Judith Crist
{{Short description|American film critic and professor}}
{{more citations needed|date= August 2012}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Judith Crist
|birth_name = Judith Klein
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|5|22}}
|birth_place = New York City, U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|8|7|1922|5|22}}
|death_place = New York City, U.S.
|occupation = Film critic, academic
|alma_mater = Hunter College
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
|spouse = {{marriage|William B. Crist|1947|1993|end = died}}
|children = 1
|years_active = 1945–2012
}}
Judith Crist ({{IPAc-en|k|r|ɪ|s|t}}; {{née}} Klein; May 22, 1922 – August 7, 2012) was an American film critic and academic.
She appeared regularly on the Today show from 1964 to 1973{{registration required|date=August 2012}} Martin, Douglas (August 8, 2012). [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/movies/judith-crist-film-critic-dies-at-90.html "Judith Crist, Zinging and Influential Film Critic, Dies at 90"]. The New York Times. and was among the first full-time female critics for a major American newspaper, in her case, The New York Herald Tribune. She was the founding film critic at New York magazine and became known to most Americans as a critic at the weekly magazine TV Guide and at the morning TV show Today. She appeared in one film, Woody Allen's dramatic-comedy film Stardust Memories (1980), and was the author of various books, including The Private Eye, The Cowboy and the Very Naked Girl; Judith Crist's TV Guide to the Movies; and Take 22: Moviemakers on Moviemaking.
Early life and education
Crist was born Judith Klein in The Bronx, New York City, the daughter of Helen (née Schoenberg), a librarian, and Solomon Klein, a manufacturing jeweler.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5BqkgBOiGoC&q=Judith%20Klein%20%22CRIST%22%201922|title=Who's Who of American Women, 1991-1992|first=Inc. Marquis Who's|last=Who|date=January 1, 1991|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|isbn=9780837904177|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf8pAAAAYAAJ|title=Open secrets; ninety-four women in touch with our time|first=Barbaralee|last=Diamonstein|date=February 29, 1972|publisher=Viking Press|isbn=9780670527083|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JWgYAAAAIAAJ|title=Something about the Author|first=Anne|last=Commrie|date=February 2, 1990|publisher=Gale|isbn=9780810322691|via=Google Books}} She attended Morris High School in The Bronx, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College and a Master of Science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Career
After graduating from Columbia in 1945, she was employed by The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter, film critic, and arts editor for 22 years, and she won a George Polk Award for her education coverage.{{Cite web |title=Judith Crist papers, 1930s-2012 {{!}} Rare Book & Manuscript Library {{!}} Columbia University Libraries Finding Aids |url=https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_10318283#history |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=findingaids.library.columbia.edu}} After the Tribune ceased publication, she was named the first film critic at New York magazine. Upon her death, New York magazine film critic David Edelstein said, "Judith Crist helped set the stage for New York Magazine as a place for popular and yet essentially serious and wide-ranging film criticism. She was tart, sensible, and irresistibly readable, and she cut a colorful figure on the festival circuit, building bridges between filmmakers and audiences in her famous weekend seminars."{{Cite news|last=Buchanan|first=Kyle|title=Judith Crist, New York Magazine's Founding Film Critic, Dies at 90|work=Vulture|url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/08/judith-crist-new-york-magazines-first-film-critic-dead-at-90.html|access-date=26 March 2021}}
In addition, Crist worked as TV Guide
She was an adjunct professor at Columbia's School of Journalism for over 50 years (1958-2012). There, she taught a course called "Personal and Professional Style." Her students included film critics Kenneth Turan, David Denby of The New Yorker and New York Times critics Anna Kisselgoff and Margo Jefferson.{{Cite news|last=Bernstein|first=Adam|title=Judith Crist, film critic and journalism instructor, dies at 90|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/judith-crist-film-critic-and-journalism-instructor-dies-at-90/2012/08/07/8f60328e-739e-11e1-862c-76c4e0e725cd_story.html|access-date=26 March 2021}} In 1963, she was awarded an Alumni Award by the Journalism School Alumni Association.{{Cite web|title=Past Alumni Award Winners|url=https://journalism.columbia.edu/system/files/content/past-aaw-2019.pdf}}
In April 5, 2008, the school presented her with its Founder's Award on her completion of 50 years as a faculty member.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} She taught until just before her death. She was a longtime member of the Executive Committee of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Association and served three terms as President of the Alumni Association during the 1960s.
In 1948, Crist took part in Dr. Fredric Wertham’s attack on comic books and published an article in Collier's magazine quoting Wertham and calling for action against violent, sadistic, and provocative comic books which Crist perceived to be affecting the morality of American youth.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lostsoti.org/ColliersArticleHorrorInTheNursery.htm|title=Collier's Article: Horror in the Nursery|website=www.lostsoti.org|access-date=2019-05-03}}
In 1965, she wrote the article "Tribute to a Partnership", a tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein, for a booklet that accompanied RCA Victor's original LP release of the soundtrack album of The Sound of Music.{{Cite web |last=Maslon |first=Laurence |date= August 20, 2020|title=THE CHARTS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC - Rodgers & Hammerstein |url=https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/the-sound-of-music-the-charts-are-alive-with-the-sound-of-music/ |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization |language=en-US}} However, the article has not been reprinted for any of the CD releases of the soundtrack.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} In 1968, she published a collection of reviews entitled The Private Eye, the Cowboy, and the Very Naked Girl: Movies from Cleo to Clyde.{{Cite news |last=Lingeman |first=Richard R. |date=1968-12-29 |title=The Private Eye, The Cowboy and the Very Naked Girl; Movies From Cleo to Clyde. By Judith Crist. 292 pp. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. $6.95. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/12/29/archives/the-private-eye-the-cowboy-and-the-very-naked-girl-movies-from-cleo.html |access-date=2024-03-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}
She cited Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush as her "first and to-this-day-most-vivid film experience."[http://gos.sbc.edu/c/crist.html Judith Crist, "The Critical Years", Silurian News, May, 1997].
Personal life
Judith was married to William B. Crist from 1947 until his death in 1993.{{cite news |last=Bergan |first=Ronald |date=August 10, 2012 |title=Judith Crist obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/aug/10/judith-crist |newspaper=The Guardian}} She was the mother of Steven Crist, a thoroughbred handicapper and publisher of the Daily Racing Form.{{cite web |title=Steven Crist, Andrew Beyer To Be Given Eclipse Awards of Merit |url=https://www.paulickreport.com/news/people/steven-crist-andrew-beyer-given-eclipse-awards-merit/ |website=Paulick Report |date=December 22, 2016 |access-date=6 March 2019}}
Crist died at her home in Manhattan on August 7, 2012, at age 90.
See also
{{portal|Biography|Film|Journalism}}
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References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0188038}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061126083852/http://www.tarrytownhouseestate.com/filmfest/ The Judith Crist Tarrytown House Film Festival page at Tarrytown House Estate Official Website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120402144947/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/profile/89 Judith Crist's faculty profile at Columbia University]
- {{EmmyTVLegends name|judith-crist|Judith Crist}}
- [http://archives.nypl.org/the/21758 Judith Crist press books, 1969-1982], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
{{TV Guide Magazine}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crist, Judith}}
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American film critics
Category:American film historians
Category:American women historians
Category:American women television personalities
Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty
Category:Editors of New York City newspapers
Category:Historians from New York (state)
Category:Hunter College alumni
Category:Journalists from New York City
Category:New York Herald Tribune people
Category:Television personalities from New York City
Category:American women film critics
Category:American women newspaper editors
Category:Writers from Manhattan