Dennis Nyback will screen films and otherwise help to amuse and educate at the events below. More information on these events can be found at The Mel Blanc Project .
Tuesday May 31 The Secret Society 116 NE Russell 7:00 Radio Daze Short films featuring radio broadcasts from 1929 to 1943. Included will be a film of Mel Blanc with Lucille Ball doing a broadcast for the troops during WWII.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 Ethos at IFCC, 5340 North Interstate Avenue 7:00 Now Cut That Out: Portland Theaters Educate Mel Blanc Laugh out loud while you learn about Portland’s vaudeville theaters and by films of stars Mel Blanc saw on those stages: Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor and Groucho Marx. Featuring Gary Lacher, Steve Stone. Moderated by Dennis Nyback.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Ethos at IFCC, 5340 North Interstate Avenue 7:00 I’m In the Market For You: Portland Pop Stars Inspire Mel Blanc Ever hear of George Olsen, Lee Morse and Del Porter? They were performers who Mel saw leave Portland to become pop stars. All three went first to the Broadway Stage and then found national fame making records, appearing on radio and appearing in the movies. Be musically amazed while you learn about the music scene in Portland in the Twenties. Moderated by Dennis Nyback who will show films George Olsen, Lee Morse and Del Porter.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Ethos at IFCC, 5340 North Interstate Avenue 7:00 Eden’s Melting Pot: South Portland Raises Mel Blanc. Ever wonder as you drive South on I-405 and approach the intersection with I-5, about the neighborhood that was destroyed when that freeway was punched through it? Judy Margles of the Oregon Jewish Museum will bring that neighborhood back to life through photos, oral histories and motion pictures. Moderated by Dennis Nyback.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Lincoln Hall PSU 620 SW Park 7:30 Hoot Owls, Cobweb & Nuts: Portland Radio Nurtures Mel Blanc Mel Blanc said that he developed the Woody Woodpecker laugh in the cavernous hallways of Lincoln High School. That building still stands and is now Lincoln Hall. It is the perfect place to end our Mel Blanc Project with the thrilling tale of the world of Portland Radio that Mel dove into in 1927. Radio historian Craig Adams and the producer of Live Wire Robyn Tenenbaum will discuss radio then and now and Mel’s place in it. Moderated by Dennis Nyback who will also show appropriate vintage short films.