Highlights Archives
Hollywood, the Oscars and the Society
From the gorilla of Naomi Watts' dreams to the nightmare of Joe McCarthy's witch hunts, once again the collections of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research share a bit of the spotlight with this year's Academy Award nominees.
King Kong
Researchers for Weta Digital, Peter Jackson's effects company, contacted the WCFTR in January 2004, looking for photographs of New York City theaters from the 1920s and '30s. The WCFTR collections turned up images of classic Broadway palaces like the New Amsterdam and the Empire. Using these detailed exterior and interior photos as reference points, the movie's effects artists were able to re-create the look of Depression-era New York and its theater scene through a combination of miniatures, computer effects, and large-scale sets — meticulously designed, according to visual effects producer Joe Letteri, ". . . down to the level of the doorknob, window shades, hat stands, and lamps." Their detailed research, done partly with the Society's collections, helped produce an Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction and Set Decoration.
Capote
While Truman Capote was researching and writing "In Cold Blood," he was also writing teleplays for the networks and maintaining his high profile on the New York literary scene. WCFTR collections from playwright Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle Hart and network production head Robinson Hubbell contain letters, notes, scripts and variant drafts written by Capote during his work on "In Cold Blood." Phillip Seymour Hoffman's stunningly accurate portrayal of Truman Capote has earned him a Best Actor nomination.
War of the Worlds
When Wisconsin native Orson Welles founded The Mercury Theatre of the Air in 1938, he took his talented company off the stage and onto the airwaves. Under Welles' direction the broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" — using only sound effects and the audience's imagination — convinced a terrified listening public that Earth had been attacked by Martians. The Orson Welles Collection at WCFTR contains an original two-disc recording of that broadcast. Last year's production starring Tom Cruise continued this audio excellence, winning nominations for both Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
Good Night, and Good Luck
Edward R. Murrow is widely regarded as the most respected and renowned figure in the history of broadcast journalism. A master of both radio and television reporting, Murrow's 30-year career is documented in many of collections that make up the mass communications history holdings in the Society's archives. Distinguished broadcasters and media giants such as John Charles Daley, Charles Collingwood, Sig Mickelson, Newton Minow and many others have established collections here that are rich in documentation and insight into Murrow's life and career. Episodes of his award winning television series "See It Now," "Person to Person" and "CBS Reports" can be viewed in the WCFTR screening room.
George Clooney, whose work on the film earned him a nomination for Best Director, was fortunate to have Best Actor nominee David Strathairn playing Murrow. He was also fortunate to have access to archival film of Senator Joseph McCarthy, using McCarthy's actual voice and image to function as the film's antagonist. No actor's performance could be as chilling as the real thing — as evidenced in Emile De Antonio's 1964 documentary on the Army-McCarthy hearings, "Point of Order."
WCFTR donor De Antonio made the film — considered one of the most important political documentaries in history — by assembling footage from the 150-plus hours of the 1954 hearings, televised on CBS. The film shows the hearings without commentary or narration, allowing the film and the event's participants to speak for themselves, and for McCarthy to damn himself. "Point of Order" was selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1993.
:: Posted March 3, 2006
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