It's a Wonderful Life

December 16

6:30 P.M.

It's a wonderful film. Frank Capra's inverted take on A Christmas Carol stars Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a good man who's spent a lifetime giving up on his dreams in order to keep life in his small town humming. When a guardian angel named Clarence finds a despondent George poised to jump off a bridge, he shows George what life would've been like had he never been born. This classic is a holiday favorite.

Friday Night Film Series

Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

December 9

6:30 P.M.

*Due to a scheduling conflict, the Friends of the Thomaston Library are moving their Friday Night Film Night to St. John's Church, on this date only.

In this award-winning adaptation of an autobiographical story by Truman Capote, Eric Lloyd plays Buddy, who at age 7 is dumped by his parents at the home of some elderly spinster relations. Luckily for Buddy, he becomes fast friends with one of them, embarking on a series of adventures in the Depression-era rural South. Patty Duke and Piper Laurie co-star in this charmingly nostalgic tale.

Miracle on 34th Street

December 2, 2011

6:30 P.M.

When Santa falls down drunk in the Thanksgiving Day Parade, reluctant Macy's supervisor Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara) offers the job to a bearded Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) purporting to be the real Santa! During the Christmas season, he shares a flat with Doris's neighbor (John Payne), who has eyes for Doris. Kris hopes to unite the two while winning over Doris's skeptical 6-year-old daughter (Natalie Wood).

Niagara

November 25, 2011

6:30 P.M.

Marilyn Monroe's a shameless hussy who wears skin-tight sweaters and flirts with anybody in long pants. Joseph Cotten's her long-suffering husband who, nonetheless, remains obsessed with her. On a vacation trip to Niagara Falls, everything unravels: Marilyn and her lover plot to kill Cotten by flinging him over the falls, but their plans go awry in this fine noirish thriller. This time around, Marilyn even ... sings!

Friday Night Film Series

Gilda

Friday, November 18

6:30

Curvy bombshell Rita Hayworth "Puts the Blame on Mame" in this South American thriller that became her biggest hit and forever linked the stunning actress to the specter of her most popular character. Hayworth, Glenn Ford and George Macready comprise the three sides of a steamy love triangle that threatens to destroy Macready's thriving casino and wreck all their lives. Hayworth's sinuous vamp of the aforementioned tune is a classic moment.

Mata Hari

November 11

6:30 P.M.

During World War I, a lovely German spy, an exotic dancer and femme fatale (Greta Garbo), steals secrets from the French through her involvement with two military officers (Lionel Barrymore and Ramon Novarro). Lavish production and exquisite direction truly make this one of Garbo's best. The real Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad.

The Devil is a Woman

November 4, 2011

6:30 P.M.

One of the most sophisticated films in the Josef von Sternberg-Marlene Dietrich canon, The Devil is a Woman is an alluring romance about a cold-hearted temptress who destroys the lives of two best friends (Cesar Romero and Lionel Atwill). The plot is set in Carnival week in the port town of Seville during the Spanish Revolution. The script was written by John Dos Passos and the same source material was used as the inspiration for Luis Bufiuel's That Obscure Object of Desire.

Library Announcement

The Library will be closing early today, Monday, October 31st. The library will close at 3:00 PM.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Fall Festival: October 28th

Fall Festival
Friday, Oct. 28th
4 - 6 PM
Children's Library and Gym

Join us from 4 to 6 on Friday, October 28th for a fun filled afternoon of arts and crafts, games, snacks and stories. Admission is free for all ages and there will be pumpkins to decorate, arts and crafts in the children's library, and story-time with Miss Kay. The Hallway Bookstore will offer HALF OFF on all items for the whole day!

For more information call the library at 345-2453.

Friday Night Film Series

Chocolat

September 30

6:30 P.M.

Blown in by the north wind, an iconoclastic single mother (Oscar nominee Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter move into a peaceful French village and open an uncommon chocolate shop during the height of Lent--directly across the street from a church. At first, the shop's rich, sensuous desserts scandalize the town. But the villagers (including Judi Dench, Lena Olin and Johnny Depp) soon learn to savor the sweetness.

