Daniel Talbot Papers, 1923-2010, bulk 1960-2008
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1519
- Bib ID:
- 10491409 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Talbot, Daniel, 1926-2017
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 495 linear feet (303 record cartons (box 1-207, 209-251, 253-296, 302-306, 355-356), 5 tall manuscript boxes (box 298-301), 48 manuscript boxes (box 307-354), 79 flat boxes (Box 208 Flat, 252 Flat, Flatbox 1-77))
- Language(s):
- English , French , German , Japanese , Spanish; Castilian .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
All original copies of audio / moving image media are closed until reformatting. Please email rbml@columbia.edu.
Description
Summary
The Dan Talbot papers comprise the business records of the New Yorker Films, an independent film distribution company, as well as the records of the movie theaters that the Talbots operated in Manhattan's Upper West Side, namely the New Yorker Theater, Cinema Studio, Metro, and Lincoln Plaza, with the bulk dating from 1960 to 2008. The collection contains extensive correspondence files, producer reports, distribution agreements and contracts, theatrical engagement files, publicity files of film titles distributed by the New Yorker Films, dating from the 1960s to 2008. Materials also include business and financial records, guest books, photographs, and other materials from the three movie theaters that the Talbots operated, dating from 1960 to 2008. This collection is an outstanding record of independent film exhibition and distribution.
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Series I: New Yorker Films, 1965-2008
New Yorker Films was established in 1965 by Daniel Talbot as an independent film distributor focused on the import of foreign films to the US and North America market. New Yorker Films acquired prints for first-time US distribution such as Bernardo Bertolucci's Before the Revolution (1964), Jean-Luc Godard's Les Carabiniers (1963), Ousmane Sembène's Black Girl (1966), Jacques Rivette's Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) and Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972). New Yorker Films was known for being the chief proponent in bringing New German, Latin American and Postcolonial African Cinema to American audiences and included French New Wave, Iranian, Asian and Eastern European filmmakers as well. New Yorker Films spurred the growth of educational film societies and independent cinemas throughout the United States, providing support and guidance to the non-theatrical cinema market. In 2009, New Yorker Films was sold to Madstone Films.
This series consists of correspondence, contracts, financial, administrative, producer reports, publicity files, theatrical engagements, and other business files pertaining to the operation of the New Yorker Films as an independent film distribution company, dating from 1965 to 2008. Materials related to each film title may appear across multiple subseries as they were originally arranged by record type.
Subseries I.A: Correspondence contains correspondence files of Dan Talbot and the New Yorker Films with international and domestic producers, directors, filmmakers, and studios, dating from 1965 to 2008. Arranged in 6 subsubseries.
Subseries I.B: Distribution Agreements and Contracts includes film distribution agreements, contracts, licenses of the New Yorker Films, dating from 1960 to 2008.
Subseries I.C: New Yorker Video/Home Video consists of files relating to New Yorker Videos' home videos and commercial video releases, dating from 1973 to 2002. Materials include press releases, catalog and sales lists, advertisements, cover stills, and other publicity files for creating the package of the video releases and distributions. Additional files related to the films distributed through Home Video may also appear in Subseries I.F: Publicity Files. Arranged in 4 subsubseries.
Subseries I.D: Administrative consists of administrative files as well as papers related to and writings by Dan Talbot. Also see Subsubseries I.A.2: Domestic for relative similar administrative correspondence.
Subseries I.E: Producer Reports consist of distribution statements, dating from 1970 to 2001. The producer reports track where certain film titles were distributed to, such as schools, libraries, theaters, and other distributors.
Subseries I.F: Publicity Files and Press Kits comprise ads, reviews, correspondence, subtitles, dialog lists, photographs, negatives, slides, press materials related to film titles distributed by the New Yorker Films.
Subseries I.G: Theatrical Engagements consist of files relating to New Yorker Films' theatrical screenings at various theaters and cultural institutions across the United States, dating from 1976 to 2001. Files also included films exhibited at the theaters the Talbots operated: Cinema Studio, Metro Cinema, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. Materials include business records, costs/invoices, correspondence regarding the planning and shipping arrangements for the screenings at the locations.
Subseries I.H: Financial Records consists of the New Yorker Films, including invoices, statements, and expenses of the company, dating from 1972 to 2002. Additional financial records related to New Yorker Video/Home Video may be found in Subseries I.C: New Yorker Video/Home Video.
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Series II: Theaters, 1960-2007
This series consists of business and financial records of the movie theaters located in Manhattan's Upper West Side neighborhood that the Talbots operated: New Yorker Theater, Cinema Studio, Metro, and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, dating from 1960 to 2007. Some materials from the theaters may also be found in Series I: New Yorker Films, 1965-2008 as Talbot was also operating the distribution company in conjunction with the theaters.
