Family, friends, and colleagues gathered on May 17 on a sunny Friday afternoon in Los Angeles at the Doheny Library on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC) to honor the life and memory of Ned Comstock. After graduating from the university in 1977, Ned spent his entire adult life working at the Cinema-Television Library, now known as the Cinematic Arts Library.
As Bill Whittington, assistant chair of the Cinema and Media Studies program, notes in the program, “Ned’s acumen for all things cinematic was often hidden by his low-key demeanor, but his enthusiasm for research was irrepressible.” And further, “Ned’s life’s work affirms his understanding that archives are not merely repositories for storage, but a means of providing access and context for what remains of the past.”
Speakers included Ned’s sister, Peggy Comstock Durrett, his nephew, Robert Comstock, and longtime colleague and retired Warner Bros. archivist, Leith Adams. Tributes during the open-mic portion came from many esteemed members of the academic, film, and arts communities. Among those assembled were Marilee Bradford, Jon Burlingame, Barbara Hall, Steve Hanson, Debra Levine, Leonard Maltin, Howard Prouty, Patrick Russ, and Warren Sherk. Those gathered learned more about Ned’s personal life from his family and the family learned more about Ned’s professional life from his colleagues and friends.
The reception and program were made possible thanks to the Comstock family, USC School of Cinematic Arts, the USC Libraries Exhibitions and Programming and the efforts of Library staff members, notably curator Barbara Whitehead and assistant manager William (Billy) Smith.
Ned retired in June of 2020. His devotion to all things USC, the Cinematic Arts Library, and to countless researchers from Los Angeles and around the world will be missed.
Thanks to Patrick Russ for supplying the following titles of the Dimitri Tiomkin projects that Ned helped bring to fruition.
SHEET MUSIC PUBLICATIONS (Hal Leonard Corp.)
The Dimitri Tiomkin Anthology – Volumes 1 & 2
The Elmer Bernstein Collection
The Franz Waxman Collection
DIMITRI TIOMKIN CD RECORDINGS
36 Hours (2002)
The Thing (2005)
The World War II Documentary Music of Dimitri Tiomkin (2005)
High Noon (2007)
The Moon and Sixpence (2007)
D.O.A. (2007)
Angel on My Shoulder (2008)
The Long Night (2010)
Duel in the Sun (2016)
Paris Under the Stars (2019)
Albertina Rasch and the Great American Ballet (2022)
The Old Man and the Sea (forthcoming, 2024)
Concert and Ballet Works, Volume 2 (forthcoming, 2024)
FURTHER READING
Remembering Ned Comstock by Lukas Kendall
USC librarian Ned Comstock, beloved by film scholars, is no more by Debra Levine