Background
MacCann, Richard Dyer was born on August 20, 1920 in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Son of Horace Shores and Marion (Dyer) MacC.
(Again Richard Dyer MacCann has brought his editorial skil...)
Again Richard Dyer MacCann has brought his editorial skills to the task of presenting for the students and the general reader what movie making was like in the earliest days of America. This time he tells the stories of the lives, works, and fortunes of the most talented and prolific early American directors. Not only did they express themselves as artists, they also became popular, rich, and famous. Through autobiographical writings and the appraisals of contemporaries and more recent historians, Dr. MacCann provides the reader with a rich background for understanding how Thomas Ince, William S. Hart, D.W. Griffith, and Erich non Stroheim did their work. He also reveals some of the conflicts in critical views about them, past and present. Many teachers will agree that these hard-to-find selections are invaluable source materials to go along with more tradtional texts. From the latest scholarship on Edwin S. Porter and Alice Guy Blaché to the little-known "realist-manifesto" of Thomas Ince and the latest judgements on the value of Griffith's later works as art―the reader will find rewards and surprises here. Dr. MacCann's introductory essays also provide new ways of looking at the philosophy an dmotivations of these early creative titans. His view of Erich von Stroheim will cause some controversy among traditional supporters of that temperamental man, and his analysis of D.W. Griffiths's relationships with his associates, especially Lillian Gish, may give pause to pure auteurists.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081082230X/?tag=2022091-20
(MacCann has shaped from 28 different memoirs and historie...)
MacCann has shaped from 28 different memoirs and histories a cumulative story of the conflicts and achievements of the founders of the great movie studios. Carl Laemmle, Marcus Loew, William Fox, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse Lasky, and Adolph Zukor are the stars of this history, some of them speaking in their own voices, others assessed by film historians. Zukor (described by Ramsaye as 'inwardly driven by Napoleonic ambition') becomes the central figure of the era. A source book for students and teachers and a treasure for general readers and classic film fans.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810819503/?tag=2022091-20
('A splendid anthology' ―Kevin Brownlow, author of The Par...)
'A splendid anthology' ―Kevin Brownlow, author of The Parade's Gone By and Hollywood: The Pioneers. This pathbreaking work will become our most valuable resource on the performers of the American silent screen. Hollywood was the new frontier of the 20th century. ('The last Klondike,' Gary Cooper called it.) Here are brief biographies of 176 people who won leading roles plus more dramatic reports on 33 of them―how they reached fame and fortune, 'some sad and happy endings,' analyses of the images of America they presented. Two special chapters: Pickford and Fairbanks, Swanson and Valentino.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810825287/?tag=2022091-20
(MacCann features Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Ke...)
MacCann features Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon in this guide to the lives and works of the most important silent comedy movie-makers in America―the fourth in his acclaimed series, American Movies: The First Thirty Years. In twenty-eight articles reprinted from various sources, twenty-five contributors show how these five artists struggled in early years to find themselves, rise above limited circumstances, and make their entries into production at a time when Hollywood was the new frontier of the twentieth century. For each artist, MacCann includes some kind of statement by the artist himself about comic goals and methods. Contributors include James Agee, Samuel Gill, Penelope Houston, Theodore Huff, Janet E. Lorenz, Donald McCaffrey, Charles J. Maland, Daniel Moews, Graham Petrie, David Robinson, Michael Roemer, Robert E. Sherwood, Anthony Slide, William Schelly, and others. MacCann's introduction eloquently discusses the value of comedy and laments the critical tendency to prefer tragedy: "...the jolly fat clowns of comedy must more than ever be critically stretched to conform with lanky and lugubrious Hamlets in order to be worthy of praise. The celebration of the sad clown is a triumph of philosophy over art."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810827301/?tag=2022091-20
MacCann, Richard Dyer was born on August 20, 1920 in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Son of Horace Shores and Marion (Dyer) MacC.
Bachelor of Arts, U. Kansas, 1940. Master of Arts, Stanford University, 1942. Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, Harvard University, 1951.
Staff correspondent The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles, 1951-1957.
Assistant professor cinema University of Southern California, 1957-1962. Screenwriter Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-television and John Houseman Prodns., Los Angeles, 1963-1964.
Producer Subscription television, Incorporated., Santa Monica, California, 1964. Television producer Los Angeles County Schools, 1964-1965.
Associate professor speech and journalism U. Kansas, 1965-1969, professor, 1969-1970.
Visiting professor fine arts and visual studies Harvard University, summer 1967. Professor broadcasting and film department communication studies U. Iowa, 1970-1986, visiting emeritus professor, 1987-1988. Adviser National Film Production Center, Republic of of Korea, 1963.
Member steering committee, lecturer Aspen Film Conference, 1963, 64.
Weekly broadcaster film criticism KANU-FM, U. Kansas, 1966-1968. Writer-producer-host The Quiet Channel, U. Iowa Cable Channel 28, Iowa City, 1983, American Silent Film, 1984.
President Image & Idea Incorporated.
Staff correspondent The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles, 1951—1957. Assistant professor cinema University Southern, 1957—1962. Screenwriter Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-television and John Houseman Productions, Los Angeles, 1963—1964.
Producer Subscription television, Inc., Santa Monica, 1964. Television producer Los Angeles County Schools, 1964—1965. Associate professor speech and journalism University Kansas, 1965—1969, professor, 1969—1970.
Visiting professor fine arts and visual studies Harvard University, 1967. Professor broadcasting and film department communications studies University Iowa, 1970—1986, visiting emeritus professor, 1987—1988. Adviser National Film Production Center, 1963, member steering committee.
Lecturer Aspen Film Conference, 1963—1964. Weekly broadcaster film criticism KANU-FM, University Kansas, 1966—1968. Writer-producer-host The Quiet Channel, University Iowa Cable Channel 28, Iowa City, 1983, American Silent Film, 1984.
President Image & Idea Inc. Served United States Army, 1942-1945.
(MacCann features Mack Sennett, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Ke...)
(Again Richard Dyer MacCann has brought his editorial skil...)
(MacCann has shaped from 28 different memoirs and historie...)
('A splendid anthology' ―Kevin Brownlow, author of The Par...)
(Book by MacCann, Richard Dyer)
Served with Army of the United States, 1942-1945. National Endowment for Humanities senior fellow, 1973. Member University Film and Video Association, Society Cinema Studies, Writers Guild American, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Donnarae Charlotte Thompson, October 12, 1957.