HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 5 Chicago Passes to ‘Carmen Jones’ For Fox’s 75th Anniversary

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CHICAGO – In our latest classic film edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 5 admit-two passes up for grabs to the special Chicago screening of 1954’s “Carmen Jones” for Fox’s 75th anniversary!

“Carmen Jones,” which was partially set in Chicago, stars legendary actors Harry Belefonte and Dorothy Dandridge in this powerful musical written for the screen by Oscar Hammerstein II and directed by Otto Preminger. Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer who was the first African-American to be nominated for an Oscar for best actress in a leading role.

To win your free pass to the Chicago screening of “Carmen Jones” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. You must include your first and last name in your submission. That’s it! This screening is on Wednesday, Sept. 15 2010 at 7 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago.

Winners should arrive no later than 6:30 p.m. for this screening of “Carmen Jones”. While seats are guaranteed for these HollywoodChicago.com winners, it would be best to arrive early to enjoy the dedication ceremony before the screening. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

Fox’s 75th anniversary screening of “Carmen Jones”.
Image credit: 20th Century Fox

Here is the plot description for “Carmen Jones”:

In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th-century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base and the result was “Carmen Jones”. Dorothy Dandridge stars as Carmen Jones: the tempestuous employee of a parachute factory.

Harry Belafonte plays Joe (originally José): a young military officer engaged to marry virginal Cindy Lou (Olga James). When Carmen gets into a fight with another girl, she is placed under arrest and put in Joe’s charge. Succumbing to her attractiveness, Joe accompanies Carmen to her old neighborhood where – after killing a sergeant sent to retrieve him – he deserts the army.

While Carmen tries to be faithful, fortune-telling Frankie (Pearl Bailey) warns her that she and her soldier are doomed. Enter Joe Adams in the role of boxer Husky Miller (a play on Carmen’s bullfighter, Escamillo). He sweeps Carmen off her feet (ultimately with tragic consequences). Though both Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed in by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne.

The trailer for “Carmen Jones” can be watched now below.

To secure your free tickets now, make sure you’re logged into your HollywoodChicago.com account. If you don’t yet have one, you can quickly register here. Having an account with a valid e-mail address is required. Then, simply add a new comment in the form below. In your comment, include an answer to this question:

Like all Hookups here, this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup is simple: Just submit your comment above and we will award 5 people randomly via e-mail for our “Carmen Jones” Hookup. You must include your first and last name in your submission. Winning tickets will be at will call at the Music Box Theatre. You will be e-mailed if you win. Good luck!

By ADAM FENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief/Publisher HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com