NBC NEWS PRESENTS: "THE AMERICAN IMAGE"
In 1966, the Whitney Museum of American Art settled into its new, lavish headquarters on Madison Avenue and 75th Street. The newness of the building, along with the uptown location (it formerly had been located on eighth street in Greenwich Village) and thus its proximity to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, all leant an air of new legitimacy to the institution, as well as to modern art itself. To commemorate the opening of the new headquarters--and generate some national publicity in the bargain--the Whitney partnered with NBC news on an hour long documentary to be aired on prime-time television. The film was intended to be a sort of mini-history of American art and its host was E.G. Marshall. My father, Frank De Felitta--then a staff producer/director of documentaries at NBC--was chosen to supervise, produce and direct the film. The resulting film, "The American Image", aired on Friday, May 26th, 1967 from 10-11 PM EST. I have no idea if it aired again--typically t...