The Catalina Island Museum is pleased to announce that Robert D. Salisbury will be returning to Catalina May 17th to accompany the legendary silent film Metropolis.  This will be the 21st year that the Museum has put on this event which has a devoted following of several hundred fans.

Metropolis was a groundbreaking film in 1927 and it still rests on many critics' lists of top movies of all time.  Austrian director Fritz Lang is best known for this futuristic tale set in 2026.  In the Gothic and Art Deco inspired world of Metropolis, society is divided into two groups.  Dominating are the planners or thinkers who live a privileged lifestyle while the workers toil like slaves underground.  A beautiful woman named Maria takes up the cause of the workers and a young man named Freder sees her in action and joins her on her mission to free the underclass.  A robot is created in her likeness in a plot to keep the underclass under the thumb of the privileged few.  Given the likeness to the human Maria, mistaken identity rules the day and chaos naturally ensues.  The movie is dramatic, forward-thinking and strikingly beautiful.  It is a rare opportunity to see it in a venue like the Avalon Theatre.  Award-winning organist Robert Salisbury is creating an original score for the film that he will accompany on the theatre's original Page Organ.

Kicking off the program will be a Buster Keaton short that will be presented and accompanied by organ restorationist James Spohn.  All in all it will be an exciting day and a chance to relive the early days of cinema in the art deco splendor of the Avalon Theatre.

Tickets are already available at the Museum by phone, mail or in person.  For tickets or information call 310-510-2414 ext. 1# or visit our website below.

Proceeds from the event will support the mission of the museum to collect, preserve and share the unique cultural history of Santa Catalina Island.  The museum is a private, nonprofit organization founded by community volunteers in 1953.  The museum is located on the ground floor of the historic Casino Building and is open to the public Fridays - Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information visit www.CatalinaMuseum.org