Summary Information
Abstract
The Andrew Sarris Papers are comprised of correspondence,
drafts and manuscripts, clippings, printed ephemera, periodicals, monographs,
photographs, and audio recordings related to the career and personal life of
renowned film critic Andrew Sarris. The materials span several decades, from the
inception of his career as a film critic and theorist in the mid-1950s to the last
years of his long tenure at
The Village Voice
in the
late 1980s..
At a Glance
| Call No.: | MS#1451 |
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| Bib ID: | 6892031 View CLIO record |
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| Creator(s): | Sarris, Andrew. |
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| Title: | Andrew Sarris
Papers,
1948-1988
[Bulk dates: 1965-1985]
|
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| Physical description: | 20.42 linear ft.
|
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| Language(s): | In English
and French
|
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| Access: |
This collection has no restrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
twenty-four (24) hours in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library reading room.
More information » |
|---|
Arrangement
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in seven series.
-
Series I: Correspondence, 1952-1988, undated
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Series II: Drafts and manuscripts, 1961-1986, undated
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Series III: Printed material, 1952-1988, undated
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Series IV: Photographs, undated
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Series V: Recordings, 1965-1969, undated
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Series VI: Family papers, 1953-1970, undated
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Series VII: Personal files, 1945-1980, undated
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Description
Scope and Content
The Andrew Sarris papers are comprised of personal and professional correspondence,
drafts of various pieces published throughout his career, manuscripts of
screenplays, clippings of pieces written by and about Sarris, press releases,
printed ephemera, filmic periodicals and monographs, film stills, and recordings of
Sarris’ "Films in Focus" radio program.
Series I: Correspondence, 1952-1988,
undated
This series is comprised of both personal and professional correspondence.
Arranged chronologically, the series contains mostly incoming and some
outgoing correspondence. This includes, but is not limited to,
correspondence between readers, students, publishers, and university
officials. There are also a number of letters from notable directors,
including Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Orson Welles, and Oliver Stone,
as well as actors such as Christopher Walken and Shirley MacLaine.
Series II: Drafts and manuscripts, 1961-1986,
undated
This series is comprised of drafts and rough notes, in various stages of
completion, which Sarris generated over the course of his career. It also
contains manuscripts of screenplays written by Sarris, in addition to a
number of manuscripts written by others and likely submitted to Sarris for
feedback.
Subseries 1: Drafts, undated
As a majority of the drafts are fragments and virtually none are dated,
this subseries is not arranged in any particular order, but is separated
between complete and partial drafts. “Complete drafts” are defined as
pieces that are essentially whole and whose titles can be identified,
whereas partial drafts are more fragmented and thus difficult to
classify by title.
Subseries 2: Manuscripts, 1961-1986,
undated
The bulk of the material in this subseries is authored by others;
however, there are three screenplay manuscripts written or co-written by
Sarris:
Promise at Dawn
(1964),
Justine
(1964), and the undated
Wickford Point
. Manuscripts by others
includes both screenplay and book manuscripts. Of note are two undated
screenplays by King Vidor that were never produced as films. The
manuscripts authored by others are separated between screenplays and
books, and are arranged alphabetically by author.
Series III: Printed material, 1952-1988
undated
This series is diverse and is thus arranged in five subseries. It is
comprised of both published material and printed ephemera.
Subseries 1: Clippings, 1960-1988
undated
This subseries is comprised of clippings of articles authored by Sarris,
articles mentioning Sarris, and general filmic articles collected by
Sarris throughout his career.
Subseries 2: Press releases, 1952-1988,
undated
This sub-series contains press releases Sarris collected throughout his
journalistic career. These include releases from agencies such as
Universal Studios and the American Film Institute. Though some are
undated, they are arranged chronologically where possible.
Subseries 3: Printed ephemera, 1963-1988,
undated
This sub-series contains a broad array of material, and includes
programs, flyers, pamphlets, posters, and invitations. The ephemera in
this series relate mostly to special events, film festivals and
screenings Sarris attended throughout his career.
Subseries 4: Monographs,
1960s-1980s
This sub-series contains film-related monographs.
Subseries 5: Periodicals,
1960s-1980s
This sub-series contains filmic journals and magazines. Most are American
publications, but there are also a number of French titles. Titles with
a significant number of issues include
Cahiers du
Cinema
,
Films in Review
,
Films and Filming
, and
Sight and Sound
. They are arranged
alphabetically by title, and each title and its corresponding box number
is listed in the finding aid.
Series IV: Photographs, undated
This series is comprised mostly of film stills. Films with a significant
number of stills are grouped together and arranged alphabetically by title,
and the film titles are listed in the finding aid. For other films with a
less significant number of stills, the titles were previously handwritten on
the back, though there are some stills that could not be identified. This
series also contains a few headshots and portraits of directors, including
Ingmar Bergman and John Ford. The series also features a small section of
personal photographs, many of them portraits of Sarris’ wife, Molly
Haskell.
