Tag Archives: Barbara Bel Geddes

On This Day: March 24, 1955: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on Broadway.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on Broadway on this day, in 1955. Critic Brooks Atkinson, one of Williams’s staunchest supporters, wrote: “[The play seemed] not to have been written. It is the quintessence of life.” Ben Gazzara became … Continue reading

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For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

These women inspire, entertain, challenge, comfort, provoke, or were “there” in my formative years as an inspiration. The list is huge. Below the jump.

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October 2022 Viewing Diary

Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (2020; d. Lisa Immordino Vreeland) Fascinating dual portraits. No “talking heads”. The entire thing is made up of their own voices, told in talk shows, or interviews. Amazing footage I’ve never seen before. Christine … Continue reading

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Max Ophüls’ Caught (1949)

Shot by Lee Garmes, Max Ophüls’ Caught is deeply gorgeous, every shot a work of art, with all of these de-stabilizing points of view, and in-camera “tricks” where human beings seem either miniaturized or giganticized – depending on the power … Continue reading

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October 2017 Viewing Diary

11:55 (2016; d. Ari Issler, Ben Snyder) A Marine returns from the war in Iraq and gets sucked back into the criminal element in his old neighborhood, even as his sister, his girlfriend, his niece, plead with him to avoid … Continue reading

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The Long Night (1947), Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013), The Fugitive Kind (1959)

The Long Night Directed by Anatole Litvak I saw this movie for the first time during my wintry month out on Block Island. I watched it in the teeth of one of the biggest storms I have ever experienced up … Continue reading

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R.I.P. Ben Gazzara

It was my favorite type of career. Long-lasting, diverse, a little bit chaotic, not overly managed, with moments of brilliance, moments of just good workmanship … and you can tell, you can just tell, that his career has been about … Continue reading

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On This Day: March 24, 1955

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on this day, in 1955, in New York. Brooks Atkinson, one of Williams’s staunchest critic supporters, wrote: “[The play seemed] not to have been written. It is the quintessence of life.” The performances … Continue reading

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Today in history: March 24, 1955

Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on Broadway. It was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Ben Gazzara and Barbara bel Geddes. Williams was tormented by the writing of this play. He found it “messy”, and wrote … Continue reading

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PBS, Thank You for Broadway: The Golden Age

Last night, I happened to catch the final half-hour of a certain fund-raising drive on my local PBS channel – and they were showing an absolutely MARVELOUS documentary called Broadway: The Golden Age. It’s eventually going to be a 3-part … Continue reading

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