What and Who: Illustrated Lecture by Edward Minasian, “The Forty Days
of Musa Dagh: The True Story of a Film Denied.”

Where: Ararat-Eskijian Museum, 15105 Mission Hills Road, Mission Hills,
CA

When: Saturday, May 31, at 4:30 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the Ararat-Eskijian Museum and the National Association
for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).  More information on
Minasian’s talk may be had by calling 617-489-1610, by fax at 617-484-1759,
by e-mail at [email protected], or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave.,
Belmont, MA 02478; or by contacting the Ararat-Eskijian Museum at
818-838-4862 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Mr. Edward Minasian, author of a comprehensive history of the thwarted
attempts to film Franz Werfel’s classic novel The Forty Days of Musa
Dagh, will speak at the Ararat-Eskijian Museum, 15105 Mission Hills
Road, Mission Hills, CA, on Saturday, May 31, at 4:30 p.m.  The
illustrated lecture, entitled “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh: The True Story of a
Film Denied,” will be co-sponsored by the Museum and the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).
Edward Minasian has spent many years researching this fascinating and
labyrinthine story.  Having originally presented his research at a
NAASR-sponsored conference in 1984, he continued his work and last year
published the definitive story of the most on-again, off-again project in
Hollywood history, entitled Musa Dagh (Cold Tree Press).
Musa Dagh draws on Minasian’s research in the MGM archives and the
U.S. State Department, the Franz Werfel Papers at the UCLA Special
Collections Library, the American Film Institute, and his interviews of
personalities involved in the film project.