“I am growing very handsome indeed!” — Emily Dickinson, age 14
Today is her 180th birthday.
In my newest review on Fandor, I take a look at the PBS televised performance of Julie Harris’ highwater-mark performance as Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst in 1976. You can click to rent the film in its entirety below (or on Fandor), something I cannot recommend highly enough. Bookmark it and come back to it when you have time. It is a performance for the ages. We are so fortunate that it was captured on film.
My review: An Immortal Poet, Resurrected: “The Belle of Amherst”.
THE BELLE OF AMHERST, Broadway, 1976, starring Julie Harris
What would I give her for her 180th you ask?
Um…I guess…a leather-bound journal with clean, blank pages.
But I would conceal a couple of my poems toward the back just so they’d meet her eyes.
Ha! Sneaky! Who knows what she would say? She could be pretty tough.
If you can (or if you haven’t already), check out Harris’ performance. It’s a revelation!!
Video won’t play for me. Will try again tomorrow.
In the meantime…found this segment…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE8LkGUnCQE
My birthday is December 11. For a few years, I would lie and say it was on the 10th because I wanted the same birthday as Emily Dickinson!
As I read this I was thinking of how you’ve referenced Laurette Taylor’s performance and as the mother in Glass Menagerie, I think (?)…I think it is great that a record of this exists and that you can review it and pass it along. Awesome piece.
Bren – I agree. This is one of those miracle performances.
How wonderful would it have been to have the technology back in the day to capture Laurette Taylor in Glass Menagerie – or Brando and Tandy in Streetcar …
i saw julie harris do this live also back in the 1970s. i am a scholar of emily dickinson and a retired english teacher. i wish to say that no one captures emily and what she must have been like better than ms. harris. she is a consumate actress and let us say that she IS EMILY!!!! i cried, laughed and am still completely mesmerized by this performance!!!
Mark – I am so so envious that you got to see this performance live!! I do feel fortunate that we have this filmed version, but still: it must have been something else to see that live. A miracle. I have heard from so many others like yourself who say it was the greatest performance they had ever had the honor to witness.
Thank you for your comment!
If i may comment again, recently I have viewed other actresses attempting this portrayal to little avail. In my opinion emily dickinson would surely smile and say that Julie Harris interpreted me as I am.
I saw Ms Harris perform this on stage and was mesmerized. I don’t remember if it was at JHU or in DC in the 70’s, but it was most enthralling. Makes me want to have my children experience a stage play vice a “movie”.
I’m so envious you got to see her do it! What an amazing experience. and yes – live theatre is so important, such a great experience for kids!
(I approve of your name, by the way.)
and unfortunately, all of the stuff I wrote for Fandor has vanished with the site itself. I’m bummed – I wrote some good stuff over there, including this piece. A good reminder to always keep copies in your own archives, so you will always have a record of it.