Childhood and early life
Gilbert Seldes was born on January 3, 1893, inPersonal life and family
Seldes had a fling with the American journalist Jane Anderson from early 1918 to late 1919. They eventually drifted apart, and he married Alice Wadhams Hall, an upper-class Episcopalian, in Paris in 1924. The actress Marian Seldes was their daughter; their son is literary agent Timothy Seldes. He was the younger brother of legendary liberal journalist George Seldes.Ideas
On popular culture
Seldes' belief in the democratization of culture characterized his career. In the 1920s, he rejected conventional understandings of jazz, film, comics, vaudeville and Broadway as banal, immoral and aesthetically questionable. He did not limit art to its 'high-culture' normative of European forms like opera, ballet and classical music. He also did not believe that culture was inherently ordered, or that it demanded rigorous training to create and understand. Instead, Seldes advocated a democratic aesthetic culture. He sought only to distinguish well-executed art from that which was not. He found 'excellence, mediocrity at all levels' and detested 'trash' of both the high- and low-class nature. Furthermore, he insisted that the dichotomy between the high and low brow was fundamentally complex. This distinction stemmed from class assumptions rather than a judgement of art's intrinsic value –The lively arts are created and admired chiefly by the class known as lowbrows, are patronised and, to an extent enjoyed, by the highbrows; and are treated as impostors and as contemptible vulgarism by the middle class, those who invariably are ill at ease in the presence of great art until it has been approved by authority.Unlike his contemporaries, therefore, he evaluated popular culture, introducing new sources like jazz, comics, film, television and radio to criticism. He praised them for their honesty, humour, and the technical skills of their performers. An anti-intellectual, he was also convinced that art, particularly popular entertainment, should avoid being overly cerebral and didactic. Subsequently, he staunchly opposed critics who recommended radio as a tool for formal education in the 1930s, saying, "no lessons, thank you, and no, damn you, no lectures". Moreover, Seldes believed that intellectuals would discern a distinctive American culture if they abandoned their assumption that only European trappings conferred cultural legitimacy. To him, America already possessed its own heterogeneous, democratic and dynamic cultural heritage. In ''The Seven Lively Arts'', Seldes stated that the language and rhythms of jazz reflected a distinct, home-grown American identity. America had found its 'characteristic expression' and had arrived 'at a point of creative intensity' through popular culture. He, therefore, advocated that American intellectuals not be ashamed of jazz, but reaffirm and support it instead. This horrified the critics of The Dial, the magazine for which Seldes was managing editor. They derided him as pretentious and vulgar on many occasions. In response, Seldes was especially critical of American expatriates and critics who favored European art media and scorned American popular culture. He called them the "debunkers" and argued that European culture was not worthy of veneration. It had "foisted on us mericafeeble ideas, questionable taste, quackeries and crazes". More importantly, he also objected to these expatriates' and critics' assertion that America had insufficient historical experience to inspire artistic creativity. From the 1930s, he became convinced that an historical understanding of America was fundamental to its self-identification. He, therefore, moved from art criticism to writing history to prove that America had a cultural past. This led to books like ''The Stammering Century'' and ''Mainland''. By the 1930s, Seldes' writings took on heavier tones of American exceptionalism, which increased with the advent of
I do not mean that all the plays ought to be concerned with the farmers' strike in Iowa and the bread lines in New York, although I do not see why at least a few of the plays do not deal with these subjects. It is possible to be aware of what has happened in these three years and make your awareness felt even in light comedy.He grew more critical of serious plays, advocating light-hearted content that confronted and assuaged the struggles of everyday life. Ever the cultural populist, he maintained that American art should benefit American citizens. Seldes' interests diversified to film from the late 1920s. Unlike critics like H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan who scorned films as vulgar, Seldes believed that film could be a tool for American historical education. He wrote, directed, produced and hosted a range of historical documentaries. ''This is America'' (1933) was his debut effort. Among film artists, Seldes praised
On mass culture
