Dr. Milgram on "Ayn Rand and the Movies: From St. Petersburg to Hollywood"
During three periods of Ayn Rand's life, she was especially involved with movies. Dr. Milgram will present information--new information--about all three periods. Dr. Milgram will begin with Ayn Rand's earliest experience of the movies in St. Petersburg, including her favorite films, her cinema studies, and her earliest published writing. Dr. Milgram will go on to speak briefly about her first period of residence in California (1926-1934), a period of struggle. She will then consider, at greater length, her most successful and productive years in Hollywood, her second period of residence in California (1943-51), including her work as screen writer, as script doctor, and as crusader fighting to have The Fountainhead filmed as she had written it. She will conclude with a discussion about why, at the end of her life, Ayn Rand was writing again for the movies.This talk will warm your spirit and inspire you for the coming year. It will be a great introduction to the year of 2007 -- the 50th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged.
Dr. Milgram received her Ph.D in comparative literature in 1978 from Stanford University. She is an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, has lectured on Ayn Rand in university courses, at the Smithsonian, and at academic and Objectivist conferences. Her publications include articles on Ayn Rand, Hugo and Dostoevsky; her current project is a study of Ayn Rand's life up to 1957.