Series: Frames of Reference
Program: Bruce and Babe
Date: 1979-01-01
Duration: 00:00:56

Subject: Drama; Documentary films; Parodies; Motion pictures - Production and direction
People: Cronin, Bruce; Sargent, Babe
Copyright Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Clip Description
In "Bruce and Babe," Bruce Cronin and the star of several of his works, Babe Sargent, travel to Warner, N.H. to screen one of Cronin's films. Cronin assumes the role of narrator as he humorously describes members of the audience, while Babe entertains the audience from the front of the stage.

Program Description
This episode of "Frames of Reference" features the work "Bruce and Babe" by Bruce Cronin.

In "Bruce and Babe," Bruce Cronin and the star of several of his works, Babe Sargent, travel to Warner, N.H. to screen one of Cronin's films. Cronin assumes the role of narrator, describing his career and showing highlights from several works. In "The Game," an early black-and-white film, young boys playing dodge-ball are interrupted by still images of soldiers. In "16 Summit Street," a woman comes face to face with a man's bloody visage in this send-up of the horror film genre. "The Wild Goose" features Babe as a feisty nursing-home inmate, teasing his fellow inmates, who nonetheless rejoice at his attempt to escape, and cheer him on as he is pursued by nurses. In "Henry Phipps Goes Skiing," Babe plays a worker in a shoe factory who wins a three-day skiing trip to nearby Snowflake Lodge. The film follows his antics and pratfalls as he tumbles through ski slopes and cocktail parties. While Cronin and Sargent take a humorous approach to the presentation of these works, their audiences' appreciation of them is fully evidenced by the response to their screening in Warner. "Bruce and Babe," written and directed by Cronin, takes the form of an autobiographical documentary.

"Frames of Reference" was a series that began circa 1978. Half-hour shows were produced to showcase commissioned and already created works. It was around this time that the focus of the Workshop shifted, to concentrate more heavily on creating works for broadcast. During its time, "Frames of Reference" was the focus of the Workshop's national arts programming effort. The series ended circa 1983.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Bruce173.HTML