Educational Media Reviews Online

Painter, sculptor, designer, filmmaker, social activist, mother, and wife four times over, Altina Schinassi lived quite a life over her 92 years. Born into wealth in 1907, her family’s money allowed her to explore her artistic leanings while raising two sons and supporting many of the important social causes of the 20th century.

Schinassi’s father was a Sephardic Jew born in Turkey. He became rich in America through tobacco, first by inventing a machine that automatically rolled cigarettes, then by selling prepackaged cigarettes under the Schinassi Brothers brand. Altina grew up in a mansion in New York City with two older sisters who she says didn’t like her very much.

After graduating from boarding school, Altina married architect Morris Sanders and had two sons. The marriage wasn’t a happy one and Altina divorced Sanders. It was then that her art and design career bloomed. While working as a department store window dresser, Altina designed the Harlequin eyeglasses, whose cat’s-eye shape made it fashionable for women to wear glasses.

A move to California got her more involved in the art world, and she also became friends with people in the motion picture industry. When the House Un-American Activities Committee began subpoenaing witnesses to testify about Communist infiltration of Hollywood, Altina and her husband hid director John Berry at their home for ten days so that a subpoena could not be delivered to him. Berry then fled to France and never did testify. The couple also provided support for Jewish refugees escaping the Holocaust.

Altina’s sons, Denis and Terry Sanders, became film directors, working mostly in documentaries. In 1960, Altina became involved in film production, working with her third husband on a documentary short, George Grosz’ Interregnum. The film looked at Grosz’ life in Germany between the World Wars and used his drawings as the visual material for the documentary. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the documentary short category. Altina also planned a film on Dr. Martin Luther King and the early days of the civil rights movement, although this film was apparently not made or completed. (The status is unclear in Altina). Altina’s director is Peter Sanders, son of Denis Sanders and grandson of Altina. He uses a lot of home movies and footage shot by his uncle Terry Sanders of Altina discussing her life. The passages of time in Altina’s life are marked by stock footage and make for a pretty pedestrian look. But Altina herself is always interesting, whether talking about her upbringing, her art, or her need for sexual fulfillment, which her much-younger fourth husband readily confirms. Altina is recommended for larger public and academic library collections.