Friday Night Films:

November 30th

Amacord

1974 R   123 min.

Awarded both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, acclaimed Italian director Frederico Fellini's Amacord is a rich visual film about Rimini, a traditional seaside village during the uncertainty of Mussolini's fascist rule. Fellini drew from personal experience to bring the small town and all its colorful characters to life in this ode to the past which recalls the tender and silly diversions of a small Italian town in the 1930's.

Friday Night Films:

December 7

A Christmas Without Snow

1980 NR   95 min.

In director John Korty's ode to the perseverance of the human spirit, a recent divorcee strives to rebuild her life by moving to San Francisco. With jumbled day-to-day jobs, the newly single Zoe Jensen (Michael Learned) finds consistency with a local church choir practicing Handel's "Messiah." But the harsh instruction of choirmaster Ephraim Adams (John Houseman) pushes Zoe and each of the choir members to their limits during the holiday season.

Friday Night Films:

December 14th

Holiday Affair

1949 NR  87 min.

Janet Leigh stars as Connie Ennis, a young widowed mother who has an unfortunate first encounter with department store clerk Steve Mason (Robert Mitchum), inadvertently causing him to get fired just before Christmas. Despite the mishap, Steve takes Connie on a date, much to the chagrin of her better-established suitor, Carl, but much to the delight of her young son, Timmy, who would much prefer Steve as a stepdad, rather than Carl.

Friday Night Films:

December 21st

It's a Wonderful Life

1946 NR   132 min.

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 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. An uplifting, beloved American classic, nominated for 5 Oscars.

Friday Night Films:

December 28th

The Lemon Drop Kid

1951 NR     91 min.

When a small-time swindler with a sweet tooth for citrus candy (Bob Hope) accidentally cheats the biggest boss in town, he scrambles for a way to repay his looming debt by Christmas. With the help of his girl-friend (Marilyn Maxwell), the quick-thinking Lemon Drop Kid and his gang launch a scam using Santa suits to raise money for homeless women. The film introduced the now-classic holiday tune "Silver Bells." Adapted from a Damon Runyan Story.

Coming up on Monday, Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m.!

Michael Paul Lund, founder of Serendipity Recordings, will present “The First Crooner — Bing Crosby (1903-1977)” an illustrated lecture illuminating the life and times of the first great popular si

nger of the American Songbook.

Attendees will take a fascinating musical journey through the life of the man who paved the way for every major vocalist who followed him, the man for whom the word “crooner” was penned. Samples will include lots of solos plus duets of Crosby with, among others, Paul Whiteman & the Rhythm Boys, the Mills Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dinah Shore, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Fred Astaire. Also featured will be the last song Crosby sang, 72 hours before his sudden death in 1977.
Lund has delivered illustrated music talks all over the United States and done radio commentary on stations coast to coast, including his two-hour specials on WGBH-FM in Boston. Lund is an accomplished writer of music criticism whose syndicated newspaper column, “The Serendipity Nostalgia Report,” focuses on legendary entertainers and great American music.
Admission is free. Recordings by Crosby will be available for purchase.

The Thomaston Public Library would like to invite you all to come and view the work of local artist Neil Shively. The collection, entitled Reflections, is composed of unaltered digitally recorded prints. With a variety of colors and patterns, Neil has captured images showing nature at its finest. His art work will be on display on the main floor of the library for the month of September.

Special Event

Contradance!

Saturday, August 11

7 P.M.

Presented by the Coastal Dance Association to benefit the Thomaston Public Library

• featuring Putnam Smith and Sassafras Stomp with caller Richard Green.
• $8; children 12 and under are free!
• Open to everyone--families welcome.
• No experience necessary.

Thomaston Academy Gym, 60 Main Street, Route 1, Thomaston

For more information, contact:

• 832-5584
• writer@midcoast.com
• Look for us on Facebook!

     

Friday Night Film Series

The Rules of the Game

August 10, 2012

7:00 P.M.

 Jean Renoir's most revered film combines his love for the outrageous with his stinging disdain for the French privileged class. The plot is set on the eve of World War II. Today, Rules of the Game, stands as the director's finest condemnation of a corrupt society, where appearances are everything and values mean nothing.

