“Goofy Newsreels” was the title of Cornell's very first film screening in 1936, at the Julien Levy Gallery, scene of Salvador Dali's infamous disruption of the projection of Rose Hobart. The “newsreels” were in fact not newsreels, but a nickelodeon-style series of vignettes commercially produced as parodies of the genre. These films run the gamut from untouched artifact to highly edited collage, and prefigure Cornell's non-sequitur approach to editing and his delight in slapstick surrealism. Also included is Cornell's lovely "Children's Trilogy": Midnight Party, Cotillion, and Children's Party.

Jeanne Liotta, Bradley Eros