Happy Birthday to Experimental Film Pioneer Mary Ellen Bute
Born November 21, 1906, Mary Ellen Bute was an early pioneer in experimental and animated film known for her series of films called Seeing Sound.
Mary Ellen grew up in Houston, Texas before she began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art at age 16. She went on to be one of the first ten women to attend Yale University where she studied stage lighting. Mary Ellen thought painting was too limiting and began experimenting with the color organ — a device which represents sounds visually. Her world travels exposed her to different types of designs and patterns. Along with inventor Leon Theremin, Mary Ellen began working on a musical instrument which allowed her greater control than earlier color organs. Using a joystick, she could create electric sounds. Mary Ellen began making her own abstract animated films.
In 1934, Mary Ellen began creating short abstract films in black and white before moving on to also using color. She worked with her husband Theodore Nemeth, a cinematographer who was experienced in the use of special effects. Mary Ellen believed that there was also commercial value in these experimental films and six of her films premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Many of her films also played in movie theaters around the country before the feature— meaning millions of people were able to view her work.
Much of Mary’s work grew from the idea that science and art could be combined. Her early collaborator Joseph Schillinger followed a theory which claimed all music could be broken down into mathematical formulas. Throughout her career, Mary Ellen continued to work with a variety of established collaborators such as animators, musicians and artists.
“There were so many things I wanted to say, stream-of-consciousness things, designs and patterns while listening to music. I felt I might be able to say [them] if I had an unending canvas.” — Mary Ellen Bute
In 1965, Mary Ellen began working on a live-action film inspired by writer James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. The film took three years to make and was her final finished film. She also worked on two other films (including one about Walt Whitman) that were never completed. Mary Ellen Bute died on October 17, 1983, at the age of 77. Six months before her death she was honored at the Museum of Modern Art where her films were shown.
Because of the lack of availability of good quality prints of her films, many people aren’t aware of Mary Ellen Bute’s contribution to the early days of animated and experimental film. But watching what is available of her work, it’s easy to become entranced by her vision and see why she was a pioneer in her field.
