July 8, 2010, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, FilmMaking Movies Film Series: "Detour" The Making Movies Film Series runs throughout the summer and features films that are highlighted in the Making Movies exhibition. Tonight, the Ransom Center will screen Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour (1945), starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage. Savage’s archive is housed at the Ransom Center. Kent Adamson, who has written… read more
July 7, 2010, Filed Under: Authors, Books + ManuscriptsTo Keep or Not to Keep: Denis Johnson and his papers As an avid reader of Denis Johnson’s work (I bought my first Playboy magazine to read Nobody Move in serial form), I was thrilled to have the opportunity to go through his papers. Seeing Johnson speak at the 2008 Flair Symposium, “Creating a Usable Past: Writers, Archives, & Institutions,” had… read more
July 7, 2010, Filed Under: Authors, Books + ManuscriptsAuthor Denis Johnson’s papers acquired by the Ransom Center The Ransom Center has acquired the papers of National Book Award winner Denis Johnson, author of Jesus’ Son and Tree of Smoke. The collection includes manuscripts, typescripts, research materials, journals, correspondence, family photos and juvenilia, press clippings, books, and other items. Many of Johnson’s pre-1992 works exist only in digital… read more
July 5, 2010, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing ArtsRemembering P. T. Barnum’s pre-circus career on his birthday July 5, 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of P. T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum, famed circus showman, museum proprietor, lecturer, author, and one-time mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Barnum loved that his birthday followed the July 4 holiday, and in his first autobiography, The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written… read more
July 1, 2010, Filed Under: UncategorizedNew book sheds some light on "The House of Knopf" We have read thousands of letters to and from Knopf authors, editorial reports, publicity materials, and sales accounts. Despite having lived in their “house,” read their personal letters, and viewed Alfred’s photographs, I don’t feel that I understand either of the Knopfs particularly well. Both were temperamental and rife with… read more
June 29, 2010, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, FilmCostumes reveal character revelations As the Making Movies exhibition demonstrates, a costume can reveal much about a film character. For example, a character’s social and economic class can be represented through the style and quality of her or his clothes, shoes, and jewelry, and whether those clothes are clean and fresh or tattered and… read more
