I’ve written more about him than anyone else. Even Cary Grant or Elvis. I grew up hearing about “John and Abigail” with such familiarity (and I had cousins who lived in Quincy, and when we would go there for Thanksgiving, “John and Abigail’s house” would be pointed out to us) that I assumed we were somehow related to them. My grandfather on the O’Malley side was such an Adams aficionado that my grandmother said she was jealous of only one woman, and her name was “Abigail”. I’m a New Englander. My whole family is from Boston. These are my people. Happy birthday to our second President.
Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me…” — poet Paul Laurence Dunbar
- “[Poetry is] a way of trying to come to peace with the world.” — poet Lucille Clifton
- “The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.” — Paul Thomas Anderson
- A Personal Memory: or: What Dog Day Afternoon Means to Me
- Happy Birthday, Hediyeh Tehrani
- “All I actually wanted was for my work to be useful.”–Claudius Afolabi Siffre
- “I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts.” — George Orwell
- “People are always asking me if I thought Elvis was a handsome man and my answer is ‘I am not blind you know’!” — Millie Kirkham
- Physical Media Booklet Essay: The Podcast
- “And the role of the fatal chorus / I agree to take on” — Anna Akhmatova
Recent Comments
- Clary on “All I actually wanted was for my work to be useful.”–Claudius Afolabi Siffre
- Dan on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- LongTimeReaderMargot on R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Bryan Summers on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- Jincy Willett on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Dan on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Reba on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
-


While Paul Giamatti did a terrific job in the HBO miniseries, I will always and forever think of John Adams as played by William Daniels.
I know – when I read Adams’ letters and articles, I hear William Daniels’ cantankerous slightly nasal voice. Great performance!