The Philolexian Society of Columbia University
Barry Ulanov
Editor of Metronome, 1943–55, and the loudest champion of bebop in print; afterwards thirty years teaching English at Barnard.
From Notable Alumni · Foundation editorial
Editor of Metronome, 1943–55, and the loudest champion of bebop in print; afterwards thirty years teaching English at Barnard. Barry Ulanov (CC 1939) took the other side. Where Williams and de Toledano looked back to New Orleans, Ulanov used Metronome to argue for Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie while the argument was still open and rather bad-tempered. The quarrel had a name, the moldy figs against the modernists, and it ran through American jazz criticism for a decade, occasionally onto the radio, where Ulanov once assembled a band to play against Rudi Blesh's traditionalists in what both sides agreed to call a battle. He wrote Duke Ellington (1946) while Ellington was in mid-career, and A History of Jazz in America (1952), which was for years the standard single volume. Then he left the magazines for Barnard, taught English for thirty years, and turned to painting: The Two Worlds of American Art (1965) is about pictures, not music, and qualified him as a critic in two arts.
Vital
- Full name
- Barry Ulanov
Columbia & the Society
- Columbia
- Class of 1939 (Columbia College)
- Society role
- chosen secretary-treasurer [Spec, 1938-02-16]
- Society role
- called meeting, elected secretary-treasurer [Spec, 1938-02-17]
Works (28)
- 1943 Metronome (editor, 1943–1955) · Editor with Leonard Feather
- 1946 Duke Ellington · Creative Age Press
- 1948 The Incredible Crosby · Whittlesey House / McGraw-Hill
- 1952 A History of Jazz in America · Viking (3rd ed. 1955)
- 1957 A Handbook of Jazz · Viking
- 1959 Death: A Book of Preparation and Consolation
- 1960 Sources & Resources: The Literary Traditions of Christian Humanism
- 1960 The Way of Saint Alphonsus of Liguori
- 1961 Makers of the Modern Theater · McGraw-Hill
- 1962 Seeds of Hope in the Modern World
- 1963 Contemporary Catholic Thought
- 1965 The Two Worlds of American Art · New York: Macmillan, 1965
- 1965 The Two Worlds of American Art: The Private and the Popular · Macmillan
- 1966 On Death: Wisdom and Consolation from the World's Great Writers · Ligouri: Triumph, 1966
- 1966 The Making of a Modern Saint · Garden City: Doubleday, 1966
- 1972 Modern Culture and the Arts (with James B. Hall) · McGraw-Hill
- 1975 Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer (with Ann Belford Ulanov)
- 1978 Cinderella and Her Sisters: The Envied and the Envying (with Ann Belford Ulanov)
- 1983 Creative Dissent: Psychoanalysis in Evolution (with Roland & Barbre)
- 1983 The Prayers of St. Augustine
- 1985 Religion and the Unconscious (with Ann Belford Ulanov)
- 1987 The Witch and the Clown: Two Archetypes of Human Sexuality (with Ann Belford Ulanov)
- 1989 Men and Women: Sexual Ethics in Turbulent Times
- 1991 The Healing Imagination · New York: Paulist Press, 1991
- 1992 Jung and the Outside World · Wilmette: Chiron, 1992
- 1994 Transforming Sexuality: The Archetypal World of Anima and Animus · Boston: Shambhala, 1994
- 1994 Transforming Sexuality: The Archetypal World of Anima and Animus (with Ann Belford Ulanov)
- 1996 On Death: Wisdom and Consolation from the World's Great Writers (ed.) · Editor/compiler
Primary sources
The Columbia Daily Spectator
1936-02-13 Fadiman to Talk To Philo Tonight Barnard Literary Society Expected to Attend Hartley Meeting [ARTICLE] presented program of "swing" music
Fadiman to Talk To Philo Tonight Barnard Literary Society Expected to Attend Hartley Meeting Clifton Fadiman, Columbia '25, boolc editor of The New Yorker, will be the guest speaker at the regular meeting of Philolexian Society tonight at 8 o'clock in the Hartley Hall Club Room. Fadiman, who was prominent in Campus literary affairs while at Columbia, will discuss some of the principles of literary criticism and reviewing. The Barnard Literary Society has been invited to attend the meeting. At last Thursday's meeting of Philolexian, a program of "swing" music was presented by Barry Ulanov '39. Included were records by Louis Armstrong, Don Redman and Benny Goodman. Oflicers for the Spring semester were also elected at the meeting. John McAlpin Berryman '36 was elected president of the society to succeed Robert Giroux '36. Paul v.K. Thomson was chosen vice-president and Mil ton Crane…
1937-05-12 Columbian And Review Pick Staffs Bondy Chosen Editor Of 1938 Yearbook; Lax Is Elected named associate editor of Review
Columbian And Review Pick Staffs Bondy Chosen Editor Of 1938 Yearbook; Lax Is Elected Wolfson Protests Ulanov and Zampella Named Associates Philip K. Bondy '3B, of New Rochelle, N. Y., has been elected editor-in-chief of the Columbian yearbook for 1938, and Robert Lax '3B, of Olean, N. Y., will be editor-in-chief of the Columbia Review. Lax will be assisted by two associates, Arthur Zampella '3B of Jersey City, N. J., and Barry Ulanov '39 of Brooklyn, N. Y. Ralph de Toledano '3B of New York City has been chosen Senior assistant editor. Robert S. Gerdy '39 and Milton L. Gendel '3B, both of New York City, have also been elected assistant editors. Gerard J. Albert '3B of Brooklyn, N. Y., is the new managing editor of the yearbook and Frederic H. Meisel '3B, of Great Neck, L. 1., is associate editor. Victor Futter '39, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has been elected business manager. Futter's…
1938-02-16 Philo Elects Officers chosen secretary-treasurer
Philo Elects Officers Ralph de Toledano '3B was elected president of Philolexian, the Campus literary society, at a meeting held last night. Newly elected vice-president of the organization is Eugene Williams '3B. Barry Ulanov '39 was chosen secre-tary-treasurer. A subsidiary group of the society was formed under the name of the Swing Club, now open to general membership. All students interested in joining the new organization should get in touch with any of the new officers.
