SilentComedyMafia.com

Apparently film historian, professor and all-around good-guy Russell Merritt passed away suddenly last night. He had taught film up in the Bay Area for many years, wrote good books on Walt Disney and D. W. Griffith, and was one of the movers and shakers at the Pordenone Festival in it's heyday. I used to enjoy talking with him when we were up at the NIles Museum doing various festivals. Another major historian in this shrinking area of interest gone. He will definitely be missed.

Rest in Peaxe Russell.

RICHARD M ROBERTS