A Trip Back into American Screen History

Why do people go to see movies? Some people claim that audiences go for the genre. Others say they go for the director. But most really go to see their favorite actors and actresses. Dan Callahan, author of The Art of American Screen Acting: 1912-1960, will take us back into film history using clips to illustrate the style and technique of major screen actors from Lillian Gish to James Dean, as well as Princetonian, Jimmy Stewart.    Callahan celebrates and analyzes many of the so-called “pre-Brando” actors of the classic Hollywood period and makes a case for their more heightened but just as valid style. Often dismissed as old-fashioned, these players deserve this new look and new reckoning that places them as icons of creativity and pleasure before more naturalistic Method actors of the 1950s  took over.

Callahan studied acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory in Manhattan. An NYU graduate, Callahan was the Book Review Editor at Culturedose.com.  Callahan has also been published in New York Magazine and Time Out New York and writes regular theater reviews for The Village Voice.