Library Announcement

The Friday Night Film Series is on hold for the month of October.

Film showings will resume in November.

Friday Night Film Series

Ratatouille

September 23

6:30 P.M.

Brad Bird (The Incredibles) co-directs this Oscar-winning Pixar offering about a passionate rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who thirsts for a sip of the good life, despite the questionable tastes of his rodent relatives. Growing up beneath a five-star Parisian restaurant, Remy inherits a taste for fine food. But his culinary ambitions only anger his practical father, who wishes his son could just eat garbage live everyone else.

Friday Night Film Series

Mostly Martha

September 16

6:30 P.M.

German director Sandra Nettlebeck whips up this tragicomic tale about an uptight professional chef named Martha (Martina Gedeck), who finds her world turned upside down when she takes in her newly orphaned niece, Lina, and tries her hand at parenting. Martha's obsession with precision gourmet cooking extends to discussing recipes with her bewildered therapist (August Zirner) and verbally attacking anyone who attempts to send her food back.

Friday Night Film Series

Babette's Feast

September 9, 2011

6:30 P.M.

Phillipa (Hanne Stensgaard ) and Martina (Vibeke Hastrup) turn down a chance to leave their Danish town, instead staying to care for their pastor father and his small church. Thirty-five years later, a French woman (Stephane Audran) seeks refuge, and Phillipa and Martina (now Bodil Kjer and Birgitte Federspie) take her in. The feast the woman prepares in gratitude is eclipsed only by her secret in director Gabriel Axel's Oscar-winning drama.

Friday Night Film Series

Eat Drink Man Woman

September 2

6:30 P.M. (new time!)

Distracted by their complicated love lives and secret ambitions, three adult sisters reluctantly humor their widower father (Sihung Lung) by enduring the elaborate, traditional Taiwanese dinners he insists on having every Sunday. Ang Lee directs this charming tale that humorously examines the clash between modernity and tradition within the contemporary Taiwanese family. Yu-wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu and Kuei-Mei Yang co-star.

Friday Night Film Series

12 Angry Men

August 26

7 P.M.

Knowing full well that a guilty verdict means death, a jury of 12 men (including Jack Warden, Lee J. Cobb and Jack Klugman), must decide the fate of an 18-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his father. But only one juror (Henry Fonda) wants to take the time to coolly deliberate the case. Sidney Lumet (Network) made his directorial debut with this Oscar-nominated drama that illuminates all the petty impediments on the path to justice.

Artists and Authors Among Us - - August 2011

Patrick Guyer

August 24

7 P.M.

Patrick nolan Guyerr, Chief Statistician witht he American Human Development Project, has been with the Project since 2009 and has also worked as a consultant to UNICEF. Patrick's first major publication with the Project was The Measure of America 2010-2011: Mapping Risks and Resilience, published last year by New York University Press. He is a graduate of GVHS and went on to earn a BA in political science from McGill University in Montreal and an MA in international affairs from the New School University in New York.

Friday Night Film Series

The Incident

August 19

7 P.M.




In this drama set in 1944, small-town lawyer Harmon Cobb (Walter Matthau) must defend the most hated man in town--a man who represents pure evil--when Cobb's friend Doc Hansen (Barnard Hughes) dies at the local POW camp and a Nazi prisoner is accused of his murder. Cobb, whose son is overseas fighting for the Allies, is talked into representing the accused. The town is out for blood, but Cobb finds evidence that may prove the man's innocence. Harry Morgan co-stars. Directed by Joseph Sargent.

Artists and Authors Among Us - - August 2011

Jim Nichols

August 10

7 P.M.

Jim Nichols was born in Brunswick, raised in Freeport and now lives in Warren with his wife, Anne. He has published work in numerous magazines, including Esquire, Portland Monthly, Zoetrope All-Story Extra, Night Train, Paris Transcontinental, Narrative and The Clackamas Review. He is a past winner of the Willamette Fiction Prize and has received an Independent Artists Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission. His collection Slow Monkeys and Other Stories was published in 2003 by Carnegie Mellon Press, and Hull Creek, a novel of the Maine coast, was published this April by Down East Books.

