The Postcard
A Valentine's Series postcard that was posted using a 2d. stamp in Southend-on-Sea. The man standing on the left appears to be holding a small toy bucket; he also appears to be distracted by something going on behind him.
The card was posted on Sunday the 31st. July 1949 to:
Misses B. & P. Summerfield,
39, Western Road,
Wylde Green,
Sutton Coldfield.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear B & P,
Thanks for your letters, we
are thinking of you just now -
11.30.
Hope all is OK. We are well
and hope to see you tomorrow -
leaving after lunch early and
hope to arrive 9o/c? or so.
It's raining this morning with
quite heavy showers and the
wind is very rough.
Hoping to go to Clifftown
tonight.
It's good to have Coc'y back,
and everything was quite
safe.
Much love from all -
Mother & Dad, Win & Charles.
xxxx"
The back of the card has been hand-stamped with a red ellipse containing the following message:
'26 Feb 1975.
Warning - Avoid Dealers.
Send Details to:-
Postcards & Postmarks
Library, Skegness.
Extra Payment Before 1911.'
Voting in West Germany
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 31st. July 1949, a pastoral letter was read in Catholic churches throughout West Germany. It told voters that the failure of Catholics to vote in the 14th. August election might play into the hands of forces which oppose Christian principles.
Social Democratic Party leader Kurt Schumacher took exception to the letter, claiming that it was an attempt to swing votes to the Christian Democratic Union:
"We have absolute understanding for all
doctrines rooted in Christian ethics and
morality. But we have no understanding
for outspoken power politics exercised
by ecclesiastical authorities."
Dimitri Devyatkin
The day also marked the birth in Manhattan, New York of Dimitri Devyatkin.
Dimitri Devyatkin is an American director, producer, screenwriter, video artist, and journalist. He uses elements of humor, art and new technology in his work.
Dimitri is known as one of the first video makers to combine abstract synthesized imagery with camera footage. His programs have been broadcast domestically and internationally on ABC, PBS, Channel 4, WDR, France 3, TF1 and Channel One Russia.
Dimitri's works consist of digital media, computer art, broadcast news and feature filmmaking. His activities in the creation of new independent US filmmaking have been documented by Jonas Mekas in "Birth of a Nation" (1997).
Dimitri Devyatkin - The Early Years
Devyatkin is of Russian heritage. He grew up in Manhattan, where he was neighbors with young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dimitri attended New York City public schools, including the Bronx High School of Science. He studied Classics at St. John's College.
Devyatkin studied classical violin from the age of twelve at the Greenwich House Music School. While in high school, he played violin with youth orchestras in Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center.
Devyatkin studied modern music composition with Grammy-winning composer Joan Tower.
In California, at the age of 17, he spent a summer playing electric violin with the legendary jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Dimitri Devyatkin's Video Making
In 1971, Dimitri began experimenting with abstract video art while living in Santa Barbara, California. While there, he was advised to visit the newly organized theater 'The Kitchen' in New York.
Upon meeting the founders, Steina and Woody Vasulka, he became the video director between 1971 and 1973, organizing video and electronic art performances nearly every day for two years. He organized video shows in the United States and Europe. These included a US Department of State sponsored tour of Amerika Haus centers in six German cities along with shows at the American Cultural Centers in Paris and London.
Film Studies in Russia
In 1973, Devyatkin went to Moscow as an exchange student, studying Russian at Moscow State University and documentary film making under Russian director Roman Karmen at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography.
Dimitri met and worked with many other famous Russian filmmakers, and participated in several popular feature films. He videotaped performances by the Taganka Theatre, including Hamlet starring Russian actor Vladimir Vysotsky, and the play Ten Days That Shook the World based on the book of the same name.
Digital Video Art
Devyatkin organized an international Computer Arts Festival at The Kitchen, which was held successfully for four years. At the 1973 festival, Devyatkin introduced early examples of computer generated film, video, graphics and music from around the world. Devyatkin presented "a remarkably beautiful series of color alterations and shape distortions."
Devyatkin's video piece The Sordid Affair is an outstanding example of political video art, as a full expression of free speech.
Hidden Human Potential
Devyatkin documented experiments and demonstrations of hidden mental abilities. He videotaped music and light psychotherapy experiments conducted by Natalia Bekhtereva, and psychological teaching methods such as Suggestopedia.
Devyatkin's work is mentioned in Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. His 1974 documentary Suggestopedia: A Science of Learning was shown widely.
