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- Solidarity, or: The boy in the green bandana
- “Precision and accuracy are necessary for both white and black writers. ‘A black aesthetic’ should not be an excuse for sloppy writing.” — poet and publisher Dudley Randall
- “To me, survival is the game – that’s the hardest part. I just wanna play music.” — Dave Grohl
- “When I was discovered, everything happened like dominos. I don’t know how to talk about it now because it’s too mindblowing. It’s so unreal, and yet it’s real.” — Faye Dunaway
- “As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I’ll sweep the stage. I don’t give a damn. I want the money.” – Kay Francis
- “I look back on my life and draw one great generalization: IT WAS MY REFUSAL TO TAKE CAUTIOUS ADVICE THAT MADE ME.” — Jack London
- “I can pick a good song, but I sure couldn’t pick a good man.” — Ruth Brown
- “I’ll stay and look you straight in the eyes like all these normal people when I scream for my rights.” — Taraneh Alidoosti
- “Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest. Wise government should avail itself of those passions, to make them subservient to the public good.” — Alexander Hamilton
- “It’s a situation I’ve never been able to fathom. One minute, it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle, the next — no one wanted me.” — Sal Mineo
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- Gemstone on “It’s a situation I’ve never been able to fathom. One minute, it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle, the next — no one wanted me.” — Sal Mineo
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Category Archives: Theatre
“The reality is you don’t arrive, you don’t have a crone ceremony and suddenly get wisdom.” — Olympia Dukakis
“I recognize that the real pulse of life is transformation, yet I work in a world dominated by men and the things men value, where transformation is not the coinage. It’s not even the language! Winning is everything in Hollywood. … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Olympia Dukakis
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“My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
For Audra McDonald’s birthday My good friend Ted and I were once talking about Audra McDonald and her performance of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” in the live televised version of The Sound of Music, and what a powerhouse it was. You … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Music, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Audra McDonald, Liza Minnelli, Natasha Richardson
13 Comments
“Language most shows a man. Speak that I may see thee.” — Ben Jonson
“O rare Benn Johnson.” — Jonson’s incorrectly-spelled epitaph in Westminster Abbey It’s his birthday today. Ben Jonson did everything. Plays, poems, satires, elegies, epigrams. His talent was wide and flexible. Everything he wrote feels inevitable. However, as Michael Schmidt writes … Continue reading
“Boredom is very important in life. It helps you feel when something is wrong.” — John Strasberg
It’s John Strasberg’s birthday today. I told this story before on here years ago, when I used to write like this on here, on occasion. Figured I’d re-post it. He is very very important to me. Back in the late … Continue reading
“I started at the top and worked my way down.” — Orson Welles
It’s his birthday today. When Orson Welles was just a teenager, he traveled to Ireland. And although it seems improbable (perhaps not, because this is Orson Welles we’re talking about), he decided to audition for the newly-formed Gate Theatre, and … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Micheál MacLiammóir, Orson Welles
18 Comments
“I’ve always had everything I wanted, and I never wanted a great deal. ” — Aline MacMahon
Today is the birthday of this great character actress, ubiquitous in pre-Code films – many of which are classics. She cared deeply about acting. The quote posted at the bottom of this piece is instantly apparent when you encounter her … Continue reading
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, / Hath put a spirit of youth in everything …
Today is (supposedly, roughly) the birthday of William Shakespeare. April 23, 1564. (Title of the post from Sonnet 98.) One of the things I think about when I think about Shakespeare, is my late great teacher Doug Moston, who died … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day, Theatre, writers
Tagged Ben Jonson, Ford Madox Ford, George Bernard Shaw, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Shakespeare, W.H. Auden
9 Comments
“I don’t think you go to a play to forget, or to a movie to be distracted. I think life generally is a distraction and that going to a movie is a way to get back, not go away.” — Tom Noonan
Most well-known for playing supernatural-style “heavies” in movies such as Manhunter and Robocop 2, he got his start in the 1960s experimental theatre scene in New York City, and in many ways he’s never really left that scene. He established … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Tom Noonan, What Happened Was
5 Comments
“That’s the Irish People all over – they treat a serious thing as a joke and a joke as a serious thing.” — Seán O’Casey, Shadow of a Gunman
“You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea; you cannot put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell your slaves could ever build.” … Continue reading