The Medium is a short (one-hour-long) two-act dramatic opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti . Commissioned by the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University , its first performance was there on 8 May 1946, with Claramae Turner as Madame Flora. The opera's first professional production was presented on a double bill with Menotti's The Telephone at the Heckscher Theater, New York City, February 18–20, 1947 by the Ballet Society . The Broadway production took place on May 1, 1947, at the Ethel Barrymore Theater with the same cast.
25-557: In 1951, Menotti directed, with the help of filmmaker Alexander Hammid , a film version made to resemble film noir , and starring Marie Powers as Madame Flora and Anna Maria Alberghetti as Monica. A live television production starring Marie Powers took place on 12 December 1948 on the TV series Studio One and on 14 February, 1959 on Omnibus , starring Claramae Turner . It was also filmed for Australian TV in 1960 . The medium's parlor Monica, Madame Flora's daughter, and Toby,
50-608: A documentary featuring conductor Arturo Toscanini , Hymn of the Nations , produced by the Office of War Information . He also appeared in Maya Deren 's At Land (1944), a 15-minute silent experimental film. His documentary Library of Congress (1945) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary. Through the 1950s and 1960s Hammid made documentaries. In 1951, Hackenschmied and Gian Carlo Menotti co-directed
75-441: A mute servant boy rescued from "the streets of Budapest" play dress-up. When Madame Flora, or "Baba" as they call her, arrives home drunk, she violently chastises them for not preparing for that night's seance. Soon the guests arrive, Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau, regulars, and the widow Mrs. Nolan who is attending for the first time. With Madame Flora in a trance in her chair, a fake seance is held where Mrs. Nolan speaks with what she thinks
100-444: A phantom hand clutching her throat and is "terror-stricken." After demanding that the guests leave, she calls for Monica and tells her what she felt, eventually blaming Toby who was in the other room the whole time. In an effort to calm Baba's drunken rage toward Toby, Monica sings her the dark lullaby "The Black Swan" which is interrupted by a voice that Baba hears causing her to fly into a terrified rage at Toby for not telling her where
125-621: Is best known for his work in documentary film , both as a director, cameraman, and editor. According to Jaroslav Anděl's biography of Hackenschmied, in 1930, Hackenschmied created his first film Bezúčelná procházka ( Aimless Walk ) which inaugurated the movement of avant-garde film in Czechoslovakia. The same year he also organized the Exhibition of New Czech Photography in the Aventinská Mansarda—a showcase for artists of
150-510: Is her deceased sixteen-year-old daughter but is really Monica behind a screen. As Monica disappears, Mrs. Nolan rushes toward the figure and is restrained by the Gobineaus. When order is restored, Mr. and Mrs. Gobineau "communicate" with their deceased two-year-old son Mickey, who, having never learned to speak, only laughs. After they say goodbye to him, Madame Flora "suddenly, with a loud gasp... clutches at her throat with both hands." She feels
175-444: The 1930s who hired young filmmakers and artists to develop modern films, primarily for advertising. While employed there, Hackenschmied made numerous advertising and documentary films. One of the most famous was a four minute commercial for Bata tires called The Highway Sings . Created together with director Elmar Klos and cinematographer Jan Lukas in 1937, it featured an avant-garde style montage of auto tires in motion. During
200-417: The 22-minute short The Private Life of a Cat (1947). This short film was part narrative, part documentary about cats and their daily lives. The film starts off with two cats, a male and a female. The female is eventually impregnated by the male cat, and begins to search for shelter for when she gives birth to her kittens. The film shows her giving birth to five kittens in graphic detail. In 1944, he directed
225-773: The Aventinum publishing house in Prague —and the first show of European avant-garde films in the Kotva Cinema, also in Prague. He contributed to the illustrated weekly Pestrý týden and also published a number of articles on photography and film, in which he formulated the new aesthetics of both fields. Before emigrating from Czechoslovakia, Hackenschmied worked for the Baťa Film Studio in Zlín , founded by Jan Antonín Baťa in
250-625: The City College of NY. Heyman married director and cinematographer Alexander Hammid (Alexandr Hackenschmied) in 1949 after his divorce in 1948 from Maya Deren (Eleanora Derenkowsky). The three worked together on Deren's films At Land (1944), Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946) and Invocation: Maya Deren (1987). In her early work as a cinematographer and actress, Heyman is sometimes also credited as Hella Hamon. After their marriage, Hella and Alexander Hammid moved to
275-747: The best known of these is the first IMAX format film, To Fly! (1976), which premiered at the Smithsonian Institution ’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) at the museum’s grand opening celebration on July 1, 1976. Produced in conjunction with MacGillivray Freeman Films, it continues to play regularly at the Air and Space Museum. During his years with Francis Thompson, Inc., Hammid went on to be involved with several other early IMAX films. Graeme Ferguson , co-founder of IMAX Corporation (speaking at Francis Thompson’s memorial service in 2004) recalled how he had wanted Hammid and Thompson to make
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#1732776232609300-424: The curtain, Baba says "I've killed the ghost! I've killed the ghost!" Monica, hearing the gunshots, enters, sees Toby's lifeless body and runs for help. As the final curtain falls very slowly Baba asks, in a hoarse whisper, "Was it you?" Alexandr Hackenschmied Alexandr Hackenschmied , born Alexander Siegfried George Hackenschmied , known later as Alexander Hammid (17 December 1907 – 26 July 2004),
