Moving image review (1988]-)

George Rolleston NHF bookkeeper George Rolleston remembers his early years in Paterson, New Jersey, when people would drop everything to watch silent movies projected on a bedsheet hung from the side of a building. In his multiethnic neighborhood, "everyone" would come out to watch a movie, which made it a lot of fun, he recalls. That's the kind of long view the 64year-old Rolleston brings to his job at NHF. And its only one of the reasons the staff will miss him when he retires in February after more than seven years with the archives. He will miss them, too. According to Rolleston, the best part of working at NHF has been the people. He also takes pride in the archives' mission of preserving regional film. "I just need to slow down a little," says the bookkeeper, whose schedule includes a dizzying array of community activities. In part, it's that involvement that's made him such an asset from the time when NHF was still headquartered in the Henhouse in Blue Hill Falls. A Blue Hill resident for more than 20 years, Rolleston serves as president of Central Hall, a historic meeting place near his home. Run by the Ladies Public Improvement Society, the recently renovated hall, built in 1901, has hosted potluck suppers, craft fairs, yard sales, and film screenings by NHF. Rolleston also serves on die board of die Blue Hill Fair, one of the oldest and most popular agricultural fairs in Maine. When die fair's former horse racing director was forced to retire following an accident, Rolleston took over, despite a lack of hands-on knowledge of horses. As such, he tries to stick to die administrative aspects of the event, he says. In his "spare time," Rolleston volunteers for the Blue Hill Fire Department, where he helps with the books. He also is treasurer of the First Congregational Church in Ellsworth, which he and his wife joined shortly after moving to Maine from Michigan. With retirement only weeks away, Rolleston insists he will not disappear from the archives completely. He says he will continue to be a member, may volunteer from time to time, and intends to stay up on NHF goings-on. I Connecting to the Water Main The Alamo Theatres sprinkler system calls i< h pipe from Bucksport's water main into the building. Di. iss Main Streci I with the labor required to breach the 80-year-old buildii ---like foundation. A team worked almost two days using the hi dmv drill bits to net throuiih the 32-inch subterranean wall. Film Premiere, Symposium & Exhibit A Midwife's Tale: The Discovery of Martha Ballard, produced by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, will premiere at the Civic Center in Augusta, Maine, on Friday, March 7. Keynote speaker is historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwifes Tale, based on a diary written by Martha Ballard in Hallowell, Maine, from 1785 to 1812. Ballard's story is compared with Ul rich's, leading viewers to understand how the historian's skills were able to transmit the immediacy of Ballard's diary. On March 8, a symposium, "Health and Community in a Time of Transition: Maine Two Hundred Years Ago and Today," will be held at the Augusta Civic Center, with a screening of A Midwife's Tale. An exhibit, including midwife Martha Ballard's original diary, will be in the Atrium at the Maine State Museum. Participants in the events are Augusta 200, Friends of the Maine State Museum, Fort Western, the Maine State Library, and Hubbard Free Library. For more information and to register, contact the Maine Humanities Council in Portland at 207 773-505 1 . • 13