Description
The collection consists of production files; television files; client and project files; correspondence; contracts; financial
information; notebooks and photographs concerning special effects for various films, including those from RKO in the 1940s;
and material documenting Dunn’s lectures and presentations at festivals and colleges. There is also extensive material on
Film Effects of Hollywood, including contract files and financial statements.
Background
Linwood G. Dunn (1904-1998) was born in Brooklyn, New York. In 1923, he worked as a projectionist in New York City for the
American Motion Picture Corporation. In 1925, he began working as an assistant cameraman for his uncle Spencer Gordon Bennet
on the Pathé serial THE GREEN ARCHER (1925) and continued working on serials including SNOWED IN (1926) and HAWK OF THE HILLS
(1927) until becoming first cameraman on the Pathé serial QUEEN OF THE NORTHWOODS (1929). After Pathé ran into financial difficulties,
Dunn freelanced for a period during which he served as an extra cameraman on FLIGHT (1929) and HELL'S ANGELS (1930). In 1929,
Howard Hurd offered Dunn a position as assistant cameraman at the newly-formed Photographic Effects Department at RKO where
he would remain until 1957. During this time, Dunn worked in various capacities on the creation of the RKO logo, and films
such as THE CASE OF SERGEANT GRISCHA (1930), DANGER LIGHTS (1930), CIMARRON (1931), THE PHANTOM OF CRESTWOOOD (1932), ACES
OF ACES (1933), FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933), KING KONG (1933), CITIZEN KANE (1941), CAT PEOPLE (1942), RINGSIDE (1949), MIGHTY
JOE YOUNG (1949), THE THING (1951), and THE NARROW MARGIN (1953).
Restrictions
Property rights to the physical object belong to the Margaret Herrick Library. Researchers are responsible for obtaining all
necessary rights, licenses, or permissions from the appropriate companies or individuals before quoting from or publishing
materials obtained from the library.