Norman Fruchter Explained
Norman Fruchter (August 11, 1937 – January 4, 2023) was an American writer, filmmaker, and academic.
Life and career
Fruchter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 11, 1937.[1] He graduated from Rutgers University, in 1959, where he edited the literary magazine,[2] Anthologist.
Fruchter was arrested protesting with CORE and James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, Rev. Donald Harrington, and Michael Harrington, at the 1964 New York World's Fair.[3] From 1960 to 1962, he served as assistant to the editor of New Left Review.[4] He was an editor at Studies on the Left, (1959–1967).[5]
Newsreel
Prior to becoming a member of Newsreel which was founded in 1967, Fruchter and Robert Machover made 'Troublemakers', an award-winning documentary about an organizing effort by members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the Black wards of Newark, New Jersey.[6] As part of their mission to instigate social change, members of Newsreel would present films to political organizations and community groups across the United States.[7] The retrospective, Exit Art / The First World had Newsreel members Norman Fruchter, Roz Payne and Lynn Phillips discuss the films.[8] He was a member of SDS along with Tom Hayden, Jesse Allen, Robert Kramer, also full-time organizers for the group: Carol Glassman; Terry Jefferson; Constance Brown; Corinna Fales; and Derek Winans. He was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.[9] He co-founded and co-directed Independence High School, an alternative high school for drop-outs in Newark, New Jersey, throughout most of the 1970s.
Fruchter recommended Christine Choy to the Newsreel group, after meeting her at Ironbound neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey.[10] [11]
Education
Fruchter was a member of School Board 15, in Brooklyn from 1983 to 1994. He helped to form Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which sued the city of New York over inadequate school funding. He co-founded and headed the Institute for Education and Social Policy at New York University from 1987 to 1996.[12] [13]
Personal life and death
Fruchter married Rachel G. Fruchter (died 1997), who was member of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology State University of New York for nearly 25 years.[14] After her untimely death he married Heather Lewis, a former Newsreel member and school board colleague. Fruchter had two children and four grandchildren.
Fruchter died on January 4, 2023, at the age of 85, from injuries sustained in a traffic collision on December 22.[15]
Awards
Fruchter won the first Edward Lewis Wallant Award.[16] His documentary, "Troublemakers" was selected for premiere screening at the New York Film Festival and subsequently featured at film festivals around the world.
Works
Novels
- Book: Coat Upon a Stick. Simon & Schuster . New York, NY. 1962. B000O3Q0HU .
- Book: Single File. Alfred A. Knopf . New York, NY. 1970.
Academic papers
Commentary
Profile of The Ginger Man's author J. P. Donleavy.
- Fruchter . Norman . The Savage Eye . . I . 2 . New Left Review . March–April 1960 .
Review of the film The Savage Eye.
- Fruchter . Norman . SDS: In and Out of Context . . . February 1972 .
Cited in: Preview.
- Fruchter . Norman . Movement Propaganda and the Culture of the Spectacle . . 4–17 . . May 1971 .
Cited in: Preview.
Filmography
- Race Against Prime Time - (Narrator(- Narration) / 1984 / Released / Albany Video)
- The People's War - (Director / 1970 / Released /)[17]
- WE GOT TO LIVE HERE, Robert Machover & Norman Fruchter, (1965, 16mm B&W/sound, 20 min.)
- Troublemakers, Robert Machover & Norman Fruchter, (1966, 16mm B&W/sound, 54 min.)[18]
- FALN (1965), Peter Gessner, Norman Fruchter and Robert Machover, Robert Kramer
- Summer '68 (1969)[19] [20]
External links
Notes and References
- Book: Investigation of Students for a Democratic Society: Hearings, Ninety-first Congress, First Session . 1970 . United States Congress . 2342 . 12 January 2023.
- Web site: The Anthologist -- Literary Journal of Rutgers College . www.eden.rutgers.edu . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20011227142032/http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~antho/home.html . 2001-12-27.
- News: UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ARRESTED AT FAIR: ONE HELD IN $2,000 BAIL ON ASSAULT CHARGE. R. S. Shapiro.. Rutgers Daily TARGUM. April 23, 1964. 2009-05-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20060922120550/http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/njh/1960/fair.php#. 2006-09-22. dead.
- New Left Reviewed. March 1964. Commentary Magazine.
- Book: Wobblies and Zapatistas. 36. PM Press. 2008. 978-1-60486-041-2 . Staughton Lynd, Andrej Grubačić, Denis (INT) O'Hearn .
- News: Robert Kramer derniere route. Le Monde. November 13, 1999.
- Web site: The History of Third World Newsreel 1967-1997. 21 March 2011. www.experimentaltvcenter.org. 2023-05-13.
- Web site: Exit Art . 2009-05-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080723161737/http://www.exitart.org/history/list95_96.html# . 2008-07-23 . dead .
- Web site: "Subversive Influences" - House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). www.aavw.org. 5 February 2018.
- Book: A critical cinema . registration . Norman Fruchter. . 200–201. University of California Press. 1998. 978-0-520-20943-5. Scott MacDonald.
- Web site: DRAFT OF NEWSREEL/THIRD WORLD NEWSREEL ARTICLE FOR YAMAGATA FILM FESTIVAL. Christine Choy . Newsreel.
- Web site: Institute for Education and Social Policy . 2009-05-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090519105425/http://wagner.nyu.edu/centers/iesp.php# . 2009-05-19 . dead .
- Web site: Rethinking Schools Online. www.rethinkingschools.org. 5 February 2018.
- News: Paid Notice: Deaths FRUCHTER, RACHEL G.. July 15, 1997 . The New York Times.
- News: Norm Fruchter, Champion of Equal Access to Education, Dies at 85 . 12 January 2023 . The New York Times . 12 January 2023.
- Web site: Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies. www.hartford.edu. 5 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20130508230659/http://www.hartford.edu/greenberg/wallant.asp. 8 May 2013. dead.
- Web site: YIDFF: Publications: YIDFF 2001 Official Catalog. www.yidff.jp. 5 February 2018.
- Web site: 40 Frames - Screening Archives - Winter/Spring 2001. www.40frames.org. 5 February 2018.
- Book: From Hanoi to Hollywood . 264. Linda Dittmar . Gene Michaud . 978-0-8135-1587-8 . 1990 . Rutgers University Press.
- Book: Summer '68. 5 February 1994. 31631990.