It Should Happen to You. 1954. USA. Directed by George Cukor
In the mid-20th century, burgeoning television programming was often live, newscasters smoked on set, hosts had strange sidekicks (a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs, for example), and dramatic programs featured scripts by Rod Serling, Arthur Miller, Paddy Chayevsky, and Gore Vidal, to name just a few.
Spencer Tracy and Jean Simmons in The Actress. 1953. USA. Directed by George Cukor
These notes accompany screenings of George Cukor’s </em>The Actress</a> on March 6, 7, and 8 in Theater 3.</p>
George Cukor (1899–1983), a graduate of DeWitt Clinton High School, was barely out of his teens when he began working on Broadway.
Holiday. 1938. USA. Directed by George Cukor
These notes accompany the screenings of George Cukor’s </i>Holiday</a> on February 23, 24, and 25 in Theater 2.</p>
George Cukor (1899–1983) was not the kind of auteur who was stylistically flashy, and his philosophical point of view was not rigidly defined by a dogmatic personality. His talents were more subtle, but, nonetheless, genuine. Cukor’s Holiday was adapted from the Broadway success by Philip Barry, who went on to write The Animal Kingdom and The Philadelphia Story.
These notes accompany the screening of George Cukor’s </i>Camille</a> on December 22, 23, and 24 in Theater 3.</p>
Of all the major film directors of the classical Hollywood period, only two were local New York City boys. Although one of them, Raoul Walsh, romanticized the city in several of his films, he was a cowboy at heart. George Cukor (1899–1983), on the other hand, seemed to bring the city’s cosmopolitan culture to his career. I don’t mean to suggest that natal geography is destiny, but being close to Broadway as a child and becoming a stage manager there at 20 was bound to have an impact.
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