William K. Everson

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William K. Everson finds himself trapped inside a Caligariesque world of cinematic expressionism.

William K. Everson (April 8, 1929, Yeovil, Somerset, England - April 14, 1996, New York City) was an archivist, author, critic, collector and film historian, who often discovered lost films. He was born Keith William Everson, but his admiration for the films of the American director William K. Howard prompted him to alter his name.

In the United States from the age of 21, Everson was dedicated to preserving films from the silent era to the 1940s which otherwise would have been lost. Many of his discoveries were projected at his Manhattan film group, the Theodore Huff Memorial Film Society, originally founded by Huff (the biographer of Charlie Chaplin), Everson, film critic Seymour Stern and Variety columnist Herman G. Weinberg as the Theodore Huff Film Society. After Huff's death, Everson added the word "Memorial".

At each screening, Huff members were presented with extensive program notes written by Everson about each film. During the 1960s, these screenings were held in a hall at Union Square. Occasionally, he would make special arrangements with a select invited group to see a 35mm print in a theater. For example, on a Sunday morning in the mid-1960s, he took over Dan Talbot's New Yorker Theater to show the silent She (1925) to an audience of no more than 15 silent film buffs. Later, the Huff Society screenings relocated from Union Square to the New School.

Everson was an influential figure to the generation of film historians who came of age from the 1960s to the 1980s, many of whom were regulars at his New School screenings. Other attendees at the Huff Society included such New York personalities as author Susan Sontag and publisher Calvin Beck. Kevin Brownlow described an infamous incident at the Huff Society:

It was a society that showed the rarest films - often in a double bill with a recognised classic. Everson's programme notes became world-famous (and let us hope that some enterprising publisher will bring them out). In 1959, MGM's Ben-Hur received rave reviews and Everson felt that they were not deserved - so he showed the 1925 version at the Huff. Rival collector Raymond Rohauer, experiencing a little trouble himself over a lawsuit from MGM, told the FBI what Everson was doing and they confronted him after the performance. They seized the print, and Everson spent the next few days squirreling other hot titles around New York. Lillian Gish had to intervene on his behalf. In the 1970s, the FBI instituted a "witch hunt" among film collectors, but by then Everson was too highly respected to be touched. Archives came to depend on him - he would not only loan rare prints for copying or showing, but he would travel the world presenting the films he loved. I was astounded to meet him at an airport weighed down by three times as many cans of films as any human could be expected to carry. He had the uncanny knack of finding lost films. It would be no exaggeration to say that single-handedly, he transformed the attitude of American film enthusiasts towards early cinema.

Everson's film programs were uniquely eclectic with many assembled from his own personal collection. These screenings usually showcased minor masterpieces and overlooked B pictures that he deemed worthy of reappraisal. He brought these rediscoveries to other venues, such as the Pacific Film Archive and the Telluride Film Festival.

Everson was a prolific writer and contributed articles and reviews to numerous film magazines, including Films in Review, Variety and Castle of Frankenstein. His books include The American Movie (1963), The Films of Laurel and Hardy (1967), The Art of W.C. Fields (1967), A Pictorial History of the Western Film (1971) and American Silent Film (1978).

For many years he taught at the NYU School of the Arts film program, with an emphasis on comedy, Westerns and British films, and he sometimes discussed film history as a guest on Barry Gray's late night radio talk show in New York.