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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.
Viveca Lindfors discusses her roles and the roles of women in society. Includes Viveca Lindfors reciting lines written by Lillian Hellman.
The influence of the WPA on the music of the 1930's. The heroic sounds heard in song, movies, and theater. He provides Bing Crosby's version of Yip Harburg's "Brother Can You Spare a Dime". As well as the Almanac Singers performing "Roll the Union On". Both Moll's Song and the final scene of Blitzstein's, "The Cradle Will Rock" are performed. Terkel provides a host of other songs which highlight the music of the 1930's. Extensive discussion on "The Cradle Will Rock" with its producer John Houseman.
Excerpts of interviews with Simone Signoret (actress and author), Simone de Beauvoir (author), and Francoise Rosay (actress).
Actor and director Sidney Poitier offers his reflections about his autobiographical memoir, "This Life". Poitier explains how he never had ambitions to be an actor and yet he stumbled into acting when looking through the clasisfied ads. There's a story about his agent trying to settle a negotiation on Poitier's behalf. Poitier's agent told the others involved that Poitier was offered a film in Hollywood. Believing it was a cheap ploy, the agent was told to tell Poitier to go onto Hollywood, and the rest is history for Sidney Poitier.
Actor Robert Morley discusses his career and autobiography, "Robert Morley: A Reluctant Autobiography;" part 2.
Actor Robert Morley discusses his career and autobiography, "Robert Morley: A Reluctant Autobiography;" part 1.
Studs Terkel and Robert Altman discuss the opera "McTeague" based on Frank Norri's novel of the same name.
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.]
Content Warning: This conversation has the presence of outdated, biased, offensive language. Rather than remove this content, we present it in the context of twentieth-century social history to acknowledge and learn from its impact and to inspire awareness and discussion. Actors Morris Carnovsky, Phoebe Brand, and Randall Kim discuss their various roles in theater, Shakespeare’s plays, and their work at the American Players Theater in Chicago.
The Stanislavski Method, Shakespeare, his various plays, "The Merchant of Venice," and playing the role of Shylock are all topics covered in this interview. Carnovsky said that the highpoint of his acting career was playing the role Shylock. Public relations man, Danny Newman, talks at the end about subscriptions to the Goodman Theatre.
Melvin Douglas and Frank Lovejoy discuss their roles in Gore Vidal's play "The Best Man", politics, and their careers.