Back by popular demand, historian Gerard Thornton is returning on May 13 at 7 PM to speak about the life of silent film actress Mabel Normand (1892-1930), a program he presented at the museum in 2018. Normand is famous for her roles alongside stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. A Staten Islander, her father was a master carpenter at Sailors’ Snug Harbor, and their family lived in a house on Tysen Street just outside the retirement home’s gates. The program also features a music video of "Time Heals Everything," a song from the Broadway show Mack and Mabel. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1974 starring Bernadette Peters, and is based on the relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. The song is performed by vocalist Jenny Kelly, Director of Business Development at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, and pianist Carolyn Clark, founder of the Staten Island Philharmonic.

This lecture is the ninth in our Noble on Watch (NOW) series and will premiere on the museum’s Facebook page or here on the website.