A local museum is bringing Hollywood to Traverse City through a new exhibit.

The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College is hosting the exhibition Hollywood Memorabilia from the collection of Honor W. Loftstrom now through September 5, 2010.

Presented to coincide with the Traverse City Film Festival, the works in this exhibition are from the collection of Honor W. Lofstrom and her nephew, David Williams of Traverse City.  Lofstrom was an acquaintance of Montgomery (Monty) Orr, who was an art director at Universal Studios in the 1950s and 60s.  Lofstrom inherited these items upon Orr’s death.
In Monty Orr’s role as art director, he not only created artwork and layouts for advertising campaigns, but al
so worked with other art directors, such as Mischa Kallis, and freelance artists, such as Reynold Brown.  Through his work, he amassed a collection of original artwork, screenplays, and advertisement brochures for film houses.
Included in the exhibition is the final draft of the script for the movie Planet Earth written by Juanita Bartlett and Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek.

Also featured are numerous Showman’s Manuals. These were sent to movie houses to show what publicity was available for a film. The main purpose of the manuals was to sell posters for advertisements. Movie studios would also offer many different posters for one film and these were displayed in the Showman’s Manuals. The manuals also included press releases, photos of sets and stars, interviews with movie stars, suggestions for promotions, and radio ad scripts.

The Dennos Museum Center is open Monday to Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM, Thursday until 8 PM and Sundays 1-5 PM. Admission is $6.00 adults, $4.00 for children and free to museum members. For more information on the Museum and exhibition, you can log on to DennosMuseum.org or call 231-995-1055.