Contact Us
To contact the Marie Dressler Foundation by mail or email, see our About Us page.
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Bursary winners
Support Us
Go to this page to support Marie Dressler Foundation online.
Vintage Film Festival
The Foundation produces the Vintage Film Festival every year on a weekend in October. Full details here.
Marie Dressler House
The history of the Marie Dressler House is here. It is now the home of the Interactive Canadian Women in Film Museum.
Dressler House is located at:
212 King street West (Hwy 2),
Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.
The Marie Dressler Museum has been expanded and is now called "Canadian Women in Film Museum".
Hours
Opening hours for 2023
By appointment only - see About Us page
Visit the new museum's website here for details of how to book your visit at other times
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The Marie Dressler Story
Born in Cobourg, Canada - one of Hollywood's greatest stars
The Dressler Story: to Dream, to Dare, to Persist, to Win
Cobourg is the birthplace of Marie Dressler - one of the greatest comediennes of her generation and one of Hollywood's best loved stars.
This is the official site of the Marie Dressler Foundation whose mission is to make sure that Marie Dressler is remembered. The Foundation, a registered charity, was created to raise money to restore her house when it was burnt down in 1989 (More here).
Vintage FIlm Festival
Our largest activity has been the Vintage Film Festival which is held on a weekend in October every year.
Bursaries
Another major activity of the Foundation is to award scholarships/bursaries to students planning to pursue an education in the arts field. There is a list of previous scholarship winners here.
Also available on this site
Birthday Celebration
Saturday November 9, 2019 was Marie Dressler’s 151st birthday and we celebrated it. After an introduction by Town Crier Mandy Robinson, foundation chair Rick Miller presented the documentary Without Lying Down which is about women in early Hollywood who were very successful. The film focused particularly on screenwriter Frances Marion and her close friend Mary Pickford. Rick then briefly spoke about the Foundation’s plans to expand the existing Marie Dressler museum to include female Canadian stars Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer. He also called on Mayor John Henderson to draw the ticket for the winner of the first of three door prizes. After the event, the good-sized audience in the Citizen’s Forum in Victoria Hall were invited to enjoy the refreshments.
Below are some photos of the event. Click any photo to enlarge then scroll through all of them.
November 9 Proclaimed Marie Dressler Celebration Day
On October 7, 2019, Mayor John Henderson of the Town of Cobourg, proclaimed Saturday, November 9, 2019 as "Marie Dressler Celebration Day" in the Town of Cobourg.
Mayor Henderson (photo right) encouraged Citizens to visit Marie Dressler Museum to discover Marie's remarkable story and also invited them to attend a special Marie Dressler birthday event on that day.
Download the official Proclamation here.
Plans for Museum Expansion presented to Cobourg Council
At Monday’s Committee of the Whole Council meeting, Marie Dressler Foundation (MDF) chair Rick Miller presented plans to expand the existing Museum at Dressler house to include two other Canadian female Oscar winners: Mary Pickford and Norma Shearer. Rick said that he had firm commitments from partners in the venture who would supply material for the museum and assist with marketing. To proceed, Rick wanted the Town to revise the existing lease from just a part of Dressler House to include the entire building. After some debate, Councillors approved a revised lease and a bylaw implementing the lease was approved at their meeting on 9 September, 2019.
Read more: Plans for Museum Expansion presented to Cobourg Council
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