Friday Night Film Series

Small Change

August 3, 2012

7 P.M.

A boy finds a few coins in an amusement park. A shy girl sneaks a glance at the even shyer boy she fancies. They are small events, but not for a child. "A child invents life." says Francois Truffaut, who brilliantly captures the joys, pain, and wonder of childhood in Small Change.

Sunday July 29^th at 2pm, Gwen Southgate,  a Cushing summer resident,  will be reading from her memoir, Coin Street Chronicles: Memoirs of an Evacuee from London's Old South Bank.

Her book begins in January 1929 when she was born on the south bank of the Thames. In this memoir, Gwen Southgate weaves the story of a vanished time, place, and way of life in an area that is now a cultural showcase known as the South Bank. Though Coin Street Chronicles is a personal story of one youngster's experiences in the 1930s and 40s, it is part of a broader tapestry, one which portrays the sweep of life in Britain at that time as seen through the eyes of a girl for whom it was the backdrop of childhood. Southgate brings the characters to life and paints vivid scenes that touch all of the senses.

Gwen Southgate has kept herself out of mischief bringing up four children, a husband, ten grandchildren, innumerable physics students and endeavoring to set the political world to rights.

This event will be held at the Thomaston Public Library on 60 Main St. in room 204 of the Thomaston Academy Building. The doors will open at 1:30pm. This event is free and open to the public!

 Authors and Artists Series July 25 at 7pm!

Margie and Bob Moskowitz will be presenting a slide/lecture about their work at the Thomaston Public Library on Wednesday July 25  at 7 PM. The presentation will take place in Room 204 of the Academy building at 60 Main Street. The program is the third of this year's  Friends of the Thomaston Library series, Artists and Authors Among Us.

Artists Bob and Marjorie Moskowitz met in graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis in 1977 and married in 1980.  They exhibited together the first time in 1978 at St. Louis Community College at Forrest Park, again in 1986 at the Seghi Galley and recently with separate solo shows at the Gresham Gallery at San Bernardino City College. They also had simultaneous solo exhibitions in Ventura in 2009 at Gallery II and the New Media Gallery respectively.  Margie’s post graduate work was experimental and abstract as she worked with found materials as well as manufactured one’s creating wall pieces, sometimes quite large, that were exhibited in galleries in St. Louis, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Kansas City.  She began doing landscapes during a trip to Italy in 2000.  She taught for 11 years at colleges in Missouri and Illinois and at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.  Bob’s work has always been figurative and he did portrait commissions for years in the mid-west and on both coasts.  They moved to Ventura County in 1998 when Bob took a position at Ventura College where he has been the department chair for past ten years. Margie and Bob are currently represented by Bleicher Gallery in Santa Monica and Los Angeles where Bob had a solo exhibition in 2010.  Marjorie had had recent solo exhibitions at University of Maine Augusta and at the Harbor Square Gallery in Rockland. Their work is represented in many public and private collections. They have had a house in Sidney for the past five years and spend their summers painting in Maine. In 2009 Ventura Life magazine did a feature article, “Sharing the Silence” on the work created in their shared barn studio. They both continue to participate in group exhibitions, Margie recently at the Haggin Museum and the CCAA Museum. Bob exhibited at the CCAA Museum and also in the invitational, “Skin Deep:  Artists Examine the Nude” in Ventura.  Margie is represented in Maine by the Wiscasset Bay Gallery and by the Blue Hill Bay Gallery.



Following the presentation there will be light refreshments for all in attendance.

The Series, Artists and Authors Among Us,  is free to the public but donations to the library will be greatly appreciated. For further information, please contact the library at 354-2453

July Sunday Author Series!

Sunday, July 15th at 2pm Steven Powell is giving a reading from his debut novel, Patch Scratching.

During his talk, Powell will be reading from his work, Patch Scratching, a novel based in the mid-coast area; At the tender age of five, Jed is abandoned by his mother in his father’s hometown – a father he’s never met, and who no longer lives in the town. Jed is befriended by Deb, the last person who should have had to do so. But with the help of Jed’s grandfather, Deb raises the boy as best she can. Then, just as Jed is finding his way, his place in the world, life and the past come back to challenge him yet again.

Powell is a life long resident of mid-coast Maine, where he and his wife, Linda, live today. They have two adult children, Amanda and Alex. Patch Scratching is his first novel.

Second Presentation for the Authors & Artists Series!

On Wednesday, July 18 at 7pm, Björn Runquist will be speaking about his work at the library.

Runquist was born in Stockholm, Sweden, grew up in New York and spent his high school years in France before returning to the U.S. for college. Upon completion of college he moved to London, England. After four years in London and receiving a Master's degree from Kings College, University, of London, he returned to the U.S. and makes his home in Connecticut and, for the last 31 years, in Clark Island, Me.

Friday Night Film Series

Warm Springs

July 27, 2012

7 P.M.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Kenneth Branagh) faces personal and political crises in this biopic that begins not long after the future U.S. president is paralyzed by polio. Roosevelt endures the stigma of the disease and is moved by the plight of America's disabled. As he searches for a miracle cure, he regains his confidence as a leader with help from wife Eleanor (Cynthia Nixon) and therapist Helena (Kathy Bates). Wonderfully acted by all.

Friday Night Film Series

Babe

July 20, 2012

7 P.M.

The story of Babe Didrickson, who won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics and returned to become a world champion golfer, as she battled to be accepted in a man's world of sports. Her fight against cancer was the one battle she was ultimately to lose. Susan Clark won an Emmy for her portrayal of Babe.

Friday Night Film Series

The Secret Life of Words

July 13, 2012

7 P.M.

After surviving the war in Yugoslavia, taciturn nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) heads to Ireland for some relaxation. But when she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast, she agrees to tend to a heroic burn victim, (Tim Robbins). The encounter changes both their lives. A compelling and critically acclaimed film, directed by Pedro Almodovar.

Friday Night Movies

Temple Grandin

July 6, 2012

7:00 P.M.

Emmy winner Claire Danes stars as Temple Grandin, a brilliant young woman coping with the stigma of autism. With the support of her loving family, Temple dedicates herself to learning and becomes a famed animal behaviorist. Her passion for animals gives her a unique ability to understand them, and she fulfills her love by teaching about autism and the most humane ways to treat livestock.

Historic Photo Reception

Friday June 22^nd at 6:30:

Thomaston Public Library Presentation and Reception for Historic Photo Exhibit. 

At 6:30pm on June 22^nd, Kevin Johnson, archivist at the Penobscot Marine Museum and local historian Peggy McCrea will be giving a talk combined with a presentation of rare Thomaston photos. Potluck style refreshment to follow. Please feel free to bring a dish.

The talk features the exhibit, "Knox County Through the Eastern Eye," a collection of archived prints. The prints feature historic photographs on loan from the Penobscot Marine Museum’s Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company collection. The Thomaston Public Library is hosting the prints through June. 

The Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company photos, taken a century ago, are aesthetically beautiful and fascinating on many levels for the history and sense of place they convey. The founder of the company sent his crews with their box cameras into tiny towns all over Maine and instructed them to ask local citizens what was important to document about their town. The exhibit features 30 (20x24) framed photographs and 3 over-sized poster prints with captions written by each town’s historical society scholars.

This presentation is at the Thomaston Public Library located inside the Thomaston Academy building on 60 Main St. in Thomaston. Public parking is behind the Academy. Contact us to find out more: 207-354-2453 or tpl@thomaston.lib.me.us

This event is free and open to the public.

Permaculture Talk at the Thomaston Public Library

Monday, June 25 at 6:30pm

 

Jesse Watson of Midcoast Permaculture Design will be giving a presentation at the Thomaston Public Library on permaculture and design. Permaculture is a design system and set of techniques for creating resilient human habitats and healthy ecosystems.  It is modeled on ecological principles and covers a wide range of design areas including food production, shelter, energy, water, wellness, community, culture and economics.  In this presentation we will talk about some of the ethics, principles, strategies and techniques and discuss the importance and potential of permaculture’s design-based solutions in today’s world of economic, energy and environmental uncertainties. 

