Maurice Rapf, the emeritus film professor who founded the Dartmouth film department, passed away last night of natural causes at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He was 88-years-old and had been in the hospital for the last four weeks with pneumonia.
Rapf led a fascinating life. His father, Harry Rapf, credited with discovering Joan Crawford, was one of Hollywood's first producers and joined with partner Louis Mayer to become one of the founding members of MGM.
Rapf started his movie career at the age of two as a child actor and worked in some aspect of show business throughout his life. He lived in Hollywood throughout his teenage years, witnessing the transition from silent to sound film from behind the scenes.
He wrote his first screenplay at Stanford before transferring to Dartmouth in 1933. At Dartmouth his roommate was Bud Schulberg, future writer of "On the Waterfront," an old friend and fellow Hollywood native.
Schulberg and Rapf were estranged for many years after Schulberg named names in front of the House on Un-American Activities Committee. They only reconciled years later when they met at Dartmouth while they were dropping off their sons.
Rapf visited Russia on an early version of a Foreign Study Program in 1934. It was there that he would become interested in the Communist Party. When he returned to the United States, he became sympathetic to and supportive of the Communist Party, but said that although he considered himself a Communist, he never officially joined the party.
According to Professor Phillips, Rapf remained a devoted Communist until the end. When invited to Phillips' dinner party for Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis, Rapf said he would come but he "didn't like those Democrats." Phillips asked why he supported the Republicans if he was a Communist, to which Rapf replied, "I like to keep my enemies where I can see them."
He graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in English in 1935 and returned to Hollywood to work for several major studios, notably Walt Disney Studios. He returned to Dartmouth for a brief time in 1939, taking over for F. Scott Fitzgerald to collaborate with Schulberg on writing the screenplay for "Winter Carnival," starring Ann Sheridan.
Looking back he said he considered putting his name on the credits one of his biggest mistakes because the movie was "crap," and he had to spend years living it down.
Rapf worked with Disney developing such classics as "Song of the South" and "So Dear to My Heart" and for a brief period "Cinderella." In the late 1940s, things became difficult for him in Hollywood due to his Communist affiliation. He was blacklisted and eventually ended up in New York making industry films. His name was mentioned several times in the HUAC meetings, but he never officially admitted nor denied that he was a member of the Communist Party.
Rapf joined the Dartmouth faculty as an adjunct professor in 1966 and was the first official professor of the film program while it was still under the auspices of the drama department. He joined the faculty full time in 1976 and still continues to teach a screenwriting course once a year. He was also instrumental in founding the Dartmouth Film Society.
Professor Bill Philips, who was once a student of Rapf's, remembered his old professor as "the most honest Hollywood type I've ever met."
"I would say that Hollywood likes to tell everyone that they love their work," said Philips. "But he'd tell you exactly what he thought and wouldn't mince his words. I've come to value that. You're not doing anyone any favors if you're not being honest."
Rapf gained credits on movies that are revered as classics, survived Hollywood's blacklists and founded the film department at the College.
His students, however, compose his real legacy, according to Professor Mark Williams, also of the film studies department. Rapf taught screenwriting at Dartmouth well into his 80s.
"He's the godfather of the film studies department," said Williams. "His students are rabidly affectionate and devoted to him. Everyone he met remembers Maury, and his students above all. He made a genuine impact on people."
Rapf is survived by his son and two daughters, one of whom teaches film studies at Dartmouth as a visiting professor.