Subseries II.1: New Yorker Theater consists of guest books, daily box office reports, bank deposit receipts, correspondence, administrative files, programs, photographs of film titles screened at the theater, dating from 1960 to 1973. The guest books, each about 300 pages, were provided in the theater lobby for guests to write their names and miscellaneous remarks. Some guest books include remarks and signatures left by the city's creative elites. The daily box office reports and receipts document the financial status of the theater, dating from 1960 to 1971. For a list of New Yorker Theater Lobby Poster, see Series V: Oversized.
New Yorker Theater was a movie house in the Upper West Side, located at 2409 Broadway, 88th Street. It was originally opened as the Adelphi Theatre by 1914, it was later called the Yorktown Theatre. Dan Talbot purchased the theater and it was opened to the public in March 1960. The New Yorker's first screening was a double feature of Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944) and the French short film The Red Balloon (1956). The theater was a family business and Dan Talbot was the manager and programmer while Toby Talbot's parents, Bella and Joe Tolpen, worked behind the concessions. The Talbots sold The New Yorker Theater to the Walter Reade Organization in 1973 as he focused his efforts on film distribution at the New Yorker Film.
Subseries II.2: Cinema Studio and the Metro consists of business and financial records of the Cinema Studio and the Metro, which were operated by the Talbots, dating from 1977 to 1988. The Cinema Studio was located on Broadway between 66th and 67th streets; it was opened in 1977 and closed in 1990. The Metro was located at Broadway and 99th Street; it was opened in 1982 and closed in 1987.
Subseries II.3: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (LPC) comprise administrative and financial records of the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, dating from 1981 to 2007. Materials include invoices, bills, financial records, and settlements of the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, which was opened in April 1981.
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Series III: Print Materials, 1951-2009
This series comprises catalogs, programs, serials, books, and other printed publications collected by Dan Talbot and the company over the years. Materials were also used as source materials for film writing, reviews, and advertising materials for the New Yorker Films. Some books also include authors' inscriptions.
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Series IV: Audio and Moving Images, 1974-2006
This series contains audio and moving images of films the New Yorker Films collected and distributed in various formats. Most of them are available commercially while some are master or duplicates of films.
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Series V: Oversized, 1959-2013
This series comprises oversized materials from the New Yorker Theater and the New Yorker Films/Video.
Subseries V.1: New Yorker Theater consists of lobby posters of films programmed at the New Yorker Theater. All posters are 22" x 28" on cardboard and some posters include glued-on photographs of the film.
Subseries V.2: New Yorker Film/New Yorker consists of film posters and oversized artworks and publicity materials from the New Yorker Films/Video. Most of the posters in the flat boxes are 27"x40".
Arrangement
Collection is arranged in 5 series.
- Series I: New Yorker Films, 1965-2008
- Subseries I.A: Correspondence, 1965-2008
- Subseries I.B: Distribution Agreements and Contracts, 1960-2008
- Subseries I.C: New Yorker Video/Home Video, 1973-2006
- Subseries I.D: Administrative, 1960-2007
- Subseries I.E: Producer Reports, 1970-2001
- Subseries I.F: Publicity Files and Press Kits, 1950-2010, bulk 1971-2008
- Subseries I.G: Theatrical Engagements, 1976-2001
- Subseries I.H: Financial Records, 1972-2002
- Series II: Theaters, 1960-2007
- Subseries II.1: New Yorker Theater, 1960-1973
- Subseries II.2: Cinema Studio, The Metro, 1977-1988
- Subseries II.3: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (LPC), 1981-2007
- Series III: Print Materials, 1951-2009
- Subseries III.1: New Yorker Films & New Yorker Videos Catalogs, 1973-2009
- Subseries III.2: Catalogs and Programs, 1951-2007
- Subseries III.3: Serials, 1955-2002
- Subseries III.4: Books, 1955-2000
- Series IV: Audio and Moving Images, 1974-2006
- Subseries IV.1: Film reels, Videocassettes, Audios, Compact Disks, DVDs, 1974-2006
- Subseries IV.2: Artificial Eye & Other Commercial DVDs
- Subseries IV.3: New Yorker Video, Commercial VHS and DVDs
- Series V: Oversized, 1959-2013
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
All original copies of audio / moving image media are closed until reformatting. Please email rbml@columbia.edu.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Dan Talbot Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Materials
NEW YORKER FILMS COLLECTION, Harvard Film Archive. https://harvardfilmarchive.org/collections/new-yorker-films-collection
Ownership and Custodial History
The Dan Talbot Papers were purchased by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University in March 2009.
The collection was previously deposited/stored in various locations prior to the collection sale in 2009: storage room of Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, MoMA's offsite storage facilities, offices of New Yorker Films, Dan Talbot's home, University of Wisconsin's Center for Film and Theater Research.
Subseries II.1: New Yorker Theaters (6 cartons with 112 volumes of guest books, and 2 cartons of financial records, and posters) was previously placed on deposit at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (now Wisconsin Historical Society) by Daniel Talbot in 1974.
Subseries II.2 and II.3: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas (6 cartons on Lincoln Plaza and The Cinema Studio consisting tax records, candy inventories, petty cash, film settlement records, bills paid, daily box office statements and log books on projections, etc.) was previously placed on deposit at the Museum of Modern Art by Daniel Talbot in 1991, and a total of 157 boxes of materials on deposit by 1992.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2010.2011.M066: Source of acquisition--Dan Talbot. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--February 2011.
2009.2010.M041: Source of acquisition--Dan Talbot. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--September 2009.
Bibliography
Talbot, Toby. 2009. The New Yorker Theater and Other Scenes from a Life at the Movies. New York: Columbia University Press.
Talbot, Daniel, Toby Talbot and Werner Herzog. 2022. In Love with Movies : From New Yorker Films to Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. New York: Columbia University Press.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Collection-level record describing unprocessed material made public in summer 2018 as part of the Hidden Collections initiative.
The majority of the collection was processed by Adrien Hilton in 2013-2014, with the assistance of Zuleimy Gabriela Alcantara and Andrew Lee. The boxes were sent to ReCAP due to onsite space constraints. Some boxes were minimally processed. The posters series was inventoried and processed by Tom McCutchon with the assistance of Kevin Schlottmann and other students in 2021. The reprocessing work in 2023 includes a review of the entire collection, and conversion of various inventories into a container list for the finding aid with additional processing and rehousing work for materials that were not processed offsite and the remaining 67 boxes onsite. This work was completed by Yingwen Huang with some assistance of Madelyn Elizondo in Fall 2023.
Duplicative bank deposit receipts (1965-1979) from Subseries II.1 were deaccessioned due to the information already being reflected on daily box office reports. Duplicative materials such as commercial VHS and posters were also deaccessioned during processing. Duplicative serials have also been deaccessioned: American Cinematographer, American Film, Cineaste, Film Comment, Sight and Sound, New York Times Film Reviews, Cahiers du cinéma, Artforum. Researchers may search and request these serials via the library catalog and the e-journal databases. MPLP processing applied to some boxes, especially in Subseries I.G: Theatrical Engagements, the original folders were retained and labels were reinforced.
Box 355-356 Producer reports found onsite and added to finding aid-yh,2024.
Biographical / Historical
Dan Talbot is a notable figure in art-house cinema in the United States and the founder of New Yorker Films. New Yorker Films began in 1965. The company was a means to exhibit foreign films at the now defunct New Yorker Theater. Talbot first acquired Bernardo Bertolucci's Before the Revolution, which led the way for New Yorker Films to acquire more than 400 film titles. New Yorker Films held the rights for theatrical release to theaters and colleges, as well as to distribute films in VHS and DVD format. New Yorker Films was sold to Madstone Films in 2009.
Daniel Talbot was born Daniel Distenfeld on July 21, 1926, in Bronx, New York. He graduated from New York University with a degree in literature. He married Toby Talbot in 1951. He worked in publishing, Gold Medal Books and Avon Books and had published three anthologies: A treasury of mountaineering stories, 1955; Thirteen Great Stories, 1955; Film: an anthology, 1959. He was also a book editor, serving as the East Coast story editor for Warner Bros, and the film critic for The Progressive. In 1963, Talbot produced "Point of Order" with Emile de Antonio.
He also operated multiple theaters in New York's Upper West Side: New Yorker Theater (1960-1973), Cinema Studio (1977-1990), Metro Theater (1982-1987), and Lincoln Plaza Cinema (1981-2018). Talbot was honored in 2004 by IFP/New York with the Gotham Award for Industry Lifetime Achievement. Through his exhibition and distribution activities, Talbot provided moviegoers in the United States with access to a vast array of international filmmakers, including Robert Bresson, Claude Chabrol, Rainer Fassbinder, Federico Fellini, Werner Herzog, Yasujiro Ozu, Ousmane Sembene, and Wim Wenders, among others.
Dan Talbot died in New York City on December 29, 2017, at the age of 91.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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