Beatrice Conetta, one of the first women editors in the film industry, will be inducted into the Editors Hall of Fame next month at the East Coast AICE chapters 1999 Hall of Fame award and dinner dance.
She helped bring a consciousness and a respect to the craft of editing, said Hall of Fame chair Roe Bressan on Conettas contribution to the industry. Bressan is an AICE/East board VP and managing director of the New York office of Red Car, which also maintains operations in Santa Monica, Chicago and Dallas.
Conettas career as an editor as well as a director of TV, film, commercial, documentary and corporate projects began in the 1940s and spanned six decades. Her work has garnered many awards and accolades including Clios and an Emmy nomination.
Among her Clio-winning work was Waterfall for the Jamaica Tourist Board via the then Doyle Dane Bernbach. The :60 featured quick-cuts of people and places to the beat of a tom-tom. The beat is interrupted by the sound of a waterfall and the tagline: I Love Jamaica. The spot was honored in 1964 while Conetta was employed at now-closed Rose-Maywood Productions.
The same year, the Conetta-edited Car Wash for Van Heusen shirts via Grey Advertising, New York, also took Clio honors. Additionally, Conetta edited a 10-minute film review of commercial trends titled Hootenanny-Commercial Style, which preceded the 64 Clio presentation.
She edited the documentary Making Love, which was shown at the 1970 New York Film Festival. The 27-minute film chronicled the making of Love, a two-minute spot for the Urban Coalition that featured celebrities singing Let the Sun Shine In.
In 1971, the Conetta-edited documentary Methadone: Escape from Heroin, received four nominations from the New York Emmy Awards.
Conetta also helped train some New York-based talent. During a stint in the early 60s at now-closed Harold Becker Productions, her former assistants included John Palestrini, now CEO of The Blue Rock Editing Co./Palestrini Post Production and AICE national president.
She was a wonderful teacher, Palestrini recalled. She taught discipline and expected perfection. She expected 100% from her assistants. She was very innovative, and in fact was one of the first editors to use the quick-cut in TV commercials.
She worked with all the [agency] giants, he continued. She put everything she had into a cut, and she protected it with her life.
Past inductees into the Editors Hall of Fame include Jerry Bender, Howie Weisbrot, Edna Paul, John Quinn, and last years honoree, Dennis Hayes.
