J. Watson Webb, Jr.

James Watson Webb III[1] (known as James Jr.) (January 9, 1916 – June 10, 2000) was an American film editor and heir to both the Havemeyer and Vanderbilt families.

Biography

He was born in Syosset, New York, to James Watson Webb II of the Vanderbilt family and Electra Havemeyer. His siblings were Electra (1910–1982), Samuel (1912–1988), Lila (1913–1961) and Harry (1922–1975).[2]

He attended Groton School and Yale University from which he graduated in 1938.[2] In 1946 he began work in California as an apprentice film editor at 20th-Century Fox. In 1949, after a meeting with Darryl F. Zanuck, he was promoted to assistant film cutter. He eventually became Zanuck's head film cutter. He was also reported as being involved in the founding the American Cinema Editors.[2] [3]

Webb was the editor of numerous films including A Letter to Three Wives, The Razor's Edge with Tyrone Power, Wing and a Prayer, State Fair, With a Song in My Heart, Call Northside 777 and Cheaper by the Dozen.[2] Webb retired from film editing in 1952; Barbara McLean, his boss, promoted Hugh S. Fowler to replace him.

Webb served as the President of the Shelburne Museum from 1960 until 1977 and then became Chairman of the Board of Directors until 1996. Watson resigned from the Board that year in a dispute over deaccessioning of an estimated $25-million worth of the museum's Impressionist collection which his mother had given to the museum.[2][4]

He died in Los Angeles, California, on June 10, 2000.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "J Watson Webb III". Rootsweb.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "J. Watson Webb, Former Head Of the Shelburne (Vt.) Museum". New York Times. June 14, 2000. Retrieved 2010-10-09. J. Watson Webb Jr., the former president and chairman of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, whose family was among the country's pre-eminent art collectors, died on Saturday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 84 and had homes in Los Angeles and Shelburne.
  3. ↑ The ACE History page does not confirm his involvement with the organization, which was founded in 1950.
  4. ↑ "Museum's Fortunes Rise at Auction". New York Times. November 13, 1996. Retrieved 2010-10-09. The Shelburne Museum, on 45 acres near Lake Champlain, was started in 1947 by Electra Havemeyer Webb, a daughter of Henry O. Havemeyer, founder of the American Sugar Refining Company, and his wife, Louisine. The museum has been losing money steadily and is said to have had a deficit of more than $300,000 in 1994..... The decision to sell some of its collection followed two years of debate among the museum's directors, which became so contentious that the board chairman, J. Watson Webb, son of Electra Havemeyer Webb, resigned in January. At the time, Mr. Webb said the museum's plans to sell valuable French Impressionist works given by his mother violated the code of ethics of the American Association of Museums, which forbids the selling of artworks for purposes other than acquiring more art.

Further reading

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