Tag Archives: Theater

ISSUE FIFTEEN [R]evolving Research: A Prince of a Week

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Thanks to wonderful initial support on my Ko-fi, I purchased a six-month subscription to newspapers.com’s Publisher Extra. This gives me access to all the things. Although I won’t be diving headlong into the site for another couple of weeks (after I wind up the scrapbook project), I have been unable to completely resist its siren’s call. There is amazing content on there, y’all. See below.

RESEARCH NOTES: WEEK 22

  • VICTORY: Receiving support on Ko-fi is surprising, humbling, and much needed. Every penny helps. Thank you, thank you.
  • HAPPY DISCOVERY: J starred as Kathie in a prominent touring production of The Student Prince. This roadshow company performed in major US cities during the operetta’s initial Broadway run. This was a BIG DEAL, ultimately ranking as one of her greatest professional achievements. Having access to Publisher Extra allowed me to start filling in some of the details of this exciting period in her life.
  • FRUSTRATION: Information is coming at me so fast that I might have to rethink my project timeline. Will three-ish years be enough time to complete my research? No idea, at this point.
  • CURRENTLY READING: Memphis Movie Theatres by Vincent Astor
  • HOURS SPENT ON RESEARCH: Not enough

Until next time!

ISSUE FOUR-[R]evolving Research: The 110-Year-Old Magazine Spread

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Researching J also means researching her husband, R, and his career. Being twenty-one years older, his advent as an entertainer and theatrical manager nearly coincided with his future wife’s birth. Later, their showbiz careers were inextricably connected for the two decades preceding his death.

Going down all of these necessary by-roads and highways is one of the reasons I expect my research to take around five years.

RESEARCH NOTES WEEK 6:

  • VICTORY: Once again carving out “enough” time for my research.
  • HAPPY DISCOVERY: A three-page spread about R and his various theatrical and musical companies, in a 1910 issue of Lyceumite & Talent.
  • FRUSTRATION: Not being able to read all the things all at once.
  • CURRENTLY READING: Frommer’s Nashville & Memphis
  • HOURS SPENT ON RESEARCH: 7

Until next time!

Artistic Interpretations of The Tempest: #3-‘Ferdinand and Miranda’ by Edward Reginald Frampton

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The Tempest is one of my favourite William Shakespeare plays. I thought that it would be fun to share, in no particular order, some of the many artworks inspired by this classic.

Number Three:

Ferdinand and Miranda, Scene from The Tempest by Edward Reginald Frampton

Ferdinand and Miranda, Scene from The Tempest by Edward Reginald Frampton.

A Year in Books/Day 191: Laurence Olivier On Acting

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  • Title: Laurence Olivier On Acting From Hamlet and Heathcliff to “Brideshead” and Marathon Man, Our Greatest Actor Candidly Discusses His Triumphant Career in an Extraordinary Examination of His Profession and Craft
  • Author: Laurence Olivier
  • Year Published: 1986 (A TOUCHSTONE BOOK)
  • Year Purchased: 1992
  • Source: A bookstore at an outlet mall.
  • About: Every actor, young or old, has something  many things to learn from Olivier. If they say otherwise, they’re just in denial. Or ignorant. Perhaps I should strike a line through that as well and replace it with the (softer?) word naive. Nah. I’ll stand by my original assessment. Let’s move on to the good stuff. Even if you don’t care about the craft of acting (and have never been silly enough to work in or, sanity forbid, train for the theatre), On Acting is really entertaining. Part autobiography, part theatre/film history, and part textbook, it is a mixture that  works. He exposes the thought processes behind his roles, but dishes enough behind-the-scenes stories to keep most people interested. It is superior to his traditional memoir, Confessions of an Actor.
  • Motivation: I was an acting student then; the cover blurb was an excellent sales person.
  • Times Read: 2 or 3
  • Random Excerpt/Page 65: “New actors, new waves, new ideas-it’s all been done before. What we forget is that every new generation is the modern man. We are only watching things repeated with different costumes, new settings, original surrounds. However we look at it, it is still the same jewel, shining from the crown, that was mined between 1564 and 1616.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10+++
    Laurence Olivier, June 17, 1939

    Laurence Olivier, June 17, 1939 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

A Year in Books/Day 185: The Mistinguett Legend

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  • Title: The Mistinguett Legend
  • Author: David Bret
  • Year Published: 1990 (St. Martin’s Press)
  • Year Purchased: 1990s
  • Source: My mother
  • About: Mistinguett was a widely, and wildly, famous French chanteuse. I’m not sure how well her appeal translates from French to American culture, but she was a first-class oddity. Continue reading →