Friday Night Film Series

Witness for the Prosecution

August 12

7 P.M.

Based on an Agatha Christie play, this Oscar-nominated mystery directed and co-written by Billy Wilder concerns an esteemed and aging lawyer (Charles Laughton). On the eve of retiring, he takes on the defense of an alleged murderer (Tyrone Power, in his final performance) accused of killing a wealthy widow. Things get complicated dwhen the accused's only alibi, his wife (Marlene Dietrich), decides to testify for the prosecution.

Artists and Authors Among Us - - August 2011

Colin Page

August 3

7 P.M.



Colin Page does the majority of his work outside, working from life to capture the light and atmosphere of his subject matter. "Through painting, I share unexpected moments of beauty that I find in the space around me. Painting is how I share the poetry of experience." Page studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design and Cooper Union, receiving his BFA in 2000. He recently had a solo show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, ME and has also participated in numerous group shows internationally. For several years Page has been living in Maine focusing on painting the landscape.

Friday Night Film Series

Inherit the Wind

August 5

7 P.M.

Spencer Tracy (in an Oscar-nominated role) and Fredric March square off as opposing attorneys Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady, respectively, in this blistering courtroom drama about the famed 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial", in which a Tennessee teacher was taken to task for teaching Darwinism in the classroom. The film also earned Oscar nods for its editing, screenplay and cinematography. Gene Kelly co-stars as a newspaper reporter.Directed by Stanley Kramer.

Friday Night Film Series

Big Fish

July 29

7:00 P.M.

In this Tim Burton fantasy based on the novel by Daniel Wallace, William Bloom (Billy Crudup) tries to learn more about his dying father, Edward, by piecing together disparate facts from a lifetime of fantastical tales and legends of epic proportions. Ewan MacGregor co-stars as the young Edward, a traveling salesman, with Albert Finney playing him as an older man. Jelena Bonham Carter and Steve Buscemi also star.

Friday Night Film Series

His Girl Friday

July 22

7:00 P.M.

Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) is about to get hitched to dull insurance agent Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy)--that is if her ex-husband , ruthless newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant), doesn't succeed in winning her back in this battle-of-the-sexes screwball, madcap, romantic comedy that simply crackles with wit and sharp dialog.

Artists and Authors Among Us - - July 2011

Carolyn Locke

July 20

7 P.M.

Carolyn Locke, a teacher at Mount View High School, is a graduate of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College. She has participated in two study tours to China, a Fulbright Hays Seminar in Morocco, and two Fulbright projects in Japan. Her work has appeared in several publications and has twice been recognized in the MWPA Poetry Competition. her program will explore the contrasts between rural and urban China in a slide show taken during the summer of 2007 combined with a reading of original poems written in the months following that summer.

Artists and Authors Among Us - - July 2011

Chuck Paine

July 13

7 P.M.

Chuck has been one of the world's most famous yacht designers, active from 1971 through 2008 and a highly recognized author of many non-fiction articles on yachts. Chuck specialized in the high-end of the market designs, which included custom yachts, both sail and power, and semi-production yachts. He has had over 1,000 yachts built to his designs. His website, www.chuckpaine.com, is the most popular yacht design website in the English-speaking world. Chuck will present his book My Yacht Designs.

Friday Night Film Series

Harold and Maude

July 15, 2011

7 P.M.

Death-obsessed teen Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) is being hassled by his domineering mother (Vivian Pickles) to play the dating game, but he'd much rather attend funerals, which is where he meets the feisty Maude (Ruth Gordon), a geriatric widow who's high on life. The seemingly mismatched pair forms a bond that turns into a highly unconventional --but ultimately satisfying--romance in this comical cult favorite from director Hal Ashby.

