July 8, 1998 Library of Congress Performing Arts Series Continues with a New Volume on Motion Pictures

Press Contact: Helen W. Dalrymple (202) 707-1940

The Library of Congress has recently published a volume on its unique and comprehensive motion picture collections, Performing Arts: Motion Pictures. The articles are lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white images - frame enlargements, film stills, publicity shots, music manuscripts, and lobby cards - and are written by experts in the field. The volume covers topics ranging from Hollywood, German and Soviet films to jazz and some "radiant ladies" of the screen: Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth.

The articles on Hollywood films include Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo," by noted writer and film critic James McCourt, and Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter," by Hollywood film critic and lecturer Preston Neal Jones. Film music is analyzed in depth by Ross Care, a composer and music writer, in articles on Johnny Green's music for "Raintree County" and film music from 1950 to 1965, the Golden Age of the Hollywood studio system.

Foreign films are represented by Library of Congress film expert Cooper C. Graham's article on Leni Riefenstahl's "Olympia," which includes film enlargements and music-action layouts; and by Russian-speaking writer and former diplomat Donald Kent's essay on Soviet films, both lighthearted and gloomy.

The glamorous images and exciting lives and times of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth in both the United States and Europe are brought to life through film stills and publicity photos by filmmaker and critic John J. Wayne.

The world of jazz is partially represented at the Library through its film collections, and jazz expert Patricia Willard presents an overview of jazz-related films dating from early "Soundies" to "Lady Sings the Blues," illustrated with frame enlargements and unique photos from the prestigious William Gottlieb Collection in the Library's Music Division.

Jazz and films are also honored in special tributes to the late Gene Kelly, Gerry Mulligan and Robert Saudek.

Montgomery Clift and Lee Marvin appear on the cover of Performing Arts: Motion Pictures in a scene from "Raintree County." This 269-page, hard-cover volume has an index and is the seventh volume in the Performing Arts series. Performing Arts: Music, 1995 (stock number 030-001-00158-0), $29, is the only other title in the series that is still available.

Performing Arts: Motion Pictures is available for $49 from the Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Cite stock number 003-001-00172- 51 when ordering. Copies may also be ordered with a major credit card from the Library's Sales Shop. Call (202) 707- 0204; the cost will include a mailing and handling charge of $8.

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PR 98-103
1998-07-09
ISSN 0731-3527