From the 1930s, Seldes was wary of the transformation of popular culture to mass culture, which television and radio facilitated. He was concerned that the popular arts had lost their dynamism as 'passive observation' had, by then, replaced 'active participation' in the arts. Furthermore, he worried that American tastes were becoming uniform and undiscriminating. This concern increased in the 1950s, as he saw that the arts were monopolized, homogenized, and of poor standard. In the second edition of ''The Seven Lively Arts'' (1957), he wrote, "we are being engulfed in a mass-produced mediocrity". Media responsibility was also a pertinent issue to Seldes, as he believed that entertainment corporations' control and commercialization of the arts eroded the value of popular culture. He blamed media corporations for broadcasting content that he thought pandered to the lowest common denominator. He considered soap operas and TV dramas "corrupting influences". To Seldes, TV detrimentally narrowed the interests of the public, when, instead –the public houldbe given every opportunity to find its own level of taste by having access to the best as well as to the mean – which in this case, is far from golden.Moreover, he also rued how television's accessibility made entertainment seem like a 'right', rather than a reward to be earned. Still, he remained optimistic and wished that the public would criticize the media. This was Seldes' enduring ideal – for American cultural criticism's democratization. The historian Michael Kammen considers Seldes the forerunner of the cultural studies for his research into the social impact, political implications and educational potential of cultural mediums. He also declared that he did not find sex as entertaining as virtue, honesty, realism, humor and technical skill in performance. He perceived its growing usage in entertainment (particularly in Hollywood) as a reflection of a decline of the media. In early 1946, Seldes wrote an essay in ''
On politics
While a patriot, Seldes was largely apolitical. He later regretted this neglect and he conceded that his material comforts had made him apathetic –nothing in public affairs has caused me so much regret as my failure to join them. The only one that seems even faintly valid to myself is that I wasn't, by nature, a joiner of movements… In a sense, this absorption into a life I had never anticipated and the prosperity I enjoyed, could make me indifferent to public causes.Before and during World War II, however, Seldes was completely committed to American exceptionalism. He emphasized the uniqueness of American culture and democracy against Europe's. Despite his populist inclinations, he was an anti-Communist. He believed that Communism was incompatible with America, as it required "complete self-dedication" at the expense of democratic suffrage. He saw Americans during the 1930s as generally apathetic and undisposed to rebellion. He, therefore, championed middle-class American concerns instead. These dominated ''Mainland'' (1936), ''Your Money or Your Life'' (1938) and ''Proclaim Liberty!'' (1942). He later considered his views during this period dogmatic, pedantic and isolationist.
On intellectual criticism
As an intellectual, Seldes sought not just to evaluate the arts and challenge other critics, but also aimed to inform the public. He saw himself as a 'constructive' critic rather than a 'destructive' one, differentiating himself from the detractors of American popular culture. He also alleged that they were too technical; they were critics "not of literature, but of economics, sociology, psychoanalysis, morality – and so on". Throughout his career, he favored fairness, balance and internationalism, and was, most of all, averse to providing only one-sided evidence that could mislead his readers.Career
Editor, writer and cultural critic
Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1914, Seldes left for London as the ''Philadelphia Evening Ledgers correspondent during World War I. He covered the social conditions in England. He also wrote for the '' Boston Evening Transcript'', ''The Forum'' and ''Gilbert was lighthearted and easy to get along with. Though he was serious about his work, which he seemed to enjoy, I would not say he was intellectually intense… The Dial in its early days, and I was there in one capacity or another from the start, was conducted in the office along rather informal lines with a general camaraderie, and Gilbert did much to foster that. I think he thoroughly enjoyed his work.'' Vanity Fair'' named Seldes one of ten 'modern critics of America' in 1923, and he soon became a commentator for its magazine. In January 1923, he sailed for Europe to turn his articles on popular culture into a book. In a letter to his brother George Seldes, he stated that –
The purpose of this voyage is a four months trip of rest, frivolity, and impressions to be followed… for solitude to be spent in writing a couple of books.In the final months of 1923, Seldes resigned his position at ''The Dial'' to pursue freelance writing. ''The Seven Lively Arts'', his most famous book, is the result of Seldes' sojourn in Paris. He returned to New York the following year to write for several journals and newspapers, of which his weekly column for the ''
Television and higher education
