Terry Ramsaye  

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"The motion picture is a genuine art. It is genuine in that it is strictly popular, ... Like all the great arts its appeal is based on a few primitive, and therefore universal, instincts and mechanisms in man. Sex and combat are the chief instincts. The eye is the principal mechanism."[1] -- A Million and One Nights, Terry Ramsaye

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Terry Ramsaye (2 November 1885, Tonganoxie, Kansas - 19 August 1954, Norwalk, Connecticut) was a film historian and author of A Million and One Nights.

Biography

Ramsaye started his professional career as an engineer but switched to journalism when he joined the staff of the Kansas City Star and Times in 1905. In the following decade, he worked on newspapers in Leavenworth, Kansas, and in Omaha, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago.

The motion picture industry was in its infancy when he joined Mutual Film Corporation in 1915. While at Mutual, he produced some Charlie Chaplin comedies and founded Screen Telegram, which achieved conspicuous success during World War I. He was one of the founding members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers.

Subsequently he was associated with Samuel Roxy Rothafel in the management of Broadway's Rialto and Rivoli theaters. He also launched and edited the newsreel Kinograms. After producing and editing numerous adventure films including Grass (1925) and Simba: King of the Beasts (1928) with explorers Martin and Osa Johnson, he became editor-in-chief of Pathé News and Audio Review.

In 1931, Ramsaye joined the Quigley Publishing Company as editor of the Motion Picture Herald, a post he held until 1941. Subsequently, he lectured on motion pictures and contributed articles to various encyclopedias and year books. He continued his association with Quigley as consulting editor and author of a weekly column for the Herald until his death in 1954.

Thomas Edison's endorsement is included in the book. H. L. Mencken spoke highly of it.

References

  • Dust jacket copy "About the Author" in the one-volume third printing (1964) of the original 1926 two-volume edition of Ramsaye's classic A Million And One Nights.
  • Thomas Edison and H. L. Mencken both spoke highly of his book which is subtitled "A History of the Motion Picture Through 1925".




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Terry Ramsaye" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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