Jesse Watson is a certified permaculture designer.  In 2009 he started a permaculture landscape design/build and sustainability consultation firm in the Midcoast area, serving residential, business and institutional clients.  He attempts to integrate regenerative landscape design, traditional folk skills, sustainable economics, technological and cultural innovation into his design practice.  Jesse brings an artist’s paintbrush, a philosopher’s pedantry, a tracker’s attention to detail and a holy fool’s comedic relief to the company he keeps.  He lives with his young family in Rockland.

This presentation is at the Thomaston Public Library located inside the Thomaston Academy building on 60 Main St. in Thomaston. Public parking and library doors are located behind the Academy. Contact us to find out more: 207-354-2453 or tpl@thomaston.lib.me.us

This event is free and open to the public.

Announcement: Intergenerational Book Club

An Invitation:

On June 19th we invite you to join the Thomaston Intergenerational Book Club discussion. The Witch of Beaver Creek Mine, published by Down East Books in 2007, is a first novel by Camden author Rosemarie Nervelle, and is a well-crafted, exciting, fast-paced suspense tale about a mysterious old woman, a spooky abandoned gold mine, and a brave young boy. This unusual tale is both old-fashioned adventure story and part 21st century call for understanding and emotional honesty. The story harkens back to the boys adventure genre in the days when it didn't involve magic spells. There is magic to be found here, though, in Nervelle's memory-driven evocation of a time and society foreign to today's youth.

Although the book is targeted at the young adult market, Nervelle has discovered that her older readership enjoys the nostalgic tenor of the mid-40s. The story takes place in a small village in Nova Scotia where Nervelle spent some of her younger years, and from where her memories of the people she knew as a child come to life in this fascinating story.

The book was launched in the fall of 2007 in Waverly, Nova Scotia, the locus of the story.

On the third Tuesday of each month, this group of men and women of all ages come together to share their opinions and ideas. Extra copies of the books are purchased by the Friends of the Thomaston Public Library from the Annual Appeals fund. We thank you for all donations. Please come and join us at the Thomaston Library on June 19th at 2:30 P.M. in the Thomaston Academy building gym.

Contact Alice Dashiell at 354-3612 for more information.

Announcement

Wiffle Ball Game to Start Summer Reading Program!

Come to the Thomaston Public Library to celebrate reading and baseball on Saturday, June 16th at 11 A.M.! We have 50 TICKETS to the Portland Sea Dogs we are giving away to the first 50 kids who sign up for our Summer Reading Program!

Stop by the Thomaston Public Library at 60 Main St., Thomaston. Public parking is located behind the Thomaston Academy building. We will meet to sign up in the Children's Room and give away ticket vouchers. Then we will travel to the Thomaston Little League Field on Watts Lane (behind the American Legion) and play wiffle ball coached by our own Parks and Recreation manager, Matt Judkins. After the game we will be giving away free popsicles. We hope to see you there!

We recommend kids between the ages of 7 and 12 participate in the wiffle ball game, but kids of all ages are welcome to attend!

For more information contact Joanna at the Thomaston Public Library at:
354-2453 or childrensdesk@thomaston.lib.me.us.

Friday Night Film Series

The Friday Night Film Series will be taking a well deserved vacation during the month of June! Please check back on the Thomaston Public Library events page during the latter part of June to see if we have returned for July. Thank you!

Friday Night Movie Series

Terror by Night

May 25, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Affluent widow Lady Margaret (Mary Forbes) and her son Roland (Geoffrey Steele) enlist the help of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to keep a huge diamond from being stolen on a trip to Edinburgh. Holmes watches the precious jewel with help from Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) and Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), but all is turned upside down when the stone vanishes and Roland is killed. Now, Holmes must find the murderer among the train's passengers.

Friday Night Film Series

Dressed to Kill

May 18, 2012

6:30 P.M.


Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) looks into two surprising deaths, one of which was Dr. Watson's friend Julian (Edmund Breon). When both victims are found dead after buying the same kind of music box at an auction, Holmes tracks down the origin of the items to a convict serving time for stealing printing plates from a bank. Holmes begins to unravel a scheme that placed a secret code on the music boxes, revealing the location for stolen goods.

