
The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Contact : Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920
cgonzal@unm.edu
Dec. 6, 2006
UNM's Southwestern Film Series Presents 'Harvey Girls'The fourth and final film in the 2006-2007 “Southwestern Film Series” will be “Harvey Girls,” a 1946 production directed by George Sidney. It will be screened Monday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. in the SUB Theater. The viewing is free and open to the public. The films are offered by the University of New Mexico's Center for the Southwest in the Department of History.
“The Harvey Girls” is a brilliant, inventive musical given an epic staging. The real-life Harvey Girls were waitresses exported to the far-flung Fred Harvey Hotels, civilizing oases along the railroad lines out west. In this on-screen musical western, mail order bride Susan Bradley ditches her bashful suitor and takes an unexpected path—she joins a crew of cheery young women who are traveling out to open a “Harvey House” restaurant at a remote whistle stop in the west. They hope to provide good cooking and wholesome company for railway travelers. The salon across the street with its alluring worldly-wise women offers them tough competition, fair and foul, in this sweeping western musical starring Judy Garland, John Hodiak and Ray Bolger.
The evening will begin with a short introduction by Andrew Sandoval-Strausz , UNM a ssistant professor of history. He is currently the history honors advisor and faculty advisor to the Hispanic Honor Society. Sandoval-Strausz joined the faculty in 2001. His research and writing is on American urban, legal, business and labor history, historical and critical geography, Latino history, and the Gilded Age and Progressive Era history. Sandoval-Strausz has held research fellowships at the Huntington Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the New York Historical Society. His first book, Accommodation of Strangers: A History of the Hotel in America will be published in 2007 by Yale University Press.
The Southwestern Film Series showcases films produced in the U.S. Southwest. These movies provide both public and university audiences with a greater awareness of the historical, cross-cultural, and social values found within the region's rich film production and dynamic past.
For more information call 277-7688 or contact Elaine Nelson at cntrsw@unm.edu for questions about the film series.
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