The Circle Cinema in Tulsa will mark the 90th anniversary of its opening with a film festival that includes appearances by longtime film stars Mary Kay Place and Jeanne Tripplehorn, both who are Tulsa natives.
The Tulsa World reported the July 8-15 event also will include an appearance by Tulsa resident Peggy Helmerich, known as movie star Peggy Dow during the 1950s. The Circle Cinema will screen a 1951 wartime drama, “I Want You,” in which she starred. She will host a question-and-answer session after the movie.
Place and Tripplehorn also plan to hold Q&As after their films, schedules permitting. Tickets go on sale for the festival June 8.
The festival will include a 40th-anniversary sing-along screening of “Grease.”
The theater will screen the 1928 silent film “The Gaucho,” the second movie to be shown at the Circle Cinema. “The Gaucho” will include live accompaniment from the Circle’s original pipe organ.
(In case you’re wondering, the first film shown at the Circle Cinema was “Across the Atlantic” on July 15, 1928. Alas, all copies of the film are believed to be lost. The Library of Congress estimates 75 percent of all silent films are lost forever.)
Other films coming to the festival:
— “We Only Know So Much,” a new film starring Tripplehorn, 54, probably is best known for starring in “The Firm,” “Basic Instinct” and HBO’s “Big Love.”
— “Diane,” a new film starring Place, 70, probably is best known for her starring role in the 1970s television series “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”
— “Fathers of Football,” a documentary about a high-school team in Wagoner, Oklahoma, going for a state championship.
— “Rock Stars: Women in the Petroleum Industry,” an industry film produced by a Tulsa native.
The Circle Cinema at 10 S. Lewis Ave. sits on the 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa.
The theater closed in the mid-1990s. The Circle Cinema’s revitalization — including its distinctive marquee — began in earnest in 2003, the same year it was designated to the National Register of Historic Places.
It remains Tulsa’s only nonprofit movie venue, specializing in independent films, local movies and other special programming.
The Circle Cinema also sponsors a Walk of Fame that honors “notable film legends” with ties to Oklahoma. Past inductees include Michael Wallis, Alfre Woodard, Gene Autry, James Garner, Joan Crawford, Ron Howard, S.E. Hinton, Tony Randall and Will Rogers.
(Image of the Circle Cinema in Tulsa by Tom Baddley via Flickr)