EXPLORATIONS

Celebrating Cinema “Not just entertainment” at the by nell porter brown

Hollywood director and choreographer’s musicals, including Depression-era daz- zlers like the archives’ own, hard-to-find, 35-millimeter print of Footlight Parade (1933), starring dancer-turned-actor James Cagney. Even now, the film’s “By a Waterfall” song- and-dance number featuring nearly naked “nymphs” and armies of synchronized swim- our nights a week, anyone can mers forming elaborate geometric and floral saunter down to the lowest level of patterns—filmed from aboveand underwa- the Carpenter Center for the Visu- ter—is a delightful technical feat. “People The screening of Kent Garrett’s Black GI al Arts, buy a ticket, and slide into may be surprised by the strange eroticism (top left); Busby Berkeley’s Footlight Parade; F Jonas Mekas in triptych; HFA director a cushy seat at the Harvard Film Archive’s of some of these films,” particularly those Haden Guest and programmer David (HFA) cinémathèque to view “rare and schol- from pre-Hays Code Hollywood, says HFA Pendleton; and Ha Gil-Jong’s March of Fools arly works of art, films that would other- programmer David Pendleton. “These dance wise be impossible to see,” says archive di- numbers really push the envelope: you have Jonas Mekas (January 20-February 18). The rector Haden Guest—or at least see properly, lines of chorus girls who are bent over at the prolific nonagenarian, considered the godfa- in their original formats, and on a big screen. waist and the camera travels down the line, ther of American avant-garde cinema, is still On tap this winter are typically dispa- between their legs.” producing books and films and is scheduled rate films. “Busby Berkeley Babylon” (De- No less stimulating are the experimental, to discuss his oeuvre in person, in conjunc- cember 9 through January 23) explores the diaristic films of Lithuanian-American artist tion with showings of Walden (Diaries, Notes,

16F January - February 2017 Photographs by Jim Harrison/Film stills courtesy of the Harvard Film Archive

Reprinted from . For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Harvard Squared a growing store of filmmakers’ personal papers, and miscella- neous artifacts, animation mod- els, technical manuals, and film equipment. Alumni in the industry—in- cluding Terence Malick ’65, Mi- chael Fitzgerald ’73, Edward Pendleton shows off the Zwick ’74, Mira Nair ’79, Darren Aronofksy cinephiles’ lair (a.k.a. the ’91, Andrew Bujalski ’98, and Damien Cha- HFA’s offices); film technician John Quacken- zelle ’07—have contributed to the collec- bush aims to project films tion, and appeared over the years for HFA in their original formats. events. In November, during the series “Say It Loud! The Black Cinema Revolution,” the The HFA’s collection HFA hosted documentarian Kent Garrett ’63 has since grown to near- for screenings of his Black GI (1971), a chron- ly 30,000 titles, making icle of combat soldiers’ experiences on and Document1Document1 11/20/03 11/20/03 11:51 11:51 AM AM Page Page 1 1 and Sketches) (1969) and Out-takes from the Life it among the largest and most important off the killing fields in Vietnam, andBlack of a Happy Man (2012), on February 10 and 11. university-based motion-picture archives Cop (1969). The latter, he told the audience, The last time Mekas was on campus was in the United States, according to Guest. It explored “whether blacks should be cops,” JIM HARRISON (2) in 1975, to visit his friend, the film scholar encompasses “prints from across film history and the complex roles they can play, through and curator Vlada Petric. At that time Petric and from around the world, from Soviet si- candid interviews with officers in New York was collaborating with anthropologist and lent films to contemporary American indie City and Los Angeles during the height of documentarian Robert Gardner and with classics,” he reports, as well as home movies, the Black Power movement. Cabot professor of aesthetics and the gener- shorts, animation, and experimental, avant- Still sobering and relevant, both films al theory of value Stanley Cavell to establish garde, and documentary films. In addition, were made for Black Journal, the groundbreak- the HFA, which officially opened in 1979. there are more than 4,000 vintage posters, ing, public-television program co-developed

