AUGUSTA — Free screenings of “Curious George” and “Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators,” will be held at the Maine State Museum, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 20, and followed by a discussion about the the monkey created 77 years ago by Hans and Margaret Rey, who were Jewish Holocaust survivors with a dramatic story of their own.
The discussion, at 1:30 p.m. will be led by David Greenham, associate director of The Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine. The Maine State Museum will also offer free admission all day highlighting the museum’s newest exhibition, Maine + Jewish: Two Centuries.
The 2006 cartoon film “Curious George,” starring Will Ferrell and Dick Van Dyke, is an animated adventure comedy that tells the story of The Man in the Yellow Hat and his irrepressible friend George, whose curiosity turns out to be more beneficial than anyone could have imagined. The film is appropriate for families with young children.
Those attending will learn how Curious George was almost a Holocaust victim. The documentary “Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators,” tells how the Reys, German Jews living in Paris during the rise of Nazism narrowly escaped Hitler’s troops by fleeing on makeshift bicycles and carrying the yet-to-be-published “Curious George” manuscript with them.
The dcoumentary includes animation and archival materials from the Rey estate, including wartime journals, photographs, letters and unpublished Curious George sketches and notes.
Seating for both shows is limisted to 100 people. The Maine State Museum and Archives is at 230 State St. For more information, visit mainestatemuseum.org.
