Tag Archives: Clifford Odets

The Books: On Directing, by Harold Clurman

It is time to say goodbye to the Biography shelf. I still have many self-described genres to get through. I decided to move on to my messy well-thumbed shelf of Acting/Theatre books. Books on the history of acting, history of … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Directors | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Elvis Dispatch #2: Wild In the Country (1961)

A sometimes-overheated melodrama, drenched in Freudian analysis, so in vogue at the time, Wild in the Country actually gives Elvis Presley a chance to do some real acting. It has some Tennessee Williams elements, some Rebel Without a Cause elements, … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Clifford Odets and John Garfield, 1940

Excerpts from The Time Is Ripe, the journal that Clifford Odets kept during the year 1940. That was the last year of the Group Theatre, which closed after the production of Odets’ Night Music (starring Elia Kazan), and Odets was … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

receiving

Clifford Odets, journal entry, January 17, 1940 Much of love for me is in giving. Unfortunately, I am not one of the receivers in life. I receive badly, restlessly, shamefully.

Posted in Personal | Tagged | Leave a comment

Deadline at Dawn Film Noir: Harold Clurman and Clifford Odets

Clurman and Odets, old colleagues from the Group Theatre, were reunited in 1946 (at least professionally – they were good friends in real life) to do the film Deadline at Dawn. I was asked to write a review of Deadline … Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Books: “The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journals of Clifford Odets”

Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets : With an Introduction by William Gibson Clifford Odets (playwright in the 30s and 40s – inspiration to Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, a generation of … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The Books: “Elia Kazan: A Life” (Elia Kazan)

Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Elia Kazan: A Life, by Elia Kazan I met Elia Kazan once. It was in 1999 and I was working on a show at the Actors Studio. It was a production of Awake and Sing, … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Directors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The Books: “Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart” (Charles Higham & Roy Moseley)

Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, by Charles Higham & Roy Moseley This is what happens when you try to “explain” your subject, as opposed to just describing his actions – and letting the actions speak … Continue reading

Posted in Actors, Books | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Golden Boy: The Youthful Curly-Haired Beauty of William Holden

… as boxer/violinist Joe Bonaparte in Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy (1939):

Posted in Actors, Movies | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Happy Birthday, Clifford Odets

Clifford Odets (playwright in the 30s and 40s – inspiration to Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, a generation of playwrights – and he inspires still although some of his plays have dated badly) kept a journal throughout his tumultuous life. One … Continue reading

Posted in On This Day, writers | Tagged , , | 1 Comment