The exhibit offers a preview of the Kitty Crawford Festival, to be hosted by the Gmeiner this fall in coordination with the Kelsey Academy of Tioga, a county-wide lifelong learning program. Focusing on films about and by Kathryn Crawford, the festival will premiere director Gale Largey’s latest documentary, “Love Theft,” examining a marital crime at the center of divorce proceedings between Crawford and husband James Edgar, Jr.–a statute still on the books today in some states. In addition, “Kitty –Grit and Mirrors,” Largey’s film on the life of Crawford, will receive a reprise showing. Movies and trailers featuring Kathryn Crawford, such as “City of Missing Girls,” “Skyway,” “Emma,” “King of Jazz,” and “Safety in Numbers,” will round out the tribute to Wellsboro’s own “Kitty.”

Born in Wellsboro, Kathryn Crawford (née Moran) achieved fame as a film star and actress on Broadway and in touring companies. She was known for premiering the song “Love for Sale” in Cole Porter’s “The New Yorkers” (1930), and in later years she became an acclaimed interior decorator for the famous, including Barron Hilton, Douglas MacArthur, Herbert Hoover, and Mary Pickford.