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Join us this weekend for author Brent Phillips, who will discuss his new book, Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance on Saturday, February 7, and Sunday, February 8!
According to the University Press of Kentucky, Brent Phillips' new book illuminates the life of a man whose work involved some of the most important figures of classic cinema: "From the trolley scene in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’s last dance on the silver screen (The Barkleys of Broadway, 1949) to Judy Garland’s timeless, tuxedo-clad performance of “Get Happy” (Summer Stock, 1950), Charles Walters staged the iconic musical sequences of Hollywood’s golden age. During his career, this Academy Award–nominated director and choreographer showcased the talents of stars such as Gene Kelly, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, and Frank Sinatra. However, despite his many critical and commercial triumphs, Walters’s name often goes unrecognized today.
In the first full-length biography of Walters, Brent Phillips chronicles the artist’s career, from his days as a featured Broadway performer and protégé of theater legend Robert Alton to his successes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He takes readers behind the scenes of many of the studio’s most beloved musicals, including Easter Parade (1948), Lili (1953), High Society (1956), and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). In addition, Phillips recounts Walters’s associations with Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford, and Gloria Swanson, examines the director’s uncredited work on several films, including the blockbuster Gigi (1958), and discusses his contributions to musical theater and American popular culture.
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This revealing book also considers Walters’s personal life and explores how he navigated the industry as an openly gay man. Drawing on unpublished oral histories, correspondence, and new interviews, this biography offers an entertaining and important new look at an exciting era in Hollywood history."
Brent Phillips is a former Joffrey Ballet soloist and a 2003 graduate of the L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation at the George Eastman House. He holds a BA in English from Hunter College (CUNY) and has taught American History and English at the Harvey Milk High School in New York City. Phillips has worked as the Media Archivist at Fales Library since November 2003, where he safeguards the nearly 90,000 audiovisual holdings from various theater, dance, music, and cinema collections, as well as notable public access television collections like the Gay Cable Network Archive.
Phillips will be interviewed on Thursday, February 12 at 6 p.m., at the Fales Library on the NYU Campus By John Fricke, film historian who has written several books about Judy Garland and The Wizard of Oz, and is widely-regarded as the preeminent Judy Garland and Wizard of Oz historian. (Fricke was a Special Guest at the TCM Film Festival 2014.)
Space is limited for this special event; please contact: [email protected]
December's Friday Night Spotlight on TCM featured Phillips and TCM Host Robert Osborne discussing the films directed by Charles Walters.
Links:
Amazon link:
TCM's Friday Night Spotlight: http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1 ... lters.html
Laura's Miscellaneous Musings: http://laurasmiscmusings.blogspot.com/2 ... arles.html
The University of Kentucky Press: http://kentuckypress.com/live/title_det ... MvMRIFOKrU
NYU appearance: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/resear ... stest.html
Wall Street Journal Review: http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review ... 1420835193
Brent Phillips' Facebook page celebrating all things Charles "Chuck" Walters:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Charles- ... 2837020474