"Some kind of racket": The museum of modern art's film library, hollywood and the problem of film art, 1935

Canadian Journal of Film Studies

Volumn 9, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 5-29

  Wasson, Haidee ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84863807768     PISSN: 08475911     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3138/cjfs.9.1.5     Document Type: Review

References (76)

1. Iris Barry, "The Film Library and How it Grew", Film Quarterly 22.4(1969):19-27.
2. See for instance, Michael Budd, "The National Board of Review and the Early Art Cinema in New York: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as Affirmative Culture", Cinema Journal 26.1(1986):3-18;
3. Jan Christopher Horak, Lovers of Cinema: The First American Film Avant-Garde, 1919-1945 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995);
4. and more recently James Donald, Anne Friedberg and Laura Marcus, eds., Close Up, 1927-1933: Cinema and Modernism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999).
5. Examples of the move away from textual analysis include Janet Staiger, Interpeting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), especially 178-195;
6. Miriam Hansen, Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991)
7. and Leo Charney and Vanessa R. Schwartz, eds., Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).
8. See also Charles Acland, "National Dreams, International Encounters: the Formation of Canadian Film Culture in the 1930s", Canadian Journal of Film Studies 3.1(1994):3-26.
9. It is important to note that this view of the Film Library's early history, while departing somewhat from previous versions, is indebted to curators and scholars who have contributed in one way or another to it. For example see Mary Lea Bandy, "'Nothing Sacred': Jock Whitney Snares Antiques for Museum", The Museum of Modern Art at Mid-Century: Continuity and Change, vol. 5. Studies in Modern Art (New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1995), 75-103.
10. See also Bill Mikulak, "Mickey Meets Mondrian: Cartoons Enter the Museum of Modern Art", Cinema Journal 36.3(1997):56-71.
11. For a general discussion of the museum's history and the various debates in which it has been embroiled see Russel Lynes, Good Old Modern: An Intimate Portrait of the Museum of Modern Art (New York: Atheneum, 1973).
12. Alfred Barr Jr., The 1929 Multidepartmental Plan for the Museum of Modern Art: Its Origins, Development, and Partial Realization [1941] (Department of Film Series, Film Study Center Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art, New York), 4.
13. Lawrence Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988), 232.
14. Allan Wallach, "The Museum of Modern Art: The Past's Future", Journal of Design History 5.3(1992):208.
15. Annual Report to Trustees and the Corporation Members of the Museum of Modern Art June 30, 1939-July 1, 1940 (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1940), 14.
16. The educational programs of the museum are discussed more fully in Carol Morgan, "From Modernist Utopia to Cold War Reality", The Museum of Modern Art at Mid-Century: Continuity and Change, Studies in Modern Art, 5(New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1995), 151-173. John Dewey's ideas about art, the individual and civilization can be found in Art as Experience (New York: Minton, Balch & Company, 1934).
17. For more on this see Neil Harris, "Yesterday's World of Tomorrow", ArtNews (October 1979): 69-73.
18. New York's Roxy Theatre, Radio City Music Hall and St. Louis's Fox Theatre held exhibitions of art from MoMA's circulating exhibitions program. Among these exhibitions were reproductions of paintings by Van Gogh, Diego Rivera and architectural drawings by Le Corbusier (Press Release 7930, Museum of Modern Art (September 30, 1937)). Such a phenomenon is noteworthy not only because it provides yet another example of attempts to make cinema respectable for middle-class patrons, but because it suggests that film was also important for emergent concepts of art; art exhibition in movie theaters was purposefully orchestrated less to make film respectable and more to make art seem relevant and accessible.
19. For more on MoMA's public relations practices and their prescient mix of publicity and art exhibition see Lynes, 129-136.
20. Annual Report, 4.
21. See for instance Alfred Barr Jr., "Sergei Michailovitch Eisenstein", [orig. 1928] Irving Sandler and Amy Newman, eds., Defining Modern Art: Selected Writings of Alfred H. Barr, Jr. (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1986), 142-146
22. and "Nationalism in German Films" (orig. 1934), Newman and Sandler, 158-162.
23. See Barr, "Eisenstein", especially 142, 143.
24. Alfred Barr Jr., Notes on Departmental Expansion of the Museum [1932] (Department of Film Series, Film Study Center Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art, New York), 5, 6.
25. In the museum's first press release, Barr made explicit reference not only to a "filmotek" but to a screening room. Both were to be modeled on a similar facility he had used in Moscow. Such an infrastructure would provide the resources necessary whereby "the score or so of finest films of the year would be preserved and shown. " (Alfred Barr [attributed] Press Release, August 1929, [Museum of Modern Art, New York]).
26. John Abbott and Iris Barry, An Outline of a Project for Founding the Film Library of the Museum of Modern Art [1935] (Department of Film Series, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art, New York)
27. This proposal was reprinted under the same title in Film History 7(1995):325-335.
28. Abbott and Barry, 3.
29. For more details on Whitney's art collecting, his relationship to the film industry and his efforts to assist the Film Library see E. J. Kahn, Jr., Jock: The Life and Times of John Hay Whitney (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1981), 105-144.
30. Unfortunately little has been written about Iris Barry. Brief biographical details are available in Ivor Montagu, "Birmingham Sparrow", Sight and Sound 39.3(1970):106-108;
31. Marsha McCreadie, "Iris Barry: Historian and All-Round Critic", Women on Film: The Critical Eye (New York: Praeger, 1983), 96-102;
32. and Missy Daniel, "Iris Barry", Notable American Women: The Modern Period, eds. Carol Hurd Green and Barbara Sicherman (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1980), 56-58.
33. For a sampling of her writing see Iris Barry, Let's Go to the Movies (orig. 1927), (New York: Arno Press, 1972);
34. "The Cinema: American Prestige and British Films", The Spectator (11 July 1925): 51-52;
35. "Cowboy Films for 'Highbrows, '" The Daily Mail (10 August 1927): 8;
36. For an excellent overview of the Rockefeller Foundation's interest in film during this period see William J. Buxton, "Reaching Human Minds: Rockefeller Philanthropy and Communications, 1935-39", in The Development of the Social Sciences in the United States and Canada: The Role of Philanthropy, eds. Theresa Richardson and Donald Fisher (Stamford, CT: Ablex Publishing Co, 1999), 177-192.
37. The headline read, "Films are Treated as Real Art by Lecturer at Metropolitan", (New York Herald Tribune [November 16, 1936], [Film Library Scrapbooks, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art]). His lecture was accompanied by "oldtime" films arranged by staff of the Film Library.
38. Phil M. Daly, "Along the Rialto", The Film Daily (August 27, 1935), (Film Library Scrapbooks, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art).
39. "Good Old Days", The Los Angeles Times (September 1, 1935), (Film Library Scrapbooks, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art).
40. The absence of D. W. Griffith's work is noteworthy if only because his place in film's history would soon become prominent through the Film Library's programs and publications. It is possible that Barry and Abbott were unable to obtain any Griffith footage for this particular event; though, there are no remaining records to support this.
41. John E. Abbott, "Mr. Abbott's talk at Mrs. Pratt's", November 26, 1935 (File 2D: 2, Library of Congress Collection, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art).
42. Wolheim had passed away four and a half years earlier on February 18, 1931. Variety reported that he died of "stomach cancer."
43. Barry, "Film Library, 1935-1941", The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 8.5(June-July 1941), 6.
44. Barry, "The Film Library and How it Grew", 22.
45. Iris Barry, "Pickfair Speech" (Department of Film Series, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art), 1.
46. Two successful such series were Flicker Frolics and Screen Souvenirs.
47. Barry, "Pickfair Speech", 1.
48. Tacoma Ledger (21 August 1935), (AAA: 5; 714);
49. Louella O. Parsons, Atlanta Georgian (August 28, 1935), (AAA: 5; 710);
50. Louella O. Parsons, Los Angeles Examiner (August 27, 1935), (AAA: 5; 701). These articles are part of the Museum of Modern Art Archive, Public Information Files, microfilmed by the Archives of American Art.
