The final film in the Tryon Fine Arts Spring film series will be the lavish Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of the classic story “The Secret Garden”, which will be screened at TFAC on Tuesday, May 20 at 7 p.m. To make the evening even more special, ice cream and beverages will be available for purchase starting at 6 PM at the Garden Party in TFAC’s own “secret” McMillan Garden. Ladies and gentlemen of all ages are encouraged to dress for the occasion!
Aired on CBS in 1987, this film adaptation of the famous novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett is told in flashbacks to the early life of the story’s heroine Mary returning to her family’s home Misselthwaite Manor after tragedy hit her family in colonial India. The cast includes Barret Oliver, Jadrien Steel, Billie Whitelaw, Derek Jocobi. Gennie James, Alison Doody, and a very young Colin Firth.
The novel was first published in serial form in The American Magazine beginning in 1910 and was intended for both children and adult readers. Following the success of the serial, the complete book was first published in New York and London in 1911.
“Downton Abbey” fans will particularly enjoy seeing the Jacobean style Highclere Castle, which was the primary location for the filming of both interior and exterior scenes of “The Secret Garden”, as well as its extensive park, designed by the noted British landscape architect, Capability Brown. (Sharp eyes will be able to catch some changes and considerable sprucing up of the castle between the filming of “The Secret Garden” and “Downton Abbey”.)
Tryon Fine Arts Center (TFAC), opened in 1969, is a nonprofit organization that operates and programs a 300 seat auditorium and a150 seat amphitheater for music, opera, theatre, film, and dance on Melrose Avenue in Tryon.
A new Tryon Fine Arts Center film series is being selected for presentation in the fall. For information on events at Tryon Fine Arts Center, visit www.tryonarts.org or call 828-859-8322.

– article submitted
by Frances Flynn.