Invitation from the Harvard Club of Central Ohio
Murder at the Harvard Medical School: The Parkman-Webster case of 1849

with Ohio native Dale Pollock, American film producer, film professor, and author of Chopped: A Novel.

June 20, 2023, 7:00 pm
VIRTUAL, FREE

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/murder-at-the-harvard-medical-school-the-parkman-webster-case-of-1849-tickets-625328974797

 

Join us on Tuesday, June 20 for a special virtual event with Ohio native Dale Pollock, American film producer, film professor, and author of Chopped: A Novel. (Order now at Amazon)

In November 1849, Boston businessman & Harvard benefactor George Parkman disappeared. His body—dismembered and partially burned—was discovered in the laboratory of Harvard Medical College lecturer John Webster.

The victim, the murderer, the prosecutors, the defense attorneys and all of the Supreme Court Justices were Harvard graduates. So were the Mayor of Boston, the Governor of Massachusetts, and both of its Senators.

Chopped: A Novel had its genesis with Pollock’s great-great grandfather, Dr. James Winchell Stone, and his participation in this murder trial. Stone was an expert medical witness, as well as the stenographic recorder of the entire trial, controversially published by him and resulting in his being blackballed by Boston society. Pollock has written a vintage crime murder mystery to explain the inexplicable circumstances of Parkman's death and Webster's fate. Chopped: A Novel is also a love story and a representation of abolitionism and the Underground Railroad.

About the Author:

Dale M. Pollock, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received a BA in Anthropology from Brandeis University in 1972 and a MS in Communications from San Jose State University. In 1977, he became the head film critic for Daily Variety until he was hired by the Los Angeles Times to be their chief entertainment correspondent. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in the early 1980s and wrote Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas in 1983, which has sold more than 150,000 copies and remains in print. In 1985, Pollock joined David Geffen’s company as a development executive, where he discovered the scripts for Beetlejuice, The Burbs and Universal Soldier. He joined A&M Films as vice president in charge of production, and was named president in 1990, producing such films as The Beast, The Mighty Quinn, A Midnight Clear and Mrs. Winterbourne. Pollock ran his own film company Peak Productions for 10 years, producing the box office hit Set It Off. He co-founded the producing program at the American Film Institute in 1995. In 1999 he became Dean of the School of Filmmaking at the (then) North Carolina School of the Arts, stepping down in 2006 to become Professor of Cinema Studies. He was awarded Emeritus status in 2019 and served as Interim Dean for nine months in 2021. Pollock was awarded an Endowed Professorship in Film in his name at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking in 2014 and is the 2016 recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence. He also received the 2020 Arts Council of Winston Salem’s Annual Award, its highest honor. Pollock's first work of fiction, Chopped: A Novel, was published in March 2023, and is available on Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.
 

We'd love to have you join us!

Thanks,

Scott Tribble
President, HCCO