A Memorial Tribute to Gary Gumpert and a screening of "Gutenberg Galaxy" sponsored by the Institute of General Semantics, co-sponsored by the New York Society for General Semantics, Media Ecology Association, and Urban Communication Foundation, April 29, 2025 at The Players, New York City is now available for viewing on the IGS YouTube channel:
Part 1 consists of memorial tributes by Lance Strate, Lewis Freeman, Mary Kahl, Susan Drucker, Nancy Willets, Thom Gencarelli, Erik Garrett, and Joshua Meyrowitz Part 2 includes "Gutenberg Galaxy", a 30-minute television program that features media scholar Marshall McLuhan, along with artist Harley Parker and educationist Robert Shafer, produced and directed by Gary Gumpert. Originally aired locally in Detroit, Michigan on Wayne State University's UHF channel in 1960, and recorded via kinescope, this rarely seen recording offers a glimpse into what both television and McLuhan were like before they became ubiquitous. The screening is introduced by Lance Strate, who reads an excerpt from "Marshall McLuhan Meets Communication 101" by Gary Gumpert, a chapter in the Legacy of McLuhan anthology edited by Lance Strate and Edward Wachtel, in which Gumpert describes how the television program came to be. Gary Gumpert (Ph.D, Wayne State University) was Emeritus Professor of Communication at Queens College of the City University of New York and President of the Urban Communication Foundation. His creative career as a television director and academic career as a scholar spanned over 60 years. The author and editor of numerous books including Talking Tombstones and Other Tales of the Media Age, The Urban Communication Reader, and Regulating Convergence and Regulating Social Media: Legal and Ethical Considerations, he was the recipient of the Media Ecology Association's Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity.