In 1963, Mel Brooks and director/animator Ernest Pintoff came up with the animated short film The Critic, a satire of arty, esoteric cinema. Brooks supplied running commentary as the baffled moviegoer trying to make sense of the obscure visuals. The short film won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

In Carrie and Me, Carol Burnett shares her personal diary entries and correspondence revealing her anguish as a mother of a troubled teenager, the epiphanies that helped her help her family, and the grief and then the hope she felt after her daughter’s death. Through Burnett’s inimitable voice, we get a portrait of an unforgettable young woman that will bring hope to anyone struggling with raising or losing a child.

It's the life and times of The Joffrey Ballet -- the first quintessentially American dance company -- on American Masters.

In 2003, The Joffrey Ballet was featured in director Robert Altman's film The Company. The company benefited from the film financially, and their contribution on the big screen helped expose their work to a much larger audience.

Hippies, sex, art and politics. The Joffrey Ballet's Astarte was the first multimedia production of it's kind: it was a fusion of audience participation and rock 'n' roll music. After all it was the 1960s, but the performance went on to define the ballet company.

JOFFREY: MAVERICKS OF AMERICAN DANCE tells the story of the first quintessentially American dance company, the Joffrey Ballet. Founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino revolutionized American dance by combining modern with traditional ballet to create a new and daring art form. Narrated by Tony and Emmy Award-winner Mandy Patinkin (Homeland), the 90-minute documentary is the first to chronicle the Joffrey Ballet’s pioneering dance philosophy. Award-winning filmmaker Bob Hercules traces the company’s struggles and triumphs: from its humble beginnings in 1956, touring the United States in a borrowed station wagon, to becoming one of the world’s most exciting and prominent ballet companies.

"The Green Table" is an anti-war statement that has transcended times of war: lending itself to each new conflict and each new generation. Created by Kurt Jooss in 1932 for the International Competition of Choreography in Paris, the performance ranges from the closed door meetings of politicians to the battlefield of waring soldiers. It's both the corruption and the inhumanity of wartime. In 1967, The Joffrey Ballet was the first American company to revive this pacifist work -- for a different war and a different people -- and it quickly became a signature performance, giving a socially relevant voice to the company. See it for yourself in an archive Joffrey rehearsal from the 1960s.

It’s American Masters radio: the other AM, on the podcast dial. To expand the story beyond what could be included in the film, the producers of Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance started this audio interview series to record the many stories and perspectives from the people who were associated with the Joffrey Ballet over its 56 year history. Listen to the interviews and go deeper into the history of the company.

The inspiration for the film Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance.