UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #735
BALIO, TINO

BALIO, Tino (1937- )
Emeritus Professor of Film, Department of Communication Arts; Executive Director, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute
At UW: 1966-2005

Interviewed: 2005	
Interviewer: Robert Lange
Length: 6 hours, 40 minuets 

Early education; Family background; Wabash College; Study of English literature; Graduate study of theater and drama at Indiana University; Directorship of the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research; United Artists Collection; History of the United Artists; Department of Communication Arts; Humanities Divisional Committee; Arts Consortium; Arts Institute; Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program; Research and publications; Committee service; University administration.

First Interview Session (November 28, 2005): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:40	Tino Balio was born in Albion, Michigan, in 1937.  His family moved to Hammond, Indiana, where he spent most of his youth.

00:02:00	He attended Catholic elementary and high schools before transferring to a public high school.  He thinks he only flourished in public school, particularly because he disliked the "militaristic" administration at the Catholic school.

00:05:30	TB’s father sold fruits and vegetables.  His father was a stern taskmaster and thus TB always worked a job during his grade school and high school years.

00:10:10	He talks about his younger sister.

00:11:00	He contrasts his father’s family and their deeply religious culture with that of his mother and her family.

00:13:45	During high school TB was aware of his thirst for knowledge.  Influence of classical music.  He was the first member of his family to attend college.

00:16:55	He had never been properly taught how to be a good writer.

00:18:20	Influential high school teachers.  School choir.

00:23:50	Social life in Hammond and easy access to jazz clubs in Chicago.

00:24:50	He was not seriously interested in film until late in college.  During high school he was more interested in classical music as well as the writings of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley.

00:26:15	His father wanted TB to attend Wabash College.

00:30:02	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:30:10	Tino Balio financed his education at Wabash College by working for the Hammond Sanitary District during the summers.

00:32:25	Fraternity life at Wabash.

00:34:21	TB started as a pre-med student.

00:36:45	As a sophomore he took a course on modern fiction and poetry and subsequently became interested in literature.  He began writing some poetry.  TB thinks he was becoming a “young bohemian.”  

00:39:50	During his junior year he studied English literature at the University of Exeter in England.

00:45:05	He starred for Exeter’s basketball team.

00:48:00	Social life in Exeter.

00:49:35	Travels through Europe.  

00:54:30	He describes influential professors at Exeter.

00:58:30	Return passage to the US.

01:01:20	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:01:30	Tino Balio returned to Wabash College to complete his degree.

01:04:20	He applied to Indiana University for graduate study in English literature.  He completed a master’s degree in 1961 but did not want to pursue a PhD.

01:06:30	He enrolled in the theater and drama program at Indiana, which he enjoyed because it tapped his creative energies.  He directed plays.

01:10:15	TB wrote his dissertation on the history of the National Theater Conference.

01:12:45	At that time, film had no place in the university curriculum.  He was interested in foreign films but there was no way to study them–no publications on film history, no courses, etc.

01:14:25	TB received his PhD in 1964 and went to teach as an assistant professor at Oberlin College.

01:15:45	He talks about directing several plays.

01:17:55	He taught courses on the oral interpretation of literature, theater history, and public speaking.

01:20:20	TB joined the department of speech [now communication arts] at the University of Wisconsin in 1966.

Second Interview Session (November 29, 2005): Tapes 2-3
Tape 2/Side 1, continued

00:00:10	When TB joined the UW faculty, he was given two appointments: as assistant professor in theater and as director of the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research.

00:02:45	He describes the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research.

00:07:30	He talks about the department of speech.

00:08:50	TB taught courses on the history of drama, modern American theater, and theater history.

416	End of side.
Tape 2/Side 2

00:09:20	Tino Balio spent most of his time collecting research materials for the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research.  The Center’s budget came from the College of Letters & Science.  The State Historical Society provided some funding as well as research support.

00:12:00	He describes his acquisition of the United Artists Collection.  He talks about the American Film Institute and its goals for film preservation in the late 1960s.