325-413: The film version of Menotti's opera The Medium . Hammid directed his final film, To Be Alive! (1964), for screening at the 1964 New York World's Fair . The film won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short in 1965. Hammid worked in partnership with filmmaker Francis Thompson for over 25 years, producing numerous “in-house” documentaries as well as several films for general viewership. One of
350-576: The first commercial IMAX films because of their extensive work in earlier large-scale multi-screen films including To Be Alive! (which won an Oscar after being shown at the New York World's Fair in 1964), We Are Young (on six screens for the Montreal World's Fair/Expo 67 in 1967) and US (for San Antonio 's Hemisfair in 1969). Hammid died in July 2004 in his Manhattan apartment. He
375-687: The late 1930s he collaborated with the American filmmaker Herbert Kline on the feature-length documentary Crisis (1939) and moved to the USA where he met and married Maya Deren . Together they made Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), an experimental film with the directors playing the two protagonists. He also directed the documentaries The Forgotten Village (1941), The Valley of the Tennessee (1944), and A Better Tomorrow (1945). Hammid also made
400-426: The trunk to find his tambourine. While searching, he knocks the lid of the trunk down waking Baba. Toby quickly hides in the puppet theater. As Baba tries to see where the noise came from and fetches a revolver from a drawer in the table. "Hysterically" she shouts out "Who is it? Speak or I'll Shoot!" and the puppet theater curtain moves. Baba screams and fires at it several times. As Toby's bloody body collapses grasping
425-436: The voice is coming from. The act ends with Monica again singing the lullaby while Baba recites her Hail Marys. A few days later Toby is giving a puppet show for Monica. Their mutual love becomes more obvious. When Baba comes home, she resumes her accusations on Toby, sure that he knows what went on that night. The guests again arrive, expecting another seance but are driven away by Madame Flora who tries to convince them that
450-582: The whole thing was a sham by revealing all the tricks that she and Monica used. But the guests are not convinced and leave claiming that while she might have thought she was cheating them, she in fact was not. Once the guests are gone, she drives Toby out despite Monica's pleas on his behalf. With everyone gone, and Monica in her room, Baba pours herself another drink and questions her own sanity, becoming wild with drink and eventually passing out. Once she has fallen asleep, Toby sneaks back in and tries to get into Monica's room, but finds it locked and eventually goes to
475-492: Was 96. Austrian film director, Martina Kudláček directed, documentary, Aimless Walk: Alexander Hammid (1996) based on his life and work. In 2006, MoMA organized a tribute film exhibition titled, "Alexander Hammid: A Memorial Salute" based on its film archives. The Academy Film Archive has preserved Arturo Toscanini: Conducting Music of Giuseppe Verdi and Library of Congress by Alexandr Hackenschmied. Hella Hammid Hella Hammid (15 July 1921 – 1 May 1992)
500-410: Was a Czech -American photographer , film director , cinematographer and film editor . He immigrated to the U.S. in 1938 and became involved in American avant-garde cinema. He is best known for three films: Crisis (1939), Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) and To Be Alive! (1964). He made Meshes of the Afternoon with Maya Deren , to whom he was married from 1942 to 1947. His second marriage
525-550: Was also a remote viewer who worked with Russell Targ and Harold E. Puthoff at SRI International doing work for the CIA. She also worked with Stephan A. Schwartz on The Alexandria Project, considered to be psychic archaeology . Hammid participated in the first Gateway Voyage program offered by Robert Monroe , founder of The Monroe Institute, that was held at the Esalen Institute at Big Sur in 1973. Hammid
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#1732776232609550-434: Was an American photographer whose career included teaching at UCLA . Her freelance photographs appeared in diverse publications including Life , Ebony , The Sun and The New York Times . Her softly backlit picture of two young Italian girls dancing, watched by other children in front of the abutments of a stone building, was chosen by Edward Steichen for his 1955 world-touring MoMA exhibition The Family of Man , which
575-739: Was born Hella Hilde Heyman on 15 July 1921 in Frankfurt , Germany. She immigrated to the United States on 14 September 1937, and later moved from New York City to Los Angeles. In 1939 she filed a declaration of intention to apply for US citizenship with the Southern District Of California. In fall 1940, she attended Black Mountain College for one semester as student, according to Buncombe County, North Carolina immigration records. Hammid also studied sociology at
600-494: Was seen by nine million visitors. Hammid had a long professional career taking "candid portraits" of children and families for private clients as well as contributing to a number of book projects. Hammid's photographic career is the subject of the book, Hella Hammid: Feminine Fate . One of her most widely circulated images is the Tree Poster , which portrays writer Deena Metzger , a close friend of Hammid's. Hammid
625-470: Was to the photographer Hella Heyman , who had also collaborated with Hammid and Deren on several films. He won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) for To Be Alive! (1964), which he co-directed with Francis Thompson . Born in Linz , Austria-Hungary to the son of a school-teacher, he changed his name to Alexander Hammid when he became a citizen of the United States in 1942. He
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