New York City’s Two Monuments to the Recent Past : Two New York City Museums Are Monuments to the Recent Past

Most museums are sanctuaries of great art, places where people can go to gaze upon civilization’s most lasting contributions, made significant by time, history and luck.

But not all.

Two museums in New York--one that opened last fall, the other, in the ‘70s--celebrate a more immediate past.

You could call the American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens and the Museum of Broadcasting in Manhattan “baby boom museums,” for they are places in which the pop culture of the most recent generations is presented with care--and fun. Visitors who flock to the two museums may not know art, but they certainly know what they like.

The American Museum of the Moving Image, a $15-million facility that opened in September and is still undergoing expansion, is in the historic Paramount-Astoria Studios, where the Marx Brothers made their early films.

Though there are some hands-on activities (a “magic mirror” shows how visitors would look as Indiana Jones, Rocky or Dorothy; a Fairlight MFX console demonstrates that a laugh track is no joke), most of the museum is a clever collection of stuff ranging from the classic to the kitschy.

There’s also an awareness that there’s more to movies and television than what we see on screens. The museum examines the selling of movies and television programs and celebrates the magic of marketing.

Visitors can check out the scores of dolls (a Flip Wilson-Geraldine doll gives you two dolls in one; a Sonny and Cher set almost adds up to one doll in two), lunch boxes (Zorro, Fess Parker, “Hogan’s Heroes”), fan magazines (“Rita Hayworth confesses 12 men I’d take to a desert isle”), coloring books (color Rhonda Fleming red), Alan Ladd spoons, William Holden bobby pins, a Gabe Kaplan “Welcome Back, Kotter” paper doll set, an Elizabeth Taylor sew-easy fashion kit, a “This Is Your Life” home game (“now in your own living room with surprise guests and charm bracelet”), a Pinky Lee pull toy, and enough knickknacks to fill a campy collector’s vault.

Technology also gets its due, with exhibits that show the talent of costumers, cinematographers, set designers, special-effects people and the scientists who brought us the technology of the moving image in the first place.

There are also plenty of costumes on display, some originals, some not. A Gianni Versace suit worn by Don Johnson in “Miami Vice” looks somewhat dull in real, as opposed to reel, life. A Deanna Durbin dress is frumpy, but a Linda Evans “Dynasty” dress looks fabulous.

There’s the original set used for Paul Newman’s film version of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” a special-effects setup for “2010,” a latex body suit for a “Cocoon” alien and the head of the “Elephant Man.”

Along the way there are scale models of the Roxy Theatre and the Whitestone Bridge Drive-in, a video sculpture by Nam June Paik and an impressive exhibit of early moving-image technology (an 1867 zoetrope, Edison’s 1891 kinetograph camera and a 1928 GE broadcast television receiver).

The museum also presents such screenings as “Media and the Vietnam War” and a salute to Jerry Lewis as well as lecture series (“American Movie Posters 1910-1950,” “Hollywood Still Photographers”).

In Manhattan, there is the Museum of Broadcasting. Founded 14 years ago, the museum offers programs spanning more than 60 years of radio and television. Because it is so popular, it will get a big new home on the west side of town in two years.

Unlike the Museum of the Moving Image, the Museum of Broadcasting is more an archival facility for broadcasting professionals, students, scholars and the general public. There is little on show here. The museum’s primary function is to present special film and video screenings and to be a resource center for people interested in television study.

But it’s not just for video scholars (and come to think of it, what true couch potato isn’t?). Anyone can visit the archives, check out the card catalogue with more than 40,000 items (nicely cross-indexed), and present his selection to the librarian, who will summon the tape from the museum’s video vault.

Want to see “See It Now” with Edward R. Murrow? How about the 1960 presidential debates? Compare Lee J. Cobb’s “Death of a Salesman” with Dustin Hoffman’s interpretation. Is there one “I Love Lucy” episode you’ve missed and always wanted to see? Listen to a “Fireside Chat” by Franklin D. Roosevelt or the original “War of the Worlds” by Orson Welles.

The requested show then will be presented on a video screen (or an audio unit) for you on one of the museum’s 23 consoles. The compartments are available for an hour at a time and can accommodate two people. Time is allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. (The programs are on loan to the museum and cannot be duplicated.)

Then there are the viewing rooms (or listening rooms, if it means radio), where special, continuous shows are presented. The radio and video festivals should not be missed, either.

The New York World Television Festival began Tuesday and will run through Feb. 25. Featured in the festival is the American premiere of films based on the works of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 16 award-winning international productions and a 20th anniversary salute to the English comedy group Monty Python.

But there is more than one festival going on at the same time.

There are Saturday screenings for children. Throughout the spring, shows featuring characters from Dr. Seuss books, Stuart Little, the Muppets, Tikki Tikki Tembo and Maurice Sendak’s Rosie will be shown. Kids are also introduced to radio shows that might appeal to them. (“The Shadow” knows.)

There is the “Comedy Break” series at lunch time on weekdays, which will continue through March 31. Among other subjects, this series takes a look at: television’s parodying itself (some choice “SCTV” programs); how situation comedies look at rock ‘n’ roll (The “I Dream of Jeannie” show where Jeannie assembles a rock band); sophisticated urbanites (1967’s “He & She”); the premiere episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Rhoda” and “The Bob Newhart Show”), and short-lived sitcoms (Remember “Grindl”? “The Pruitts of Southampton”? How about “Camp Runamuck”?)

Both museums offer a full schedule of events, screening times and more detailed information to those who write or call.