Starr, Cecile.

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Filmmaker, critic, and producer Cecile Starr was born July 14, 1921 in Nashville, Tennessee. She studied film at Columbia University, where she taught from 1955-1961. She has worked as a consultant and educational coordinator for the Lincoln Center, the New School for Social Research, Hunter College, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the United Nations World Health Organization. She married film producer Aram Boyajian in 1957.

Mary Ellen Bute was a film animator, director and producer. She was a pioneer in adopting electronic techniques for film animation. Early in her career she made animated films in the "visual music" style that synchronized abstract images and music. Her later films were live action and included adaptations of works by James Joyce and Thornton Wilder.

From the description of Cecile Starr papers relating to Mary Ellen Bute, 1935-2008. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702198695

Filmmaker, frlm writer, and educator Cecile Starr was born in Nashville, TN (July 14, 1921) and grew up in New Orleans, LA. She received a B.A. in Romance Languages (LSU, 1941) and a masters degree in Adult Education (Columbia University. Teachers College, 1952); after which she taught film history and criticism in Columbia's Graduate Film department (1955-1961).

Starr worked as non-thratrical writer and editor for the quarterly "Film Forum Review" (1946-1949) and the weekly "Saturday Review" (1949-1959). She also published free-lance articles in "The New York Times" and various film journals (sometimes on highly controversal subjects). Starr wrote or edited four books: "Ideas on Film" (1951); "Film Society Primer" (1956); "Discovering the Movies" (1972); "Experimental Animation", with Robert Russett (1976, revised 1988). As a scriptwriter and producer, her films include the award-winning "Fellow Citizen, A. Lincoln" and "Islamic Carpets."

For 35 years Staff has worked as a part-time, home-based distributor, renting and selling films on behalf of friends and colleagues, including Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker, Helen Levitt, Mary Ellen Bute, Hans Richter and others. In 1977 she founded and became co-director of the Women's Independent Film Exchange, and in 1991 she received one of the Anthology Film Archive's Fiulm Preservation award.

Starr married filmmaker Aram Boyajian in 1957. They have two children and one grandson.

From the description of Cecile Starr papers, 1925-2001. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 416077028

Filmmaker, critic, and producer Cecile Starr was born July 14, 1921 in Nashville, Tennessee. She studied film at Columbia University, where she taught from 1955-1961. She has worked as a consultant and educational coordinator for the Lincoln Center, the New School for Social Research, Hunter College, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the United Nations World Health Organization. She married film producer Aram Boyajian in 1957.

Mary Ellen Bute was a film animator, director and producer. She was a pioneer in adopting electronic techniques for film animation. Early in her career she made animated films in the "visual music" style that synchronized abstract images and music. Her later films were live action and included adaptations of works by James Joyce and Thornton Wilder.

Bute was born in Houston, Texas in 1906. She studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadephia and lighting design at Yale University. Her early influences included Leon Theremin and Gerald Warburg and she collaborated with Theremin to produce a paper titled "Light as an art material and its possible synchronization with sound" (1932). Most of Bute's films were produced by Ted Nemeth Studios or Expanding Cinema Studios and her collaborators included Norman McLaren and Melville Webber. Later in life Bute was a founding member of the Women's Independent Film Exchange.

Bute's films include: "Synchromy" (1932 or 1933), "Rhythm in Light" (1934), "Synchromy No. 2" (1935), "Dada" (1936), "Parabola" (1937), "Escape" (1937), "Spook Sport" (1939), "Tarantella" (1940), "Polka Graph" (1947), "Color Rhapsody" (1948), "Imagination" (1948), "New Sensations in Sound" (1949), "Pastorale" (1950), "Abstronic" (1952), "Mood Contrasts" (1953), "The Boy Who Saw Through" (1956, producer), "Passages from James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake" (1965-1967), and "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" (1977-1980, unfinished). Bute's projects also include two adaptations of plays: "Lazarus Laughed" by Eugene O'Neill and "Skin of Our Teeth" by Thornton Wilder (both unfinished).

In 1940 Bute married camera operator and painter Theodore (Ted) Nemeth and they collaborated on many of her projects. Ted Nemeth Studios focused on commercial films and Nemeth also handled the distribution of Bute's films. Bute and Nemeth had two sons: Theodore Jr. and James.

From the guide to the Cecile Starr papers relating to Mary Ellen Bute, 1935-2008, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Filmmaker, frlm writer, and educator Cecile Starr was born in Nashville, TN (July 14, 1921) and grew up in New Orleans, LA. She received a B.A. in Romance Languages (LSU, 1941) and a masters degree in Adult Education (Columbia University. Teachers College, 1952); after which she taught film history and criticism in Columbia's Graduate Film department (1955-1961). Starr worked as non-thratrical writer and editor for the quarterly Film Forum Review (1946-1949) and the weekly Saturday Review (1949-1959). She also published free-lance articles in The New York Times and various film journals (sometimes on highly controversal subjects). Starr wrote or edited four books: Ideas on Film (1951); Film Society Primer (1956); Discovering the Movies (1972); Experimental Animation, with Robert Russett (1976, revised 1988). As a scriptwriter and producer, her films include the award-winning Fellow Citizen, A. Lincoln and Islamic Carpets .

For 35 years Staff has worked as a part-time, home-based distributor, renting and selling films on behalf of friends and colleagues, including Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker, Helen Levitt, Mary Ellen Bute, Hans Richter and others. In 1977 she founded and became co-director of the Women's Independent Film Exchange, and in 1991 she received one of the Anthology Film Archive's Fiulm Preservation award. Starr married filmmaker Aram Boyajian in 1957. They have two children and one grandson.

From the guide to the Cecile Starr Papers, 1925-2001., (Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, )

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Starr, Cecile. Reminiscences of Cecile Starr : oral history, 1973. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
referencedIn John Mason Brown papers, 1922-1967. Houghton Library
creatorOf Cecile Starr papers relating to Mary Ellen Bute, 1935-2008 Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Cecile Starr Papers, 1925-2001. Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Starr, Cecile. Cecile Starr papers, 1925-2001. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
referencedIn Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker correspondence with Cecile Starr, 1962-1982. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Alexeieff, Alexandre, 1901-1982. Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker correspondence with Cecile Starr, 1962-1982. Harvard University, Harvard Theater Collection, Harvard College Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Agee, James, 1909-1955 person
associatedWith Agee, James, 1909-1955. person
correspondedWith Alexeieff, Alexandre, 1901-1982 person
associatedWith Alexeieff, Alexandre, 1901-1982. person
associatedWith Boyajian, Aram. person
associatedWith Boyajian, Aram. person
correspondedWith Brown, John Mason, 1900-1969 person
associatedWith Bute, Mary Ellen. person
associatedWith Bute, Mary Ellen. person
associatedWith Columbia University. corporateBody
associatedWith Columbia University. corporateBody
associatedWith Flaherty, Robert Joseph, 1884-1951. person
associatedWith Harding, Bruce, person
associatedWith Jarrell, Randall, 1914-1965 person
associatedWith Jarrell, Randall, 1914-1965. person
associatedWith New School University. corporateBody
associatedWith New School University. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Cinematographers
Directors
Independent filmmakers
Motion picture industry
Motion pictures
Motion pictures
Motion pictures
Women motion picture producers and directors
Occupation
Authors, American
Women authors, American
Filmmaker
Independent filmmakers
Motion picture producers and directors
Women motion picture producers and directors
Women teachers
Activity

Person

Active 1935

Active 2008

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