In his ongoing coverage of hidden human potential, Devyatkin recorded experiments in teaching newborn babies to swim.
Video Art in New York
In 1978, Devyatkin collaborated with Nam June Paik to produce a light-hearted comparison of life in the two cities, Media Shuttle: New York-Moscow. The video is held in museum collections around the world.
Dimitri documented the marriage of two Fluxus pioneers, George Maciunas and Billie Hutching in a series of Fluxus- style performances in SoHo, Manhattan.
In 1978, he assisted the artist Charlotte Moorman in organizing the Annual Avant Garde Festival of New York, held that year on the Staten Island Ferry.
Dimitri spent time with John Lennon, and invited him to teach a course at the alternative high school where he was teaching, Elizabeth Cleaners Street School.
Dimitri Devyatkin's Renowned Solo Productions
In 1983, Devyatkin directed Video From Russia: The People Speak, which was narrated by Margot Kidder. It was nominated for an Emmy in Los Angeles. The program was described as:
"A rare opportunity to hear spontaneous
comments from people who are lumped
together in political rhetoric as our enemy."
It was awarded the gold medal at the New York International Video Festival in 1984.
El Salvador: Names of War
Throughout the 1980's, Devyatkin produced independent films and videos in New York City. He spent 6 weeks in El Salvador covering the civil war. The 1986 program, El Salvador: Names of War, shows the human face of the war. He worked with cameraman Eddie Becker and translator Berta Silva in the mountains of El Salvador to shoot battles and everyday life.
Verkola: A Village in Northern Russia
Devyatkin directed Verkola: A Village in Northern Russia in 1986. It was sponsored by TPT, PBS, Channel 4, and France 2. The program is a portrait of life in a tiny village near Arkhangelsk.
Dimitri Devyatkin's Other Work
(a) As a Producer
Dimitri started working for CBS News in 1988 to cover the Moscow Summit between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for the CBS News.
He was also a producer for Worldwide Television News (WTN), where he covered the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Armenian earthquake in Spitak, and the Ecologists' Movement in the Baltic States.
During the Glasnost period, Devyatkin was the American co-director on Soviet television for a program entitled "Come Together." This Soviet-American co-production documentary followed a peace march of 500 American and Russian activists from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It was one of the first times that dissidents were able to speak on Russian television.
Devyatkin also produced a series of interviews for MGM with Heroes of the Soviet Union. Those who were interviewed included the liberator of Auschwitz, General Arkady Petrenko and the discoverer of Hitler's corpse, Elena Rzhevskaya.
In 1992, Devyatkin was the line-producer on the Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach fiction movie. In 2014, it was named as one of the 100 Best Russian Films from 1992 to 2013 by Afisha Magazine, and Devyatkin was interviewed for the article.
During this period, Devyatkin was line producer for five other feature films for Mosfilm, including The House Under the Starry Sky directed by Sergei Solovyov. Dimitri was also General Director of a dubbing studio on the Mosfilm lot.
Devyatkin worked with Metromedia as a Director of Special Projects based in Moscow. He introduced the television channels Eurosport and Nickelodeon to Russia between 1994 and 1999.
Between 1999 and 2000, Devyatkin worked with Streamedia Communications Inc. as their vice president, Europe in Amsterdam and New York, where he created six content channels on the Internet.
(b) As a Teacher and Public Speaker
In the early 2000's, Devyatkin was a professor teaching the Digital Video Production course at New York University. Devyatkin has worked extensively as a public speaker at universities, represented by the Jodi Solomon Speakers Bureau in Boston.
Dimitri Devyatkin's Video Exhibitions and Presentations
Dimitri's video exhibitions and presentations include:
-- 1971 and 1973 International Forum for Youth Film, Berlin
-- 1971 and 1975 College of Architects, Barcelona
-- 1971 - 1973 The Kitchen, New York
-- 1973 Lenbachhaus Museum, Munich
-- 1973 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse
-- 1973 Festival d'Avignon, France
-- 1973 American Cultural Centers, Paris and London
-- 1974 and 1978 Syracuse University
-- 1978 Museum of Modern Art, New York
-- 2000 State University of New York, Purchase
-- 2003 - 2005 Ramapo College, New Jersey
-- 2008 Anna Akhmatova Literary and Memorial Museum, St. Petersburg
-- 2013 Bonn International School, Germany
-- 2014 Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Germany
-- 2022 Electronic Arts Intermix.
