Cecelia Ager ( Rubinstein; January 23, 1902 – April 3, 1981) was an American

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

and star

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for ''Variety'' and the ''

New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazin ...

''.

Life and career

Ager was born Cecelia Rubenstein in Grass Valley, California, a mining town, the daughter of Fannie (Meyer) and Zalkin H. Rubenstein. Her parents were Polish Jewish immigrants. She married Milton Ager four months after meeting him; Mayor

Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Jimmy Walker and Beau James, was an American attorney, lyricist, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 97th mayor of New York City from 1926 until his resign ...

of New York, also a songwriter, presided at the wedding in his office. Ager was the first female reporter for ''Variety'', and was known as one of the best dressed women in America. Ager was the movie critic for the New York newspaper '' PM'' and a contributor to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and several national magazines. Her sense of style became an asset to advance her work as a writer. It has been said that "she used fashion as her entry into examining the constricting roles women were asked to play, in real life and onscreen.” Her astute and often wittily-written articles and reviews of films showed her a champion for quality and a keen-eyed observer of American culture. Amongst the earliest critics to take notice of the importance of Orson Welles's 1941 film ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...

,'' she wrote for ''PM'': “Before ''Citizen Kane'', it's as if the motion picture were a slumbering monster, a mighty force stupidly sleeping, lying there…awaiting a fierce young man to come kick it to life, to rouse it, shake it, awaken it to its potentialities.... Seeing it, it's as if you never really saw a movie before.” Cecelia's aunt was Anzia Yezierska, known for her sensitive writing about the immigrant Jewish experience in New York. Anzia's uncle, Meyer Yeziersky/Max Mayer was the first of his family to immigrate to the US. Anzia arrived in 1901 after the rest of the family had joined him in adopting his first name as their surname in the US. Her success with novels and a film encouraged her niece and grandniece. Ager died in Los Angeles in 1981 after suffering a stroke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ager, Cecelia 1902 births 1981 deaths American film critics American people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women film critics 20th-century American women writers Variety (magazine) people People from Grass Valley, California Writers from California American women non-fiction writers Jewish American journalists Jewish women journalists