Cinecraft Productions/Hagley Museum

Cleveland has been home to major productions in the 21st century, such as 2025's "Superman" and the upcoming "The Land." Before that, in the 20th century, the city was a hub for industrial films, such as this Standard Oil production with Merv Griffin, right and Toledo native Joe E. Brown, left. All that and more will be part of Scott Eyman's talk on Friday at the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Florida and Ohio have had a complex relationship this year, at least in baseball, but that’s not stopping Lyndhurst native Scott Eyman from visiting this week.

“To this day, I watch [Guardians] games on television,” he said from his home in West Palm Beach. “I cannot bear to watch Browns games, but we won't go into that.”

The New York Times bestselling author speaks on Friday at the Western Reserve Historical Society during “Behind the Camera: The Golden Age of Hollywood.” The Greater Cleveland Film Commission’s event covers Northeast Ohio’s role in film history, from the silent era through “A Christmas Story” and upcoming productions such as “The Land.”

A leading expert on Hollywood’s golden era, Eyman said he didn't realize that he was getting a “complete education in American movies” while growing up in Cleveland.

“You had John Ewing who started the Cinematheque,” he said. “Jon Forman had started the Cleveland Film Festival. Sheldon Wigod’s New Mayfield was down on Murray Hill showing a model repertory cinema. The Case Western Reserve Film Society was showing Cleveland premieres almost on a weekly basis. WUAB had the Warner Brothers package on television, and WJW had this incredible Paramount package — everything from W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers to Charles Laughton.”

Despite the myriad of options for viewers, film production in Northeast Ohio was largely limited to industrial films for much of the 20th century. Stars like Alan Alda and Merv Griffin got their starts in what would be called infomercials today.

“To go to the Midwest was a rarity,” he said. “So, you get weird one-offs like ‘The Kid From Cleveland,’ made by Republic after the 1948 World Series, blessed be its name.”

On Friday, Eyman will discuss that film and others with local ties, from “The Fortune Cookie” to “The Avengers,” plus stars who grew up in the area: Paul Newman, Margaret Hamilton, Dorothy Dandridge, Bob Hope, Lillian Gish and the Warner Brothers themselves.

Eyman has been able to interview some of them, thanks to the body of knowledge he picked up in his youth. He’ll be sharing that knowledge Friday in conversation with WKYC’s Betsy Kling.

“They opened up to me when they realized I wasn't asking stupid questions,” he said. “You don't ask Bob Hope, ‘What was Bing Crosby like?’ That kind of question. I asked Bob Hope, ‘How come you don't make movies anymore?’ And he said, ‘Because they stopped making money.’ Well, that's an absolutely honest answer.”