ART

HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS

An exhibit celebrates the art of Golden Books with a display of original work from the 1940s and 1950s. Illustrations are on view from artists including Richard Scarry, Garth Williams, and Tibor Gergely (who illustrated the beloved pre-Thomas train story “Tootle”). The exhibit moves next week to the New York Public Library’s Donnell Library Center. Today through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., The National Arts Club, Gregg gallery, 15 Gramercy Park South, between Irving Place and Gramercy Park West, 212-475-3424, free.

SISTER’S TOOLS

Self-taught African-American artist Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) is the subject of a traveling exhibit that has been extended at the American Folk Art Museum. Morgan was a devout Christian who considered her paintings and decorated objects tools for spreading the message of her ministry. “Tools of Her Ministry” displays her early crayon works, complex late compositions, and “charter” paintings – a series of frieze like paintings illustrated with detailed depictions of stories from the Book of Revelation. Through Sunday, October 10, Tuesday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Friday, 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., American Folk Art Museum, 45 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-265-1040, $9 general, $7 seniors and students, free for children under 12 and members.

GROWING PAINS

Photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti met cousins Guille and Belinda, whose families live on remote farms near Buenos Aires, when they were 9 and 10 years old. Her series “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams” documents the girls’ friendship over five years.

Through Saturday, October 23, Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Yossi Milo Gallery, 552 W. 24th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-414-0370, free.

AUCTION

BOOKS AND BIBLES

Early printed books from the estate of Leonard Hansen are auctioned this week. Highlights include a 1498 Latin Bible, an armorial of English nobles from the 13th to earth 17th centuries, and a second edition of Onofrio Panvinio’s 1600 account of games, rituals, and other events held at the Circus Maximus in ancient Rome.

Viewing: Today and tomorrow, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Auction: Thursday, 10:30 a.m., Swann Galleries, 104 E. 25th St. at Park Avenue, 212-254-4710 ext. 18.

BENEFITS

GARDEN GLAMOUR

The annual Rose Garden dinner dance at the New York Botanical Garden includes a garden tour followed by dinner in the Garden Terrace Room. Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. cocktails, 7:30 p.m. dinner and dancing, New York Botanical Garden, 200th Street and Southern Boulevard, Bronx, 718-817-8774, $750-$5,000.

BOOKS

MILES TO GO

William F. Buckley Jr. signs copies of his “literary autobiography, “Miles Gone By” (Regnery). Thursday, 1 p.m., Barnes & Noble Rockefeller Center, 600 Fifth Ave. at 48th Street, 212-765-0593, free.

FAMILY TIES

Gish Jen reads from her new novel, “The Love Wife” (Knopf), told through the voices of several members of the troubled Wong family. A reception follows. Thursday, 7 p.m., Asian-American Writers’ Workshop, 16 W. 32nd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212- 494-0061, $5.

DESIGN

MEN OF MYSTERY

An exhibit of international movie posters focuses on American films made during the 1960s and 1970s. “Rebels, Rockers, and Renegades” includes the Polish poster for Robert Altman’s “Nashville” and the Japanese poster for “Easy Rider.” Posters from “M*A*S*H,” “The Last Picture Show,” and “Mean Streets,” and other New Wave works by pioneer directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Terence Malick, and Peter Bogdanovich, are also included. The films and their advertisements offered a new kind of rebel-hero created during the period that many consider the high point of American film. Through Sunday, November 7, Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday, noon-6 p.m., Posteritati, 239 Centre St., between Broome and Grand streets, 212-226-2207, free.

FILM

DRIVING THAT TRAIN

Musician Eric Anderson and journalist David Dalton discuss the 2003 documentary “Festival Express” after a screening. The film consists of recently discovered footage of a 1970 cross-Canada train tour that included the Grateful Dead, the Band, Janis Joplin, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Buddy Guy, and Mr. Anderson. Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m., Makor, 35 W. 67th St., between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, 212-415-5500, $9. Film also screens today and Thursday, 7 p.m.

