ABILENE, Kan. - The 23rd annual Paul H. Royer Film Series is set for March 6, 13, and 20 in the Library auditorium at the Eisenhower Presidential Library campus. Parking is available in the staff lot behind the Library building and in the south lot near the Place of Meditation. Each of these free films starts at 7 p.m. and includes free soda and popcorn.

The film series is sponsored by Robert H. (Hank) Royer, Jr., in memory of his grandfather, who was a founding member of the Eisenhower Foundation and Abilene High School classmate of President Eisenhower. The three films chosen for this year to complement the current temporary exhibit are movies featuring the home front--U.S. and England--during World War II. 

March 6 - Pin Up Girl
Starring: Betty Grable, John Harvey, Martha Raye
(1944, Color, 84 minutes)

In this musical romantic comedy, the glamorous Lorry Jones (Grable) works as the hostess of a Missouri USO canteen and routinely accepts marriage proposals to keep the men happy as part of her job while performing as a singer and signs autographed pin-up photos. Lorry has signed up for government service as a stenographer, but fantasizes of going on a USO tour. During a side trip to New York she finds true love. 

Starring: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrae, Charles Coburn

(1943, Black and White, 104 minutes)

This comedy pokes fun at the housing shortage during World War II, especially in Washington, D.C., where Connie Milligan rents an apartment. Believing it to be her patriotic duty, she offers to sublet half of her apartment, fully expecting a suitable female tenant. What she gets instead is mischievous, middle-aged Benjamin Dingle. Dingle talks her into subletting to him and then promptly sublets half of his half to young, irreverent Joe Carter - creating a situation tailor-made for comedy and romance. Charles Coburn won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright

(1942, Black and White, 134 minutes)

This story of an average English middle-class family begins in the summer of 1939 in that happy, easy-going England that was soon to be fighting desperately for her way of life and for life itself. The Miniver family experience life in the first months of World War II. While dodging bombs, the Minivers' son courts Lady Beldon's granddaughter. A rose is named after Mrs. Miniver and entered in the competition against Lady Beldon's rose.

The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and took home 6: Best Actress (Greer Garson), Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright) and Best Director (William Wyler), as well as Best Black-and-White Cinematography, Best Writing and Best Picture. It was the top-grossing film of 1942 and the second biggest box-office hit of the decade, following Gone with the Wind.

This film series supplements the World War II Remembered: Leaders, Battles & Heroes exhibit currently on display in the Museum. The exhibit is a three-year commemoration of WWII marking the 70th anniversaries of the war and its aftermath as told through personal stories.

These programs and exhibits are only made possible through private donations to the Eisenhower Foundation. The World War II Remembered exhibit has a number of extremely generous sponsors including the Emma Balsiger Foundation, Dane G. Hansen Foundation, and the William T. Kemper Foundation. A complete list of exhibit donors and information on how you can be a sponsor can be found on www.eisenhower.archives.gov.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, a nonpartisan federal institution, is part of the Presidential Libraries network operated by the National Archives and Records Administration. Presidential Libraries promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. We preserve and provide access to historical materials, support research, and create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire.
 

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