Seldes' interests evolved along with the expansion of film, radio and television. From 1927, he was a film critic for The New Republic, and investigated the working class' especial partiality to film. He joined CBS in 1937 as its first director of television programs, and in 1952, served as the director of the National Association for Better Radio and TV, a nonprofit corporation. He wrote, produced and directed mostly educational programs for the small screen and for radio, covering topics on American history and culture. These include ''Americans at Work'' and ''Puritan in Babylon'' (1937) for the radio and ''This is America'' (1933), a seventy-minute documentary that was shown in picture houses across the U.S. It was the first full-length documentary film ever made. He also hosted NBC's '' The Subject is Jazz'' (1958), a weekly series that introduced genres of jazz to the American public. From the 1950s, he was an adjunct lecturer for literature and communications at''The Seven Lively Arts''
''The Seven Lively Arts'' is Seldes' most significant accomplishment. In explaining its title, he asserted that he was not referring to seven arts in particular –One thing should, perhaps, be made clear about the phrase. There were those who thought (correctly) that you couldn't find seven and there were those who felt (stuffily) that the seven were not arts. Lively was for the most part unchallenged. The sacred 7 came from the classics, from 'the seven arts' (which was also the name of a magazine recently defunct) and I never tried to categorise the contents of the book to conform to the figure.He would reiterate all his life that his intention was to treat popular (and denigrated) culture with the intelligent criticism that contemporary critics were largely inclined only to apply to highbrow culture; in 1922, his initial list of oft-ignored genres were " Slapstick Moving Pictures,
that the minor arts, those frequently called "lowbrow", are not hostile to the major arts, and that both the minor and the major have their chief enemy in the second rate bogus arts.This "bogus" Seldes defines as the pseudo-intellectual art that pretends to be high: "vocal concerts, pseudo-classic dancing, the serious intellectual drama, the civic masque, the high-toned moving picture, and grand opera", inherently defined by snobbery. Seldes also sought to explain why African-American music and shows were so popular, and to revise conventional definitions of art. Still, as much as he praised the vitality and honesty of these shows, he also stated that they were savage in nature, and mistakenly predicted that they would be short-lived.
Professional relationships
Seldes was always a "non-joiner", refusing to join H. L. Mencken's "smart set" or the Algonquin Round Table. Seldes had a strained relationship withDeath and legacy
In his later years, Seldes suffered from ill health, poor memory, and emotional distress, which prevented him from completing his memoirs. He relied on his Skye terrier, Bobby, and his daughter, Marian, for companionship. As he was writing his memoirs, ''As in My Time'' (1958), he became interested in the impact of scientific progress on social institutions and communications. He died at age 77 of heart failure in his apartment on September 29, 1970. Seldes' legacy was immeasurable. As author, critic, editor, producer, director and educator, his impact was farther reaching than mere periodical circulation or television time-slot. Leo Mishkin, a critic for New York's '' The Morning Telegraph'', described Seldes' impact:He was my teacher as he was also for thousands of other just coming of age back in the mid-1920s. Not in the sense of standing up in front of a classroom and lecturing, or correcting examinations…But outside of school one of the requirements we all had was to read ''The Dial'' ... and when ''The Seven Lively Arts'' was published in 1924 we knew instinctively that a new age, a new appreciation of the arts, indeed a new horizon had opened up for us all...(His enthusiasms) will endure as long as the mass of American look for relaxation and rewards in the mass entertainment media. It was Gilbert Seldes who set the whole nation on that road. His name remains a monument to his influence.
Works
Books
* ''The United States and the War'' (1917) * ''The Seven Lively Arts'' (1924) ::Name given to '' The Seven Lively Arts'' program. * ''The Square Emerald'' (1928) ::Published under the pseudonym Foster Johns. * ''The Stammering Century'' (1928) * ''The Victory Murders'' (1928) ::Published under the pseudonym Foster Johns. * ''An Hour with the Movies and the Talkies'' (1929) * ''The Movies and the Talkies'' (1929) * ''The Wings of the Eagle'' (1929) * ''Back from Utopia'' (1929) * ''The Future of Drinking'' (1930)Plays and musicals
* ''The Wisecrackers'' (1925) * ''Love of Three Oranges'' (1925) * ''Lysistrata (A Modern Version)'' (1932) * ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1936) * ''Swinging the Dream'' (1939)Radio and television
* ''This is America'' (1933) * ''Americans at Work'' (1937) * ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1937) * ''Puritan in Babylon'' (1937) * ''Living History'' (1938) * ''Americans All – Immigrants All'' (1938) * ''The Lively Arts'' (1950s) * ''The Subject is Jazz'' (1958)References
Further reading
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