Historical Society of Greenfield film screenings

LAVA and the Historical Society of Greenfield team up to present HSG film screenings “Greenfield’s Winter Carnival, 1923” and “Love’s Young Dream,” with a talkback session to follow with HSG’s Chris Clawson and Carol Aleman.

In March of 2024, local history fans and researchers Chris Clawson and Carol Aleman discovered a Pathé News newsreel from just over a hundred years ago. As Clawson recounts it, the forgotten reel from 1923, along with another from a year later, sat on a Historical Society of Greenfield shelf when they suddenly caught his attention. He and Aleman set about researching and restoring the films.

“Greenfield’s Winter Carnival, 1923” is a 9-minute film documenting the first Winter Carnival.

“Love’s Young Dream” is a one-act comedy-drama which was produced at the old Victoria (later Showplace) Theater on Chapman Street in June 1924, and features local Greenfield actors.

Bridging the two films is a short documentary detailing the Historical Society’s discovery, what Chris Clawson and Carol Aleman learned about the films’ creation, and how they produced a modern presentation that was initially screened at the Garden Cinemas in 2024. Each film includes a virtual orchestra accompaniment of silent screen music produced specifically for Vintage Days.

Clawson and Aleman will both be on hand to answer questions in a talkback after the screening.