1938-02-17 Student Forum called meeting, elected secretary-treasurer
Student Forum To the Editor of The Spectator: O Thomson! Thou art mighty yet 1 Thy spirit walks abroad .... In a recent article in Jester, Mr. Eugene Williams '3B, analyzed the present state of intellectual stagnation on the Campus. In part, he said of the Philolexian Society that it ". . . formerly an index of Columbia intelligentsia, is near extinction at the end of a three-year fall, and nothing—not even a Left Wing Poetry Group—comes to replace it." We have been privileged to witness the replacement of this do-nothing regime. This morning's Spectator indicates that Mr. Williams' baggy young eyes have at last divined a solution for this deplorable state of affairs. A group of persons under the grave misapprehension that they constituted the Philolexian Society of Columbia College, at a meeting in the Jester office on the evening of February 15, elected Mr. Ralph de…
1938-05-11 Ulanov Chosen Edito Of Review; Rosenstein Is Named As Associate elected editor-in-chief of Review
Ulanov Chosen Edito Of Review; Rosenstein Is Named As Associate Barry Ulanov '39 of New York City was elected editor-in-chief of the Columbia Review it was announced yes- terday. Ulanov, who was chosen Associate Editor of Jester recently, is also Chairman of The Boar's Head Poetry Society and President of the Philolexian Literary Society for the academic year 1938-39. Harry Rosenstein '4l of Gainesville, Texas, will fill the position of Associate Editor. Rosenstein is the first Freshman ever to be elected to a Review Managing Board. He is also Secretary of the Philolexian Society and Secretary of the Boar's Head Society, and a member of the editorial board of Jester. The other Associate Editor will be chosen in the fall on a competitive basis. Robert S. Gerdy '39 of New York City, was selected Senior Editorial Assistant, first member of the Editorial Staff. Gerdy was recently…
1939-04-27 Poetry Contest Deadline Set Contributions Must Be Entered by May 3 announced contest deadlines
Poetry Contest Deadline Set Contributions Must Be Entered by May 3 The readings for the annual poetry contest of the Boar's Head Poetry Society will be held on Thursday evening, May 18, at 8:30, according to an announcement made yesterday by Barry Ulanov, chairman of the contest committee. All poems must be placed in Ulanov's hands by Wednesday, May 3, if they are to be entered in the competition. There are no limitations on the type of poetry to be written. There will be three prizes awarded, and the winning poems, together with a few others selected from the entries, will be printed in the Columbia Review. It was also announced by Ulanov, in his capacity as president of the Philolexian Society, that the same deadline, May 3, had been set for the Philolexian contest, and that all contributions must be handed into him before that date. All members of the society are eligible for the…
1939-05-17 Rosenstein New Editor Of Review outgoing head, made announcement
Rosenstein New Editor Of Review Bernstein Will Serve As Managing Editor; Moscovitz to Advise Harry Rosenstein '4l, of Gainseville, Texas, will serve as editor, and Lawson F. Bernstein '4O, of New York City, as managing editor of The Columbia Review for 1939-40, Barry Ulanov '39, retiring head of Review, announced yesterday. Joseph Moscovitz 140, present business manager, will be succeeded by Norman Cooper and Emanuel Salzman, both '4O. Moscovitz will continue serving in an advisory capacity. Thomas Cooney '42 was elected associate editor, while Jack Hurvitz '4l was named circulation manager. Rosenstein Poetry Winner Rosenstein, Woodberry Poetry Prize winner for 1939, was associate editor of Review and a regular contributor to Jester this past year. He has had numerous poems and short stories published in both magazines. He is also a member of the Board's Head and Philolexian…
Columbia College Today & other articles
Columbia College Today — vol. 9 (c. 1962), contributor bio note
Barry Ulanov is associate professor of English at Barnard. He is a 1939 graduate of the College, where he was editor-in-chief of the Review, associate editor of Jester, chairman of the Boar's Head Poetry Society, and president of the Philolexian Society. A long-time supporter of jazz, he edited Metronome magazine from 1943 to 1955 and wrote a column for Down Beat from 1955 to 1958. He also wrote A History of Jazz in America (1952) and A Handbook of Jazz (1957)...
President of the Philolexian Society (CC 1939).
The Foundation's research archive
alumni_1925_1985
X in blue · Confidence: UNSURE
alumni_1925_1985
X in blue · Confidence: CERTAIN
PHILOS, AS RECALLED BY MR. & MRS. WALTER SCHAAP AND CHARLES ROBERTSON
blue tick · Confidence: CERTAIN
External references
Community-maintained record
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