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Category Archives: On This Day
“Make voyages! — Attempt them! — there’s nothing else …” — Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams) was born on this day in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911. Will you do a total stranger the kindness of reading his verse? Thank you! Thomas Lanier Williams — Tennessee Williams, letter to editor Harriet Monroe, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, Theatre, writers
Tagged A Streetcar Named Desire, Elia Kazan, Glass Menagerie, Laurette Taylor, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams
23 Comments
“Too many poets delude themselves by thinking the mind is dangerous and must be left out. Well, the mind is dangerous, and must be left in.” — Robert Frost
“[The poem] begins in delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life–not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Elizabeth Bishop, Ezra Pound, Harold Bloom, Marianne Moore, Michael Schmidt, poetry, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens
5 Comments
“Memphis amateurs are the world’s professionals.” — Rufus Thomas
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie was filled with deep cuts, so appreciated if you care about this story, and not just Elvis’ story, but the environment from which he came. Memphis. Beale Street. Thomas was a singer, yes, and he recorded … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
Tagged B.B. King, Baz Luhrmann, Elvis Presley, Jim Jarmusch, Rufus Thomas, Sam Phillips
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“I did not begin to write poetry in earnest until the really emotional part of my life was over.” — poet A.E. Housman
OUCH. He was born in 1859 and he died in 1936. His generation saw so much change it boggles the mind, and I say that as a member of a generation who grew up sans internet – I didn’t get … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged England, George Orwell, Harold Bloom, Hugh MacDiarmid, Lanford Wilson, Michael Schmidt, Philip Larkin, poetry, William Faulkner
1 Comment
March 25, 1911: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the eighth floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a sweatshop located on 23-29 Washington Place, right off Washington Square Park. The majority of workers were immigrant women. In the years preceding … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day
17 Comments
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the Berkshires
Re-posting my lengthy piece on the production I saw of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 2016, in honor of the anniversary of the play premiering on Broadway. On the evening of July 4th, I took the Mass Pike … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Elia Kazan, Tennessee Williams
64 Comments
“We just always did what we fucking wanted to.” — Kevin Seconds
“We had all types coming to our early gigs – new wavers, stoners, Rocky Horror Picture Show kids, bored and rowdy native kids who lived in the nearby Indian reservation and colony. We always kind of related to a mixed … Continue reading
“If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.” – Joan Crawford
Today is Joan Crawford’s birthday. Some links first: World-Class Acting: On Joan Crawford and Sudden Fear Here are the re-caps of Feud: Bette and Joan I did for The New York Times. Lots of discussions of Joan Crawford’s career and … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Johnny Guitar, Otto Preminger, Sudden Fear, Vincente Minnelli
10 Comments
“Every choice I’ve ever made has been dictated by a formless hunch rather than by strict logic.” — Peter Brook
“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space, whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Ellen Terry, Glass Menagerie, Laurette Taylor, Orson Welles, Shakespeare
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“Reality is always extraordinary.” — Mary Ellen Mark
It’s her birthday today. My first job was as a page at a local library. I would go there after school, shelve books for a couple of hours, and then head home. I ended up working there all through high … Continue reading