ASSISTEDASSISTEDLIVINGLIVINGRETIREMENTRETIREMENTCOMMUNITYCOMMUNITY Independent and Assisted Living Teaching the World® Here’sSpecializedHere’s what what Memory people people Care are are Whatsayingsaying do Harvard about about us. alumni us. have in common? Cadbury Commons A Remarkable Senior Residence Ballet classes: age 3 through teen, Name:Name:MiltonMilton R. R. Occupation:Occupation:PostalPostal Supervisor, Supervisor, Retired Retired adult and pointe. Hobbies:Hobbies:Reading,Reading, Walking, Walking, Exercising Exercising Lifestyle:Lifestyle:Independent,Independent, Active Active New students welcome! ChoiceChoice of Senior/Assisted of Senior/Assisted Living: Living: CadburyCadbury Commons Commons Open House View January-June The Harvard alumni who chose schedule at: “ThereCadbury“There is a is stable aCommons stable and and gentle gentle may atmosphere atmosphere have SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 2017 of helpof help and and empathy empathy throughout throughout the the www.freshpondballet.com community.retiredcommunity. from I feel Iwork, feelassured assured but that not thatI am fromI partam part oflife. of 9am-12pm others’others’ lives, lives, as they as they are ofare mine. of mine. For Formyself, myself, Visit us on Facebook: I feelIMuseum feel that that Cadbury CadburyVisits Commons • CommonsPlay Reading provides provides a a Preschool and Kindergarten facebook.com/FreshPondBallet wellSymphonywell trained trained and andcaring Selections caring group group of •people ofLecture people who who are interestedare interested in my in welfare.”my welfare.” Arlington Campus: 17 Irving Street Series • Yoga • Organic Gardening CallCall (617) (617) 868-0575 868-0575 to arrange to arrange a personal a personal Nina Alonso, Director, FPB tour,Calltour, (617) or visit or 868-0575 visit www.cadburycommons.com www.cadburycommons.com to arrange a personal tour, To learn more, call 617.499.1459 1798a Mass Ave WhereWhereor visitThe www.cadburycommons.comThe Emphasis Emphasis Is On Is OnLiving Living or visit www.isbos.org Cambridge, MA 02140 66 Sherman6666 Sherman Sherman Street, Street, Street, Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge, ISB is accredited by NEASC (New England Association of Schools and EQUAL EQUAL 617.491.5865 MA 02140◆ ◆ (617) 868-0575 HOUSING HOUSING Colleges), CIS (Council of International Schools), MEN (French Ministry MAMA 02140 02140 (617)• (617)868-0575 868-0575 OPPTY OPPTY of Education) and IB (International Baccalaureate).

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Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Harvard Squared by Garrett. On a national level, it represented surveillance taking place in the name of ‘so- the “first time blacks had a say in what was cial security.’ Reggio was, and still is, way going on” in current events and how the me- ahead of his time.” dia represented them, Garrett told the au- dience during the post-screening question- A movie theater, classroom, and library, to Our Valued Advertising Partners and-answer session. the HFA’s structure is uncommon among uni- “History comes around,” he said, when versities. The year-round cinémathèque’s pub- Boston Ballet asked about Black Cop’s relevance to current lic programs, funded by admission fees and debates over the role of police and their re- tiered-membership dues, are often paired lationships with minoritiy communities— with visits by guest artists—directors Ang Cadbury Commons although, he added, “the level of brutality Lee and William Friedkin, actress Angela then was not at the level, in terms of shoot- Lansbury, and Canadian filmmaker Guy Mad- The Catered Affair ing black men, that it is today.” din, among them. Also shown was a stirring clip from Gar- Yet its core mission is to support study The Charles Hotel rett’s work-in-progress, The Last Negroes at and teaching at Harvard, and to maintain Harvard, about his 1963 class of 18 men and its resources for scholars everywhere. (As The Conference Center one woman who, in 1959, were the largest sin- such, it was moved administratively from at gle group of blacks ever admitted to the Col- the department of visual and environmen- lege. “They came into Harvard as negroes,” tal studies to the Library; Coldwell Banker / Barbara Currier Garrett said of the era, “and left as blacks.” see “Cinema Veritas,” November-December Throughout his career, the news journalist 2005, page 35.) and filmmaker has “always believed” in the This winter, Guest researched and curat- Coldwell Banker / Gail Roberts power of “the media, video, and news to re- ed “Ha Gil-Jong and the Revitalization of ally change peoples’consciousness,” he said, Korean Cinema” (February 3-27)—the first Compass Realty / “and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do.” retrospective of the 1970s South Korean art- The Carol Kelly Team The point of the archive is, after all, Fresh Pond Ballet to educate. Its film holdings alone have Gibson Sotheby’s International grown three-fold since Guest arrived Goddard House a decade ago, and the general archives have expanded through Harvard Club of Boston gifts like the Lothar and Eva Just Film Stills Collection, Employees Credit Union containing about HARRISON JIM 800,000 items, pledged in 2009. HFA assistant curator Jeremy Rossen and International School of Boston Meanwhile, Guest recently announced filmmaker Kent Garrett during the “Say It Loud! The Black Cinema Revolution” series another windfall: the complete papers and Lux Bond & Green films of experimental American director ist outside his own country. Ha’s films are Godfrey Reggio. The documents will be- wrenchingly “emblematic of the struggles of McLean Hospital come part of the Harvard Theatre Collec- an artist working under the totalitarian re- tion at , Guest says, “and gime of [then-president] Park Chung Hee,” people can step next door here to study his Guest explains, “at a time when cinema was North Hill Living films.” Reggio is best known for his pro- expected to toe the party line.” foundly prescient 1980s Qatsi trilogy (Koy- An orphan, Ha traveled to America as RE/MAX - Brattle Office aanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi), which a young man and wound up in California, depicted, solely through poetic images where he was the first Korean to earn an Welch & Forbes, LLC and music, the modern destruction of the M.F.A. and a master’s degree in film stud- environment. ies at UCLA before returning to South Support from these advertisers The materials also cover Reggio’s ear- Korea. There he rejoined a circle of artists helps us produce the independent, ly years as a monk working with youth and political critics, and produced his fea- high-quality publication Harvard alumni gangs during the 1960s Chicano national- ture films. In his salient and affectionate rely on for information about ist movement, says Guest, and his subse- March of Fools (1975), which was a surprise the University and each other. quent “media saturation campaign to raise commercial hit, disaffected university stu- consciousness about the kind of government dents search for love and meaning. Ha “used

Harvard88 Magazine 16I

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Harvard Squared richly ambiguous narrative and imagery how life was lived during the Depression, re- Center for African and African American to show that things are not as they might sponses to the onslaught of automation, and Research presented “Pam Grier, Superstar!” appear, revealing deeply planted seeds of the rise of media-driven sexual currency. Ha It looked at Blaxploitation and other films discontent,” Guest notes. Unfortunately, offers the perspective “of Koreans living un- reflective of African-American experienc- the success also drew attention from cen- der a military dictator at a time when there es and the cultural upheavels of the 1970s; sors and made it harder for Ha to produce is political oppression here and around the Grier’s protagonists, the HFA stated, are more such innovative work. He died of an world,” Guest says. “These films can help us “defiant, authoritative, resourceful vigi- “alcohol-induced” brain aneurysm at age find and forge the freedom we so urgently lantes whose intellectual, physical, and 38, according to Guest. need.” sexual adeptness American movie screens Ha is not widely known in the West; the As Harvard strives to elevate the arts on had never experienced the likes of before.” HFA had to borrow prints from the Korean campus, Guest is among those coordinating The actress was at Harvard to receive the Film Archive. Yet his work, Guest suggests, resources among the libraries, museums, and Hutchins Center’s 2016 W.E.B. Du Bois like that of Busby Berkeley, can teach view- arts departments, and promoting more in- Medal, and spoke about her life and work ers about how to learn from history and en- terdisciplinary events. following the HFA screenings of Foxy Brown gage in the world. Berkeley reveals aspects of In October, the HFA and the Hutchins (1974) and Jackie Brown (1997), Quentin Tar-

ALL IN A DAY: Providence, R.I. dence’s history: it was founded in 1636 by Rog- Ditch the car and take the train to Providence. Numerous er Williams after he was attractions clustered around the city’s vibrant downtown district banished from the Mas- are within easy walking distance of the station. sachusetts Bay Colony There’s outdoor ice-skating at the huge (and typically un- for promoting the sepa- crowded) rink on Kennedy Plaza—within sight of the his- ration of church and toric Providence Biltmore hotel, which was saved from the state. The trail, marked wrecking ball in the 1970s. Dip into the nearby Ellie’s Bakery by a green line on the for hot chocolate and a chunk of babka, or meander east, across sidewalk, is a 2.5-mile the Providence River, to the RISD Museum. circular route that high- The ancient Greek and Roman art galleries are open this win- lights more than 100 culturally ter, as is the exhibit “Inventing Impressionism,” which explores significant sites, including the the radical nature of paintings and drawings by the likes of Éd- old and new State Houses and ouard Manet, Georges Lemmen, and Camille Pissarro. (The fifth- the spot from which colonists floor European art galleries, however, are closed for renovation.) rowed out to attack the HMS The museum’s Café Pearl opened last year; it serves baked treats Gaspee in 1772. and the locally coveted Bolt Coffee, and It also stops at the Provi- is a quiet place to regroup. Or head back dence Place Mall. Don’t linger outside and walk two minutes to the there. Instead, for food and Providence Athenaeum, to learn shopping, head behind the about the library’s role in the ill-fated Providence Biltmore to the romance between Edgar Allen Poe and locus of the downtown arts Clockwise from top: open-air Providence poet Sarah Helen Whitman, and entertainment scene an- ice-skating downtown; the first First Baptist Church in the and about author H.P. Lovecraft’s love of chored by Washington and United States; a bibliophile’s the place. Take a self-guided tour, or just Westminster Streets. Check dream at the Providence be inspired by three floors crammed out AS220, an artist-run or- Athenaeum; and the RISD with books and assorted prints, paint- ganization that coordinates Museum’s modern appeal ings, and sculptures. rotating galleries, shops, performances, and classes, while manag- From there, walk back down Benefit ing a restaurant and bar, too. Also worthwhile is Craftland, a Street, past the museum, to gallery of handmade objects, and the excellent Symposium the first First Baptist Books and Cellar Stories Bookstore. Church in America. Join Providence is full of innovative restaurants. Downtown, try the Independence Trail, the Figidini Wood Fired Eatery or The Dean Hotel’s res- a lively and free self-guided taurant Faust. On a Saturday night, there’s probably also time tour, accessible by smart- to attend a show or concert at the Trinity Repertory Com- phone, to hear about the pany or the Providence Performing Arts Center; the last impressive white structure, MBTA Commuter Rail train to Boston leaves at 10 p.m.—or take with the strongest steeple the more expensive (but faster) Amtrak train at 10:35 p.m. Either around, and a bit of Provi- way, a day in this dynamic small city is well spent. vn.p.b. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ©WICKEDGOOD/DREAMSTIME.COM; ISTOCK PHOTOS; LAINE/PROVIDENCE©CAT ATHENAEUM; COURTESY OF RISD MUSEUM

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Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Harvard Squared antino’s homage to her and the tumultu- Melville’s novel; and Warren Beatty’s Reds at Houghton. The series reveals how “the ous era. (1981), based on the life of journalist John spirit of the original literature lives in the Guest and Pendleton were also instru- Reed, A.B. 1910. films,” Guest says. “Cinema is not just en- mental in organizing “Houghton at 75,” in- British filmmaker Terence Davies, a past tertainment, not just a complement” or a spired by holdings at that . HFA guest, will also be on hand for a screen- mode of elucidating other disciplines, he The March series includes Jane Campi- ing of his film about Emily Dickinson,A Qui- asserts. “We are dedicated to presenting, on’s Bright Star (2009), a fictional account et Passion (2017), for which he made previ- exploring, and breaking new ground, and of John Keats’s last years; Peter Ustinov’s ous trips to Harvard to pore over the poet’s to showing cinema to be at the same level Billy Budd (1962), adapted from Herman hand-sewn manuscript books and letters as great literature.”

CURIOSITIES: The “Scandalous Mansion”

Built between 1899 and 1902, the Ayer Mansion on Common- The tallest home on the block, wealth Avenue is a rare surviving residence designed by Louis the five-story mansion (part of Comfort Tiffany. It was an outlier, commissioned by outliers. The which has been used as a univer- textile magnate and marketing savant Frederick Ayer was a self- sity women’s residence for de- made man with a sixth-grade education, and his second wife, Ellen cades) is faced with an almost Barrows Banning (30 years his junior), an amateur actress from white variety of granite and fea- Minnesota. Before buying up mills throughout New England and tures glass-embedded stone col- establishing the largest factory in Lawrence, Ayer also helped umns flanking massive, copper- develop the charming marketing campaign, featuring heartfelt clad front doors with eight-pound testimonials and visions of cherubic children and tropical locales, knockers, along with bulging bow- that sold Ayer-brand patented remedies. The Cathartic Pills, Hair front windows topped with elabo- Vigor, and Sarsaparilla (it “cured” jaundice, ringworm, carbuncles, rate stained-glass panels. Inside, dropsy, and syphilis) were concocted by his medical doctor-broth- the entrance hall combines Tiffa- er James Cook Ayer, who amassed a fortune. ny’s beloved “exotic” architec- The Ayers did not fit into Boston society, and probably realized tural elements—here primarily that they never would, notes Jeanne M. Pelletier, preservation “Oriental” and Moorish—in curving plastered walls painted a adviser for the Campaign for the Ayer Mansion (led by Scott C. buttery tone and covered with shellac, and a marble semi-circu- Steward ’86), which has been restoring the house since 1998. lar staircase with glass-mosaic risers. They lead to an apse-like Thumbing their noses at neighboring Brahmins, the Ayers “stage” on which Ellen Barrows Banning gave dramatic readings. hired A.J. Manning of New York City as architect of record, and Perhaps most remarkable is the wall behind the stage. It fea- Tiffany, who by then had developed materials and techniques tures a glass-mosaic tromp l’oeil depicting an ancient Greek temple; that had revolutionized the glass industry. Although not a trained the columns are composed of semi-transparent glass backed by architect, Pelletier notes, Tiffany was neverthless the driving gold foil, so when they reflect light, the temple appears to glow visionary behind some of the era’s most opulent homes. And from a rising sun. Tiffany started his career as a decorator and with the Ayers’s approval, he “plopped down this modern, stark, interior designer, Pelletier says, although all the houses he de- mosaic-covered façade,” she adds, amid the staid red-brick and signed—including the magnificent Havemeyer House in Manhat- brownstone town homes proliferating in the fashionable Back tan (its suspended staircase was adorned with gold filigree and a Bay. “It was really scandalous.” fringe of crystals that tinkled underfoot) and his own Long Island The front hall holds a estate, Laurelton Hall—are gone.“He would create or specify pint-sized proscenium everything: the architecture, lamps and lighting fixtures, the wall arch made of glass mosaics; the bold façade coverings, the floors, even the furniture,” Pelletier says, pointing (top right) was designed out the Ayer Mansion’s Favrile green-glass vases and hefty cream- to set the home apart. colored dining table with matching chairs. “He was a micro-man- ager who thought of houses as architec- tural masterpieces.” A National Historic Landmark since 2005, the house is open year-round for concerts and lectures; tours (typically on the first Saturday and third Wednesday of each month) highlight continuing pres- ervation projects. v n.p.b.

Ayer Mansion 395 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston www.ayermansion.org COURTESY OF AYER MANSION AYER OF COURTESY

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746