LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! Hollywood Magic in Pasadena highlighted Pasadena’s intrinsic role in the multidimensional world of filmmaking, focusing on the people who helped shape the industry – both on screen and behind the scenes – and locations that provide settings for their artistic pursuits. The galleries featured a wide range of objects relating to movies, television, music videos, and more, celebrating the creative process from initial concept to finished productions. 

The exhibition also explored the history of filming on the Fényes Estate. Given their wide-ranging artistic vision, it is hardly surprising that Eva and Adalbert Fényes would have embraced the fledgling motion picture industry. In 1912, legendary director D. W. Griffith featured their beautiful estate in the silent film, The Queen’s Necklace. Star power seems to have impressed even a sophisticated society matron, as evidenced by a charming collection of Eva’s photographs and sketches from the various productions filmed on her property, including handwritten diary entries with captions such as, “Douglas Fairbanks on our lawn.”