What a life. Most folks would be content with starting "the Cinematheque on the Charles." Or launching groundbreaking world cinema distribution company Janus Films. Or helping the New York Film Festival get off the ground. Or, you know, starting Crabtree & Evelyn. Cyrus Harvey, who died earlier this month at 85, did all these things and more.
The cinetrix was at a film festival when she learned the news, from the Criterion site, no less. I'd kinda of known that Harvey, if still alive, couldn't possibly be for much longer. But I chose to ignore that when, last month, I presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies about a lawsuit Harvey and his Brattle business partner Bryant Haliday won wayyyy back in 1955. It was more appealing to think that someday I might be able to sit down and chat with him.
In a way, I guess that every time we see a film that opens with that distinctive two-faced Janus coin (which Harvey's wife explained referred to her husband and his partner: "Bryant was gay and Catholic. Cy was straight and Jewish. They really liked that."), we all become part of an ongoing conversation. Thanks, Cy.
UPDATE: The Brattle has programmed a whole slew of flicks in Harvey's honor.
