In this issue:
Today in History -- Dec 07
Re: Today in History -- Dec 07
about Sherlockian societies ...
Today in History -- Dec 08
Re: Today in History -- Dec 08
Re: Today in History -- Dec 08
RE: Today in History -- Dec 08
Re: RE: Today in History -- Dec 08
RE: Today in History -- Dec 08
Re: RE: Today in History -- Dec 08
Trial listing of Gaslight files
RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler
Re: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler
Re: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler
Re: Re: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler
Today in History -- Dec 09
Seeking Jerome K. Jerome story
Today in History-- Dec 10
Re: City of the Silent
Epitaphs
Re: Seeking Jerome K. Jerome story
Famous Last Words
Re: Epitaphs (& last words)
Re: Epitaphs
Re: Epitaphs (& last words)
Re: Famous Last Words
Re: Epitaphs
Re: Today in History -- Dec 06
Re: Today in History -- Dec 06
Re: He's BAACCKKK
RE: Seeking Jerome K. Jerome story
Re: He's BAACCKKK
Today in History -- Dec 11
OT_: The 1999 _MP_: A Must See for Janeites (long)
-----------------------------THE POSTS-----------------------------
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 01:16:22 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History -- Dec 07
Interesting things that happened December 7th:
Birthdays on this date:
In 1873 Willa Cather, American author (My Antonia)
In 1878 Akiko Yosano, Japanese poet
In 1888 Joyce Cary, writer
In 1905 Gerard Kuiper, US astronomer, discovered moons of Uranus, Neptune
In 1915 Eli Wallach, actor
(I taught _My Antonia_ this semester. Students loved it, and so did I.
Cather is one of the best American novelists of the century.)
Events worth noting:
In 1842 New York Philharmonic gives its first concert.
In 1868 Pearshall Brothers open a school in New York City ... to teach the
art of riding a bicycle!
In 1912 George Darwin, theorized moon was pulled out of Pacific Ocean, dies.
===0===
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 07:22:31 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Today in History -- Dec 07 In a message dated 12/7/99 6:29:49 AM, Bob wrote: <<(I taught _My Antonia_ this semester. Students loved it, and so did I. Cather is one of the best American novelists of the century.)>> And overlooked? I like Death Comes to the Archbishop. phoebe
===0===
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 15:22:23 -0500 (EST)
From: "Peter E. Blau" <pblau(at)dgs.dgsys.com>
Subject: about Sherlockian societies ...
The late John Bennett Shaw liked to suggest that all that's required for a
meeting of a Sherlockian society is two people sitting at a table with a
bottle on it.
And in an emergency you can dispense with one of the people.
There are at the moment 425 active Sherlockian societies in the computer
files posted at Willis G. Frick's "Sherlocktron" web-site at:
members.home.net/sherlock1/Sherlocktron.html
in case you'd like to see where they are, and perhaps even attend a meeting
or two.
|| Peter E. Blau <pblau(at)dgs.dgsys.com> ||
|| 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119 ||
|| Washington, DC 20007-4830 ||
|| (202-338-1808) ||
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 02:13:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History -- Dec 08
Interesting things that happened December 8th:
Birthdays on this date:
In 1832 Bj?rnstjerne Bj?rnson, Norwegian writer (Nobel 1903)
In 1848 Joel Chandler Harris, writer (created the Uncle Remus stories)
In 1861 Aristide Maillol, French painter, sculptor
+ William Crapo Durant, founded General Motors Corp.
In 1865 Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer
In 1886 Diego Rivera, Mexican muralist
In 1894 James (Grover) Thurber (in Columbus, OH), writer (Men, Women and
Dogs)
In 1903 Adele Simpson, fashion designer
In 1906 Richard Llewellyn, Welsh novelist (How Green Was My Valley)
In 1908 John Volpe, former governor of Massachusetts, cabinet officer
In 1922 John B. (Jack) McKay, X-15 pilot
Events worth noting:
In 1831 James Hoban, White House designer, dies.
In 1845 German amateur astronomer M. Hencke discovers 5th asteroid, Astra.
In 1863 Fire in Santiago, Chile kills 2,000.
In 1869 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I, opens in Rome.
In 1886 American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions, in
Columbus, Ohio.
In 1913 Construction starts on Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA.
[The first time I've ever seen the name of the designer of the White House
anywhere.]
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 07:49:50 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Today in History -- Dec 08 Another birthday, and interesting footnote to history -- born in 1805, Adeline Blanchard Tyler, a nurse who was fired from her job as superintendent of a federal military hospital in Baltimore when she treated Southern prisoners along with Union soldiers. Ay me, phoebe
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 07:51:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Zozie(at)aol.com
Subject: Re: Today in History -- Dec 08
In a message dated 12/8/99 7:29:54 AM, you wrote:
<<In 1894 James (Grover) Thurber (in Columbus, OH), writer (Men, Women and
Dogs)>>
I sometimes use Thurber's The Macbeth Murder Mystery as an *enhancement* when
my students are reading Shaxpere's Macbeth. Never fails to get them to read
the play if they've been slackards.
phoebe
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 08:55:30 -0500 From: "Roberts, Leonard" <lroberts(at)email.uncc.edu> Subject: RE: Today in History -- Dec 08 She was fired for treating Southern prisoners? Len Roberts > Another birthday, and interesting footnote to history -- born in 1805, > Adeline Blanchard Tyler, a nurse who was fired from her job as > superintendent > of a federal military hospital in Baltimore when she treated Southern > prisoners along with Union soldiers. > > Ay me, > phoebe
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 09:50:39 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: RE: Today in History -- Dec 08 In a message dated 12/8/99 2:06:43 PM, you wrote: <<She was fired for treating Southern prisoners?>> Yes. phoebe
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 09:38:43 -0600 From: Andy Duncan <dunca012(at)bama.ua.edu> Subject: RE: Today in History -- Dec 08 Phoebe, I'd like to read about this Adeline Blanchard Tyler incident. Could you recommend any books or articles? Thanks. -- Andy Andy Duncan Department of English Box 870244 103 Morgan Hall University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 andrew.duncan(at)ua.edu www.angelfire.com/al/andyduncan
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 12:27:32 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: RE: Today in History -- Dec 08 In a message dated 12/8/99 3:59:55 PM, you wrote: <<I'd like to read about this Adeline Blanchard Tyler incident. Could you recommend any books or articles? Thanks. -- Andy>> I don't know anything about her, but she's probably listed in James, Edward T., Janet Wilson James and Paul S. Boyer. Notable American Women, 1607-1950. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard U. 1971. There are some Civil War discussion groups, too. Maybe someone on the list knows where Andy might inquire? phoebe
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 10:24:37 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Trial listing of Gaslight files
From: Stephen Davies(at)MRC on 12/08/99 10:24 AM
To: Gaslight-announce(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
cc:
Subject: Trial listing of Gaslight files
(STORAUTH.HTM)
As part of our goal to keep the plain ASCII Gaslight files indexed and
retrievable, we have mounted some files on the Gaslight website which list all
the HTML files.
We'd appreciate your comments about these pages before we continue
finetuning them.
These pages are the result of a database we have created which will carry
pertinent pieces of information about the stories and authors and which can be
sorted into different presentations. Right now the page shows the stories in
alphabetical order, with their URLs and their authors. In future the URLs could
be suppressed and their plain ASCII filenames could show instead and the file
itself would be a plain ASCII file.
Any comment about these pages is fair game, so please send them along.