Movie Announcement

The Economics of Happiness will be shown at the Thomaston Public Library on Wednesday, May 16 at 6:30 P.M. This film is being sponsored jointly by the Monday Morning Meeting Group and the Friends of the Thomaston Library.

This film shows the disruption to communities around the world by "globalization", covering problems such as financial instability and unemployment, ethnic conflict and climate change. It also shows that there are communities that are resisting big money and power. Commentators, including Bill McKibbon and David Korten, as well as spiritual and community leaders from many countries provide inspiration and ideas for moving to local sustainable communities.

The film is a little over one hour long, allowing time for discussion.

You can read about it at this website:  http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org

For more information, please contact:  Carmen Lavertu at 354-9556 or clavertu@gmail.com

Intergenerational Book Club Announcement

On May 15th the Thomaston Intergenerational Book Club will discuss Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore. When originally published in 1946, Richard Sullivan wrote in the New York Times Book Review: 

    "A genial, easy-going novel which spreads engagingly out over the lives and affairs of some half dozen residents of a sea-coast community in Maine that is Ruth Moore's pleasant accomplishment in Spoonhandle.

This was her second novel of life on the Maine coast and was made into a Hollywood movie Deep Waters, starring Jean Peters, Dana Andrews and a young Dean Stockwell.

Please note that this meeting will begin at 2:00 P.M. to allow time to show the video after the discussion.


On the third Tuesday of each month, this group of men and women of all ages come together to share their opinions and ideas. Extra copies of the books are purchased by the Friends of the Thomaston Public Library from the Annual Appeal funds. We thank you for all donations. Please come and join us at the Thomaston Library on May 15th at 2:00 P.M. in room 208.

This event is free and open to the public.


 

Friday Night Film Series

The Woman in Green

May 11, 2012 

6:30 P.M. 


Four women are killed and fo8und without their right forefinger, causing Scotland Yard to recruit sleuth Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to solve the mysterious case. Holmes tracks the murders to a group of hypnotists and a puzzling but stunning woman named Lydia Marlow (Hillary Brooke). Pretty soon, Holmes uncovers a tangle of hypnosis and lies devised by his nemesis, the malevolent Professor Moriarty (Henry Daniel).

Friday Night Film Series

 
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

May 4, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce) once again set out to foil the nefarious Moriarty (Lionel Atwill)--and save humanity in the process. This time, they must prevent a Swiss-made bomb from falling into the hands of the Gestapo. Unfortunately, Moriarty has captured the bomb's inventor and intends to slowly bleed him to death unless he reveals the secret behind his handiwork.

Friday Night Film Series

Open City

April 27, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Director Roberto Rossellini's unsettling drama portrays the harrowing struggle of everyday women and children as they try to shield resistance forces from the Nazis and to maintain compassion and self-respect despite Rome's de facto occupation during World War II's waning days. Rossellini's landmark film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, brilliantly depicts the Italian people's weary despair and collective resolve.

Friday Night Film Series

The Bicycle Thief

April 20

6:30 P.M.

Poverty-stricken Antonio needs his bicycle to do his new job. But the same day he buys it back from a pawnshop, someone steals it, prompting him to search the city in vain with his young son.

Friday Night Film Series

Umberto D

April 13

6:30 P.M.

Bankrupt and lonely, an old man (Carlo Battisti) considers committing suicide. Since he has only a devoted dog and a maid (Lina Genneri) as his companions, things look bleak--until one day when the old man's luck changes, giving him new hope. Director Vittorio De Sica's touching portrait of one man's effort to retain his pride in the face of adversity is a treasure of Italian post-war cinema.

Book Club Announcement

Seventh Heaven

April 17

2:30 P.M.

Room 208

On April 17th the Thomaston Intergenerational Book Club will discuss Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman. Publishers Weekly said: "The setting is a Long Island, NY housing development from 1959 to 1960, a place of conforming, happy families where husbands mow the lawns of the tract houses and wives meet for coffee, where 'safety hung over the neighborhood like a net.' The arrival of Nora Silk, a brassy divorcee with two young children, is the catalyst for disturbing changes and events, some of them violent...". Hoffman has intuitive grasp of the thoughts and feelings that are masked by conventional behavior. Like some of her characters, she seems to have a spooky ability to read thoughts; how else to account for her unerring understanding of people of nearly every age and across a broad social spectrum? She has a gift for perceiving the cruelty of children and the wide gulf that yawns between the most loving, attentive parents and their offspring's unknown wishes and deeds. As usual, she tells more than a compulsively readable story. She does magic, she unsettles you and she leaves you feeling emotionally purged and satisfied.

