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Keith William Everson (8 April 1929 – 14 April 1996) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
-
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archivist, author, critic, educator, collector, and film historian. He also discovered several
lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...
s. Everson's given first names were Keith William, but he reversed them so that "William K." would mimic the name of Hollywood director William K. Howard, whom he admired.


Early life and career

Everson was born in
Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...
,
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, the son of Catherine (née Ward) and Percival Wilfred Everson, an aircraft engineer. His earliest jobs were in the
motion picture industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post- ...
; as a teenager he was employed at
Renown Pictures Renown Pictures Corporation is a British film distributor founded by producer George Minter in 1938. Releases Renown's releases include: * '' Scrooge'' (1951) * '' Grand National Night'' (1953) * '' Dance, Little Lady'' (1954) * ''Svengali'' ...
as publicity manager. He began to write film criticism and operated several film societies.Grimes, William.
"William K. Everson, Historian And Film Preservationist, 67"
''
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 ...
'', 16 April 1996.


Later career

Following service in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
from 1946 to 1948, Everson worked as a cinema theatre manager for
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
's Monseigneur News Theatres. Emigrating to the United States in 1950 at age 21, he worked in the publicity department of
Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...
(later Allied Artists)NYU Everson Collection
nyu.edu; accessed 8 August 2024.
and subsequently became a freelance publicist. Concurrently with his employment as writer, editor and researcher on the
TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
''Movie Museum'' and ''Silents Please'', Everson became dedicated to preserving films from the
silent era A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...
to the 1940s which otherwise would have been lost. Through his industry connections, he began to acquire feature films and short subjects that were slated to be destroyed or abandoned. Many of his discoveries were projected at his
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
film group, the Theodore Huff Film Society, founded by Theodore Huff (filmmaker and the biographer of
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
), Everson, film critic Seymour Stern and ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' columnist Herman G. Weinberg as the Theodore Huff Film Society. After Huff's death, Everson added the word "Memorial". At each screening, Huff members were presented with extensive program notes written by Everson about each film. During the 1960s, these screenings were held in a hall at Union Square. Occasionally, he would make special arrangements with a select invited group to see a 35mm print in a theater. For example, on a Sunday morning in the mid-1960s, he took over Daniel Talbot's New Yorker Theater to show the silent ''
She She or S.H.E. may refer to: Language * She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English Places * She County, Anhui ** She Prefecture, 589-1121 * She County, Hebei * She River, or Sheshui, Hubei * ...
'' (1925) to an audience of no more than 15 silent-film buffs. Later, the Huff Society screenings relocated from Union Square to
The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...
, by invitation of Everson's friend and fellow Huff Society member Joseph Goldberg, who was a professor at The New School. Everson was an influential figure to the generation of film historians who came of age from the 1960s to the 1980s, many of whom were regulars at his New School screenings. Other attendees at the Huff Society included such New York personalities as author
Susan Sontag Susan Lee Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, critic, and public intellectual. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on "Camp", Notes on 'Ca ...
and publisher Calvin Beck.
Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...
described an infamous incident at the Huff Society:
It was a society that showed the rarest films — often in a double bill with a recognised classic. Everson's programme notes became world-famous (and let us hope that some enterprising publisher will bring them out). In 1959,
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
's ''
Ben-Hur Ben-Hur or Ben Hur may refer to: Fiction *'' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'', an 1880 novel by American general and author Lew Wallace ** ''Ben-Hur'' (play), a play that debuted on Broadway in 1899 ** ''Ben Hur'' (1907 film), a one-reel silent ...
'' received rave reviews and Everson felt they were not deserved — so he showed the 1925 version at the Huff. Rival collector
Raymond Rohauer Raymond Rohauer ( 1924 – November 10, 1987) was an American film collector and distributor. Rohauer first started his career by curating films at the Coronet Theatre. In the 1950s, he came to prominence as a distributor and reissuer of Bu ...
, experiencing a little trouble himself over a lawsuit from MGM, told the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
what Everson was doing, and they confronted him after the performance. They seized the print, and Everson spent the next few days squirreling other hot titles around New York.
Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress best known for her work in movies of the silent era. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was dubbed the "F ...
had to intervene on his behalf. In the 1970s, the FBI instituted a "
witch hunt A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...
" among film collectors, but by then Everson was too highly respected to be touched. Archives came to depend on him — he would not only loan rare prints for copying or showing, but he would travel the world presenting the films he loved. I was astounded to meet him at an airport weighed down by three times as many cans of films as any human could be expected to carry. He had the uncanny knack of finding lost films. It would be no exaggeration to say that single-handedly, he transformed the attitude of American film enthusiasts towards early cinema.
Many of Everson's film programs were assembled from his own personal collection, which comprised over 4,000 titles by the 1970s. These screenings usually showcased minor masterpieces and critically overlooked B pictures that he deemed worthy of reappraisal. He brought these rediscoveries to other venues, such as the
Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and film archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director ...
and the
Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...
. He worked as a consultant to producers and studios preparing silent-film projects, and collaborated closely with
Robert Youngson Robert Youngson (November 27, 1917 – April 8, 1974) was a film producer, director, and screenwriter, specializing in reviving antique silent films.Obituary ''Variety'', April 17, 1974, page 95.David L. Wolper David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as ''Roots'', '' The Thorn Birds'', and '' North and South'', and the theatrically-released films ''Willy Wonka & th ...
's
TV special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...
s ''Hollywood, the Golden Years'' (1961) and ''The Legend of
Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...
'' (1982). From 1964 to 1984 he taught film history at The
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...
, and from 1972 to 1996 was professor of cinema studies at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
's
Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...
. He also taught film history courses at The New School. His courses often had an emphasis on comedy, Westerns and British films. Everson sometimes discussed film history as a guest on
Barry Gray Barry Gray (born John Livesey Eccles; 18 July 1908 – 26 April 1984) was a British musician and composer best known for his collaborations with television and film producer Gerry Anderson. Life and career Born into a musical family in Blackbur ...
's late-night radio talk show in New York. He appeared as an actor in Louis McMahon's serial parody ''Captain Celluloid vs. the Film Pirates'' (1966); the four-part film, made by a cast and crew of like-minded movie buffs, concerned heinous traffic in rare silent-screen masterpieces. In 1994, the
National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...
established the William K. Everson Award for Film History, of which Everson was the first recipient.


