Draft:Hugh and Suzanne Johnston (filmmakers)

Hugh and Suzanne Johnston made together more than 50 documentary films over the course of their careers.

Early Life and Education

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Suzanne Johnston (1926-2011) was born in Pittsburgh ande graduated with bachelors degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh. Subsequently, she received a MA in Art History from Radcliffe College in 1953.[1]

Career

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In 1954 she moved to New York and began writing for art and industrial design magazines. Soon after she and her husband married, they moved to Princeton to work for a local company, On Film, Inc., as writers and producers. Weegee was a reglar collaborator in their early days. One of Suzanne's articles, As I Remember Weegee, was published in The Photo Review (Winter 1999).

In the 1960s they began producing 16mm films independently. A few of their early productions focused on New Jersey: A Different Childhood documented poverty in Trenton, and their film, Hey Cow I See You Now, which aired as the opening sequence of the first episode of Sesame Street, was shot on the historic Walker Gordon Dairy Farm in Plainsboro.

Filmography

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Some of their well-known productions include:

  • Pittsburgh (1958)
  • Time to Begin (1969)[2]
  • Viva Mexico: A Cultural Portrait (1972)[3]
  • Mystery of the Maya (1974) about the redisovery of Temple B and braodcast on PBS
  • Magic Windows (1981)
  • The Pueblo Presence (1981), which was shown at the National Museum of Art in Washington, DC
  • The Sun Kingdom of Yucatan (1984)[4]

References

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  1. ^ Obituary: Suzanne Johnston,TownTopics.com, LXV(13), March 30, 2011
  2. ^ The National Union Catalog: A Cumulative Author List Representing Library of Congress Printed Cards and Titles Reported by Other American Libraries1968-1972, MOTION PICTURES AND FILMSTRIPS VOLUME 4 Subject A-Z, J. W. EDWARDS PUBLISHER, INC. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, 1973, p.542.
  3. ^ Music Educators Journal , Oct., 1972, Vol. 59, No. 2, Music in World Cultures (Oct., 1972), p. 16.
  4. ^ The Sun Kingdom of Yucatan review by Wendy Ashmore. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Mar., 1986), p. 273.
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Hugh and Suzanne Johnston," Temple B: Diary of a Discovery,' Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, March 1974.