Class News

Gerald Shea '64: Subject of a French documentary film

A television documentary on the life of Gerry Shea was shown in France on October 10, 2016. The movie is titled Gerald Shea: The Art of Deduction. View the movie below.

A director from France 5 Télévision, Alexandra Masbou, saw Gerry at a Paris lecture on sign language in deaf education in 2016 and recognized him from a prior television appearance. She had read La Vie Malentendue (the French version of Gerry's book Song Without Words) and asked Gerry on the spot whether she could do a movie about him. Gerry, being a Whiff, immediately said, “O, Oui!”

Gerry explained: “It's a half-hour documentary film about my book, which is titled Song Without Words in English and La Vie Malentendue in French. It depicts how I have dealt almost all my life with words I don't hear or I mis-hear (which I call lyricals in the book).”

“The movie and the director are remarkable” Gerry observed and added: “My wife Claire and our son Sebastian, both in the movie, are wonderful. I am not.”

If an English-subtitled version is produced, it will be added to this story.

[NOTE: Gerry and his wife Claire, a French national, live in Paris for 6 months of every year, and in Marblehead MA for the other 6 months. This explains why Gerry is bilingual. The story of how Gerry and Claire met is worth the telling, but for that you'll have to read the book, which you can buy here. Read numerous earlier articles and interviews with Gerry about the book on this web page.]

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