View Kit Davidson's
films
100 Watts 120
Volts ,
Help, My Snowman's Burning Down ,
Poppycock
and
Woodblock Printer
Carson "Kit" Davidson is an extraordinary filmmaker with a dry with
and self-effacing manner who, at the age of 82 (in 2007) is living life well in
idyllic southwestern Vermont. Kit, who was born in Washington, DC, on June
22, 1924, composed the following biography, and we've used his
words, verbatim...
Biography
After three years involved with World War II and four involved with Antioch
College, Carson Davidson arrived in New York bent on making films. Usual
story – washing dishes at a Bickford’s Cafeteria by night, knocking on
producers’ doors by day. Finally a job with a jaunty outfit called Dynamic
Films, doing whatever needed doing. Nobody actually taught him anything, but
they answered questions cheerfully, and that’s all that’s really needed.
Fascinated by the 3rd Ave El, he borrowed a company camera and started
shooting in his spare time. The resultant film was turned down by every
distributor in New York except the last on the list, a crazy Russian who then
owned the Paris Theater. He paid for blowing it up to 35 mm and played it for
seven months along with an Alec Guinness feature. Actually put the short subject
on the marquee—unheard-of then or now.
Next film was, “Variations on an Italian Theme,” for Alitalia Airlines.
And then another theatrical short subject called “Help! My Snowman’s Burning
Down.” Like the El, it was an Academy Award Nominee, and did a number
of other splendid things for itself.
One way or another he spent upwards of three decades in the documentary and
short subject trade, garnering 70 or 75 international awards but never getting
even mildly rich at it. Along the way he also wrote a number of
children’s books, four of which were in time published.
He is married to a delightful lady named Margaret, who has 31 children’s
books in print herself, all much better than his. The Davidsons used to live
above a pub called Chumley’s in New York, and are now perched on top of a hill
in Vermont, where they welcome all comers to a network of trails and a large
Japanese garden he has built over the years.
He is now a medical editor, helping physicians and researchers (most of
whom cannot write) to explain their esoteric discoveries in the peer-reviewed
medical journals. He remembers having been an independent film producer, but
not very often.
Additional note from Geoff Alexander: Kit and Mickie Davidson also
are the conservators of the Taconic Mountains Ramble, consisting of a number
of spectacular nature trails on the face of Mt.Zion, near Hubbardtown, Vermont.
In 1966, they purchased the 420 acres, and, with a number of volunteers,
maintain the site. "We actively encourage trespassing at all times,"
says Kit, and welcomes responsible hikers to enjoy the cliffs, waterfalls, and
Japanese Garden. In a recent conversation, Kit also mentioned that he'd filmed
"twenty or thirty" episodes of Candid Camera for Alan Funt.
Filmography
Three Hymns Played on Carillon at Riverside Church (1952)
3rd Ave El (1954), Academy Award Nomination in 1955, Golden Reel (highest
award) American Film Assembly, Diploma of Merit (highest award) Edinburgh Intl
Festival, Chris Award Columbus Film Festival
Ink and Rice Paper (1954) Follows the step
- by - step execution of a woodblock print by artist Lowell Naeve from
initial sketch to completed edition.
Variations on an Italian Theme (1961) A tour of Italy, with a view of
the life of the Italian people. Follows a couple of bicyclists in the valley of
Aosta, showing typical views of life in out of the way places. Made for
Alitalia Airlines.
Help! My Snowman’s Burning Down (1964) Fourteen international awards,
including an Academy Award, Nomination and the Special Prize of the Jury, Cannes
Intl Festival
Railway with a Heart of Gold (1965) An account of the Talyllyn Railroad, a historic narrow - gauge slate
carrier in northern Wales, and its operation by interested inhabitants in the
area who saved it from being sold for scrap.
Poppycock! (1966)
Woodblock Printer (1968) The same film as 'Ink and Rice paper,
redistributed.
Brake Free (1970) A film staged on the Mount Washington (NH) cog
railway. Silver Medal Venice Intl Festival, Golden Eagle CINE Washington
Sigmoidoscopy in the Physician's Office (1975?) A medical training film made
for the American Cancer Society.
One Hundred Watts 120 Volts (1977) The
mechanized production of Duro-Test light bulbs is filmed as a dance to the tune
of the Brandenburg, as choreographed filaments, glass, and metal combine in a
dynamic finale.
Granite (1980) Shows a 25 ton block of granite being burned, drilled,
and blasted from the heart of a Vermont mountain, focusing on the machinery
used.
Carson Davidson's Children's Books (writer)
Fast-Talking Dolphin Scholastic Book Services and Dodd, Mead: ages
8-11 (a dolphin lives halfway up a mountain in New England,
and tends to speak in anapestic tetrameter. 320,000 copies to date)
The Adventures of Puss in Boots
The Adventures of Thumbelina
The Adventures of Snow White
(Scholastic; three multiple-ending adventure books, expanding the original
stories with a series of new fairy tale concepts. For ages 3-8)
