Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
As a special tribute to the centenary of the birth of the most famous Hollywood film director of Armenian origin, Dr. Dickran Kouymjian, Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies and Director of the Kalfayan Center, will present nearly all of Rouben Mamoulian’s films in a fifteen week course at Fresno State. The class, Armenian Studies 120T, will meet Wednesdays from 6:10-9:00 PM. Non-CSUF students and seniors can register through the extension division of the 60 plus program. A limited number of special scholarships will be available directly through the Armenian Studies Program.
During this entire period from the late 1920s to the late 1950s one name dominated the imagination of Armenians everywhere in the world who were even slightly interested in cinema: Rouben Mamoulian (1898-1991).
In 1929 he was invited by Paramount to visit their Astoria studios in New York for the shooting of a film. In that same year he made his first film, Applause, still one of the great classics of early talking films. His direction of Helen Morgan and the characteristic Mamoulian instinct for movement and rhythm made it clear to everyone that Mamoulian was not only at home with the transition from the theater to celluloid, but that he was a great creator and innovator.
During the next 14 years, he directed, and at times also produced, 14 films, most of which are among the eternal classics of Hollywood. His ingenuity and daring, his intelligence and cosmopolitan sophistication were to bring a dimension to American cinema which it needed badly. His last two films were made after the second World War, Summer Holiday (1947) and Silk Stockings (1957). In films as diverse as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Queen Christina (1933), The Mark of Zorro (1940), Becky Sharp (1935), and Song of Songs (1933), he directed the greatest actors of the time: Fredric March, Greta Garbo, Helen Morgan, Miriam Hopkins, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, Randolph Scott, Irene Dunne, Anthony Quinn, John Carradine, Henry Fonda, Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, Walter Huston, James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck and many, many more.
Simultaneously, Mamoulian was working on the Broadway stage mounting some of the greatest American musicals: Porgy and Bess (1935), Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945). His work in American cinema and theater has long been regarded as “classical” and already a score of Rouben Mamoulian Festivals have been held around the world, including two at the Cinematheque francaise.
Many consider Mamoulian’s film Becky Sharp (1935) to be the first to use the newly invented tri-color Technicolor in a dramatic fashion. Becky Sharp is based on one of the classics of English literature, Vanity Fair by William Thackeray. It is one of those rare movies which is successfully able to portray the essence of a great novel. In Miriam Hopkins, Mamoulian displayed the genius he always seem to have when it came to showing off great actresses at their best on the screen. Beside the innovative use of color, the film has the usual Mamoulian trademark of rhythm and elegance.
Special Scholarships for Fall 1998
For the fall of 1998 there will be special awards for the study of Armenian Film, Arm S 120T, Films of Rouben Mamoulian (schedule # 01945) and Arts of Armenia, Arm S 20 (schedule #01912), in the amount of $300.00 awarded to all students who achieve a grade of B or higher.
Students with special financial needs may also apply for other special scholarships for these same or other Armenian Studies Program courses. Students may apply directly through the Armenian Studies Program for financial aid reasons. For the special incentive scholarships, enrollment and completion of the course with an A or B is all that is necessary.