Visit the Gaslight website at:
http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca/gaslight/storauth.htm
Stephen D
mailto:SDavies(at)mtroyal.ab.ca
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 12:15:35 -0600 From: Andy Duncan <dunca012(at)bama.ua.edu> Subject: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler How did you know about her, Phoebe? I checked my Civil War books, and the Web, without finding any mention of her, save as the matron of Children's Hospital, Boston, in the 1870s. -- Andy Andy Duncan Department of English Box 870244 103 Morgan Hall University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 andrew.duncan(at)ua.edu www.angelfire.com/al/andyduncan
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 13:32:00 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler In a message dated 12/8/99 6:26:07 PM, you wrote: <<How did you know about her, Phoebe? I checked my Civil War books, and the Web, without finding any mention of her, save as the matron of Children's Hospital, Boston, in the 1870s. -- Andy>> I have an old *feminist* calendar diary (one of several) that lists such things. That just happened to be the listing for the day. I thought it interesting and passed it along. What I sent was the complete listing. The James et al book is in the bibliography for the calendar and seems the only one likely to have yielded her name. I'll do some checking. Now my curiosity is aroused. phoebe
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 15:55:26 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Re: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler
On Wed, 8 Dec 1999 Zozie(at)aol.com wrote:
> I have an old *feminist* calendar diary (one of several) that lists such
> things.
So, Phoebe, that explains why you never send in the name of a male when
you add to the Today in History post.<g>
Bob C.
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Robert L. Champ
rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu
Editor, teacher, anglophile, human curiosity
Whatever things are pure, whatever things are
lovely, whatever things are of good report, if
there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy, meditate on these things
Philippians 4:8
rchamp7927(at)aol.com robertchamp(at)netscape.net
_________________________________________________
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
===0===
Date: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 19:21:15 -0500 (EST) From: Zozie(at)aol.com Subject: Re: Re: RE: Adeline Blanchard Tyler In a message dated 12/8/99 9:03:04 PM, you wrote: <<So, Phoebe, that explains why you never send in the name of a male when you add to the Today in History post.<g>>> Yup --thought I had mentioned that before. You've got the guys covered. smiling, phoebe
===0===
Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 00:40:03 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History -- Dec 09
Interesting things that happened December 9th:
Birthdays on this date:
In 1886 Clarence Birdseye, frozen vegatable king
In 1897 Hermione Gingold, actress (Gigi) "Ah yes, I remember her well."
In 1898 Emmett Kelly, circus clown (Weary Willie)
In 1902 Margaret Hamilton, actress (Wizard of Oz -- Wicked Witch of the
West)
In 1905 Dalton Trumbo, writer, film director (Johnny Got His Gun)
In 1909 Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, actor (Ghost Story)
In 1911 Broderick Crawford, actor (All the King's Men, Highway Patrol)
+ Lee J. Cobb, actor (The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing)
In 1912 Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, Massachusetts Representative (D), former
Speaker of the House
In 1915 Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano
In 1918 Kirk Douglas, actor (Gunfight at the OK Corral, 7 Days in May)
Events worth noting:
In 1793 Noah Webster establishes New York's first daily newspaper (American
Minerva).
In 1907 First Christmas Seals sold, in the Wilmington, Delaware Post Office.
===0===
Date: Thu, 09 Dec 1999 09:29:31 -0700
From: sdavies(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA
Subject: Seeking Jerome K. Jerome story
Dear Brains Trust:
I've received the following request for information from a casual visitor to the
Gaslight website:
- ---------------------- Forwarded by Stephen Davies/Academic/MRC on 12/09/99
09:27 AM ---------------------------
To: "'Gaslight-Safe(at)MtRoyal.ab.ca'"
<Gaslight-Safe(at)MtRoyal.AB.CA>
cc: (bcc: Stephen Davies/Academic/MRC)
Subject: Jerome K. Jerome
Good Day,
My wife is currently looking for a copy of a short story written by Jerome
K. Jerome.
I know only that the story is about the trials of a man trying to hang a
picture on a wall.
If you have any idea where we might locate a copy of the story would you
please contact me at this e-mail address. My wife would like to give it to
her father as a Christmas gift.
