January 2007

As the first of many community outreach presentations planned during its centennial year in 2007, The MacDowell Colony is hosting a free screening of Lady in the Wings, a film about the evolution and history of the Colony that was produced by Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1954. This screening provides a wonderful opportunity for local citizens to learn more about the founding of the nation’s oldest and leading artist residency program on the occasion of its 100th birthday.

Produced in the early days of live television, Lady in the Wings spans a lot of history in one hour, beginning with the serendipitous meeting of Marian Nevins, a piano student, and Edward MacDowell, a starving composer living in Europe who must take on a pupil to earn money. The film goes on to detail Edwards’s music career, explain how the then-radical idea of an artist colony developed in the minds of the couple, and cover why Peterborough was chosen as the site for the Colony. It also demonstrates why the idea of Marian being a “lady in the wings” to her husband’s and other artists’ creativity might not be entirely accurate. In the film (as it was in real life), it is Marian’s tireless efforts and irrepressible spirit that attracts artists, raises money, and spreads the work of the Colony across the country through wars, depressions, and one great hurricane in 1938.

Rosemary DeCamp, better known for her roles as James Cagney’s mother in Yankee Doodle Dandy and Marlo Thomas’s mother in the television show That Girl, plays Marian with campy delight. Peter Hanson, who could be Edward’s twin brother, takes on the role of the great American composer. It is also interesting to note that Colony Fellow Helene Hanff, author of the book 84 Charing Cross Road (which was turned into a film with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins), wrote the screenplay for Lady in the Wings.

In a rare cameo, Mrs. MacDowell herself makes an appearance at the end of the film. At the age of 96, she still remembers to share the limelight and thank all those who made her and her husband’s dream possible. It’s a magical moment that transports the viewer back in time with the woman who many would say is still the soul of the place just up the hill from downtown Peterborough.