From the Vault: Pauline Kael

“We have been turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs.” ~Pauline Kael (1919 - 2001), reviewing The Sound of Music

Born in 1919 in California, renowned film critic and columnist Pauline Kael began her illustrious career by writing movie reviews for the now-defunct Cinema Guild Theatre in San Francisco. By the 1950’s, Kael had taken her reviews to the airwaves of KPFA in Berkeley, where, engrossed in the new and unique spirit of community radio, she honed and developed her invigorating style of film critique. Kael’s reviews were meticulously detailed and incredibly opinionated, and lent themselves well to a new kind of audience that appreciated the eclectic mix of programming generated at KPFA, the first community-funded radio station in the world. She developed a passionate following for her reviews– not only for her opinions, but also because of the wonderful sociological examinations woven throughout her work.

Pauline Kael went on from KPFA to write several books and contribute to many publications, but as a writer is probably best known for her stint at The New Yorker, where she was given plenty room to breathe and be herself. Twenty five years after beginning her long and prolific career at The New Yorker, she retired in 1991. Pauline Kael died at her home in Massachusetts in 2001.

Today, Pauline Kael is considered one of the best film critics to have ever taken up a pen (or microphone!). Kael delivered her best work when both challenging and entertaining her listeners and readers. Her dynamic is finely represented in the historic recordings of the Pacifica Radio Archives, which honors this unique and respected voice with this episode of From the Vault entitled “Pauline Kael.”