Diana Altman's father, the late Al Altman, was the MGM talent scout who
discovered James Stewart, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, and dozens of other
unknown actors who became stars. Their screen tests were shot in a newsreel
studio, now a condo, on 54th Street and Tenth Avenue. In this event,
Ms. Altman will combine screenings of this extremely rare footage with a discussion of the studio system and the days when New York controlled Hollywood.
Until the early 1960s Hollywood was the pretty face of the movie industry, with New York the heart and lungs: Clark Gable's check was signed at 1540
Broadway. Ms. Altman will describe how the studio system evolved, how it vanished, and the role of her father's job in it all. Her 1992 book
Hollywood East: Louis B. Mayer and the Origins of the Studio System tells the definitive story of this era in film history, and her 2010 novel
In Theda Bara's Tent revisits the subject and the period.
Actors spotted in the screen tests include not only Crawford and Gardner, but also Bob Hope, John Forsythe, Henry Fonda, Franchot Tone, Celeste Holm, and Dinah Shore, among others. Each test is a silent mini-movie with sets and
costumes, attesting to the creativity of the fledgling art of films and to the
centrality of New York City in its foundation.
Diana Altman is an independent film historian and fiction writer with degrees from Connecticut College and Harvard University. In addition to her two books, her work has appeared in the New York Times, ForbesWoman, American Heritage, StoryQuarterly and many other places. She is a former President of the Boston chapter of the Women's National Book Association, a member of the Central Park Conservancy, and a Trustee of the Sebago Long Lake Music Festival in Maine.
