Leslie DeLassus is a film historian and instructor with a Ph.D. in Film Studies from the University of Iowa. While working on her Ph.D, DeLassus came to the Ransom Center to research early film special effects innovator, Norman O. Dawn, and his groundbreaking work.
Film
Preserving a Texas villain: Leatherface
I have yet to encounter someone who doesn’t know of the 1974 horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. While you may not have seen it, you’ve almost assuredly heard of it. The film follows five teenagers on their way to visit a desecrated grave when they pick up a hitchhiker. They find themselves at the hitchhiker’s family home where they are thrust into a world of terror. The hitchhiker is the brother of a chainsaw wielding, cannibalistic serial killer called Leatherface, a name born from his grisly habit of creating and wearing flesh masks from his victims. [Read more…] about Preserving a Texas villain: Leatherface
Mad Men archive open for research
The archive of the television show Mad Men is open for research at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Researchers will have access to the creation and production history of the series’ 92 hourlong episodes. [Read more…] about Mad Men archive open for research
Big swagger, little song
As a native Texan, Aaron Latham knows a thing or two about swagger. [Read more…] about Big swagger, little song
Love and jazz
Maxine Gordon has loved jazz music all her life. From going to hear Miles Davis and John Coltrane as a teenager, to working as a road manager and promoter when she was a young woman, to becoming the personal manager and ultimately the wife of one of the most influential jazz artists of the twentieth century, Maxine has seen it all. She makes full use of these experiences in her new book, Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon (University of California Press). [Read more…] about Love and jazz
On survival and freedom in 1958 America: Mike Wallace and Reinhold Niebuhr
In April 1958, the American Broadcast Company (ABC) began a special 13-part series of The Mike Wallace Interview devoted to “discussing the problems of survival and freedom in America.” Wallace’s first guest in the series was Reinhold Niebuhr, who Wallace introduced as “a Protestant minister, one of the most important and challenging religious thinkers in the world.” [Read more…] about On survival and freedom in 1958 America: Mike Wallace and Reinhold Niebuhr