On the third Tuesday of each month, this group of men and women of all ages come together to share their opinions and idesas. Extra copies of the books are purchased by the Friends of the Thomaston Public Library from the Annual Appeals fund.We thank you for all donations. Please come and join us at the Thomaston Library on April 17th at 2:30 P.M. in room 208.

Friday Night Film Series

Two Women

April 6, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Sophia Loren gives an Oscar-winning performance in director Vittorio De Sica's moving World War II classic. Loren plays widowed shopkeeper Cesira, who flees occupied Rome with her 13-year-old daughter as Allied bombs pound the city. When bombed-out tracks halt their train, they must make their way on foot amid numerous threats--from strafing Allied fighters to soldiers who paw at mother and daughter.

Thomaston Library presents---

Half a Baker's Dozen: A Poetry Reading Celebration

Sunday, April 29th at 2 P.M. in Room 208 in the Thomaston Academy

Six local poets will read their original work at the Thomaston Public Library in celebration of the end of Poetry Month.

Carol Bachofner
Alan Clark
Chris Fahy
Ellen Goldsmith
Joanna Hynd
Kendall Merriam

Opening the program is well renowned local poet and founder of Rockland's Annual Poetry Month, Carol Bachofner. Bachofner's work has been described by Kathleen Ellis as "Imbued with an acute sense of place, drawn to rivers, finning across ponds, pulled to the sea, every poem welcomes both poet and reader as a long-lost relative."

Poet, playwright, and artist Alan Clark will follow Bachofner. Clark's art work has been displayed at the Farnsworth Art Museum and Asymmetrick Arts. In 2006, new poems appeared in The Caribbean Writer and The Wolf Moon Journal. Clark and Goldsmith will be reading this year together at the Lunchtime Fireside Poetry chats.

Novelist and poet Chris Fahy of Thomaston is the author of many novels and collections of short stories and poetry. In 1999 Fahy won a Grand Prize at the International Poetry Competition sponsored by the Atlanta Review.

Ellen Goldsmith is the winner of the Hudson Valley Writers' Center for the 1997 Chapman Contest and is the facilitator of the "Poetry in Art" workshop at the Farnsworth Art Museum. Her poems have been published in many magazines and journals, including: Bangor Metro, California Quarterly, The Kerf, Off the Coast and Wolf Man Journal.

Joanna Hynd is the youngest of the poets reading. She has been published twice in The Maine Review in 2010 and 2012. She won 2nd place for poetry in the Grady Awards at the University of Maine in 2011 and High Honors for her undergraduate thesis, Metastable Structure, a manuscript of original poems. This will be her fifth public reading.

Closing the program will be the highly prolific Kendall Merriam. Merriam is Rockland's most recent poet laureate. During Merriam's term as laureate, he distributed poetry throughout the city of Rockland to approximately 100 people every week.

This reading will take place in the Thomaston Public Library section of the Academy building on 60 Main St. in Thomaston. Public parking is located behind the Academy.

In celebration of Poetry Month, the Thomaston Public Library will host two poetry readings in addition to poetry related displays and themes. This event is free and open to all ages. Contact us to find out more: 207-354-24532

Thomaston Library presents---

A Poetry Reading and Book Signing


On April 18th at 2 P.M. Diane Schetky will be reading from her latest book of poems: Dancing Bear and Other New Poems. This new book reflects her penchant for travel to extreme locations and her concern for our endangered earth. Her poetry is accessible, poignant and often humorous. This is her second book of poems since her 2009 collection: Poems on Loss, Hope and Healing.

This reading will take place in the Thomaston Public Library section of the Academy building on 60 Main St. in Thomaston. Public parking is located behind the Academy.

In celebration of Poetry Month, the Thomaston Public Library will host two poetry readings in addition to poetry related displays and themes. This event is free and open to all ages. Contact us to find out more at 207-354-2453.

