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(Dothan, AL)Dothan, Alabama, the birthplace and boyhood home of the late Western movie star Johnny Mack Brown is scheduling a film festival in his honor September 8-10, 2005.
The three-day festival will feature over one dozen Johnny Mack Brown movies, a movie memorabilia show, a western art exhibit , lectures and presentations on his football & Hollywood career, an outdoor western-themed BBQ, cowboy music, and a display of one of the largest collections of Johnny Mack Brown memorabilia you will see anywhere in the country.
Special guests will include all three of Johnny Mack Brown’s living children and his only surviving sibling, Louise, who is 94 years old. Other family members are expected to attend as well.
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Johnny Mack Brown was born in Dothan on Sept. 1, 1904 and excelled as an athlete at Dothan High School and was an All-American halfback at the University of Alabama. It was his performance in the unexpected 1926 Rose Bowl victory over the University of Washington that propelled Alabama into the football spotlight and Johnny Mack into a Hollywood career.
Johnny Mack Brown made his first film in 1927 and went on to appear in over 165 movie productions, including several on television. He acted alongside movie greats as Mary Pickford, Mae West, Greta Garbo, Marion Davies, Joan Crawford, John Wayne and others. However, it was his casting in the BWesterns that drew him fame. During the years 1942-1950, he was consistently ranked in the Top 10 in popularity of Hollywood movie stars.
The Johnny Mack Brown Film Festival will kick-off at 2:00pm(CST) on Thursday, September 8, with the unveiling of a historic marker near the festival location of the Dothan Civic Center and historic Opera House.
Other special guest include performances by Doc Stovall, Georgia’s Official Cowboy Balladeer. Doc Stovall has performed across the country with his cowboy poetry and music. He is the co-host of the
television series, “Love of the West”, aired on Oklahoma Public Television. He serves as poet-in-residence for the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA and is producer and director of the annual Georgia Cowboy Gathering.
Also attending will be “Cowboy” Bill Holden, a performer and Hollywood stunt double who has worked through many mediums to preserve the cowboy heritage, including various radio and television programs, rodeos, reenactments, concerts and lectures. He has been inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Atlanta Society of Entertainers. Holden is currently host of “The Cowboy Way”, a weekly radio show on WIMO in Winder, GA.
Daily tickets are $5.00 per person or $10 per family. Three-day Festival tickets are $12.00 per person or $20 per family. A family is defined as an adult couple and their children 12 and under. To order tickets, contact the Dothan Civic Center box office at 334615-3175.
The host hotel for the Johnny Mack Brown Film Festival is The Comfort Inn of Dothan. Special room rates will be offered to those making reservations by August 22. You may contact The Comfort Inn at 1-800-474-7298 ext. 154.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Landmark Park, a 100 acre natural and cultural history museum located on the outskirts of Dothan.
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