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, see our About Us page. By email, click here.
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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
A Modern Museum for a Vintage Star
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If you are familiar with the previous museum, you will see that the new one is totally different. The room is larger, the walls have been repainted (a great colour), there are new displays and many of the displays are interactive. The interface to control what you see on displays is via ipads and in some cases you can listen. Although the appearance is open and uncluttered, there is plenty of information to be had. Some artifacts are on display although the photos are not the originals - these are kept in the Northumberland County archives.
Matthew Kennedy talk
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On September 24, 2016, special guest Matthew Kennedy, author of "Marie Dressler: A Biography" (1999), gave a lively talk at the gala dinner celebrating the Dressler Museum's grand opening fundraiser event. He spoke about some of the less known facts about Marie. Below is the video by Devon Stewart.
Canada 150 - DocFest
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On April 29 and 30, 2017, the Marie Dressler Foundation will be joining in celebrating Canada's 150 celebrations with a Festival of Documentary Films called A Portrait in Documentary Film. We will show Documentary Films from 15 minutes to 60 minutes from the National Film Board, CBC and National Archives of Canada and will feature a range of documentary films spanning Canada’s 150 years.
The venue is the LOFT on Division Street. The full program is now available here. Admission is Free.