Support Us
Go to this page to support Marie Dressler Foundation online.
Vintage Film Festival
The Foundation produces the Vintage Film Festival every year on a weekend in September. Full details here. The Foundation also produces RearView Doc Fest on a weekend in April. More here.
Last 17 Bursaries
Marie Dressler House
The history of the Marie Dressler House is here. It is now the home of the Interactive Marie Dressler Museum. Dressler House is located at:
212 King street West (Hwy 2),
Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.
Hours
Because of the Covid-19 virus crisis, as a precaution the Museum will be closed until furthe rnotice. Future hours in 2020 and later will be indicated here.
Contact Us
To contact the Marie Dressler Foundation by mail or email, see our About Us page.
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Tell Us More
If you have some information about Marie or simply want to comment on her or the content of this site, please use our "Tell Us More" form available here.
The Marie Dressler Story
Born in Cobourg, Canada - one of Hollywood's greatest stars
The Dressler Story: to Dream, to Dare, to Persist, to Win
Cobourg is the birthplace of Marie Dressler - one of the greatest comediennes of her generation and one of Hollywood's best loved stars.
This is the official site of the Marie Dressler Foundation whose mission is to make sure that Marie Dressler is remembered.
The Foundation, a registered charity, was created to raise money to restore her house when it was burnt down in 1989 (More here). Our largest activity has been the Vintage Film Festival which is held on the last weekend in October every year. But in 2018 we had additional major events to celebrate Marie's 150th birthday.
Bursaries
Another major activity of the Foundation is to award scholarships/bursaries to students planning to pursue an education in the arts field. There is a list of previous scholarship winners here. The 2019 winners were presented with their awards at Dressler House on July 6 - see the story with photos here. For more information on how to apply, go here.
Also available on this site
Marie Dressler’s 150th Birthday Celebrations Announced
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The Hon. Daiene Vernile, Minister of Tourism, Culture & Sport came to Cobourg on February 5th and visited the Marie Dressler Museum. The occasion was the announcement of a program of events in 2018 celebrating Marie Dressler’s 150th birthday. Daiene was suitably impressed with the Museum and with the efforts made by Cobourg to preserve our Heritage and provide things for tourists and residents to do. Also at the event were MPP Lou Rinaldi, Town of Cobourg Director Dean Hustwick and the County’s Tourism manager Eileen Lum. Marie Dressler Foundation Chair, Rick Miller, showed the Minister the features of the Museum and finished with a video about how it came to be plus an announcement of upcoming events. Daiene remarked that we need to make our treasures work and Lou commented that it’s good to preserve our history.
Read more: Marie Dressler’s 150th Birthday Celebrations Announced
2017 Birthday Celebration for Marie Dressler
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November 9th is Marie Dressler's 149th birthday so the Dressler Foundation put on a big celebration for her. The celebration featured a professionally made documentary of how the community came together to build the museum, free Marie Dressler Butter Tarts (and coffee) and then followed this with a screening of one of Marie Dressler's earliest movies, Tillie Wakes Up, made in 1917. (The Butter tarts were designed by Stephanie Harrington at the Dutch Oven).
Five Bursaries Awarded in 2017
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On Saturday, July 15, 2017, five students were presented with certificates and cheques for $1500. As well as the four bursaries for Northumberland high school students who are planning tertiary studies in the performing arts, this year an additional award was made: the Canada 150 Bill Patchett Devotion to Community Award. This is to honour the community service by Bill Patchett and was made to a student who showed exceptional community devotion.