Friday Night Film Series

Daphne Laureola

March 30, 2012

6:30 P.M.

All the diverse diners at a Soho restaurant have their worlds shaken up by Lady Pitts (Joan Plowright). Lady Pitts's drunken chattering elicits a variety of responses in the restaurant--from feelings of anger and irritation to stirrings of love. A free spirit lubricated by alcohol, Lady Pitts invites the diners to tea at the mansion of her husband (Laurence Olivier). When they all arrive she does not remember them, or having invited them.

Friday Night Film Series

Portrait of Jennie

March 23, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Eben Adams (Joseph Cotton) is a struggling, and mostly failing, New York artist--until he meets Jennie (Jennifer Jones), a strange, enchanting girl, one day in the park. When they meet again a few weeks later, Jennie seems to have aged several years. Soon they are swept up in a strange love that even time itself cannot contain. Inspired by her, haunted by her, Eben finds new life in his art, and plans the portrait that will be his masterpiece, the portrait of Jennie.

Friday Night Film Series

Songcatcher

March 16, 2012

6:30 P.M.

During a visit to her sister in Appalachia, musicologist Lily Penleric (Janet McTeer) stumbles upon a treasure trove of dozens of Scots-Irish ballads that have been preserved for generations by the local populace and are unknown to the outside world. Intent on collecting the beautiful songs, Lily comes to admire the locals, who live a tough, hardscrabble existence without complaint.

Friday Night Film Series

Gaby

March 9, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Based on the life of cerebral palsy sufferer Gabriela Brimmer (played by Rachel Levin), this unsentimental drama celebrates strength in the face of adversity. It takes the family maid, (Norma Aleandro), to discover the keen mind trapped in the girl's incapacitated body. Armed with determination and a lust for life, young Gaby soon succeeds beyond anyone's wildest dreams--except hers. Liv Ullman and Robert Loggia portray her parents.

Friday Night Film Series

Paper Moon

March 2, 2012

6:30 P.M.

A con man (Ryan O'Neal) and his precocious "daughter" (Tatum O'Neal), in an Oscar-winning role as Best Supporting Actress) con their way across the heartland of depression-era America in director Peter Bogdanovich's nostalgic look at the 1930s. As the two try desperately to scrounge up enough money to live on, they realize they need each other for survival.

Staff Changes at the Library

Please Join us on Friday, March 2nd to welcome our new Assistant Librarian, Joanna Hynd, and bid a fond farewell to our outgoing Head Librarian, Brian Sylvester. The party will begin at 4:00 PM in the Hallway Bookshop and will feature light refreshments and desserts.


Joanna Hynd is a Thomaston native and recent graduate of the University of Maine at Orono. She will be working in the Children's Library and managing children's programming. Brian Sylvester was raised in Rockland and educated at Rutgers University. He was hired at the Thomaston Library in 2008 and is leaving to accept a position in Rochester, NH.


Please bring a dessert with you and celebrate the library's future with us Friday from 4 to 6!

Martin Luther King Jr. Food Drive Ending Soon!

Donations of canned and boxed food items and household goods can still be dropped off until Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at the Thomaston Public Library. If you have not already done so, please consider making a donation to help our local neighbors.

Thank you!

Friday Night Film Series

Bad Day at Black Rock

February 24, 2012

6:30 P.M.

When John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) steps off the train at the backwater hamlet of Black Rock, he inadvertently opens a Pandora's box of fear and suspicion. He's there to deliver a military award for heroism to a man whose son died earning the medal in World War II. But the town harbors an ugly secret--and will go to any lengths to keep it in director John Sturges's taut drama. Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin co-star.

Friday Night Film Series

Lonely Are the Brave

February 17, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Kirk Douglas makes a lasting impression as Jack Burns--one of a dying breed, the American cowboy--in this modern-day Western that finds Burns purposely landing in jail to spring a friend (Michael Kane)...but discovering that he doesn't want to be sprung. Burns then busts out alone, with the town sheriff (Walter Matthau) pursuing the escapee in a chase that pits man and horse against man and technology. Carroll O'Connor also stars.

