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Contact: Graham Rice 570.686.1200, Black Bear Film Festival

BLACK BEAR FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES HISTORIC FILMS WITH MILFORD’s OWN ALLYN JOSLYN

In the early days of silent film, the area around Milford, Pennsylvania was often used as a location by filmmakers. Our landscape provided settings for westerns and Civil War dramas and attracted director stars such as D.W. Griffith, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford.

Now in its third year, The Black Bear Film Festival has made it a tradition to showcase the part played by Milford in the history of the movies. In the first year, the festival celebrated the moves of D. W. Griffith. Last year, films based on the work of the notable local writer Zane Grey were featured.

This year’s festival historic program highlights the career of the prolific character actor Allyn Joslyn, born in Milford in 1901, son of a Pennsylvania mining engineer. In a career that spanned more than half a century, Joslyn was featured in over fifty films, starred in the original Broadway production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and acted in more than 3000 radio shows. In later life, Joslyn guested on many TV shows, including Rawhide, Gunsmoke and The Addams Family.

The re-discovery of Allyn Joslyn’s Milford roots was made through the research of Fred Buchholz, a local props and special effects designer for film and TV who oversees the festival’s historic program. Inspired by this background, on Sunday, October 13, the festival is screening a newly restored print of the lost classic, "Dangerous Blondes", a witty murder mystery from 1943 starring Allyn Joslyn that is considered one of the best of the B films of the era. The film is provided courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

On Saturday, October 12, The Salon@The Columns, part of the festival’s free program, is showing four more of Allyn Joslyn’s most significant films. Appropriately enough these will be screened at The Columns, the home of the Pike County Historical Society in Milford.

The screenings of "They Won’t Forget" (with Lana Turner), "I Wake Up Screaming" (with Betty Grable and Victor Mature), "My Sister Eileen" (starring Rosalind Russell and cameos of The Three Stooges) and "Only Angels Have Wings" (with Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth) will be followed by a 7:30pm talk by film historian Bill Malin and Allyn Joslyn’s daughter, Linda Joslyn-Bishop, entitled Allyn Joslyn: Milford to Hollywood.

The 4 Allyn Joslyn films and lecture at The Columns, on Broad Street, Milford, start at 11 am on Saturday, October 12 - and they’re free! Tickets for "Dangerous Blondes" on Sunday, as well as other festival feature films are available for $8 in advance / $10 at the door. The Black Bear Film Festival takes place in Milford over the Columbus Day weekend, October 10-14. For details of the exciting program, and to book tickets, call the festival office at (570) 409-0909 or check out the website at www.blackbearfilm.com.

Photo: Allyn Joslyn, veteran character actor who was born in Milford, Pennsylvania, in 1901.

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