From an eMail received December 22, 2016
I
was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant when, as a member of Class 7,
Section C, I graduated from Signal Corps OCS at Ft. Monmouth and was
then assigned as a screen writer to the Army Pictorial Center (SCPC) in
Astoria, Long Island, NY. I wrote training films.
When my term of service ended, I returned to postgraduate study,
obtained an MA and PhD and taught in various American universities until
receiving a research fellowship in 1966 which brought me to the United
Kingdom. I subsequently taught at several UK universities, married an
English woman, and retired in 1996. My wife and I continue to live in
Manchester, England; my three daughters and grandson live in London.
Because of my film training at the Army Pictorial Center (SCPC), I have
been able to work as a film and theatre historian and am the author of
some dozen books, some on film subjects, some on theatre subjects.
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Editor's Note: Candidate Mayer was awarded the Guggenheim
Fellowships in 1966. Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been
awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for
productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts". The
roll of Fellows includes numerous Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer and other
prize winners.
Professor Mayer is also the author and editor or coeditor of numerous
publications in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and American
popular entertainment. His books include Harlequin in His Element:
English Pantomime, 1806–1836 and Playing Out the Empire: “Ben-Hur”
and Other Toga-plays and Films.
Picture courtesy: Michael Pollard
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