Friday Night Film Series

The Bravados

February 10, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Once-upstanding rancher Jim Douglas (Gregory Peck) is relentless as he tracks the four men (Lee Van Cleef, Albert Salmi, Stephen Boyd and Henry Silva) who raped and murdered his wife. Entering a town, he discovers the men have been captured and will be hanged the next day. But the gang escapes with a hostage , and Douglas (with a posse in tow) must trail them again. Joan Collins co-stars. Henry King directs.

Friday Night Film Series

My Darling Clementine

February 3, 2012

6:30 P.M.

As the enforcer of law in the town of Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) must balance keeping unruly criminals in line with tracking down and bringing to justice the men who killed his brothers, Morgan (Ward Bond) and Virgil (Tim Holt). With help from Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), with whom he maintains a tepid friendship, Earp's pursuit ultimately involves the history-making confrontation at the OK Corral.

Friday Night Film Series

The African Queen

January 27, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Charlie Alnut (Humphrey Bogart), the booze-guzzling, rough-hewn captain of a broken-down East African riverboat, teams with a straitlaced, iron-willed missionary (Katharine Hepburn) to take on a menacing German gunboat during World War I. A classic study in star charisma and pitch-perfect casting, The African Queen was nominated for four Oscars (for actress, actor, director and original screenplay), with Bogart winning a Best Actor statuette.

Summer Fest (for kids in Winter)

Tropical Make and Shake Music with Margo Stiassni
for ages 6 and up

Friday, January 27th
4 to 6 PM
Children's Library


Join us Friday afternoon to make musical instruments from recycled materials with guest presenter Margo Stiassni. We'll make drums, rain sticks, kazoos and bongos, then learn some tropical songs to play on them! Please bring any materials you think would make a good instrument with you and make sure little ones under 6 are accompanied by an adult caregiver.

Snow date: February 3rd, 4 to 6 PM

Friday Night Film Series

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

January 20

6:30 P.M.

Wrapped in a classic tale of adventure, this Academy Award winner by John Huston follows a trio of gold prospectors who set out to strike it rich and agree to split the take...until paranoia and greed consumes one of them. Delivering superb performances as the three miners are Humphrey Bogart, Tim Hold and Walter Huston, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar while son John scored statuettes for his direction and screenplay.

Special Event

The 4th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Food Drive

January 16-February 29

Diane Smith, organizer of this annual event, has announced the sponsors, dates and collection points for this year's food drive.

In order to replenish the depleted supplies of our local food bank, the following organizations have gathered together to encourage their memberships to help to re-stock the food bank: the Thomaston and Cushing Public Libraries, The Thomaston and Cushing Historical Societies, the General Henry Knox Museum, the Thomaston Monday Morning Meeting and Organizing for America.

Now that the holidays are over, it is important to remember that those in need continue to make use of such valuable resources as our food bank. Since our economy is suffering, more folks than usual need to make use of this resource, making it more important than ever to keep the food bank stocked.

All non-perishable food items are welcome. In addition, some may find it easier to make a cash donation to their particular organization with the memo indicating the money is to go to this food collection. Such donations can be used to purchase other needed items such as personal care and household supplies.

The collection points for this event are the Thomaston Public Library, the Cushing Public Library, and the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Thomaston.

Friday Night Film Series

The Maltese Falcon

January 13, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Humphrey Bogart stars as private eye Sam Spade in this Oscar-nominated noir classic that finds the sultry Miss O'Saughnessy (Mary Astor) seeking out protection from a man named Thursby. Spade's partner (Jerome Cowan) takes the case--but he winds up dead, along with Thursby. Spade's subsequent hunt for the killer leads him into a world of deception and double-crossing, as a trio of criminals searches for a priceless statue known as the Maltese Falcon.

Friday Night Film Series

Casablanca

January 6, 2012

6:30 P.M.

In this Oscar-winning classic, American expat Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) plays host to gamblers, thieves and refugees at his Moroccan nightclub during World War II...but he never expected Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman)--the woman who broke his heart--to walk through that door. Ilsa hopes that with Rick's help, she and her fugitive husband (Paul Henreid) can escape to America. But the spark that brought the lovers together still burns brightly.