EVENT: 2008 MOVIES UNDER THE STARS

[Editor's Note: This page refers to a prior year event. To see details for the current year events, please go to the Activities page. Thanks]

2008 Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Celebration"Movies Under the Stars" on the LBJ Ranch:

"Movies under the Stars on the LBJ Ranch" re-creates the excitement of viewing a major motion picture with a president and his family as Lyndon Johnson's neighbors and friends did in the 1960s. Three top-notch movies will be shown just outside the President's airplane hangar, which was his private movie theater. All of the films were actually shown in the hangar in 1968-69, with an audience that included President Johnson and the Johnson family, LBJ ranch staff, dignitaries from Washington D.C. and Hollywood

These three free shows are scheduled for Saturday night: June 21, July 26 and August 9. The movie selections are from LBJ's personal favorites: True Grit (June 21), starring John Wayne, who won an Oscar for his performance in this memorable Western; Oliver! (July 26), a family-friendly musical that won six Oscars, including Best Picture; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (August 9), a classic Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy comedy-drama for which Hepburn won an Oscar. H-E-B is sponsoring the showing of the Hepburn-Tracy movie, and Blue Bell will be providing the ice cream.
 
The airplane hangar on the LBJ Ranch, built in 1959, was converted in February 1968 to a movie theater. The original projection booth still exists inside the building. The National Park Service is currently converting the building to a new Visitor Exhibit Center while retaining as much of the historic elements as possible. The building was also used by LBJ as a place for parties and press conferences. Five hundred people attended his retirement party there in January, 1969. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park still has the original jukebox that entertained President Johnson and his guests as well as the turquoise Barcalounger chairs with the embossed presidential seal that he used while watching movies. Both of these will be on display when the hangar conversion is complete along with LBJ's personal office where he worked in the late 1960's. This piece of history will open to the public, for the first time, on August 27, 2008, the centennial of Lyndon B. Johnson's birth.

These three movie nights provide a never-before opportunity for the public to experience the thrill of being a stone's throw from the famous Texas White House, while viewing an outdoor movie, under the starry skies in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Participants are encouraged to bring their picnic suppers, blankets, chairs and Texas Spirit. Movie screen provided by Blue Moon Cinemas.

For more information on the LBJ Centennial Celebration, Friends of LBJ National Historical Park or Blue Moon Cinemas, go to: www.lbj100.org, www.friendsoflbjnationalpark.org and www.bmcinemas.com.

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