Series V: Recordings, 1965-1969,
undated
This series is comprised mostly of recordings on magnetic tape of Sarris’s
radio program “Films in Focus.” Though a few dates could not be determined,
the majority is dated and is arranged chronologically. There is also footage
of the 1980 Critics Choice Awards on two VHS tapes.
Series VI: Family papers, 1953-1970,
undated
This series is comprised of papers originally belonging to Sarris’s mother,
Themis Sarris, and brother, George Sarris. Themis Sarris’s papers include
mostly notebooks, while George Sarris’s papers include correspondence, and
general materials related to his service in the military.
Series VII: Personal files, 1945-1980,
undated
This series is comprised mostly of material originating from Sarris’s earlier
life, and includes school records and assignments, report cards, various
awards and certificates, and military records. The series also includes
personal notes in small spiral notebooks. Though the series relates mostly
to his personal life and pre-career, there is also a small section of
publishing contracts and a framed award from the Morris Morgenstern
Foundation that is housed in an oversized box.
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Using the Collection
Offsite
Access Restrictions
This collection has no restrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least
twenty-four (24) hours in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and
Manuscript Library reading room.
More information and link to off-site request form
Restrictions on Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material
from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University
Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to
publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright
permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Andrew Sarris Papers; Box and
Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Selected Related Material-- at Columbia
Reminiscences of Andrew Sarris : oral history, 1981.
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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and
Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University
Libraries Digital Library Program Division
Processing Information
Original papers (1.67 linear ft.) processed in June 2008 by Annie Rudd, Graduate
School of Journalism 2013. Accrual (18.75 linear ft.) processed by Megan Darlington,
University of Michigan 2013.
Updated finding aid written by Megan Darlington in August 2012.
Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT
conversion January 22, 2009
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by
Describing
Archives: A Content Standard
2009-04-16
xml document instance created by Lea Osborne
2012-08-21
xml document instance updated by Megan Darlington
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Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Genre/Form
Subjects
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History / Biographical Note
Biographical Note
Andrew Sarris was a prominent American film critic, perhaps known best for giving
credence to the European auteur theory in the United States. Born October 31, 1928
to Greek immigrant parents, he was raised in Ozone Park, Queens. Sarris graduated
from Columbia University in 1951, and subsequently served in the United States Army
Signal Corps from 1952 to 1954. Though his zeal for film developed at an early age,
Sarris’ career in film criticism formally began in 1955 when he met Jonas Mekas,
co-editor of the fledgling journal
Film Culture,
who
enlisted Sarris to contribute to the publication.
Sarris wrote for
Film Culture
for several years. In
1960, Mekas, at that time a film reviewer for
The Village
Voice,
asked Sarris to substitute for him. Sarris’ first article, a
controversial piece on Alfred Hitchcock’s
Psycho,
appeared in the
Voice
on August 11, 1960. The article
became the first of many, and Sarris continued to write for the
Voice
for nearly thirty years. It was also around this
time that Sarris developed a deep interest in French cinema; in particular, he was
drawn to the New Wave movement and the critical approaches to film that were
concomitant with its emergence.
Inspired by French critic François Truffaut and other contributors to the journal
Cahiers du Cinema,
he wrote "Notes on the Auteur
Theory in 1962," which appeared in
Film Culture
. In
this contentious essay, Sarris espoused the concept that a film directly reflects
the director’s creative vision; essentially, film is a director’s artistic medium,
and should be critically analyzed and appreciated as such. His essay aroused
considerable dissension from other critics, and sparked the notorious dispute
between himself and Pauline Kael.
Though controversial, Sarris managed to propagate the auteur theory, and it became a
fixture in the dialect of American film criticism. In his 1968 book
The American Cinema: Directors and Directions,
1929-1968,
Sarris expanded on the auteurist approach, and the work
became a seminal opus in the canon of film literature. He later contributed a number
of other influential books, such as
Confessions of a
Cultist
(1970),
The Primal Screen
(1972),
and
Politics and Cinema
(1978).
In addition to journalism, Sarris held a professorship at Columbia for many years. He
also taught courses at Yale, NYU, The School of the Visual Arts, and Juilliard. He
received a number of awards and accolades including the Rockefeller Fellowship at
Bellagio (1991), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969), Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des
Lettres (1982), the Special Award from the L.A. Critics Circle (1985), the Maurice
Bessy Award, Montreal (1995), and was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for
Criticism (2000).
Sarris married feminist film critic Molly Haskell in 1969. The two met when Haskell
worked at the French Film Office in New York. They remained married until his death
on June 20, 2012.
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