Film in New Hampshire, Part II

Like just about everywhere else in the U.S., New Hampshire was swept in the very early 20th century by a wave of theater-building, in part to accommodate the growing parade of Vaudeville stars but also, as importantly, to show the hottest, latest invention: movies. Unlike most other places in the U.S., however, with the exception of a few of the larger towns in southern New Hampshire, most New Hampshire movie venues have not been updated for, well, a century or so, so that the movie experience for an average New Hampshirite takes place in a beautifully ornate, neo-baroque theater building with poor quality sound (the speakers usually turned up far beyond their capacity) but luxurious, plush seats as compensation. That's just a thought about how films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Convoy were framed for most New Hampshirites, food for thought.

Anyway, as I discovered one day while turning onto Grove Street in tiny, little Peterborough, NH, this state has succeeded in attracting more than its share of Hollywood attention. Expecting to see the post office and maybe the odd pigeon, I instead was confronted with six tractor trailers filled with huge amounts of electrical equipment -- cameras, lights, and wires everywhere -- spilled all over Grove Street. Turns out they were filming the Aaron J. Wiederspahn film Sensation of Light in Peterborough. This kind of experience has been repeated surprisingly often, as picturesque New Hampshire apparently lends itself well as background. On Golden Pond with Paul Newman and Robin William's Jumanji were both filmed here, as well as some local productions like the unimaginatively-named Live Free or Die. The state of course actively promotes this kind of stuff -- see the video above for reference -- but New Hampshire's reputation as "New England scenic personified" seems to be working.....