The exhibit documents Rand’s personal and professional activities in Hollywood, from 1926 to 1951, in a series of reproductions of rare photographs and manuscripts drawn from the Ayn Rand Archives, a special collection of the Ayn Rand Institute. On display are items chronicling Rand’s early years as a film extra and junior screenwriter under Cecil B. DeMille, her 1940s Hollywood political activism and her work on the film adaptation of “The Fountainhead,” as well as the drafting of her final novel and literary masterpiece, “Atlas Shrugged.”
The exhibit presents a unique writer, whose evolution in Hollywood–from film extra to contract screenwriter–is virtually the only documented instance of a novelist-philosopher who was able to navigate the Hollywood studio system and present, with surprising success, the gist of a new systematic approach to reason and morality, a philosophy that would mark her as one of the most controversial intellectual figures of the 20th century.
Additional programming exploring Rand’s creative-intellectual work and political activism during the Golden Age of Hollywood studio filmmaking will include “Stand and Think,” a reading series featuring Rand’s unpublished works, an “Ayn Rand Film Series” and a lecture on the history of adapting “The Fountainhead” to film.
What: An exhibit documenting Ayn Rand’s personal and creative life in Hollywood, featuring select images from Ayn Rand, an illustrated biography by Jeff Britting, as well as other reproductions from the Ayn Rand Archives.
Presented by: the Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library
Where: 1623 N. Ivar Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028; Phone: (323) 856-8260
When: October 14, 2006, through February 28, 2007. Mondays through Thursdays, from 10am to 8pm; Fridays and Saturdays, from 10am to 6pm; Sundays, from 1pm to 5pm
For more information about this event, please e-mail events@aynrand.org.