Benchley Round-up in Lowell, Mass. Next Sunday

Hollywood & Fashion: The Golden Age
Lecture by Patricia Warner, Professor Emeritus, UMass - Amherst.

In 1932 some 60 million Americans -- more than half the total population -- went to the movies every single week. Most of them were women. the producers catered to them, giving them glamour and romance, but more importantly, wonderful clothes, makeup, and hairstyles to copy cheaply at home. Learn why clothes in the movies mattered.

Museum Exhibition: Grace and Glamour: 1930s Fashions

In the 1930s, graceful cuts and glamorous fabrics replaced the boxy, boyish styles of the previous decade. In the face of economic hardship, people embraced the streamlined shape, elegant styles and newly invented fibers of a hopeful modernism. This exhibit shows dresses and accessories typical of this extraordinary decade.

Website: http://www.athm.org/exhibitions/current_exhibitions/index.php#grace

The lecture and exhibition are at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. For more information or to sign up contact David Trumbull at david@robertbenchley.org.

The lecture is at 2:00 p.m. Afterward we'll view the Grace and Glamour: 1930s Fashions exhibit and other exhibits at the American Textile History Museum. If there is interest in dining together I recommend the Athenian Corner (www.atheniancorner.com), 207 Market Street, Lowell 01852 - Tel. 978-458-7052.