00:23:00	The United Artists extended their donations to include copies of films from the Warner Brothers Film Library and the RKO Film Library.

00:30:00	The Wisconsin Center for Theater Research eventually stagnated because its budget suffered from inflation, but it nevertheless remained a significant archive for research.

00:33:00	TB had promised to write a history of the United Artists, which he published in 1975 with assistance of a research grant.

00:34:10	His research interests changed from theater history to film history, especially the economics of the United Artists Corporation.

00:38:40	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 3/Side 1

00:39:05	Tino Balio talks about the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research.  He began to lose interest as dwindling funds diminished the scope for creative projects.  L&S administrators had less enthusiasm for supporting the Center.

00:46:10	No funding to hire a manuscripts archivist or additional support staff.

00:50:50	He talks about the state of the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research today.

00:57:55	TB served as an interim director of the Center when the State Historical Society wanted to standardize its links to the Center.

01:00:10	Difficulty in garnering private funding.

01:03:45	He describes the speech department as an “umbrella” department for numerous disciplines.

01:05:20	TB favored the development of a separate theater and drama department, but he chose to remain in the department of speech [communication arts] because of his research interests as well as disagreements with colleagues in theater.

01:10:05	End of side.

Tape 3/Side 2

01:10:10	Tino Balio continues to talk about the division within the speech department that led to a separate department for theater and drama.

01:12:00	After this split, TB remained in the communication arts department.  He talks about his well-received publication on the American film industry.

01:15:35	Tenure process.

01:16:30	TB resigned his directorship of the Wisconsin Center for Theater Research in 1983.

01:17:40	He began a course on the history of the American film industry.

01:19:00	Many UW alumni work in Hollywood.

01:23:00	Competition for new faculty lines among sections in the department.

01:26:30	TB served as associate chair for three years and chair for four years.  He also had administrative appointments in the Arts Consortium and the Arts Institute.  These appointments changed his relationship with the department because he spent less time with students and teaching.

01:30:00	TB chaired the Humanities Divisional Committee from 1990-93.  He talks about the responsibilities of this committee.

01:40:22	End of side.  End of tape.

Third Interview Session (November 30, 2005): Tapes 4-5

Tape 4/Side 1

00:00:30	Tino Balio discusses his involvement with the arts community on the UW campus.  He served as chair of the Arts Consortium.  He describes the changing nature of the Arts Consortium since its founding in the 1960s.

00:11:00	Chancellor David Ward appointed TB as chair in 1994 and gave him a series of mandates: to make the Arts Consortium the unified voice of the arts community on campus; to explore the artists in residence program; and to advocate fund-raising ideas for the arts.

00:12:05	He describes the various constituencies that comprised the Arts Consortium.  Some professors wanted to create a college of the arts.

00:18:45	Issues TB dealt with as chair, such as the links between credit hours and funding for departments. 

00:20:45	He also confronted faculty perceptions that the arts were being denied research resources. 

00:27:30	TB doubts whether the creation of a separate arts college would bring in more funding for arts research.

00:29:50	He describes some leading members of the Arts Consortium.

00:30:35	Exploration of alternatives to a separate college of the arts.  Artists in residence.

00:31:20	End of side.

Tape 4/Side 2

00:31:30	Tino Balio talks about some of the visiting artists brought to campus while he was chair of the Arts Consortium.

00:33:00	Experiment with publishing an arts calendar.

00:36:00	The arts community wanted to break down barriers between colleges and departments.  This led to the development of recommendations for cross-college academic programs.

00:43:05	There was no consensus within the Arts Consortium on how to proceed.  TB recommended creating an Arts Institute as a surrogate for the proposed college of the arts.  He talks about assembling the report that contained this proposal.

00:55:30	The structure of the decision-making hierarchy of the university was not amenable to dealing holistically with the arts.

01:00:05	It took a year for the deans and provost to approve TB’s report.  The Arts Institute was founded in 1998.  He wanted to create an arts communications office, but the deans rejected this idea.

01:02:30	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 5/Side 1

01:02:45	Tino Balio continues to discuss the founding of the Arts Institute.  Funding for the budget came almost exclusively from the chancellor’s office.  TB served as executive director.

