"Harvey Girls"--Southwest Film Series Viewing December 11, 2006

All viewings are FREE and open to the public! Films will take place once a month on Monday evening beginning at 7:00 PM in the SUB Theater at the UNM Main Campus.

The Southwest Film Series presents “THE HARVEY GIRLS” is a brilliant, inventive musical given an epic staging. The real-life Harvey Girls were waitresses imported to the far-flung Fred Harvey Hotels, civilizing oases along the railroad lines out west. In this on-screen musical western, mail order bride Susan Bradley ditches her bashful suitor and takes an unexpected path—she joins a crew of cheery young women who are traveling out to open a “Harvey House” restaurant at a remote whistle stop in the west. They hope to provide good cooking and wholesome company for railway travelers. The film will begin with a short introduction by ANDREW K. SANDOVAL-STRAUSZ, Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico. Currently the History Honors Advisor at the University of New Mexico, and the Faculty Advisor to the Hispanic Honor Society, Sandoval-Strausz joined the faculty in 2001. His first book, Accommodation of Strangers: A History of the Hotel in America will be published in 2007 by Yale University Press.