Mordaunt Hall

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Frederick William Mordaunt Hall (born November 1, 1878 in Guildford , Surrey , England , † July 2, 1973 in New York City ) was an American - British film critic and journalist . He was the New York Times' first salaried film critic from October 1924 to September 1934 . His style of criticism was later described as "chatty, disrespectful and not particularly analytical".

Life

Frederick William Mordaunt Hall was born in Guildford, Surrey, the son of a Tottenham school principal . He was known to his friends as "Freddie" and he himself later claimed that his middle name was not "William" but "Wentworth". Hall emigrated to New York in 1902 and worked from around 1907 for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show , where he was introduced as an "old newspaper man". From 1909 to 1914 he worked as a journalist for the New York Herald , in 1909 there was an incident with him, another reporter and the theater producer Oscar Hammerstein . Hammerstein sued both of them for attacking him at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York. After Hammerstein returned to Europe, the lawsuit was dropped.

Hall also returned to Europe when he was drafted as a lieutenant for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , where he worked in intelligence, during the First World War . He later processed his war experiences in the book Some Naval Yarns , which appeared in 1917. After his service in 1919, he returned to England, where he wrote subtitles for the famous Famous Players-Lasky studio , including for the young Alfred Hitchcock .

Hall returned to the United States in 1922 and became a reporter for the New York Times that same year. He became the Times' first full-time film critic in October and remained so until he retired in September 1934. He then had a radio show about movies on a local New York radio station for a year and wrote reviews for the Boston Transcript from 1936 to 1938 . In 1942 he worked for the television station CBS . He later joined the Bell Syndicate as an editor and published a few articles.

In 1909, Hall married the 23-year-old American Helen Rowe, who died in 1971. He himself died two years later in New York at the age of 94. Hall became a US citizen on December 10, 1941, two days after the United States entered World War II .

Works

  • 1917: Some Naval Yarns

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Free BMD . Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1881 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. Mordaunt Hall was the name of an 1849 novel by English author Anne Marsh-Caldwell.
  2. ↑ a b c d e "Mordaunt Hall, Wrote of Screen," New York Times , July 4, 1973, p. 18.
  3. ^ Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
  4. ^ Inventory of Sardi's Caricatures, 1925–1952 , Billy Rose Theater Division, New York Public Library.
  5. ↑ Frederick William Mordaunt Hall, petition for naturalization No. 379086, US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
  6. ^ "Personal and Social" (column), The Evening Times , Cumberland, Maryland, Sept. 12, 1907, p. 8.
  7. ^ "Hammerstein Calls Reporter 'That Thing'", The Hartford Courant , January 30, 1909, p. 1.
  8. ^ The case was suspended when Hammerstein left for Europe. "City Brevities," New York Times , May 15, 1909, p. 5.
  9. ^ Ancestry.com. Border Crossings: From Canada to US, 1895-1956 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.
  10. ^ Passenger list of the Carmania , port of Liverpool, November 25, 1919. Ancestry.com. UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2008.
  11. ↑ Donald Spoto, The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock , Da Capo Press, 1999, p. 55. ISBN 0-306-80932-X . John Russell Taylor, Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock , Da Capo Press, 1996, p. 39. ISBN 0-306-80677-0 .
  12. ↑ Frederick William Hall, passenger list of the Homeric , port of New York, May 4, 1922. Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.
  13. ^ Wood Soanes, Curtain Calls (syndicated column), Oct. 16, 1936. Walter Winchell, On Broadway (syndicated column), Sept. 27, 1938.
  14. ^ Ancestry.com. US World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.
  15. ^ Eg, guest writing Ray Tucker's syndicated column "The National Whirligig" on Dec. 2, 1955.
  16. ^ Passenger list of the SS Orotava , Port of New York, Dec. 20, 1909. Passenger list of the SS Homeric , Port of New York, 4 May 1922, sheet 6, line 6. Frederick William Mordaunt Hall, petition for naturalization No. 379086, US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Passenger list of the SS Liberte , Port of Plymouth, England, June 20, 1960. Descendants of Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven, Person Page 1894 .
  17. ↑ Helen Hall, born February 3, 1886, died November 1972. Ancestry.com. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2008.
  18. ^ Ancestry.com. New York Petitions for Naturalization [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007.
Chief film critic for the New York Times


Chief Film Critics

Mordaunt Hall (1924–1934) • Andre Sennwald (1935–1936) • Frank S. Nugent (1936– 1940) • Bosley Crowther (1940–1967) • Renata Adler (1968–1969) • Vincent Canby (1969–1993) • Janet Maslin (1993–1999) • Elvis Mitchell (2000–2004) • AO Scott & Manohla Dargis (since 2004)

personal data
SURNAME Hall, Mordaunt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hall, Frederick William Mordaunt (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-British film critic and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Guildford , Surrey , England
DATE OF DEATH 2nd July 1973
Place of death New York City