In this post I turn more specifically to the matter which prompted this series of posts: the cataloguing of the Dirk Bogarde Collection. I always like to start a project with a spreadsheet since this allows for data to be recorded systematically, legibly, and to be reorganised according to various categories if desired. It would also be the neatest may…
Pre-search: Dirk Bogarde in non-contemporaneous writing and the what (sources), why (the importance), and how (methodology) of star studies
I engaged in other pre-search before the Dirk Bogarde collection of magazines arrived. This involved investigating how much, and in what way, Bogarde appears in written work produced after his main period of stardom. This is not necessary for the cataloguing of the BFI’s collection of magazines and, since it is often retrospective, may in fact cover quite different ground…
Pre-search: Dirk Bogarde’s Life and Career
Before the Dirk Bogarde collection was delivered I engaged in a fair amount of ‘pre-search’. Part of this was refreshing my mind on, and expanding my knowledge of, Bogarde’s life and career. A look at his Wikipedia page was a good starting point, also providing avenues for me to follow, and references to access, at a later date. Other useful preliminary…
Introduction: The Dirk Bogarde Collection Project
INTRODUCTORY NOTE – Over the next few weeks, the NoRMMA blog will be hosting a series of posts focusing on archival materials relating to Dirk Bogarde. These archival materials were catalogued recently for the BFI by Dr Sarah Polley, one of our founding NoRMMA members – and she very kindly took the time to write up a series of eight blog posts about…
“You wouldn’t have these problems if you were a fallen woman!”: Female (Curtiz, 1933)
Our friends over at the Melodrama Research Group are continuing to explore pre-Code Hollywood cinema this term, starting with a screening of Female this coming Tuesday. Because of this, we had a look at what the fan magazines had to say about this film and about its central star, Ruth Chatterton. Three reviews, from Photoplay, Picture Play and Motion Picture, took quite different stances…
“Yeah, I’m a tramp, and who’s to blame?”: Baby Face (Green, 1933)
Hi all! Since one of our sister groups, the Melodrama Research Group at the University of Kent, is screening Baby Face (Green, 1933) tomorrow, we here at NoRMMA thought we’d have a look at the magazine coverage on the movie at the time of its release. Baby Face was released in July of 1933 and was a controversial movie at the…
Women’s War Work is Never Done!
Women’s War Work Is Never Done: Representation of women in The War Illustrated Are you interested in history, the Great War, magazines, the representation of women, or in being part of a research project organised and run locally? If so, NoRMMA needs you! NoRMMA (Network of Researchers: Movies, Magazines, Audiences http://www.normmanetwork.com/) is an international research group founded at the University…
Reviewing Reviewing the Fan Mags…
Exciting news! Recently, founding NoRMMA member Dr Tamar Jeffers McDonald published the article “Reviewing Reviewing the Fan Mags” in Film History – it can be found in Vol. 28, no. 4 of the journal, or using the following link: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/647242 Congratulations, Tamar! The abstract reads as follows: On June 2, 1933, trade daily the Hollywood Reporter announced it was inaugurating a…
Publication announcement: “Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure”.
Just a brief post today, dear NoRMMAs, to flag up the recent publication of Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure, edited by Lucy Bolton and Julie Lobalzo Wright, for Palgrave Macmillan. More information can be found here: http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137407320 The book promises to examine “the issue of stardom and longevity and investigates the many reasons for the persistence…
Exciting NoRMMA news + Photoplay covers, 1912-1980
Things have been a little quiet on the NoRMMA blog of late, partially due to the PhD thesis of the NoRMMA blogkeeper reaching its final stages – but we return with a bit of exciting news. We’re very happy to announce that, following the “Turning The Page”-conference in November, we recently signed a contract with the University of Iowa Press to work on an…