SHORTS ON SCREEN

Twelve Vitaphone sound shorts newly restored by UCLA and the Library of Congress see the screen for the first time in more than 70 years. The Jazz Age gems feature stars of radio, Broadway, and vaudeville. Two shows are introduced by the Vitaphone Project’s Ron Hutchinson and UCLA’s Bob Gitt (1 and 8 p.m., additional screening at 4:40 p.m.).The collection is screened as a double feature with a restored print of the 1930 talkie picture “The Second Floor Mystery,” which has not been shown in almost 75 years. The story, by Charlie Chan creator Earl Derr Biggers, features an American who tries to impress a reporter by implicating himself in an invented murder. Mr. Gitt again introduces two screenings (3:15 and 6:40 p.m., additional screening at 10:20 p.m.). Both screenings: Thursday, Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street, 212-727-8110, $10 general, $5 members and children under 12, $5 seniors on Monday-Friday before 5 p.m.

FOOD & DRINK

KAREN’S KITCHEN

Former model and MTV VJ Karen Duffy, author of “A Slob in the Kitchen” (Clarkson Potter), offers party-planning tips and easy recipes at a shopping event. Today, 6-8 p.m., Bloomingdale’s, 1000 Third Ave. at 59th Street, 212-705-3340, free.

HEALTH

HERO’S RACE

Off-duty firefighter Stephen Siller was last seen running through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, his gear tucked under his arm. The 5-kilometer Tunnel to Towers Run celebrates his memory by lining the tunnel with banners sporting a portrait of each of the 343 firefighters who died that day. After the race and a memorial ceremony, the day becomes a celebration with music, donated food, and activities for families. 994 1396 1057 1406

Sunday, 8:45 a.m. latest check-in, 10 a.m. race, starting at Gowanus Approach, IS 142, Henry Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn, ending at Vesey Street facing Ground Zero, ww.tunneltotowersrun.org, $30 to compete.

MUSIC

GREEN DAY AT NIGHT

Green Day plays an outdoor concert in support of their new album “American Idiot.” Tomorrow, 5:30 p.m., Park Place between Broadway and Church Street, www.jr.com, free. Wristbands for guaranteed entry are available at J+R Music World, 25 Park Row, between Vesey Street and City Hall Park.

WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

The Onion presents a two-night music series titled “Urgh! The War to End All Wars,” inspired by the 1981 live-music film that featured the Police, Echo and the Bunnymen, XTC, Devo, and other stars of the day. The event, billed as “a tribute to yesterday’s music of tomorrow,” includes the bands Dalek and Dirty on Purpose (Friday), and Oneida and the Oxford Collapse (Saturday). Proceeds go to children’s war-relief agencies. Both nights: 8 p.m., the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St., between Church Street and Broadway, 212-219-3132, $15 in advance, $17 at the door.

TALKS

GILDED GLAMOUR

Curators discuss American collectors who helped define the Gilded Age appetite for decorative arts. Participants include a curator emeritus at the Frick Collection, Edgar Munhall, who discusses Henry Clay Frick and an associate curator of European sculpture and decorative arts, Danielle Kisluk-Grosheide, on the Met’s collection. An associate curator at event sponsor the Morgan Library, Jennifer Tonkovich, moderates the discussion and speaks about J. Pierpont Morgan’s “artistic house.”

Tonight, 5:30 p.m. reception, 6:15-8:15 p.m. talk, the Bard Graduate Center, 18 W. 86th St., between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue, 212-590-0333, $25 general, $17 members.

UNDERSTANDING TORTURE

A panel surveys the legal road to the Abu Ghraib prison abuses and the systemic remedies available. Participants include an intelligence correspondent for the Washington Post, Dana Priest, a lawyer for the Marines, Major Michael “Dan” Mori, and a lawyer representing an Australian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Joshua Dratel. Thursday, 6-8 p.m., New York University, D’Agostino Hall, Martin Lipton Hall, 110 W. 3rd St., between Sullivan and MacDougal streets, 212-998-6849, free.

INFLUENCES IN ART

A curator at the British Museum, Donato Esposito, discusses the popularity of Egyptian and Assyrian themes in the art of 19th-century France and Britain. He pays special attention to the way in which the collections at the British Museum and the Louvre shaped artists’ conceptions of the earliest societies. Thursday, 6:30-7:30 p.m., the Dahesh Museum of Art, 580 Madison Ave., between 56th and 57th streets, 212-759-0606, free with admission, $9 general, $4 seniors and students, free for children under 12.

THEATER

JOYEUX NOEL

Noel Coward’s “Tonight at 8:30” is performed by students in NYU’s educational theater and vocal performance program. The show includes classic Coward songs and three one-act plays from the “Tonight at 8:30” series.

Through Sunday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., Provincetown Playhouse, 133 MacDougal St. at West 3rd Street, 212-998-5281, $15 general, $5 NYU students.