Kirkbride Buildings Blog

Archive for the 'Films & Television' Category

A Quick One While I’m Away

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

I’m on vacation right now, but wanted to make a quick post to keep things going. Here are a few Kirkbride-related news items from the last week or so.

Weston State HospitalSome brief memories of Weston State Hospital are given by former employee Michael Mays in this story about West Viginia’s state mental health system: Three Steps Forward, 50 Years Back. According to the article, WV’s mental health care isn’t necessarily getting better in spite of improvements, and in some cases the same mistakes are being made over and over again. Similar criticisms are often made about mental health care around the rest of the country unfortunately…

Danvers State HospitalThe Weird New Jersey guys’ latest merchandising endeavor Weird US: The Board Game features Danvers State Hospital among other locations. I guess it’s kind of cool that DSH is iconic enough to be included in a board game, but it seems kind of cheesy and not very respectful. I have to admit I haven’t actually seen the game in real life (and probably never will;), so I can’t really comment on how DSH fits in or how it’s portrayed. I’m skeptical that this is a good thing though…

Fergus Falls State HospitalLooks like there’s not much chance of a film being shot at the Fergus Falls Kirkbride after all: City Council Delays Movie Action. As one reader comments, the delay is most likely a passive-aggressive political maneuver meant to squash filmmaker Dav Kaufman’s hopes of shooting at the RTC. The Friends of the Kirkbride weigh in with a separate opinion piece, saying the film wouldn’t be a good thing: Friends: Film Jeopardizes RTC.

While I don’t put much stock in the idea that a small-time, independent thriller would permanently damage the former state hospital’s reputation, it’s true that the movie might not add much in the way of positives and that national exposure would be limited. I think it would’ve been great however to have the Kirkbride featured in a movie, even if it only turned out to be an underground favorite. I guess that’s not a good enough reason to give Kaufman the green light, but I don’t believe the opposing argument is a good enough reason to refuse him either.

BTW: I recommend reading the comments accompanying both Fergus Falls pieces above. Some of them are better than the actual articles, and the back and forth can be pretty funny sometimes. It’s good to see that a lot of Fergus Falls residents care enough to comment.

Fergus Falls Film

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

Fergus Falls State HospitalThe Fergus Falls State Hospital Kirkbride building may become the setting for a movie. According to the Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Twin Cities filmmaker Dav Kaufman is working on a new film and has the RTC specifically in mind as its location: Filmmaker Has RTC in Sight.

Session 9 did a lot to introduce Danvers State Hospital to the world. While it sounds like this movie will be a low budget affair, there’s a chance it’ll become something of a cult favorite like Session 9, and could bring the RTC some broader, national exposure if it gets made. Hopefully it will and the quality of the film will be relatively high with the building used to good effect.

The Kirkbride U

Friday, April 11th, 2008

A piece of the original Oregon State Hospital building that’ll be spared the wrecking ball is being called the “Kirkbride U”. It’s kind of a weird term, but sort of makes sense considering the building itself is a little unusual because of it’s “J” shape. Read about it here: Plan Spares Tower on Old Hospital Site.

I’m still not sure I’d classify OSH as a Kirkbride building considering it’s oddball floorplan, but it could be one if you use a loose definition of the term. It was built in the right time period and probably followed most of the other structural ideas. It even looks like a Kirkbride minus the segmented wings. And if calling it a Kirkbride helped preserve the place, who really cares? It’s unquestionably historic and should be saved. (I know the state is destroying a lot of it, but they’re saving the most interesting part architecturally speaking.) (more…)

Behind Grey Walls

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Journalist Steven Hart’s thoughtful piece on Greystone Park and the Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan friendship: Behind Grey Walls.

Included is a video clip on the same topic from the Strange New Jersey guys. Footage from inside the Kirkbride supposedly reveals the room Guthrie occupied during his stay.

Greystone Park

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Greystone Park State Hospital
I added a Greystone Park page to the site. I’ve been sitting on pictures of the place for a few years now. They’ll be a bit of a yawn to those familiar with other asylum web sites (most notably John Gray’s fantastic Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital). But I think it’s important that the building be represented here, if only to stop the semi-regular emails I get telling me that I missed Greystone… (more…)

The Lobotomist to Air on PBS

Saturday, January 19th, 2008

Dr Walter FreemanThe Lobotomist, an American Experience documentary about the notorious Dr Walter Freeman, will be aired Monday, January 21st on PBS. Dr Freeman was the inventor of the transorbital lobotomy and has a rather chequered reputation—as does the lobotomy which fell out of favor years ago. Stories about controversial or horrific treatment of patients are usually a bit too morbid for my taste, but they’re impossible to avoid when studying the buildings in which these treatments often took place. American Experience always makes intelligent, high-quality documentaries too, so this is worth seeing if you have the time.

Books on Amazon

The Art of Asylum Keeping The Eclipse of the State Mental Hospital The Mad Among Us America's Care of the Mentally Ill Angels in the Architecture The Architecture of Madness Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals The Eye of Danvers: A History of Danvers State Hospital
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