Artists and Authors Among Us - - July 2011

Pam Parsons

Wednesday, July 6

7 P.M.

Pamela Moore Parsons is Associate Professor of Art at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She teaches and serves as coordinator of upper level painting programs. She earned a BFA from Boston University and an MFA in Painting from Indiana University in Bloomington. Parsons is a summer resident of Thomaston where she paints and maintains a studio. Currently her works are represented by the Watson Gallery in Stonington, Maine.

Friday Night Film Series

Some Like It Hot

7 P.M.

When musicians Jerry (Jack Lemmon) and Joe (Tony Curtis) accidentally witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, they get out of town the only way they know how--dressed as women. But things heat up on the road when they meet a curvy blonde (Marilyn Monroe) who plays the ukulele. Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, Some Like It Hot is a madcap farce and one of the greatest of all film comedies.

Bringing Up Baby

July 1, 2011

7 P.M.

Love runs wild for a hapless scientist and an unstoppable heiress in Howard Hawke's classic screwball comedy that ranks high on the American Film Institute's list of the funniest Hollywood films ever made. With her eye on paleontologist David (Cary Grant), heiress Susan (Katharine Hepburn) lures him to her home. But the hilarity begins when Susan's dog steals David's prize dinosaur bone and her pet leopard, Baby, is mistaken for a zoo escapee.

Friday Night Film Series

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

June 24, 2011
7:00 P.M.

On a serene New England campus, emasculated professor (Richard Burton) and his rancorous wife, Martha, (Elizabeth Taylor), turn an evening of cocktails into an unrelenting onslaught of wrenching disclosures and bellowed epithets. Soon, the couple's guests--junior professor Nick (George Segal) and his wife, Honey (Sandy Dennis)--get sucked into the vortex of the warring duo's unbounded fury. Taylor won an Oscar for her role--as did Sandy Dennis. The film won 5 Oscars in all.

Charcoal Grill Raffle - $100 value!

The Friends of the Thomaston Library
and
Lowes of Thomaston

are partnering in a summer fundraiser for the Thomaston Library. From now until August 10th, you can buy a ticket to enter our raffle - the winner will receive this Char-Broil Grill, a $100 value. Each raffle ticket costs $5.

The winner will be announced during the August 10th Authors and Artists Among Us lecture. To enter the raffle, purchase a raffle ticket at the library or from a member of the Friends of the Library. Tickets will be on sale at the Library's 4th of July book sale and during each lecture in the Authors and Artists Among Us series (beginning July 6th).

This raffle is made possible by a generous donation from Lowes of Thomaston. For more information, call the library at 354-2453.

Friday Night Film Series

The Friends of the Thomaston Library present:

Suddenly, Last Summer

Friday, June 17th

7:00 PM

Room 208, Thomaston Academy Building

In Tennessee Williams's tale of sexual repression set in 1937 New Orleans, rich widow Mrs. Venable (Katharine Hepburn) is distraught over the death of her son Sebastian during his vacation to Europe, where the two had traveled together every summer. This time, Sebastian had taken his cousin Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor), who appeared to go mad the day sebastian died. Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) is called in to assess her mental state, and at Mrs. Venable's urging, perform a lobotomy on Catherine . . .

Friday Night Films are presented free of charge but donations are gratefully accepted. The library and bookstore will be open prior to the screening of the film. The Thomaston Academy building is handicapped accessable from the parking lot entrance. For more information, call the library at 354-2453.

Friday Night Film Series

A Place in the Sun

June 10, 2011

7:00 P.M.

Dirt-poor George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) lands himself a factory job thanks to a well-to-do uncle's largess and has a tryst with co-worker Alice (Shelley Winters) to combat his loneliness. But he forgets the uncultured Alice when he becomes smitten with a stunning socialite (Elizabeth Taylor). Alice can't forget George, however, because she's expecting his baby. Their dilemma sets off a course of events that can only end in tragedy.

Library Closing Early: June 9th

The Thomaston Public Library will be closing at 3:30 PM on Tuesday, June 9th, for a special event at Montpelier, the General Henry Knox Museum.

