Flashback to movies of the 1960s

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The Chester County Historical Society's new exhibit features movie posters from films of the 1960s.

It was a time when movies reigned supreme and drive-ins were still in vogue. Cable TV was virtually unheard of while HBO and Netflix hadn’t risen above the horizon. And America was moving from innocence to cynicism. It was the 1960s.

It’s the ’60s that are being celebrated with a new, two-part exhibit at the Chester County Historical Society. The first part, open now through August, is “The 1960s Pop Culture: Movies, Memorabilia and the Media.

The poster from "Ice Station Zebra" is one that guest curator Michell Muldoon thinks is "drop-dead gorgeous."
The poster from "Ice Station Zebra" is one that guest curator Michell Muldoon thinks is "drop-dead gorgeous."

More than a trip back in time, it’s also a tribute to the man who was known as “Mr. Movie,” the late Steve Friedman from WCAU TV and WPHT radio. He has been referred to as a human version of IMDB, the Internet Movie Database about films.

The exhibit features movie posters from 200 films. The posters are from the private collection of Friedman and his wife, Michell Muldoon. Muldoon is the guest curator for the exhibit, and she said it took her five months to organize and hang the show.

But the task actually took longer because she first had to find out what to do with all the material. For that, she had to cross the Atlantic.

“My husband acquired a lot of materials over the years…He started when he was 4 years old…I went to London, where the film museum is, because there’s no film museum in the United States,” Muldoon said.

She returned home and spoke with a number of museums in the states, but was given no encouragement. There was flat-out refusal.

“Some of these posters were done by top illustrators, but several curators from major museums said they do not consider this art,” she said.

Muldoon pointed out the posters on display for the James Bond films as prime examples of the illustrators’ art.

“These were done by Robert McGinnis and James McCarthy. Look at how exquisite the illustrations are. They’re beautiful,” she said.

She also pointed to the poster for the film “Ice Station Zebra” with Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan, Ernest Borgnine, and Jim Brown.

“This is just drop-dead gorgeous,” Muldoon said.

She added that the work of illustrators is a major influence for at least one famous filmmaker.

“I read where Steven Spielberg went to [Howard] Pyle paintings for his inspiration on how he would set up scenes. So, when curators were turning this down, it was incredible to me,” she said.

Muldoon kept searching and eventually connected with Ford Bell, president and CEO of the American Association of Museums, who told her to look on the local level. She did just that and connected with the Chester County Historical Society.

Historical Society President Rob Lukens said having an exhibit on the ’60s had been discussed for some time, so the decision was an easy one.

Posters reflect a variety of genre, from Disney to horror.
Posters reflect a variety of genre, from Disney to horror.

“When we became familiar with Michell’s collection, it was like a match made in heaven,” Lukens said. “Through these movie posters you can learn about all kinds of social and cultural history in powerful ways you can’t get anywhere else.”

Wally Kennedy, a news anchor on KYW Radio, spoke about that history during a comments’ period.

Kennedy said he was struck by the poster for the film “Camelot,” with Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, and how what was happening on the screen at the time did not match what was happening on the street at the time.

Noting that the image of Camelot, with Arthur and Guinevere, was used to characterize the administration of President John Kennedy, Wally Kennedy’s view of the decade is that it was one of transition in which the American psyche went from innocence and trust to skepticism.

First, the assassination of President Kennedy occurred in 1963, then the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in 1968. Revered newscaster Walter Cronkite told the American public that Vietnam was unwinnable, which led President Lyndon Johnson to remark that losing Cronkite meant Johnson would lose the American public’s support for continuing the war, Kennedy said.

KYW's Wally Kennedy calls the 1960s a decade that took the American public from innocence to skepticism.
KYW's Wally Kennedy calls the 1960s a decade that took the American public from innocence to skepticism.

He called the ‘60s the “most eventful” 10 years of his life.

He added that movies depicting the ’60s with any accuracy didn’t come out until the 1970s and ’80s. He specifically mentioned “13 Days” about the Cuban missile crisis and “JFK,” Oliver Stone’s vision of the Kennedy assassination.

As for Friedman, Kennedy said he was truly an expert on movies, having a phenomenal memory with “an encyclopedic knowledge” that was “almost scary” because of all the details of movies he had in his head. “And he really knew what was talking about.”

Also speaking were radio personalities Jimmy Murray, Steve Ross and Jackie Strauss from the “Remember When” show on WPHT.

The second part of the exhibit on the 1960s, a more comprehensive display, “The Sixties!” begins Nov. 7 with presentations on fashion, civil rights, computers and business equipment, women’s rights, music, helicopters, the Vietnam War, and historic preservation.

The Chester County Historical Society is located at 225 N. High St., West Chester, 19380. To learn more about its many offerings, go to http://www.chestercohistorical.org.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.

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