Monroe, WI in Early Film Talk for Kiwanis

Jun 7

Jun 7 Monroe, WI in Early Film Talk for Kiwanis

Hello, readers! I’m happy to report that I will be giving my first public talk on the history of Monroe in Early Film on June 17th, 12:30 PM. Our local Kiwanis group has regular lunch-talks on Thursdays at the Youth Cabin on Youth Cabin Road and I’m delighted to have been asked to be next week’s speaker!

I will look at the career of Monroe-native John R. Freuler: founder of Mutual Film; record-busting signer of Charlie Chaplin; challenger (somewhat illegally) of the Edison Trust; advisor to the US Navy at, shall we say, a delicate time in the history of organized prostitution; and much more!

Freuler is a chronically under-studied figure in Early Film— despite the importance of his work combating ‘censorship’ and partnering with the US government’s WWI propaganda campaigns. For instance, in an otherwise excellent book by West Coast scholar Kia Afra titled “The Hollywood Trust”, Freuler doesn’t even make the index despite Freuler’s legal challenge to the State of Ohio being the author’s chapter-long starting point as Afra documents the rise of the oligopoly which replaced Edison’s!

Learn more about our neglected film heritage— this is a Kiwanis members event, but it may be possible to attend as the guest of a member.

Thanks to Chaplin for the Ages for the above image.