|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
A few bits from George Jean Nathan:
[Most of these are from a theater column called "The Pantaloon Parnassus"! I would say "Puppy-Cow" raises more questions than it answers. (Can we connect the dots to little do[g]ies? Or to the Mac Classic dogcow?)]
It may be described as a Fokine ballet without dancing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
A few snippets from Wodehouse essays:
[from "To the Editor: Sir..."]A novel, after all, is rather a commercial sort of affair. A letter to the papers is Art for Art's sake.[from "An Outline of Shakespeare"]The fact that the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth appears this year....[That's the beginning of the piece; and, as I did the math, I found myself puzzled, because neither the date of its original publication, nor that of its being reissued in the collection in which I found it, seemed to match up with the 400th anniversary of the Bard's birth. But then I reread PGW's sentence--and noticed that he never said it was the 400th anniversary, or any particular anniversary at all! Technically, all he said was that Shakespeare's birthday was on the calendar that year. Ha![ditto]"Is there anything else!" cried Shakespeare. "Why, there's nothing else but something else."[from "Prospects for Wambledon"]It simply shows--well, I cannot at the moment think just what it does show, but it obviously has a significance of some sort.[I'm including that just because it's some sort of JC-E precursor.][from "Fashionable Weddings and Smart Divorces"][a couple of bride's family-groom's family pairings]Bootle - BartholomewMumbleby - Packsmith
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
From Much Ado about Me, by Fred Allen:
***With his dark beady eyes and the big cigar jutting out of his mouth, Sam looked like an animated but partly melted snowman.***The Professor's mouth was an adjective hutch.***For their finish the brothers donned one large harlequin costume and, dancing close together, executed intricate steps with such precision it appeared that only one person, with two heads, was dancing.***[Can you spot what's wrong with the name of this circuit? (:v> Allen does not seem to notice anything amiss.]The Interstate was a big-time circuit that operated theaters in Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.***Harold, with his various writing assignments, was busier than an octopus going through a revolving door.[Once again (cf. decopus w/ umbrella tucked under arm), I must protest that an octopus would, in fact, be *overqualified* to get through a revolving door without maxing out its resources.]***He looked like a toy that some child had wound up and forgotten to play with.***Leonard Sillman...was the loudest dancer I have ever heard. He trod the heavy fantastic.***[Bonus 1: I learned that "Christmas in July" was a real "thing" for entertainers, back in the day, because they typically had to work through the holidays, but often had summers off, and congregated in vacation communities where they would indulge in an off-season Yule on July 4th.][Bonus 2: a comedy trio called Darn, Good, and Funny][Bonus 3: A "female impersonator" called Raymonde who had two entire layers of gender-bending: he did his act as a woman, then took off a wig to reveal himself as a man, then took *that* wig off to reveal more "feminine" hair, then finally revealed himself as a man again. Doing the math, it seems that Raymonde (pre-)one-upped Victor/Victoria, who had only three quarters of this equation.][Bonus 4: an entertainer named George Hassell whose favorite oath was "God's trousers!"][Bonus 5: Allen uses the phrase "avocado tears" where one would normally say "crocodile tears." I was guessing he arrived there via "alligator pear"--and Google Books brings up no other instance of this phrase--but general results show that "avocado tears" has a presence in contemporary times, though what comes up on a quick search are things like user names and music-artist names, rather than contextualized usage of the term.][Bonus 6: an act called "Disappointments of 1927" in which every act Allen tries to introduce phones in to say they're not coming]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
From Places Where I've Done Time, by William Saroyan:
"[Joaquin Miller] said, 'And you, what's your name,' and I said, 'Henry Saroyan.'""If he asked me, I would have said, 'Puddin tame, ask me again, I'll tell you the same.'""Ah, you don't say that when Wahkeen Miller asks you. He's an old man."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
Snippets from stories by Noel Coward:
***[from "Traveler's Joy"]
He was no fool, he often told himself, none of that painful mutton-dressed-as-lamb business for him! Why, he had voluntarily given up playing Juveniles years ago when he was a bare forty-five.
***
[from "What Mad Pursuit?"]
"What's bred in the bone comes out in the what have you."
"I'd rather listen to Irene than Jeritza, Ponselle and Flagstad all together in a lump." Evan, repressing a shudder at the thought of Jeritza, Ponselle and Flagstad all together in a lump, agreed wholeheartedly.