The staff and trustees will be attending the dedication of the Elias Adams and Lougee Family Library, at 4 PM in the Cole House next door to the museum. The museum is also unveiling the new Henry Knox Papers Database, a new research tool for historians of Gen. Knox and the history of Thomaston.

For more information on this event, call the Museum's Center for the Study of Early American History Education Coordinator at 354-0858

Friday Night Film Series

The Friends of the Thomaston Public Library present:

National Velvet
Friday, June 3
7:00 P.M.
Thomaston Academy Building
Room 208


Although it's a vintage flick resurrected from Hollywood's vaults, National Velvet is first-rate entertainment. Among its highlights are a young and beguiling Elizabeth Taylor as the horse-crazy Velvet Brown; Mickey Rooney as the peripatetic lad who coaches her to greatness; and a thrilling race finale as Taylor and her horse go undercover to compete in England's famed Grand National Steeplechase race!

Admission is free and light refreshments will be served. Donations are gratefully accepted. For more information call the library at 354-2453. The Thomaston Academy Building is handicapped accessable from the rear entrance.

Friday night film series

My Mother's Castle

Friday, May 20

6:30 P.M.

Yves Robert directs this film based on the humorous best-selling memoirs of French novelist and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, which highlights the alluring, magical country life of turn-of-the-century Provence. Young Marcel's mother longs for the tranquility of Bastide Neuve after spending a summer there and encourages her family to make the nine-mile trek on foot. They shorten the journey by cutting across a private estate, which lands them in trouble. Charming and suitable for the whole family.

Friday Night Film Series

Friday night film series

The Girl on the Bridge

Friday, May 13
6:30 P.M.
Room 208, Thomaston Academy

A despondent girl named Adele (Vanessa Paradis) is about to take a swan dive off a bridge into the Seine River when she is rescued by Gabor (Daniel Auteuil), a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The luckless Adele agrees, and together the pair thrives. They win a fortune gambling when not performing their act, but fate conspires to separate the duo, who find they need each other to maintain their lucky streak. An utterly engaging story about two down-and-outers who become each other's good luck charm.

Friday night film series

The Friends of the Thomaston Library present:

Monsieur Ibrahim
Friday, May 6th
6:30 PM
Room 208, Thomaston Academy

1960s Paris is the backdrop for Francois Dupeyron's heartwarming drama about Momo (Pierre Boulanger) , a teenage boy who lives in a working-class neighborhood and has very few friends--save for the kindly local prostitutes who adore him. Eventually, Momo finds a father figure in the older and wiser shopkeeper, Ibrahim (Omar Sharif), who takes him on a journey of self-discovery that will change both of their lives. A beautiful testament to the power of love.

Admission is free. Donations gratefully accepted. The Library and the Book Store will be open prior to the start of the movie. Light refreshments will be served.

The Thomaston Academy building is handicapped-accessible from the parking lot entrance.

For more information call the Library at 354-2453.

Friday night film series

The Friends of the Thomaston Library present:

Without Love
Friday, April 29th
6:30 PM
Room 208, Thomaston Academy

Convinced that two people can have a meaningful partnership without the trappings of romance, pragmatic widow Jamie Rowan (Katharine Hepburn) asks scientist Pat Jamieson (Spencer Tracy) to marry her on condition that the relationship remain platonic. But Jamie's plan falls apart when love enters the scene. Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn also star.

Admission is free. Donations gratefully accepted. The Library and the Book Store will be open prior to the start of the movie. Light refreshments will be served.

The Thomaston Academy building is handicapped-accessible from the parking lot entrance.

For more information call the Library at 354-2453.

National Library Week: Luthera Dawson Archive

In celebration of National Library Week, the Thomaston library is pleased to announce the donation of Luthera Dawson's archives. Luthera Dawson, a long-time library volunteer and former trustee, has written three books and has long studied Thomaston's rich history. Please join us on Friday, April 15th, for an overview of this donation and the plans for its display in the library. The Friends of the Thomaston Public Library will be serving tea and refreshments. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call the library at 354-2453.

