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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for October 22, 2003

OGIC: Wallis and her

October 22, 2003 by Terry Teachout

Once upon a time I read the book proposal for The Last of the Duchess, and felt the frisson generated by Lady Caroline Blackwood’s worldly, aggressive wit right down to my parochial midwestern bones. The book tells her story of trying to complete a newspaper assignment to interview the Duchess of Windsor but being blocked at every turn by Simpson’s perversely, intrepidly protective 80-something lawyer–sort of

OGIC: Back in the mix

October 22, 2003 by Terry Teachout

I love the tech guys. They fixed my iBook with the greatest of ease yesterday (which may just mean I’m a ninny) and sent me home with a lollipop. Okay, not really, but it does strike me that whenever they see me I’m in the state of elevated panic you’d expect from a hypochondriac in a doctor’s office. The hushed tones, the urgent appeals, the excessive display of gratitude and relief when they make everything better… did I say “love”? I meant “worship the ground they tread.”


I see Terry’s been no slouch while I’ve been gone. In case you missed it and aren’t feeling inclined to scroll, this post on the ubiquity of Kind of Blue was a highlight.


Thanks to those who have sent me email. It has been trickling in this week from Terry. I’ll answer it over the next few days, whether in email or right here. And now for some blogging.

OGIC: Addendum

October 22, 2003 by Terry Teachout

Terry posted here yesterday about Kevin Pollak’s silent impression of Robert DeNiro. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass without mentioning another great wordless impersonation, the comedian-actor Richard Belzer’s shambling full-body rendition of Ronald Reagan.


I only wish I had a link; but if you ever catch Belzer on a late-night talk show, he’s likely to be pressed by the host into doing it. (His Mick Jagger employs the same m.o., but isn’t half as uncanny.)

OGIC: Hit parades

October 22, 2003 by Terry Teachout

A reader writes with further observations on the Observer 100:

I’m no expert on the contents but I would note the language barrier protecting this list: Of the 100 “greatest novels of all time,” I believe that 15 were not written in English. There are but two in Russian–meaning that On the Road, which did make the list, is “greater” than all the other output of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and the rest. Note also that there is apparently only one Spanish author as good as Kerouac (Cervantes), and none who’s ever written in any Asian language. Point would be not that anyone should attempt a list of “the world’s greatest,” since that would be nearly impossible for a number of reasons. Rather, couldn’t the editors of the Observer have come up with a slightly less grandiose header for their efforts?

Indeed. The Observer has now published reader reaction, including some comments from readers of note. They have also added the 50 books shaken in their faces must huffily by irate readers. This may be more interesting than the original list.

Meanwhile, Roger L. Simon’s list of his 20 greatest movies–er, make that 23–is more satisfying. It sure is easy to tell the difference between a list compiled by committee and one put together by a single, discerning organizing intelligence. I also like the way his commenters goaded him into adding Jean Vigo’s madly exuberant Zero for Conduct, which in an ideal world would be a hell of a lot easier to see. Maybe one of Chicago’s many fine art movie houses could be persuaded to show it sometime soon.

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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