[Bonus 1: There's a character in this story whose conversational tic is to say "who shall be nameless," sometimes immediately *after* having already named the person he's speaking about (e.g., "Bonwit, who shall be nameless, got so fried...;" "that's Dwight Macadoo who shall be nameless"). Eventually, we see that this habit extends beyond actual persons: "a cowboy in Arizona...rounding up all those Goddamned steers--who shall be nameless."]
[Bonus 2: Enter a pair of Alsatian dogs named Chico and Zeppo. So just when you expect Harpo, Coward zags (or zeps) on us!]
***
[from "Stop Me If You've Heard It]
"Please, God," she whispered to herself. "Don't let it be the one about the Englishman and the Scotsman and the American in the railway carriage, nor the one about the old lady and the parrot...."
***
[from "Star Quality"]
The clock on the mantelpiece struck five very quickly, as though it were in a hurry.
"She's as merry as a cartload of grigs, whatever they may be."
***
[from "Bon Voyage"]
"More than one rhetorical question in one sentence always bewilders me," said Eldrich.
"Dio mio! As my old grandmother used to say."
"Mine always said 'Madonna mia.'"
[...]
"Ciao for now, as my other old grandmother used to say."
[Bonus: a character called Mrs. Bagel]
***
Bonus fictitious(?) theatrical show titles from across the story collection:
And So What
Some Take It Straight
Dear Yesterday
Wise Man's Folly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
From Freshwater, by Virginia Woolf:
NELL: A porpoise? A real porpoise?JOHN: What else should a porpoise be?[Note: I wrote the following "bonus" section before learning that "Trekkie" was, per Wikipedia, artist "Trekkie Ritchie Parsons (née Marjorie Tulip Ritchie)." I'm preserving the obsolete paragraph below for the record; and, meanwhile, we've gained a person bearing the middle name Tulip.][Bonus: The person who edited this very posthumous publication thanks, among others, someone whose given name apparently is Trekkie. The complete phrase, part of the usual roster of acknowledgees, is "Trekkie and Ian Parsons." So I figure either Trekkie and Ian are human family members sharing a surname; or Trekkie is Ian's dog or cat or parrot (getting precedence!); or Trekkie is a mononymic but forgotten celebrity who cohabits with Ian. I further reason that since the book wasn't published until 1976, the term "Trekkie," as in Star Trek fan, was probably already around, so someone might conceivably have used it as a parrot name or, if they were an ST superfan, adopted it as their own nickname.]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
Some snippets from The Idler, Feb. and March 1892:
***
My proposal is that amateur performances shall take place in dumb show and also in the dark.
***
I confess I felt hurt. People should be careful what they say in a haunted house.
[...]
The game is not worth the phosphorescence.
[That piece in full: https://archive.org/details/sim_idler-an-illustrated-monthly-magazine_1892-03_1/page/194/mode/2up?view=theater]
***
[re. the bygone "lion comique" type of performer]
"that opera hat that closed at every joke, and opened at every noble sentiment"
***
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
unearths some literary gems.
Some snippets from Dorothy Parker reviews:
***It has far more plot and a much more connected story than most musical comedies. In fact, it's chock full of connected story; you don't get away from it for a minute. Large segments of connected story are always lying around the stage, getting in the way of the chorus.***They use the word "scintillating" as frequently and as proudly as if they had just coined it.***I take issue (there is nothing better for that morning headache than taking a little issue).[Btw, this bit strikes me as very "Steve Allen" (though it predates his career).]***Slack or no slack, out come books, any kind of books, any kind at all. The publishers take no advantage of their blessed leisure. They go right on publishing, all out of control. It seems to be a compulsive activity, a species, I should suppose, of tic.***The book, which is going to be a movie, has the plot and characters of a book which is going to be a movie.***His lovely ladies step out of Edith Wharton, and his graceful gentlemen come from Henry James (whenever you say Edith Wharton, you have to say Henry James right after. If you don't, you'll have bad luck all day).***[this one's from a letter]Alan and I are working on a little opera which was originally named "Twenty-two Hours by Air," but it has been kicking around the studio for a long time, during which aerial transportation has made such progress that it is now called "Eleven Hours by Air." By the time we are done, the title is to be, I believe, "Stay Where You Are."***
|
Page 23 of 64
> Older Entries...
Original Content Copyright © 2025 by Craig Conley. All rights reserved.
|
