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Now being a professional playwright, William Gibson talked about being able to write one of his plays in 8 days. A lot of the discussion is about his play, "The Miracle Worker". After reading one of Annie Sullivan's letters, and learning about a battle royale that Sullivan had with Helen Keller, Gibson envisioned what that battle royale would look like. It became a now famous part of the play.
Rita Moreno talks about her own Puerto Rican ethnicity and how it relates to her role as Anita in West Side Story.
Rita Moreno talks about her own Puerto Rican ethnicity and how it relates to her role as Anita in West Side Story.
Studs speaks to actress Peggy Nelson, playwright Arnaud d'Usseau, and student Olivier Bernier while he is in France. [Part 2 includes Yves Montand.]
Actress Lillian Gish joins Studs Terkel to talk about her role in the play “Passage to India.” Gish connects the play based on a book by E. M. Forster to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” and discusses the relevance and importance of historical works like those mentioned. Studs asks Gish about working with D. W. Griffith, and the two praise Griffith’s impact on the world of film; Gish comments on her experience with working with Charles Laughton too.
Through an interpreter, Madame Ida Kaminska discusses her role in the film "The Shop on Main Street." Both her mother and father were actors, too. Madame Kaminska explains she comes from a family of actors from 100 years ago.
Topics of old age, the elderly and retirement homes are all found in the play, "Gin Game, " starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. The play, says Cronyn, shows the struggle people have with their own characteristics and their inability to change. This program also includes a couple of excerpts of interviews with Eliot Wiggington.
Cole Porter biographer Robert Kimball talks with Studs about his book "Cole" and his subject's life and work as they listen to classic performances of some of his most beloved songs. They marvel at how Porter perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the times in his lyrics, his lyrical influences, his unique method of outside-in composing lyrics and music simultaneously, Bobby Short's masterful interpretations, controversies over some of his works, and how well his material holds up.
Anna Deavere Smith discusses and demonstrates her unique character portrayals from her works "Fires in the Mirror" and "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992."