Research Catalog

Title

"James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket" documentary film collection.

Author

Thorsen, Karen

Supplementary Content

Finding aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.
• Dempsey, Douglas K.

Description

2.5 linear feet (6 boxes)

Summary

• The feature-length 16mm documentary "James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket", directed by Karen Thorsen in 1989, is an autobiographical portrait of writer and activist James Baldwin. Without using narration, the film allows Baldwin to tell his own story. It premiered on "American Masters", a PBS show, in 1989. Since then, repeated PBS broadcasts have reached millions of people. The film received numerous awards and was honored at festivals in over two-dozen countries, including Sundance, London, Berlin, and Tokyo. Co-written and produced by Karen Thorsen and Douglas K. Dempsey, the film uses archival and original footage, including scenes from Baldwin’s funeral service; explorations of his homes in France, Switzerland, Turkey, and Harlem; and on-camera interviews with close friends, colleagues, and critics including his brother David; biographer David Leeming; writers Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, William Styron, Ishmael Reed, and Yashar Kemal; painter Lucien Happersberger, and entertainer Bobby Short.
• This collection consists of material used to make the film including notebooks and binders prepared by the production crew documenting the resources acquired during film research; transcripts of interviews; research forms; stock footage research; book tour itineraries and promotional items; articles about Baldwin; FBI files on Baldwin; eulogies and memorials; and reviews.

Subjects

• Reed, Ishmael, 1938-
• Authors, Black
• Baraka, Amiri, 1934-2014
• Documentary films
• Autobiography > African American authors
• African American gay men
• Angelou, Maya
• African American authors > Interviews
• American literature > African American authors

Source (note)

• This collection was acquired by the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division in 1998. The paper documentation was separated in 2011-2012 from the audio-visual collection housed in MIRS.

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• Also found in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: James Baldwin papers, Sc MG 936; James℗ Baldwin's "Five℗ Years" poetry manuscript, Sc MG 934; Ten Screenplays for Malcolm X Film collection, Sc MG 969

Call Number

Sc MG 851

OCLC

1232240835

Author

Thorsen, Karen, film director.

Title

"James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket" documentary film collection.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Location of Other Archival Materials

Also found in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: James Baldwin papers, Sc MG 936; James℗ Baldwin's "Five℗ Years" poetry manuscript, Sc MG 934; Ten Screenplays for Malcolm X Film collection, Sc MG 969

Materials Separated from the Resource: Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.

Source

This collection was acquired by the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division in 1998. The paper documentation was separated in 2011-2012 from the audio-visual collection housed in MIRS.

Connect to:

Finding aid

Added Author

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987.

Dempsey, Douglas K.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 851