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Each \u201cFlicks on the Bricks\u201d screening will begin at 8 p.m. Guests can order wine or compete in weekly trivia games before the sun goes down. (Athenaeum Music & Arts Library)<\/p>\nEvery week this month, witty women will take center stage \u2014 make that center screen \u2014 in the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library\u2019s annual outdoor movie series, \u201cFlicks on the Bricks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series, now in its 19th year, typically draws on a socially relevant theme to pay homage to classic filmmaking through four films.<\/p>\n
So each of the next four Thursdays, the Athenaeum will present KPBS film critic and \u201cCinema Junkie\u201d podcast host Beth Accomando as she screens a female-led comedy beginning at 8 p.m. at 1008 Wall St. in La Jolla.<\/p>\n
Accomando said she hopes this year\u2019s movie lineup will entertain audiences and challenge stereotypes along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see films where women have agency,\u201d Accomando said. \u201cI don\u2019t care if they\u2019re good role models \u2014 that\u2019s less interesting to me because flawed people tend to be more interesting than people who are perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are four films where the women really drive the plot and are so absolutely enchanting in their performances,\u201d she added.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know if many people generally think of women in comedy or women in screwball comedy as a way to champion women or anything, but these films are so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Accomando was first offered the opportunity to host \u201cFlicks on the Bricks\u201d in 2018. As a big fan of film, the offer was \u201cirresistible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things I love to do the most \u2014 [to] just show movies to people,\u201d Accomando said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better than exposing people to something they\u2019ve never seen that they then fall in love with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each \u201cFlicks on the Bricks\u201d screening will begin at 8 p.m. Guests can order wine or compete in weekly trivia games before the sun goes down. (Athenaeum Music & Arts Library)<\/p>\n
In that first year, Accomando assembled a lineup of noir films with San Diego roots. Since then, themes have included crime thrillers with La Jolla connections, screwball sparring matches and Hollywood classics.<\/p>\n
Others drew on social trends. Amid last year\u2019s testy election season, Accomando built a theme on political comedies that could help lighten the tone.<\/p>\n
Inspiration for the 2025 theme came from a one-woman show, \u201cMae West Cleans Up Her Act,\u201d that Accomando saw at the San Diego International Fringe Festival.<\/p>\n
Accomando was surprised by the fascinating life West led and how risqu\u00e9 her comedy was at the time of her greatest film success in the 1930s.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody pushed her around,\u201d Accomando said.\u00a0\u201cHer films stand up, I think. One of the reasons they stand up is because she\u2019s poking fun at social mores, and on a certain level those have not changed all that much.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis notion of actually challenging stereotypes about women and women\u2019s sexuality is still something I think can be a bit provocative and definitely, with her, fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Accomando\u2019s attention was then drawn to other actresses of the \u201930s \u2014 Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer and Jean Arthur.<\/p>\n
Here are the movies that will be shown during the series:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Aug. 7: \u201cShe Done Him Wrong\u201d (1933), starring Mae West and Cary Grant<\/p>\n
\u2022 Aug. 14: \u201cMy Man Godfrey\u201d (1936), starring Carole Lombard and William Powell<\/p>\n
\u2022 Aug. 21: \u201cPrivate Lives\u201d (1931), starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery<\/p>\n
\u2022 Aug. 28: \u201cEasy Living\u201d (1937), starring Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold<\/p>\n
Tickets for all four films are available for $80 for Athenaeum members and $100 for non-members. Individual movies are $22 for members and $27 for non-members. Popcorn is included with each ticket.<\/p>\n
Accomando is aided in her efforts by Athenaeum Executive Director Christie Mitchell, communications manager Courtney Koenigsfeld and librarian Kathi Bower Peterson.<\/p>\n
Peterson, whose responsibilities include ordering the films, has worked on the series since its inception. She praised Accomando for her curatorial efforts and pointed to the unique nature of this year\u2019s theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince Beth Accomando began curating them, the series has become more thematically cohesive,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cShe always focuses on a particular topic, such as films from one director, one film studio or a timely subject such as politics. This year is the first time that all the films come from the same decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson described this year\u2019s focus on women in comedy as especially apt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like too many people still hold the opinion that women aren\u2019t truly funny,\u201d she said. \u201cThese films should present a good counterargument to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Accomando, the series also is a way to preserve film history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to remember where we\u2019ve been to appreciate where we are,\u201d she said. \u201cI just don\u2019t want these films to be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n