• It All Started Here

    In this photograph of the Brattle Theatre circa 1953, you can see a sign that says “Opening Soon! Foreign Films.” The brilliant idea behind the sign belonged to Harvard classmates Cy Harvey and Bryant Haliday, without whom the Brattle Theatre would probably not be showing the eclectic array of films it does to this day; there would be no Janus Films, which Harvey and Haliday founded together in 1956; and there would be no Criterion Collection as we know it. Cy Harvey, the last surviving of the two Janus founders, passed away last week at the age of eighty-five. He was stylish, kind, courageous, and retained a deep love of cinema long after he left Janus Films in the mid 1960s. He will be deeply missed, and we thought we would share this image as a testament to his youthful vision, one that still sustains us all today.

     

    On Five

5 comments

  • By Nick K.
    April 19, 2011
    01:51 AM

    Thanks a lot for sharing this important piece of Criterion's history. My Mr. Harvey RIP.
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  • By Nick K.
    April 19, 2011
    01:51 AM

    *May
    Reply

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  • By Joe DiCastro
    April 19, 2011
    10:43 AM

    I simply wouldn't be the person I am today without the Brattle Theater. RIP Cy. Thank you for your vision.
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  • By David Hollingsworth
    April 19, 2011
    02:44 PM

    Thank you Cy, for your genius. I wouldn't be able to live without the Criterion Collection, had it not been because of you.
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  • By CBG/CBG
    April 19, 2011
    03:40 PM

    Love the Brattle; I met David Lynch and Wes Anderson there!!
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