Due to health concerns, the Smoky Hill Museum announces the postponement of the 1950s Film Series scheduled for this Thursday and Friday, March 19-20, at the Salina Art Center Cinema.

The Film Series, with sponsorship by Heritage Real Estate Advisors and the Ellsworth Independent-Reporter, will be rescheduled in mid or late May, with details forthcoming. Those who have already purchased tickets online may contact the SACenter at 785-827-1431 for a refund or to use those tickets as valid in May.

The 1950s Film Series will feature the 1956 Oscar-winning film Picnic, filmed in Salina and other Kansas communities. Kansas playwright William Inge wrote the play Picnic in 1953, winning a Tony plus a Pulitzer Prize. Adapted as a film three years later, Picnic won two Oscars

and starred William Holden, Kim Novak and Rosalind Russell. The film’s song

“Moonglow and Theme from Picnic” was popularized by the riverside scene

in which Hal dances with Madge.

Cinema lovers, history buffs and admirers of Hollywood’s ’40s-’50s Golden Age will enjoy Picnic for its contemporary themes of romance, yearning and life-altering decisions. Picnic was Inge’s third play and one of nine or 10 he wrote that were adapted as motion-picture or TV productions.

Inge won an Oscar for his original screenplay of Splendor In The Grass, filmed in 1961 , starring Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood. Since 1983, the William Inge Film Festival, set in his hometown of Independence, Kansas, has celebrated emerging and veteran playwrights and stage talent while honoring Inge as an influential native son. For more information on the 1950s Film Series or other Smoky Hill Museum programming, visit smokyhillmuseum.org or call 785-309-5776.