Monsters Eat Christmas!
December 7 2005 - January 4 2006
Gojira
To celebrate the bfi re-release of the uncut version of Japanese classic, Godzilla and to mark the December release of Peter Jackson's homage to the mighty King Kong, the bfi National Library was proud to present its December Reading Room Display.... Monsters Eat Christmas.
King Kong
Scream... as you browse the monstrous selection of books on display!
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Gasp... as you delve into our fiendishly large journal collection!
Bride of Frankesntein
And swoon... as you come into contact with priceless gems from the bfi's Special Collections, including an original press book for King Kong (1933)!
For the faint of heart there was also a featured display commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Variety, of which the bfi National Library has a complete run on microfilm.
We would like to wish all our past, present and future library users a very Happy Christmas.
Images courtesy of bfi Stills, Posters and Designs
Happy 100th Birthday Variety
It began in a small store front office on West 46th Street, New York on 16 December 1905. The brainchild of its legendary editor-in-chief Sime Silverman, that first issue of Variety only made up 16 pages, cost a mere 5 cents and didn't even mention film.
It was and still is "A Variety paper for Variety people" as Sime put it in his first editorial, with the promise that the reviews and copy would not be dictated to by advertising. If an artist stank, Variety had no qualms in saying so. Things haven't changed much in regard editorial policy, even if the trade bible now occupies different offices in New York, as well as Los Angeles, Washington DC, Sydney, Hong Kong, London Spain and Portugal. And whilst cost and page numbers have hiked up over the years, the same honest criticism can be found within its pages, proving Variety deserves the longevity it has achieved. Film and television news now take prominent place between its covers, but it still covers the major theatre productions and off-off Broadway fair that the first Variety journalists ('mugs' as Sime nick-named them) wrote about a century ago.
With the age of entertainment undergoing another change as we move into the digital era, it is heartening to know that Variety will be there to report the changes, just as it did with the birth of sound, the introduction of Technicolor and the beginnings of television. As long as a Variety of entertainment is on offer to the public, Variety shall be there telling you what's good and what's bad about it.
Also in December was our Variety 100, looking back over 100 years of Variety. The bfi National Library holds copies of every weekly Variety since 1905 to the present day which visitors are welcome to peruse.
Emma Smart, Periodicals Librarian, bfi National Library