Friday Night Film Series

The Friends of the Thomaston Library present:

Holiday

Friday, April 15th

6:30 PM

Room 208, Thomaston Academy

Engaged to wealthy Julia Seton (Doris Nolan), free-thinker Johnny Case (Cary Grant) discovers that her family wants to remake him into their idea of the perfect son-in-law - and he's beginning to consider compromising his values. But as he gets to know Julia's headstrong sister (Katharine Hepburn), he realizes she is the one for him. George Cukor directs this 1938 comedy.

Admission is free and light refreshments will be served. Donations are gratefully accepted. The Thomaston Academy building is handicapped accessable from the parking lot entrance. For more information call the library at 354-2453.

Friday night film series

the Friends of the Thomaston Library present:

Enchanted April
Friday, April 8th
6:30 PM
Room 208, Thomaston Academy

Stifled British wives Lottie (Josie Lawrence) and Rose (Miranda Richardson) rent an Italian villa for a husband-less vacation. Sharing the retreat are acerbic widow Mrs. Fisher (Oscar nominee Joan Plowright) and socialite Caroline (Polly Walker). The four spend a month savoring new-found freedom and the opportunity for self-discovery. Alfred Molina co-stars in this tale of 1920s English manners.

Friday night films are presented free of charge but donations are gratefully accepted. The Library and Hallway bookstore will be open before the film. The Thomaston Academy Building is handicapped accessible from the parking lot entrance. For more information, call the library at 354-2453.

Friday night film series

The Friends of the Thomaston Library Present:

Love Among the Ruins
Friday, April 1st
6:30 PM
Thomaston Academy, Room 208

An aging actress (Katherine Hepburn) is being sued for breach of promise, and so she hires as her lawyer her former lover. He is still in love with her, yet she is unaware of it. The only option she has to save her assets is to ruin her reputation and have this man do it for her. Katherine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier shine in this George Cukor classic.

Friday night films are presented free of charge, but donations are gratefully accepted. The Thomaston Academy is handicapped accessable by the parking lot entrance and light refreshments will be served. For more information, call the library 354-2453.

Thomaston Library Hours Change

The hours of operation at the Thomaston Public library are changing! We are swapping our Wednesday and Friday hours, to accomodate the Friends of the Library's popular Friday Night Film Series - starting in April, guests at the film series will also be able to use the library and visit the Hallway Bookstore.

NEW HOURS EFFECTIVE APRIL 4th

Monday - 11 AM to 7 PM

Tuesday - 11 AM to 5 PM

Wednesday - 11 AM to 5 PM

Thursday - 11 AM to 5 PM

Friday - 11 AM to 7 PM

Saturday - 11 AM to 3 PM

Friday Night Film Series

The Friends of the Thomaston public Library present:

The King of Masks
Friday, March 25th
6:30 PM
Room 208, Thomaston Academy Building


Nearing the end of his life, Wang --a locally renowned street performer and wizard of the venerable art of mask magic -- yearns to pass on his technique. But custom decrees that he can only hand down his craft to a male successor. Anxious to preserve his unique art, the heirless Wang buys an impoverished 8-year-old on the black market. But when the child divulges a dreaded secret, Wang faces a choice between filial love and societal tradition.

Friday Night Films are presented free of charge but donations are accepted. Light refreshments will be served. The Thomaston Academy Building is handicapped accessable from the parking lot entrance. For more information call the library at 354-2453.

Friday Night Film Series

The Friends of the Thomaston Public Library present:

Moving the Mountain

Friday, March 18th

6:30 PM

Room 208, Thomaston Academy Building

"Moving the mountain" chronicles the demonstrations of students in Tianamen Square on the fourth of June, 1989. The demonstration was crushed by the military and resulted in many deaths. The documentary is told from the point of view of the students, as seen through a forum held in the United States in 1995.

"Moving the Mountain" was filmed in 1994 and is not rated. Run time is 83 minutes. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is fre and donations are gratefully accepted. For more information call the library at 354-2453.