We continue reeling in no uncertain terms from bad news from last week. Our friend Dorothy Bradley, President Emeritus of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, always friendly and always on hand at Niles' Edison Theater, passed at 80.
Missed writing a post last weekend due to grief over Dorothy's passing. This is an incalculable loss to the historian and film preservation communities, Niles, CA - and to an increasingly doltish nation struggling to remember anything for more than 5 minutes.
We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog are still - and with much difficulty - processing the passing of author John Bengston, the guy who knew where EVERYTHING was filmed, earlier this year.
The museum's website adds: We are sad to announce the passing of Dorothy Bradley, Museum President Emeritus on Tuesday, May 26th, 2026.
Dorothy was born, raised and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for her entire life. She graduated from UC Davis with a degree in chemistry, and worked in that field until retirement. Dorothy moved to the historic district of Niles, located in Fremont, in 1996.
Wanting to learn more about the community, she became a member of the Niles Main Street Association, where some members were interested in focusing on the film history of the district. The Niles Essanay Preservation Committee was formed, and the first Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival took place in 1998. After a few annual events, the planning group for the festival decided that they wanted to form their own independent museum.
The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum was incorporated in 2002 with Dorothy serving as president until 2024.
Dorothy's dedication to history, the sciences and the arts cannot be overstated. We will miss her dearly. She had turned 80 this past December.
A memorial will be planned in the near future. Those wishing to send condolences can do so to the museum via email, or via our Facebook page.
For the silent movie lovin' gang here, it is a fond and premature farewell to Dorothy. We wish her a peaceful journey.
Was it more than we could stand at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog to say goodbye to the wonderful Dorothy Bradley and melodic, mellifluous and marvelous music maestro par excellence Sonny Rollins on the same day? Yes, it was indeed more than we could stand.
In closing, here's a photo from 2012 of the trusty Infiniti G20 sedan, parked in front of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum and ready for big screen fun, then owned by the avid classic movie aficionado who writes Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog!
