The Academy Airs The Covered Wagon As Part of 'Summer Of Silence' 7/11

The 1923 Photoplay Magazine Medal of Honor winner "The Covered Wagon" will be the next film screened in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Summer of Silents" series on Monday, July 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. A 35mm print courtesy of the Paramount Pictures Collection at UCLA will be screened with live musical accompaniment performed by Will Ryan and the Cactus County Cowboys.

This epic adventure of pioneers on a dangerous journey along the Oregon Trail is considered one of the first great epic Westerns and features scenes filmed on location in Nevada and Utah.

The Medal of Honor, the first significant annual film award, pre-dating the establishment of the Oscars®, was voted by the readers of Photoplay Magazine and given to the producer of the year's winning film.

At 7 p.m., surviving fragments from the 1924 Medal of Honor winner "Abraham Lincoln" will be screened as part of the pre-show. Additionally, images from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) will be projected in 3D.

"Summer of Silents" features silent film classics from the 1920s, all of which received the Photoplay Magazine Medal of Honor, on Mondays through August 8. Additionally, on Wednesday, July 20, Buster Keaton's "The General" (1927) will be screened. Though not a Photoplay award winner, the comedy is a classic of the silent era.

The remaining schedule for "Summer of Silents" is as follows:

July 18 "The Big Parade" (1925)
The feature will be introduced by film historian and Academy Honorary Award recipient Kevin Brownlow, with a recorded stereo orchestral score composed by Carl Davis.

BONUS SCREENING:
July 20 "The General" (1927)
"Then and Now," a photographic comparison tour by John Bengtson outlining the filming locations for silent era comedies by Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, will be presented during the pre-show. The feature will be introduced by Kevin Brownlow with a recorded stereo orchestral score composed by Carl Davis.

July 25 "Beau Geste" (1926)
"Saturday Afternoon" (1926), starring Harry Langdon, will be presented during the pre-show. The feature will be introduced by Frank Thompson, with live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
August 1 "7th Heaven" (1927)
"Mighty Like a Moose" (1926), starring Charley Chase, and a surviving fragment from the 1928 lost film "The Patriot" will be presented during the pre-show. The feature will be introduced by Janet Bergstrom, with live musical accompaniment composed by Michael Mortilla, and performed by Mortilla on piano, Nicole Garcia on violin and Frank Macchia on winds.
August 8 "Four Sons" (1928)
"Two Tars" (1928), starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and a fragment from the 1928 lost film "The Case of Lena Smith" will be presented during the pre-show.

Updated information on speakers, music performers and other program details is available at www.oscars.org.

Tickets to individual evenings are on sale now. Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with valid ID. They may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, by mail, in person at the Academy during regular business hours or, depending on availability, on the night of the screening when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.