Regards,
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 02:24:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History-- Dec 10
Interesting things that happened December 10th:
Birthdays on this date:
In 1787 Thomas H. Gallaudet, pioneer of educating the deaf
In 1822 Cesar Franck (in Belgium), composer
In 1824 George Macdonald, Scottish novelist (Lilith)
In 1830 Emily Dickinson (in Amherst, Mass), poet
In 1851 Melvil Dewey, created the Dewey Decimal System for libraries
In 1891 Nelly Sachs, German poet (O the Chimneys) (Nobel 1966)
In 1903 Una Merkel, actress (The Parent Trap)
In 1914 Dorothy Lamour (in New Orleans, LA), actress (Road to Bali)
Events worth noting:
In 1817 Mississippi becomes the 20th state.
In 1864 Sherman reaches Savannah and a twelve day siege begins.
In 1869 Women granted right to vote in Wyoming Territory.
In 1896 Alfred Nobel dies; Swedish Nobel Prize ceremony on this date.
In 1898 Spanish-American War ends -- U.S. acquires Guam, Puerto Rico, the
Phillipines, and Cuba from Spain.
In 1901 First Nobel Peace Prizes (to Jean Henri Dunant, Fr?d?ric Passy).
In 1906 Pres. Theodore Roosevelt (first American) awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1920 President Woodrow Wilson receives Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1927 Grand Ole Opry makes its first radio broadcast, in Nashville, TN.
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 13:30:14 -0800 From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU> Subject: Re: City of the Silent Thanks much to all for all these suggestions: how wonderful to visit them, even in virtual reality, while I'm enscounced with a screen and a book that needs finishing (i.e. many, many files and papers). Jack Kolb Dept. of English, UCLA kolb(at)ucla.edu >>>I love cemeteries, Bob. >> >>If you love visiting them as much as I do this site is invaluable: >> >>http://www.flash.net/~leimer/ >> >Also worth a look is >http://www.totentanz.de/europe.htm >Bob D. >
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 13:57:55 -0800
From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Epitaphs
I'm not only grateful, but lazy. Does anyone here know of a site devoted
not to epitaphs, but to famous last words? Turner's supposed "The sun is
god" comes to mind, as well as Florence Nightingale's "I smell burning."
Goethe, I believe, is credited with "Mehr licht" ("more light"). Many
thanks in advance.
Jack Kolb
Dept. of English, UCLA
kolb(at)ucla.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 17:05:19 -0500
From: Kay Douglas <gwshark(at)erols.com>
Subject: Re: Seeking Jerome K. Jerome story
>Dear Brains Trust:
Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE, Stephen!
About this request:
>My wife is currently looking for a copy of a short story written by Jerome
>K. Jerome.
>
>I know only that the story is about the trials of a man trying to hang a
>picture on a wall.
>
>If you have any idea where we might locate a copy of the story would you
>please contact me at this e-mail address. My wife would like to give it to
>her father as a Christmas gift.
This sounded very familiar, so I figured it was probably from THREE MEN IN A
BOAT, which I've read several times. (It seems funnier each time). Tell him
to check to see if Chapter III, which is headed "Arrangements Settled -
Harris's Method of Doing Work - How the Elderly Family-Man Puts Up a
Picture.... (and so on), is the story he's thinking of. It's where Jerome
is describing how his Uncle Podger would go about putting up a picture.
There's a Gutenberg text he can check at:
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext95/3boat10.txt
I'm fairly sure this is what he's thinking of. He certainly couldn't go
wrong giving THREE MEN IN A BOAT for Christmas. There's also a charming
recorded version read by Hugh Laurie (perfect!). Abridged, alas.
Kay Douglas
"And then he would lift up the picture, and drop it, and it would come out
of the frame, and he would try to save the glass, and cut himself; and
then he would spring round the room, looking for his handkerchief. He
could not find his handkerchief, because it was in the pocket of the coat
he had taken off, and he did not know where he had put the coat, and all
the house had to leave off looking for his tools, and start looking for
his coat; while he would dance round and hinder them."