01:04:10	Ken Chraca was administrator of the Institute.

01:06:40	Possibility of placing the Institute under the administrative umbrella of the School of Education.  TB had advocated placing the Institute under the Provost’s Office because of the potential for influencing policy across campus.  Because of the small size of the program, however, the Institute went to the School of Education.

01:07:30	TB thinks this was a conscious decision by the chancellor to keep the Institute at the same level as other academic programs that would have to report to the dean’s council.  As a result, he thinks the Institute became a service organization rather than a leadership organization with fiscal oversight.

01:13:40	While he was executive director, TB applied for three faculty lines from the cluster-hire initiative.  He used these lines to create the Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program.

01:20:30	Improving communications: creation of an arts website and ideas for a centralized box office.

01:24:00	Creation of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

01:27:40	TB retired in 2004 but was rehired for 2004-05 on an interim basis while a replacement was sought for him.  His successor is Professor Susan Cook.

01:29:00	He thinks the Arts Institute needs to maintain its numerous programs, awards, and grants.

01:32:05	TB discusses the state of the arts community on campus.  School of Music.

01:33:45	End of side.

Tape 5/Side 2

01:34:00	Tino Balio thinks the theater and drama department has never reached its potential because of divisions within it between artists and scholars.  He talks about other aspects of the department.

01:44:20	Art department in the School of Education.

01:46:40	Chazen [formerly Elvehjem] Museum of Art.

01:50:45	Dance program.

01:54:40	School of Human Ecology.

01:57:35	End of side.  End of tape.

Fourth Interview Session (December 1, 2005): Tapes 6-7

Tape 6/Side 1

00:00:20	Tino Balio describes his research on a two-volume history of the United Artists Corporation.

00:15:05	Collection of chapters published as Hollywood in the Age of Television.

00:17:50	TB wrote a volume on Hollywood in the 1930s for a series on the history of the American cinema.

00:20:45	He received a grant to write a history of foreign films in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.  He continues to work on this project.

00:25:15	TB describes his experiences on campus of student political protest. 

00:30:10	Sterling Hall bombing.

00:31:15	End of side.

Tape 6/Side 2

00:31:25	Tino Balio continues to discuss the campus atmosphere in the late 1960s. He comments on student protests.

00:34:45	One side-effect of student protest was the reevaluation of the university curriculum, which led to the establishment of film studies.

00:36:50	TB recalls a meeting with Fred Haberman and Robert Doremus during the TA strike.

00:40:20	He contrasts the atmosphere of the late 1960s and 1970s with that of the 1980s.  He attributes part of the declining quality of students by the 1980s to falling out of state enrollment.  Students in the 1980s were much more reticent than their predecessors.

00:44:35	TB felt that he needed to reinvent himself as a scholar by his late thirties.

00:45:35	He describes his most successful graduate students.

00:50:25	TB describes his service on the Arts and Humanities Divisional Committee and the Campus Planning Committee.  

00:55:05	TB discusses his service on the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee.

01:02:23	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 7/Side 1

01:02:35	Tino Balio continues to discuss his service on the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee.  The committee unanimously recommended John Wiley.

01:07:05	He comments on the university’s ability to attract first-rate chancellors.

01:09:10	TB served on the Provost Search and Screen Committee in 2001.  He describes some of the candidates.

01:19:45	He comments on a current controversy in university administration.

01:22:40	TB describes various chancellors with whom he has worked.

01:23:50	Concept of a campus arts district.

01:26:40	Course on the design of the Overture Center.

01:29:45	Limited acquaintance with Donna Shalala.

01:31:20	TB describes his working relationship with deans of the College of Letters & Science: Robert Doremus and E. David Cronon.

01:33:39	End of side.

Tape 7/Side 2

01:33:45	Tino Balio discusses the availability of financial support for hybrid institutions such as the Arts Institute.

01:37:25	TB reflects on his career at the University of Wisconsin.

01:40:45	He lists his favorite films.

01:42:50	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END