Dan Cirucci: Movie Pioneer

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Movie Pioneer

Congratulations to Turner Classic Movies for the recent Val Lewton festival and the documentary about Lewton by the great Martin Scorsese. Presented by Scorsese TCM's original documentary looked at the imaginative producer who fashioned a lasting body of beautiful and unsettling films on meager budgets. Among the films shown during the Lewton festival we got a chance to watch the wonderfully-titled I Walked With a Zombie and the eerily mesmerizing Cat People. Lewton is best known for these two and seven other brooding horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. We managed to capture some of the others on tape.
Lewton, originally named Vladimir Ivan Leventon, was born in what is now Yalta, Ukraine. He was a nephew of the actress Alla Nazimova. In 1909, he immigrated with his sister and mother to the USA (where his name was changed to Val Lewton). In Hollywood he earned his chops working for Selznick and then joined RKO. Lewton died of a heart attack at the age of 46 - much too young. But he left a legacy that has inspired other filmmakers.

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About Dan Cirucci

He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's videocasts and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.

Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.

Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications.

A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.

He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.

In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel.

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