinematic artistry — on-screen and behind the scenes. The seminar reveals how Nashville’s theatrical roots — and the Belcourt’s — provided a vital training ground for generations of artists whose work helped shape American popular and film culture.
Presented by T. Minton, Belcourt’s public historian and archivist
THE YEARLING (35mm) | Watch the Trailer
Dir. Clarence Brown | USA | 1946 | 128 min. | G | 35mm
Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman star in the Academy Award-winning adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a young boy coming of age in the lean years just after the Civil War. Lonely 11-year-old Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.) develops a deep bond of friendship with an orphaned yearling fawn he finds in the Florida woods outside this family’s farm. But as much as he loves the young deer, Jody must accept the difficult choice his family makes between their own survival and that of the fawn. A Nashville native, Jarman got his start performing on the Belcourt’s stage while attending Nashville public schools. The film received Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction — and earned Jarman a special Academy Juvenile Award.
“A cheerful and inspiring film about the coming to manhood of a youngster. As Jody says to his father, ‘I seen a sight today!’” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (Jan 24, 1947) “When Jody and Fodderwing are together, something quirky and magical seems to be happening on the screen; when Jody and his deer are together the boy's emotion has a fairytale glitter; and when Jody's mother reveals a streak of humor she's so pleased at her dumb joke that you find yourself staring in disbelief — and laughing. Even [Gregory] Peck seems to blend into the atmosphere.” —Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
