Honors Northeast and the local Webb Society will hold a premiere of the new original historical film Smoldering Wick: the Story of Mary Kay on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Whatley Center for the Performing Arts at Northeast Texas Community College. This year?s film, the sixth for Honors Northeast, traces the life story of the great Texas cosmetics CEO, a journey that was at once inspirational, influential and controversial.†It stars Cassidy Watkins as Mary Kay.
Free refreshments and a brief panel discussion with NTCC Presidential Scholars (including Matthew Chambers, Rachel Jordan, Jordan Whelchel, Producer Warren Wu, Cassidy Watkins), Film Scholar, Yami Zuniga, and Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox) will be featured after the film in the Whatley Foyer.† Admission is free and the public is welcome.
The one-hour film, produced by Presidential Scholar Warren Wu of Daingerfield, follows the life of a woman who found herself caught in a maze of educational, corporate and medical obstructions after World War II.†Divorced and with three children, Mary Kay nearly collapsed after a spectacularly wrong diagnosis. She regained her stamina, measured time by the 1,440 minutes in each day, and refused to accept the strictures of the businesses she worked for.† Imbued with a Southern Baptist faith, she began her own business, and openly propagated the principle that a corporation should put God first, family second, and her career third.
What began as a Dallas business soon became a regional response to the feminist movement and corporate culture of the twentieth century. Mary Kay was a prolific writer, and speaker in addition to a CEO.†The ?Mary Kay Way? advocated the right of women to put family emergencies over business commitments, the liberal use of cosmetics, and a new corporate approach that advocated recognition, and personal ties over narrower economic incentives.
The scholars of Honors Northeast also cover the more controversial aspects of Mary Kay?s legacy.† Some saw her spiritualization of business as a semi-idolatrous confusion of faith with work.† On the left, Feminists decried her ?pink pyramid scheme? and her enslavement to fashions.† Fifty years after the ?Freedom Trash Can? had served as a receptacle for cosmetics, Mary Kay was helping to make the United States, and Texas a world center of the cosmetics industry.
?Many people know of Mary Kay. They imagine beaming sales ?consultants? driving pink Cadillacs, and selling ?timewise? facial crËmes that may be used more now to preserve youth rather than enhance it,? notes Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox.† ?But Mary Kay also represents one of the most remarkable re-definitions of American capitalism and culture in the late-twentieth century. I believe those who attend the film will not only witness a unique dramatization of her life, but come away with a new appreciation of how Southern and Texan regional culture has filtered modern trends.?
Thanks to a Whatley Enhancement Grant, the support of Jerald and Mary Lou Mowery, the Friends of Honors Northeast, and institutional support, members of Honors Northeast were able to research the story last summer in Dallas and Denton, filming it, in Fort Worth. The Honors Northeast team, led by Director Brenda Godoy, Unit Production Director, Matthew Chambers, and cinematographers Rachel Jordan, and Ariana Rodriguez, finished shooting all 61 scenes at historical sites including the Azalea Plantation House, Miss Molly?s Hotel, the Rosen House, and the Texas White House.† The film also features other sites from Mount Pleasant and NTCC.
The cast of the film includes: Alicia Cantrell as Dorothy Zapp, Matthew Jordan as Ben Rogers (father & son), Jordan Whelchel as Richard Rogers,†Karsen Nelson as Marylyn Rogers,†Sebastian Martinez as George Hallenbach, and Mel Ash, Rhylie Anderson as Dr. Ghoulston and Customer,†Yaritza Romero as Professor Davis & Singer,†Madison Blood as Hattie, Brenda Godoy as Tillie,†Adriana Rodriguez as Queen of Sales & Betty Friedan,†Rachel Jordan as Mary Kay Director & Phyllis Schlafly,†Leivy Zuniga as Ova Spoonamore & Beatrice Bowler, and†Dr. Andrew Yox as World Gifts Executive & Reverend Smith.
A five-minute trailer of the upcoming film, composed by Warren Wu, is available online at www.ntcc.edu/honors.
