Archives for June 2015

Johnny Mercer stumps the panel as a “special” mystery guest on an episode of What’s My Line? originally telecast on February 9, 1964. The regular mystery guest, who is seen at the end of the program, is Jane Fonda. John Daly is the host and the panelists are Bennett Cerf, Bobby Darin, Arlene Francis, and Dorothy Kilgallen:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

The latest episode of Theater Talk, in which Susan Haskins and Michael Riedel discuss the Broadway season just past with Ben Brantley of the New York Times, Peter Marks of the Washington Post, John Simon of the Westchester Guardian, and yours truly of The Wall Street Journal, will be replayed on CUNY-TV four times in the next four days. I think you’ll find it amusing—the back-and-forth got quite lively!

Here’s the schedule:

• Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

• Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

• Monday at 7:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.

For more information, go here.

This episode will also be posted on YouTube. I’ll let you know when it goes up.

“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”

George Bernard Shaw, “Maxims for Revolutionists”

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• An American in Paris (musical, G, too complex for small children, virtually all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Fun Home (serious musical, PG-13, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (musical, PG-13, reviewed here)
• Hand to God (black comedy, X, absolutely not for children or prudish adults, reviewed here)
• The King and I (musical, G, perfect for children with well-developed attention spans, nearly all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Matilda (musical, G, virtually all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Les Misérables (musical, G, too long and complicated for young children, reviewed here)
• On the Town (musical, G, contains double entendres that will not be intelligible to children, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, ideal for bright children, remounting of Broadway production, original production reviewed here)
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)
• The Flick (serious comedy, PG-13, too long for young people with limited attention spans, closes Aug. 30, reviewed here)

IN GLENCOE, ILL.:
• Doubt (drama, PG-13, closes Aug. 2, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON ON BROADWAY:
• On the Twentieth Century (musical, G/PG-13, virtually all performances sold out last week, closes July 19, contains very mild sexual content, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN PHILADELPHIA:
• Passion (musical, PG-13, closes June 28, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN NEW HOPE, PA.:
• Company (musical, PG-13, reviewed here)

“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.”

Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity

Jascha Heifetz plays the first movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto on a 1949 episode of The Bell Telephone Hour, accompanied by Donald Voorhees and a studio orchestra:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

George Orwell, discarded preface for Animal Farm (written in 1945, published in 1972)

From 2006:

The phrase “guilty pleasure,” of course, is itself inherently problematic, because it implies that we ought to be hypocrites when it comes to our artistic responses. Kingsley Amis said the last word about this deeply wrongheaded attitude: “All amateurs must be philistines part of the time. Must be: a greater sin is to be coerced into showing respect when little or none is felt.” The inverse is also true. I really do like “S.O.S.,” which I believe to be a beautifully crafted pop single, so why should I feel guilty about it?

Generally speaking, though, I don’t fall victim to either error, partly because I don’t give a damn about received opinion and partly because it’s unusual for me to like fundamentally dishonest art. It occurs to me that this might point in the direction of a working definition of bonafide “guilty pleasures” and our responses to them: guilty pleasures let us off too easy by pandering to our innate longing for unearned simplicity. They are the Krispy Kreme donuts of art….

Read the whole thing here.