Works

* ''Classics of the Silent Screen'' (1959) – attributed to
Joe Franklin Joe Franklin (March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015), born Joseph Fortgang, was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. Franklin is noted for having the first talk show and inventing the format. His te ...
but actually written by Everson * ''The Western: From Silents to Cinerama'' (1962) with George N. Fenin; updated and retitled as ''The Western: From Silents to the Seventies'' (1973) * ''The American Movie'' (1963) * ''The Bad Guys: A Pictorial History of the Movie Villain'' (1964) * ''The Films of Laurel and Hardy'' (1967) * ''The Art of W. C. Fields'' (1967) * ''A Pictorial History of the Western Film'' (1969) * ''Days of Thrills and Adventure: An Affectionate Pictorial History of the Movie Serial'' (foreword, 1970) by Alan G. Barbour * ''The Films of Hal Roach'' (1971) * ''The Detective in Film'' (1972) * ''Classics of the Horror Film'' (1974) * ''Claudette Colbert'' (1976) * ''American Silent Film'' (1978) * ''Love in the Film: Screen Romance from the Silent Days to the Present'' (1979) * ''The Further Perils of Dracula'' (foreword, 1979) by Jeanne Youngson * ''More Classics of the Horror Film'' (1986) * ''The Hollywood Western'' (1992) * ''Hollywood Bedlam: Classic Screwball Comedies'' (1994) In addition, Everson contributed articles and reviews to numerous film magazines, including ''Films in Review'' (1909–), ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' and ''
Castle of Frankenstein ''Castle of Frankenstein'' is an American horror fiction, horror, science fiction and fantasy film magazine first published between 1962 and 1975 by Calvin Thomas Beck's Gothic Castle Publishing Company, distributed by Kable News. Larry Ivie—w ...
''.


Death and legacy

On 14 April 1996, Everson died of
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
at the age of 67 in Manhattan, and he was survived by his wife, Karen Latham Everson, his daughter, playwright Bambi Everson (named for ballerina
Bambi Linn Bambi Linn (born Bambina Aennchen Linnemeier; April 26, 1926) is an American retired dancer, choreographer and actress. Born to Henry William Linnemeier (a surveyor and accountant) and Mary "Mimi" (Tweer) Linnemeier in 1926, Bambi Linn trained e ...
), his son, Griffith and his granddaughter, Sarah. His film collection was taken over by his widow and sold to the
George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...
. Most of his manuscripts, film screening notes and memorabilia were donated to the
Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...
at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
, comprising the William K. Everson Collection. In 2004, Everson was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame at the
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award ThRondo Hatton Classic Horror Award'', often called the Rondo Award, is an annual award founded in 2002 that honors journalism, scholarship and film preservation in the horror genre, particularly of classic horror film and their modern-day counterp ...
s.


Further reading

* * *


References


External links

*
Obituary
in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''
Remembering William K. Everson
– Peter Rist
William K. Everson & British Film
– Howard Curle * William K. Everson interviews
1983part 21993

William K. [Everson Collection
at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

William K. Everson
at Turner Classic Movies (archived)
Works by or about William K. Everson
at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

The Legacy of William K. Everson
– Richard Chamberlain
William K. Everson Film History Award
at
National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

Bill Everson: Terminal film buff
– Harvey Deneroff, ''New York Herald'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Everson, William 1929 births 1996 deaths American film critics American male journalists American non-fiction writers American film historians Deaths from prostate cancer in New York (state) Film theorists People from Yeovil Tisch School of the Arts faculty British emigrants to the United States 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers