Juleen Compton: The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean
@ Northeastern Illinois University, The Auditorium
3701 W Bryn Mawr Ave, Chicago, IL 60646
Opening Wednesday, August 15th, from 7:30PM - 9:20PM
THE PLASTIC DOME OF NORMA JEAN
Directed by Juleen Compton • 1966
One of the strangest independent features of the 1960s, “The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean” plays like a sun-bleached, bubblegum messiah variant on “A Hard Day’s Night” or perhaps a Roger Corman AIP youthpic remake of “Corn’s-A-Poppin’.” Teenage clairvoyant/divining rod/beat poet Norma Jean (Sharon Henesy) and her boyfriend (Robert Gentry) order a plastic dome from a catalog, but before they can even unload the crate, their Ozark hoedown is spoiled by the appearance of a huckster boy band (whose members include a 25-year-old Sam Waterston!). The rock ’n’ roll mop tops co-opt the dome and try to turn it into a tent revival scam, an effort made easier when the mayor of Cablerock, Missouri, gets involved and springs for some spotlights. Norma runs away and takes refuge in an abandoned school bus at the town dump, where she meets a happy hobo and his beloved rabbit. Though comparatively obscure in film circles, Juleen Compton was a prominent member of the New York theater scene — a protégé of Clifford Odets and Lee Strasberg, the wife of Harold Clurman, and later the director of the Century Center for the Performing Arts. Compton self-financed “Plastic Dome” and its predecessor, “Stranded,” her career in real estate and interior design, but never managed to break Hollywood’s glass ceiling. Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by Century Arts Foundation. (KW)
82 min • Compton Films • 35mm from UCLA Film & Television Archives
Preceded by: “Scarface and Aphrodite” (Vernon Zimmerman, 1963) – 15 min – 16mm from Film-makers Coop
General Admission: $7
Screening in The Auditorium @ NEIU – Building E (3701 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.)
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Tags: Chicago, Illinois, Juleen Compton's "The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean" Restored 35mm, North Park, Northeastern Illinois University
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