BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:edu.community.ucla/1.1.0
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:02048b4c-0da5-436c-89c2-359484e0e928@community.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:A Town Has Turned to Dust
DTSTAMP:20240911T033200Z
DTSTART:20241014T020000Z
DTEND:20241014T033000Z
DESCRIPTION:Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming En
	dowment\n\nIn-person:\n\nPost-screening Q&A with Molly A. Schneider\, auth
	or of “Gold Dust on the Air: Television Anthology Drama and Midcentury Ame
	rican Culture.” Book signing before the screening.\n\n\nAdmission is free.
	 No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick 
	up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come\, fir
	st served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.\n\nIn a T
	elevision Academy Hall of Fame career honored with six Emmy Awards and inn
	umerous accolades\, Rod Serling's original teleplay “A Town Has Turned to 
	Dust” represents one of the prolific writer's most controversial and point
	ed works. Written especially for Playhouse 90\, Serling originally drafted
	 a contemporary drama that would directly reflect on the tragic\, senseles
	s murder of African American youth Emmett Till at the hands of white supre
	macists. However\, nervous sponsors of the prestigious anthology series (f
	earful of alienating Southern viewers) demanded substantial script changes
	 that infuriated Serling\, which included shifting his script's setting to
	 the 1890s and changing the race of the victim of a lynching. Labeled as "
	television's angry young man" for his well-publicized battles against cens
	orship\, Serling opined that by the time his retooled drama went before th
	e cameras\, “his script had turned to dust.” Such experiences would ultima
	tely lead Serling to develop his cult-classic Twilight Zone series as a cr
	eative outlet to address serious social issues masked behind the veil of f
	antasy and science fiction allegories.\n\nAs noted by critics of the day\,
	 despite egregious interference in bringing “A Town Has Turned to Dust” to
	 the small screen\, Serling’s piercing drama emerged bold and effective. I
	n their review\, Variety proclaimed that “Serling poured out a fiery and s
	pellbinding attack on racial discrimination”\; the New York Times added th
	at the work was “a raw\, tough and at the same time deeply moving outcry a
	gainst prejudice.” Serling's Emmy-nominated teleplay is propelled by the i
	nnovative direction of wunderkind John Frankenheimer and wrenching\, indel
	ible performances by leads Rod Steiger\, William Shatner and Fay Spain. Vi
	ewed today\, the live broadcast (preserved from an original 2 in. videotap
	e) personifies the best of the golden age of television — an impeccable pr
	oduction with a profound and\, sadly\, still timely message.\n\n—Mark Quig
	ley\, John H. Mitchell Television Curator\n\nEvent Website: https://www.li
	brary.ucla.edu/visit/events-exhibitions/rod-serlings-playhouse-90-a-town-h
	as-turned-to-dust-10-13-24/\n\nSource: https://community.ucla.edu/event/02
	048b4c-0da5-436c-89c2-359484e0e928
LOCATION:Billy Wilder Theater
STATUS:CONFIRMED
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:FREE
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR