{"id":32234,"date":"2025-11-07T18:53:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T18:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32234\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T18:53:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T18:53:19","slug":"george-a-romero-retrospective-opens-across-three-bronx-venues-bronx-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/32234\/","title":{"rendered":"George A. Romero retrospective opens across three Bronx venues \u2013 Bronx Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t Search our comprehensive guide to things to do in the Bronx<\/a> for more local events \u2014 or submit your own<\/a>!<\/p>\n

When presented with the image of slow and discombobulated individuals, dragging their feet and with a hunger for human flesh, many may instantaneously think of zombies, but without George A. Romero\u2019s 1968 masterpiece, \u201cNight of the Living Dead,\u201d perhaps this ubiquitous concept would have never existed. A new exhibit is educating people on Romero, \u201cfather of zombies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-curated by Steven Payne, director of the Bronx Historical Society which produced the exhibit; Edwin Pagan, renowned cinematographer, photographer and founder of Latin Horror<\/a> and Elena Martinez, co-artistic director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center, \u201cStay Scared\u201d opened on Halloween night.<\/p>\n

Replete with family photos, movie props, posters and other memorabilia, the exhibit spans Romero\u2019s life from childhood to Hollywood icon and is spread across three venues \u2014 The Museum of Bronx History, the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage and the Bronx Music Hall.<\/p>\n

With the exception of Victor Halperin\u2019s \u201cWhite Zombie\u201d (1932) centered in Haiti and revolving around voodoo, it was Romero\u2019s \u201cNight of the Living Dead\u201d and his following films that cemented the zombie genre. But Romero didn\u2019t subscribe to the zombie moniker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn \u2018\u200aNight of the Living Dead\u2019 there\u2019s really only one occurrence of the word zombie and it says zombie-like to describe a movement, but he thought of them as ghouls,\u201d Payne told the Bronx Times.<\/p>\n

While searching through the archives, Payne found Romero was inspired by E.C. Comics and Richard Matheson\u2019s 1954 novel, \u201cI Am Legend.\u201d
\n\"\"An animated film, written by Edwin Pagan and animated by Miguel Hernandez, is one of the pieces in the \u201cStay Scared exhibit. Photo by ET Rodriguez
\n\"\"George A. Romero\u2019s influences included E.C. Comics and Richard Matheson\u2019s 1954 novel, \u201cI Am Legend.\u201d Photo by ET Rodriguez\n<\/p>\n

Romero was born in NYC in 1940, presumably in the Bronx, (no birth certificate could be found) to a Spanish father and Lithuanian mother. He attended St. Helena\u2019s High School for Boys in Castle Hill, now Monsignor Scanlan High School.<\/p>\n

Under his yearbook photo, which is on display at the museum, the caption read that he wanted to be a dentist. If only he could see what the future would hold.\n<\/p>\n

In addition to the pop culture of his era, Romero\u2019s early influences included his uncle, Monroe Yudell, who dragged the little 11-year-old to see the 1951 comedic opera film, \u201cTales of Hoffman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero, impressed by the production value quickly caught the movie-making bug. His uncle lent him a camera and at 14, Romero produced a short film titled, \u201cThe Man from the Meteor.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

As part of the production, Romero threw a flaming dummy off the roof of his building. This horrified residents and police were called. The issue was dismissed, but the lore carried on and last year, the intersection of Metropolitan Oval and Metropolitan Avenue, near his childhood home, was co-named George A. Romero Way.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so special about the \u2018Stay Scared\u2019 exhibit is that it peels back the myth and shows us the man, the kid from the Bronx who watched old monster movies on a tiny TV and thought, \u2018I can totally do that,\u2019\u201d City Councilwoman Amanda Farias said at the opening.<\/p>\n

Farias, who represents district 18 (Soundview, Parkchester and Castle Hill) was instrumental to the street co-naming. \u201cThis exhibit brings to light the storyteller who proved that sometimes the scariest thing of all isn\u2019t the monster. It\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Christian Moran, filmmaker and managing editor of Latin Horror, dressed as the Grim Reaper for the Halloween opening of \u201cStay Scared.\u201d Photo by ET Rodriguez<\/p>\n

\"\"Movie props, posters and family photos make up the \u201cStay Scared\u201d exhibit, including this orange dress worn by Marilyn Eastman who portrayed Helen Cooper in \u201cNight of the Living Dead.\u201d The dress is on loan from her son who kept it for more than 40 years. Photo by ET Rodriguez<\/p>\n

Many cinephiles believed that Romero\u2019s movies were steeped in social commentary and reflective of the issues of the time. Pagan, who has been a fan since he was a teenager, began pushing for Romero to be submitted into the Bronx Walk of Fame since 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201c[His movies] document the zeitgeist of the time more than any other genre,\u201d he said. \u201cI got to hear him speak here in the city, I think it was 2005 and he was talking about how people always ask him, what was the symbolization of the zombies? And he said, \u2018well, it\u2019s about the man and the government oppression.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This can be deduced by the White, male ghouls dressed in suits in \u201cNight of the Living Dead,\u201d attacking the living protagonists \u2014 most notably a white woman and a Black man. When the movie released, America was smack-dab in the Second Wave Feminist Movement and at the tail-end of the Civil Rights Movement.<\/p>\n

Others commented that the mall setting of his 1985 film, \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d (1985) was a satire on the insatiably obsessive consumerist culture of Americans.
\n\"\"From left: City Councilwoman Amanda Farias, co-curators Edwin Pagan, Elena Martinez and Steven Payne. Photo by ET Rodriguez
\n\"\"This museum-goer dressed as Samara from the movie, \u201cThe Ring\u201d and much like Romero, he combined horror with social commentary. Photo by ET Rodriguez\n<\/p>\n

Romero attended Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, now Carnegie Mellon, where he met like-minded individuals who formed the cast of his iconic film, originally titled, \u201cNight of Anubis.\u201d After the success of the 1968 \u201czombie\u201d flick, Romero continued with his trope of the undead with his last movie, \u201cSurvival of the Dead\u201d released in 2009. He had executive producer credit on others after, but never directed again.<\/p>\n

Romero\u2019s oeuvre inspired the modern-day cult-following of zombies and helped usher in TV shows like \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d movies like \u201cShawn of the Dead,\u201d (2004,) and video games like \u201cResident Evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero died in 2017 at the age of 77 after a long battle with lung cancer, but not before passing on his love of filmmaking to his daughter, Tina Romero, a director in her own right and vice president of the George A. Romero Foundation.<\/p>\n

With the help of the foundation, the Bronx Music Heritage Center, Image 10 Inc., the University of Pittsburgh Archives and its Horror Studies Center, the exhibit runs through June 21 and although Halloween is over, visitors can still \u201cStay Scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Family photos of George A. Romero provided by his family. Photo by ET Rodriguez<\/p>\n

Reach ET Rodriguez at\u00a0etrodriguez317@gmail.com<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!\u00a0<\/p>\n

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