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.