Filmography

Harold and Lynne Rhodes Mayer were internationally recognized documentary filmmakers. Harold began his film career with the United Nations film division in the late 1940s, while Lynne started as a journalist and writer after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1947. They met in Columbus, Mississippi while she was on a writing assignment and he was on a directing job, marking the beginning of a personal and professional partnership that would span almost 70 years.

In 1956, Harold Mayer was hired by CBS to direct a documentary series meant to educate Americans on advancements in science and technology. The resulting series, Conquest, was hosted by Edward Murrow and sponsored by the Monsanto Corporation and the National Science Foundation.

In 1961, the couple formed Harold Mayer Productions in New York City. Their company was responsible for many influential documentaries created for National Educational Television (NET), which eventually became WNET, the flagship station of what is now the Public Broadcasting Service. Notable titles include the first telelvision film on family therapy, "Mental Health: Trouble in the Family," nominated for an Emmy award; to the unspoken scandal of ghetto education in "The Way It Is" (1967); to "Schizophrenia: The Shattered Mirror" (1966), which was celebrated by mental health experts as a respectful and accurate work.

In 1964, Harold Mayer produced and directed his first feature-length documentary - The Inheritance (1964). The film was commissioned by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA). While the film was intended to be a short history of the labor organization, Mayer's meticulous research led to a much more ambitious film about how labor movements were intwined with the immigrant experience in the 20th century. The Inheritance was one of the first documentary films that relied on still photography instead of interviews, zooming and panning across stills to impart a sense of drama and dynamism; and voice acting instead of traditional narration. The film was screened at several film festivals and recieved many accolades, by unions as well as the general public.

Following the success of The Inheritance, Harold Mayer (as producer and director) and Lynne Rhodes Mayer (as writer) released Movin' On (1969), a documentary film commissioned by the United Transportation Union about the construction and use of the railroads.

1972 saw the release of Khrushchev Remembers, based on the memoirs of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev during the Cold War, a controversial depature for Harold Mayer Productions that was was commercially unsuccessful, given many accusations that the source material (a translated book by Edward Crankshaw) was considered to be largely a fabrication.

During this time, the Mayers also released L'Chaim - To Life! (1974), a documentary story of the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe and Russia, from the shtetls of the 1880s to the formation of the Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training (ORT), which was founded to provide occupational training and education for Jews during a time when laws severely limited their employment, and discrimination was rampant. The Women's American ORT sponsored the film. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release, though it was seen by over 40 million viewers nationwide due to televised broadcasts. The film was very well recieved, and eventually translated into Spanish for international audiences.

The Mayers' films have won national and international awards, and have been screened at numerous film festivals, as well as broadcast for public television, reaching wide audiences. Despite this, their careers relied primarily on film formats, and their simultaneous retirement from documentary filmmaking coincided with the rise of affordable consumer and home video formats, which has severely limited access to these important documentary films.

Lynne Rhodes Mayer died in 2015 and Harold Mayer died the following year.

Select Films for Television

1957-1960	Conquest: Six one-hour specials followed by 26 half-hour shows on science and technology, produced in cooperation with the National Science Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, with Eric Sevareid and later Charles Collingwood as host.
1962	Focus on Behavior: Ten half-hour shows on experimental psychology sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
1963	Exploring the Universe with Dave Garroway: 11 half-hour science shows aired on public television through a grant from the National Science Foundation.
1964	Man and the Atom
1965	"Mental Health: The Emotional Dilemma," part of the series America's Crises.
1965	"Mental Health: Trouble in the Family," part of the series America's Crises: A film showing footage from family therapy sessions. Received a Peabody Award.
1966	"Schizophrenia: The Shattered Mirror," part of the series NET Journal: Documentary that presented the various attempts by the medical community to define and treat schizophrenia, including the popular theory of maternal inheritance pitted against the "fringe" theory that it might be caused by chemical imbalance.
1967	"The Way It Is," part of the series NET Journal: Short documentary about the difficulty of education in low-income, minority communities. Nominated for an Emmy Award.

Select Public Relations films

1968	Never Again to be Denied
1969	The Making of a Man: Prize-winning film for the Women's American ORT, filmed in Iran
undated	Railroad Man
1975	Tellin' the World: Produced and Directed by Harold Mayer. Written by Lynne Rhodes Mayer. Presented by The United Federation of Teachers and The Youth Vote Project of the U.S. Youth Council in co-operation with Frontlash, The American Federation of Teachers and many AFL-CIO Unions. Short film encouraging young people to register to vote (18 minutes : color).

Feature films

1964	The Inheritance: Presented by The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Produced and Directed by Harold Mayer. Written by Millard Lampell. Narrated by Robert Ryan. Associate Producer Lynne Rhodes Mayer (57 minutes : black and white).
1969	Movin' On: Produced and Directed by Harold Mayer. Written by Lynne Rhodes Mayer and Harold Flender. Narrated by Arthur Kennedy. Music Performed by The New Lost City Ramblers and Bonnie Dobson (58 minutes : color).
1972	Khrushchev Remembers: Produced and Directed by Harold Mayer. Based on the Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, Edited and Translated by Edward Crankshaw. Written by Lynne Rhodes Mayer (78 minutes : black and white).
1974	L'Chaim - To Life!: Presented by Women’s American ORT. Supervised by Nathan Gould. Produced and Directed by Harold Mayer. Written by Lynne Rhodes Mayer. Narrated by Eli Wallach. Associate Producers Roy Hyrkin and Lynne Rhodes Mayer (84 minutes : black and white + six-minute color finale).