FORGOTTEN, MISSED AND WANTED - A REMINDER ONLY

DICK FIDDY: MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED

” Happy Hunting” wrote Dick Fiddy on the title page of his book given to me personally after having given an interesting lecture about television programmes lost but not forgotten at FIAT/IFTA international conference in London 2001. The book was not a bestseller. But for those happy few who are working with the issue of searching for transmitted programmes , the book was a wake up call .The actress Julie Christie, the singer, songwriter, author, poet and painter Bob Dylan, the actor George Hamilton and the actress Vanessa Redgrave and Lord Byrons (1788-1824) awoke one morning and found themselves famous.
Lord Byron – the most famous exile in Europe – had published his book called: “ Childe Harold Pilgrimage “ and he was surprised by the interest of the public for his book. The romantic poet – an outcast – made this statement in year 1812: “ … I awoke one morning and found myself famous …”. There is a difference between the persons mentioned. The actors had performed at television and not written any book and none of them had left England in anger never to return. Dick Fiddy discovered that early television productions of the actors had been wiped. The quality of the productions where they took part, had been evaluated , rejected and wiped . No return . Unknown selectors with a lust for power had decided to get ride of programmes transmitted. Bob Dylan had performed in a programme called: “ Madhouse on castle street “ in 1963. Not qualified for permanent storage in the archive. George Hamilton and Vanessa Redgrave is acting in the play : “ A Farewell to Arms “. The play is based on the novel written by the American writer Ernest Hemingway. The first major role for the actress Julie Christie was a role in the British television science fiction drama serial called : “ A for Andromeda “. Not qualified for the archive. What happened to
Julie Christie, Bob Dylan, Vanessa Redgrave and George Hamilton.? Forgotten due to aging and lack of energy in making new productions? No. Let us start with Julie Christie. Age 68.
She is still active in many fields. “ Uncontacted Tribes “ is the title of a short film for the British-based charity Survival International. The film is contenting UNSEEN FOOTAGE of remote and endangered peoples. In 2008 Julie Christie narrated the film. She also appeared in a segment of the 2008 film “ New York , I love you “. It is interesting to discover while searching for information about productions where she had participated, that her Filmography is not contenting data about the BBC television production: “ A for Andromeda “. Information given from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, is reporting about the production but only in the chapter of her early life – not in the list of her film productions. She has turned her back on superstardom to breed sheep in Wales. Let us continue with Bob Dylan. Lost and forgotton and out date? No. Bob Dylan is 68 years of age. Not a young man so to speak. By the end of 2008 , Bob Dylan and his band had played more than 2100 shows. He is still touring around the world with his band . Bob Dylan has been described as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, musically and culturally. What about Vanessa Redgrave? Out of date too?
No. It is surprising to observe that the wiped production :” A Farewell To Arms “is not listed in her filmography published in Wikipedia but you find the information in her biography.
“… she had four screen appearances in the can, all of them realised in 1966. First would come a TV miniseries take on Hemingway’s WW1 drama ….where George Hamilton would play the Hemingway character and Redgrave the nurse…”. At an age of 72 she is still an active lady. Tennesse Villiams has called Vanessa Redgrave “ The greatest actress of our time ..”.
With reference to published future plans, she is aiming at working with Ralph Fiennes in a film based on William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. The production is starting in January 2010 in Serbia. Out of date – no. What about George Hamilton- an American actor? Age: 70.
His filmography is not contenting any information about the wiped production mentioned.
His first move is called: “ Lone Star “. Production year 1952. His last film is called “ Rumor Has it “. Year 2005. Anyway, in August 2008 the actor co-starred in “ Coma “ , a web series on Crackle.
To decide the future of transmitted television and radio programmes is not an easy work. It is a work not to be done at all. “ …The preceding information is just the tip of the iceberg , thousands of other items of equal importance are sadly missing, believed wiped. Every gentre, indeed every sub-gentre, has important gaps among the archive holdings …” quotation from
Dick Fiddy’s book. At the end of the book acknowledgments to The BBC’ Treasure Hunt Team and to FIAT/IFTAs active conference organizer, Sue Malden.

Tedd Urnes

Dick Fiddy: MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED. Searching for the Last Treasures of British Television. British Film Institute. 2001. 145p.

SELECTION POLICY OF AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES – COMMENTS ONLY

The advanced learner’s dictionary of current English describes SELECTION with reference to whether a plant or an animal might flourish and multiply while others are less well suited to their surroundings and die. This process is called NATURAL SELECTION. The dictionary also makes a distinction between NATURAL SELECTION and ARTIFICIAL SELECTION: The process whereby animals or plants are chosen and matched so that they will produce new animals or plants with desired characteristics and with reference to books: A collection of specially chosen examples as selections from Shakespeare.

The idea of making selection is not a new one. Some plants and animals have to die making it possible for other plants and animals to live.

If we transfer these statements to literature, painting, films, television and radio productions we should only keep the best of everything made. It is the quality of the products that is the issue. We need to read literature of high standard to make new literature of higher standard in all fields of written communications.

We should also only keep those radio programmes and television programmes and movies transmitted and published to make better products in all mentioned fields . The true nature of selections has been fulfilled by those who have the power to select.

Who are the selectors within the field of library and television and radio activities and archives?
Who want the power and who are doing the work making the final decision of life and death of the products like books, films, sound recordings, music and moving image?

PROFESSIONAL INTERNATIONAL LIBRARIANSHIP – THE HISTORY OF SELECTION

Librarians who are working for public libraries are educated in making book selections for the library collections weekly. A professional and complicated work to be done by dedicated librarians worldwide. But the work is not done only to protect the readers from literature of low standard. It is not done to create better products in the future. Writers are reading only good novels to write better novels because we have burned the books unqualified to be presented to the public. No. The selection of books in public libraries and research libraries is done due to an economic approach and a practical attitude. The publishing companies need to make a certain number of copies of any published book to make a break even. Some years ago Norwegian publishing companies estimated a must of 3000 copies printed of the book to make a break even. This means that you might find a lot of copies of the book spread geographically around in the country. You make a selection of the book needed for your collection based on the aim of your library. No harm is done by refusing some books.


Public libraries cannot buy every published book about the Second World War. But you will always find the copy you want in a library where the content of the library is dominated by military history.







ERROL FLYNN (1909- 1959)

Protection philosophy with reference to quality in all fields is not a dominating attitude among librarians anymore. I still remember the negative answer I got from the public library of Oslo about 44 years ago when I
asked for the biography of the late actor Errol Flynn. The title of the book is: “ MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS “ published in 1959. To write about private matters in the way he did is now accepted . But not 44 years ago.
I was surprised to find the book in a bookshop in Finland . The book had been reprinted in 1992.


What might happen if a published book is not accepted by any library? No problem . Those countries where the official policy of legal deposit have been introduced, have a copy deposit in the National Library. In some countries the law of legal deposit of written documents have been extended to audiovisual materials like, television and radio programmes, music recordings and movies. At least one copy of the product is archived in the National Library.

An official selection policy of the collections of written documents within the library system has proved to be a good system because you will always find a copy of the book wanted.

SELECTION POLICY OF TELEVISION AND RADIO PRODUCTION: A STUDY OF CULTURAL ARROGANCE
When I started to work for The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) December 1976, the different production departments within the organization had already established a policy of selection of transmitted Norwegian television programmes. An archival committee was set up to make the selection work. I was the secretary of the committee. I took for granted that we could not keep all television programmes produced. Besides I was told that we made too many unimportant programmes. The result of the work of the committee made me more and more critical to the final decisions made by the producing departments. I had a feeling that we wiped too many programmes due to economic reasons rather than a serious cultural evaluation of the products. The tapes used were expensive. The tapes could be used again and again while programmes made on films were not a subject for selection. We used 2 inch and 1 inch tapes .





NO MORE SELECTION – WE WIPED THE ARCHIVAL COMMITTEE

The archival committee was set up due to an official scandal. The tapes describing the public election of 1972 whether Norway should apply for membership of the European Community or not, were wiped due to lack of internal rules of how to take care of the tapes after transmission. We bought copies of the election later on from Denmark. I viewed the tapes which contented the run of the election and an up-dating of the results from all over the country. The value for reusing the tapes was negative: Too much statistics of the election and too few shots for being used in a new programme. The selectors had done a job acceptable with reference to the policy of reusing the materials. Why was the wiping a scandal? If you involve the whole nation in an important political election about the future, you must also expect people to get access to the results later on. The written documents were not burned but tapes have an economic value. The tapes can be used many times.

Why should the tapes be kept in the archive? The answers are: A democratic society require access to official documents published . The tapes have a value for researchers and professors at universities who are doing serious research and studies of changes and the development of the society. In year 1972 there was no legal deposit law for audiovisual materials , only for written documents. Later on the tapes would be of value for programmes describing a public election and the engagement of the majority of the population. In 1972 it was not an easy work to imagine what kind of programme should be recommended for the reuse of the tapes.

Was there any official pressure from the universities of Norway requiring copies of the tapes? In year 1972 the scholars had not regarded the programmes produced by the only television company in Norway as a source of
importance for university studies.

OFFICIAL MEDIA SCANDALS: A MUST TO PROTECT TELEVISION COMPANIES FOR COMMITTING
MEDIA CRIMES ?

In year 2001 an interesting book was published by the British Film Institute: MISSING, BELIEVED WIPED. Searching for the Lost Treasures of British Television by Dick Fiddy.

Dick Fiddy is a freelance writer and researcher who has contributed to publications such as the “ Radio Times “ and organizations such as the British Film Institute (bfi). I met him for the first time in Sofia, Bulgaria where he was giving a lecture called “Unlocking the Archives “ at FIAT/IFTA conference in 1993. Dick Fiddy participated also at FIAT/IFTA conference in London in 2001 giving a lecture called “ Restoring the Archives “.

“… There are many reasons why television programmes were junked, wiped or unrecorded but the underlying reason is the philosophy that TV was ephemeral and DID NOT NEED TO BE KEPT. This was still the prevailing opinion 30 years ago when large amounts of wiping took place at BBC and some Independent UK TV companies…” so far Dick Fiddy. The statements are the introduction words in his paper called : “ Restoring The Archive “. The year is 2001.



FILM AND VIDEO: SELECTION OF VIDEO TAPES AND NOT A SELECTION OF FILMS?

Television companies made programmes for years on either film or tapes. The films could not be reused. Therefore film programmes were stored in the archives. The content of the film programmes were catalogued with detailed descriptions concerning facts like: Names of persons interviewed, the names of the sites used in the film, duration of the programmes, technical items, statements made just to mention some of many facts.
The tapes were not regarded as a permanent archival material. Due to this thinking, many important and interesting programmes were wiped. A crime committed ? I think so. The content of programmes made on film and tape was the same: An interview with an important politician was made both on film and tape. But we lost the statements made on tapes. We lost information given to people. The information belonging to people living
in a democratic society.



SELECTION AND CENSORSHIP: MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION SUPPRESSION ?

This is a provocative question and some might say that we few, we happy few, are not a part of a world where
The freedom of speech and freedom of opinions are suppressed. It is history. We do not burn books anymore.
Take a look at this photo taken in Santiago de Chile, Chile in year 1973. Books are burned. Tapes are wiped according to statements made by Dick Fiddy. Is selection of transmitted television and radio programmes a hidden and unofficially policy of censorship?




SELECTION NECESSARY WHEN?

The value of the collections of audiovisual materials depends on the amount and quality of the products stored. If you do keep only a certain numbers of the transmitted programmes, you limit the search for stock shots and the interest to contact the archive at all. It is a task for any audiovisual archive to increase the value of the archive.
The best way to do so is to get more materials for your collection. Untransmitted materials – shots made for a programme – should be a subject for selection only to make the collection better.

CONCLUSION

Selection policy of transmitted audiovisual materials – programmes made by television corporations or independent companies – should be wiped of the agenda of the companies who have produced the products.

A legal deposit law of all transmitted programmes is a must for any democratic society.

Selections of unpublished materials should be introduced because we may keep shots of great value.

Traditional library thinking of an active selection policy is out of date.

A plan for a better cooperation between the programme producers and the archive is a must to copy with the
Great number of titles transferred to the archive. Those who make the programme must assist in cataloguing the programmes. This policy is already in action both in Swedish Television and Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation after years of debate of the work.

It is not unusually for a television archive to receive about 10000 titles annually. How to make a serious selection of 10000 titles and what about the cost for this policy?

Finally: Take care of your collection. Wiping of cultural values is a crime. Audiovisual archives do store cultural values important for any society.

Tedd Urnes