The Arts at UCLA: Individuals

Instrumental Individuals in the Arts at UCLA

Gustave O. Arlt

Instrumental in the Committee on Fine Arts Productions and first president of the Art Council, Gustave O. Art was born on May 17, 1895. Arlt was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania to German parents. His native language--German--would ultimately guide his career path. In 1935, he was appointed to the UCLA faculty were he played a major role in restructuring the German Department. Arlt later headed the Committee on Fine Arts Productions, and was Dean of Graduate Students.

For more on the Art Council and the Committee on Fine Arts Production, please visit the Organizations, Committees, and Groups page.

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Mantle Hood

        Mantle Hood who was born in Springfield, Illinois in 1918 was responsible for the creation of the Institute of Ethnomusicology in 1961.
        Hood started his higher education at the University of Southern California where after just one semester he decided to leave in 1938. After serving with the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II, he decided to enroll at UCLA. He majored in music and received both his B.A. (in music) and M.A. (in composition) in 1951. As a Fulbright Fellow, he studied ethnomusicology and Javanese music with Jaap Kunst at the University of Amsterdam. Hood received his Ph.D in 1954, and joined the UCLA faculty that same year.
       After several years of preparation, Mantle Hood established the Institute of Ethnomusicology in 1961. The institute’s purpose was to teach non-Western music to students and provide them with the best resources to do so. The institute was dismantled in 1974, and Hood left UCLA to go to India as a Senior Fulbright Fellow.

For more on the Institute of Ethnomusicology, please visit the Institute of Ethnomusicolgy and Ethnic Arts page.

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Frances Inglis

Frances Inglis was the Director of Fine Arts Productions for the Department of Fine Arts Productions from 1959-1972. Inglis was born on December 26, 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating from Stanford University in 1929, and finishing secretarial school in 1930, Inglis was a concert manager for the Joyce-Selznick Agency. Then she was Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America West from 1954-1958. Inglis took a year off and went to Europe. In Heidelberg, she met an assistant to the Dean of Applied Arts. This woman later called her about a position at the UCLA Extension. Abbott Kaplan, Dean of the Extension, hired her to head a cultural program (Committee on Fine Arts Productions) and to help with the professional Theater Group.
As Director of the Department of Fine Arts Productions, Ingles assembled events--concerts, plays, and other entertainment events--for the UCLA community.

For more on The Department of Fine Arts Productions and The Committee on Fine Arts Productions, please visit the Organizations, Committees, and Grous page.

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William Melnitz

William Melnitz was born in Köln, Germany on April 14, 1900. Melnitz was forced to leave Germany in 1939 from Nazi occupation. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1941, and a year later entered UCLA to pursue his doctorate in Germanic languages.
When the College of Fine Arts was established in 1960, Melnitz was chosen to be the founding dean of the college. As Dean of the College of Fine Arts, he took over as Chairman of the College on Fine Arts Productions, yet he also decided to continue as Professor of Theater Arts. According to Dean Melnitz, his job entitled devising new curriculum, keeping the faculty satisfied, teaching, and appointing professors. Dean Melnitz headed the College of Fine Arts until 1967.

For more on the College of Fine Arts, please visit the College of Applied Arts & College of Fine Arts page.

For more on The Committee on Fine Arts Productions and the Committee on Fine Arts Productions, please visit the Organizations, Committees, and Groups page.

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Franklin David Murphy

         Franklin David Murphy was born in Kansas City, Missouri on January 29, 1916. Born to a physician (father) and a musician (mother), his interests later in life would reflect his upbringing.
        After becoming a physician, Murphy was head of the medical school at the University of Kansas. In 1951, Murphy was appointed Chancellor of the University of Kansas. He held this position until 1960. Franklin D. Murphy was appointed as Chancellor of UCLA in 1960.
        Chancellor Murphy’s accomplishments were many. He helped UCLA obtain international recognition, he fought for the right of UCLA to be considered its own separate institute from Berkeley, he was instrumental in the growth of the library, and the growth of the university itself. The accomplishments previously mentioned are just some of the many, but more than anything Chancellor Murphy was a champion of the arts. In fact, his two top priorities while Chancellor at UCLA were the medical school and the arts.
       The arts at UCLA owe much to Chancellor Murphy’s support and interest. Chancellor Murphy not only fully supported the Theater Group, but he also helped expediate the construction of the Dickson Art Center and North Campus because he wanted proper facilitates for the arts. Thanks to Chancellor Murphy, the Committee on Fine Arts Productions was restructured so that it was part of the University--the College of Fine Arts--and not part of UCLA Extension. He was also responsible for the creation of the Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology, and the acquisition of the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection which became part of the museum. Chancellor Murphy was also instrumental in the creation of the sculpture garden--the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden--and its early acquisitions.
       Chancellor Murphy left UCLA in 1968 to head the Times Mirror Company. Under his chancellorship, the School of Dentistry, the College of Fine Arts, the School of Public Health, and the College of Architecture and Urban Planning were established.

For more on the Theater Group, Committee on Fine Arts Productions, please visit the Organizations, Committees, and Grous page.

For more on the College of Fine Arts, please visit the College of Applied Arts and College of Fine Arts page.

For more information on the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection and the Sculpture Garden, please visit the Art Acquisitions page.

For more on the Museum and Laboratories of Ethnic Arts and Technology, please visit the Institute of Ethnomusicology and Ethnic Arts page.

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Charles Speroni

Charles Speroni was born in 1912 in Santa Flora, Italy. In 1929, at the age of 17, he moved to North California where he lived with his brother. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in the Romance Languages in 1939, Speroni was appointed to the faculty at UCLA. In the beginning Speroni taught Italian, and in 1953 he became full professor.
Besides being an integral part of the Italian Department, he was the Dean of Summer Sessions, and he established the Study Abroad Program. When the College of Fine Arts, was established in 1960, he was an advocate of having William Melnitz be the founding dean. After Dean Melnitz retired in 1967, Speroni succeeded him. As Dean of the College of Fine Arts, he also chaired the Committee on Fine Arts Productions.

For more on The Committee on Fine Arts Productions, please visit the Organizations, Committees, and Grous page.

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Frederick S. Wight

Frederick Stallknecht Wight was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 1, 1902. After attending the University of Virginia, he entered Harvard’s Museum Studies Program. In 1953, Wight was appointed to UCLA’s Department of Art and was also appointed as Director of the UCLA Art Galleries; he served as director of the galleries until his retirement in 1973. Wight chaired the Department of Art in 1962 while still acting as director of the galleries.
As Director of the UCLA Art Galleries, he assembled many exhibitions, including those of the 1960-1 season. Wight’s impact on UCLA’s art world was so great that in 1974 the art galleries were renamed the Frederick S. Wight UCLA Art Galleries in his honor.

For more on the UCLA Art Galleries, please visit the Organizations, Committees, and Groups page.

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