Wayne documentary on tap for film industry series

Know Your Backyard, Green Valley is taking a look at the state’s film industry.

On Friday, Old Tucson Studios film historian Marty Freese stars in and will be showing the documentary “Old Tucson Remembers John Wayne,” at 3 p.m. at Casa de Esperanza’s Community Center.

The documentary is an exclusive look at the four films Wayne made at the studios.

He will be joined by Jane Loew, longtime friend to the stars, in discussing the highlights of the film industry in Santa Cruz Valley and the Old Tucson Studios.

Loew was co-investor in the revival of major film production at the studios in the 1960s.

She has since written and published “Out of the Limelight,” memoirs of those years and will have a book signing a the center.

This presentation is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.

Please contact Sue Colley at 625-2273, ext 840 for reservations and information.

This is the first presentation within the March topic - Lights, Cameras, Action !-The Film Industry in Southern Arizona - part of the 6-month educational series - “Know Your Backyard, Green Valley” sponsored by Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold, which runs through June 2008 at the Casa de Esperanza Community Center.

Loew and her then-husband Bob Shelton were responsible for Old Tucson Studios becoming known as the “Hollywood of the Desert” in the 1960s.

Her investment included a lifetime of valuable contacts within the film industry.

It had been Jane’s grandfather Marcus Loew who had founded the Loew’s chain of vaudeville theaters and converted them into movie theaters when talking pictures arrived.

After that, he founded Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) in Hollywood. Her father, Arthur Loew, was president of MGM.

Jane’s maternal grandfather was Adolph Zukor, who founded Paramount Studios.