HEC-TV’s new documentary film Dana Brown’s Life on Safari will premiere at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, at Steinberg Auditorium in Steinberg Hall on the Danforth Campus.
The premiere is co-sponsored by HEC-TV and Washington University Libraries.
The event is free and open to the public. After the film, there will be a question-and-answer “Meet the Producer” session and a reception. RSVP to HEC-TV at (314) 531-4455.
Dana Brown, a West Virginia native, began his sales career selling door-to-door for the Fuller Brush Co. He settled in St. Louis, eventually founding Safari Coffee and becoming a multimillionaire.
For decades, he made and appeared in his own commercials for his coffee brand, typically filming the ads while traveling around the world. The commercials were similar to nature films, with a mention of Safari Coffee coming at the end.
At the time of his death in 1994, Brown left behind more than 400 film canisters of footage documenting his travels to wild areas in Asia and Africa from the 1960s through the 1980s. These films will be added to the collections of the Film & Media Archive at Washington University Libraries.
For more information on the upcoming premiere, visit library.wustl.edu/units/spec/filmandmedia/news.html.