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Philip K. Scheuer | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 24, 1902 |
| Died | February 19, 1985 (aged 82) |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, film critic |
| Spouse | Constance Marie Kraus |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Lucie Scheuer (daughter) |
Philip K. Scheuer was a film critic for the Los Angeles Times for 40 years.
Life and career
editScheuer was born on March 24, 1902 in Newark, New Jersey. In high school, he won a trip to interview people in the Hollywood filmmaking industry and then resolved to pursue a career in cinema. However, he found difficulty finding work within the studios and took a job with the Los Angeles Times as the newspaper's second assistant film and drama critic in 1927.[1]
Scheuer's early contributions to the Los Angeles Times tracked the monumental shift from silent to sound films that was occurring. He was concerned with helping to establish cinema as a valid and discrete art form separate from other performing arts.[1]
Along with fellow Los Angeles Times critic and writer Edwin Schallert, who had hired him in 1927,[2] Scheuer faced difficulty with the perception that serious film criticism could only be written by New York-area writers such as Bosley Crowther, A. H. Weiler and Howard Thompson of The New York Times.[1]
Scheuer developed close relationships with many influential Hollywood personalities and especially benefited from his ties with film press agents.[1]
Disgusted with the increasing level of sex and violence in Hollywood films permitted with the new MPAA rating system, Scheuer retired in 1967. A friend later explained that Scheuer hated the "new freedom" of contemporary films because it was "anathema to a man of taste and breeding." At the time of his retirement, Scheuer was believed to be the only working critic who had reviewed films in the silent era. He was succeeded at the Los Angeles Times by critic Charles Champlin.[1]
Death
editScheuer died on February 18, 1985 at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center from an undisclosed illness. His wife Constance Marie Kraus, a former Busby Berkeley dancer, had died in 1962. Scheuer had one daughter, Lucie, who became a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times in the early 1970s.[1]
Awards
editScheuer received the Critics Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1959. The guild recognized his "constructive and enlightened criticism" as an "important factor in encouraging higher standards in motion pictures."[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Thackrey Jr., Ted (February 19, 1985). "Philip Scheuer, Ex-Times Film Critic, Dies". Los Angeles Times. p. 7, Part II.
- ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (March 26, 1967). "Four Decades as The Times Movie Critic". Los Angeles Times. p. 2, Calendar section.