51. "The Industry Supports a Library", Los Angeles Post-Record (August 27, 1935) (AAA: 5; 701);
52. "Hollywood Aid for Pic Museum Pledged", Daily Variety August 26, 1935, (AAA: 5; 701);
53. "Library Aid Pledged", Hollywood Reporter August 26, 1935, (AAA: 5; 70).
54. These articles are part of the Museum of Modern Art Archive, Public Information Files, microfilmed by the Archives of American Art. "Library Gets Pledge of Industry's Aid", Motion Picture Daily (August 26, 1935), (Film Library Scrapbooks, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art).
55. Press Release 5904, September 4, 1935 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
56. "More Trouble for Theatre Men Seen in 'Film Library' Set-Up", Showmen's Trade Review (June 29 1935), (Film Library Scrapbooks, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art).
57. "Old Films for Archives", Variety (September 11, 1935), (Museum of Modern Art Archive: Public Information Files [AAA: 5; 719]).
58. His evasiveness persisted despite a letter of introduction addressed to him, written by Whitney (Barry "The Film Library and How it Grew", 22).
59. Iris Barry "Autobiographical Notes" n. d. (Iris Barry Collection, Department of Film, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art).
60. Richard Griffith, A Report on the Film Library, 1941-1956 (Department of Film Series, Film Study Center, Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art), 4. A non-profit agreement was arranged with Eastman Kodak Co. for film stock, RCA-Victor Manufacturing Co. for sound recordings and DeLuxe Laboratories for film processing.
61. See Film Library Bulletin (1938-39) (Department of Film Series, Film Study Center Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art), 4.
62. Such entities satisfied the legal agreement arranged with studios. No other formal institutional affiliation was necessary. See for example "Conditions of Rental", Film Library Bulletin, Museum of Modern Art (1940), 21-22.
63. Programs were often organized into two-hour segments which might include several shorts or one feature. Individual shorts could also be obtained. Most of these programs were issued on 16mm. As of 1938, prices for a two hour program were $15; for shorts, 2$ per reel. 35mm prints cost roughly twice as much. Shipping was not included in these prices. The cost of film notes was included.
64. Qtd. in Barry, "Film Library, 1935-1941", 6. Griffith acquiesced shortly thereafter, reportedly at the behest of Lillian Gish. It is worth noting that his acquiescence was coincident with his own dire financial situation.
65. Film Library press releases are held in the Museum Library, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
66. Press Release #3510-7, October 9, 1935 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
67. Press Release #44, November 19, 1935 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
68. Samuel Goldwyn, qtd. in Press Release, November 19, 1935 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
69. Press release, March 15, 1938 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).
70. Iris Barry, "Why Wait for Posterity", Hollywood Quarterly 1.2(1946):133.
71. In 1939, under the instruction of Will Hays, the Motion Picture Association of America granted the Film Library $33, 333.33, which was made in four quarterly instalments (Iris Barry, The Case for the Museum of Modern Art Film Library [1948] [for the Motion Picture Association of America], Department of Film Series, Film Study Center Special Collections, Museum of Modern Art, New York). The second contribution referred to by Barry is likely that made by Whitney as there is no record of another such donation.
72. See Film Council of America, ed., Sixty Years of 16mm Film, 1923-1983 (Evanston, Illinois: Film Council of America, 1954)
73. esp. Jack C. Ellis, "Theatrical Film on 16mm", 176-182.
74. Eric Smoodin, "'The Moral Part of the Story was Great': Frank Capra and Film Education in the 1930s", The Velvet Light Trap 42(Fall 1998):20-35.
75. For contemporary references to this expanding market and the Hays office interest in cooperating with educators see Philip Sterling, "Sowing the 16mm field", The New York Times (25 July 1937), sec 10, p3, c7;
76. and Roger Albright, "Education from the Theatrical Screen", Screen and Education: A Symposium on the Role of the Film in the Field of Education, ed. Godfrey Eliot (New York: Philosophical Library, 1948), 407-421.