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 17:14:12 -0500 From: "Roberts, Leonard" <lroberts(at)email.uncc.edu> Subject: Famous Last Words Here is a good site: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6537/index.htm Len Roberts
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 17:11:34 -0500
From: Kay Douglas <gwshark(at)erols.com>
Subject: Re: Epitaphs (& last words)
>I'm not only grateful, but lazy. Does anyone here know of a site devoted
>not to epitaphs, but to famous last words? Turner's supposed "The sun is
>god" comes to mind, as well as Florence Nightingale's "I smell burning."
>Goethe, I believe, is credited with "Mehr licht" ("more light"). Many
>thanks in advance.
>
>Jack Kolb
At that splendid "City of the Silent" site there's a page devoted to last
words:
http://www.alsirat.com/lastwords/index.html
My favorite was the entry for Disraeli. When told that Queen Victoria would
like to see him, he replied, "What's the use? She would only want me to take
a message to dear Albert."
Kay Douglas
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 17:15:19 +0300
From: cbishop(at)interlog.com (Carroll Bishop)
Subject: Re: Epitaphs
>I'm not only grateful, but lazy. Does anyone here know of a site devoted
>not to epitaphs, but to famous last words? Turner's supposed "The sun is
>god" comes to mind, as well as Florence Nightingale's "I smell burning."
>Goethe, I believe, is credited with "Mehr licht" ("more light"). Many
>thanks in advance.
>
>Jack Kolb
>Dept. of English, UCLA
>kolb(at)ucla.edu
Jack, if you don't fine a website you might try the alt.quotations
newsgroup--if it's still in existence.
Carroll
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 15:00:45 -0800
From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Epitaphs (& last words)
Many thanks, Kay. Sorry I didn't check the "City of the Silent" site
carefully. Best, Jack.
>>I'm not only grateful, but lazy. Does anyone here know of a site devoted
>>not to epitaphs, but to famous last words? Turner's supposed "The sun is
>>god" comes to mind, as well as Florence Nightingale's "I smell burning."
>>Goethe, I believe, is credited with "Mehr licht" ("more light"). Many
>>thanks in advance.
>>
>>Jack Kolb
>
>At that splendid "City of the Silent" site there's a page devoted to last
>words:
>
>http://www.alsirat.com/lastwords/index.html
>
>My favorite was the entry for Disraeli. When told that Queen Victoria would
>like to see him, he replied, "What's the use? She would only want me to take
>a message to dear Albert."
>
>Kay Douglas
>
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 14:58:59 -0800 From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU> Subject: Re: Famous Last Words Many thanks, Len. Best, Jack. >Here is a good site: > > http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6537/index.htm > >Len Roberts
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 15:01:45 -0800
From: Jack Kolb <kolb(at)UCLA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Epitaphs
Thanks for this too, Carroll. I'm not a list browser, but may be tempted.
Cheers, Jack.
>>I'm not only grateful, but lazy. Does anyone here know of a site devoted
>>not to epitaphs, but to famous last words? Turner's supposed "The sun is
>>god" comes to mind, as well as Florence Nightingale's "I smell burning."
>>Goethe, I believe, is credited with "Mehr licht" ("more light"). Many
>>thanks in advance.
>>
>>Jack Kolb
>>Dept. of English, UCLA
>>kolb(at)ucla.edu
>
>Jack, if you don't fine a website you might try the alt.quotations
>newsgroup--if it's still in existence.
>
>Carroll
>
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 20:13:41 -0600 From: puddlejumpers(at)birch.net (Michael Keating) Subject: Re: Today in History -- Dec 06 >Wow, the Sleeve is back. How many discussions have we had on Gaslight >when I've thought, If only the Sleeve were here with his blunt honesty and >humor! > >Welcome back, Michael. It really is a pleasure to see your name and >address in my e-mail again. > >Bob C. > > Thanks, Bubba, glad to be back. - -Gildy
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 18:38:22 -0800 From: "Jesse F. Knight" <jknight(at)internetcds.com> Subject: Re: Today in History -- Dec 06 My god!! I've never met you, and I already admire you. Please, some words of wisdom!!<vbg> Jesse
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 21:45:18 -0500 From: Linda Anderson <lpa1(at)ptdprolog.net> Subject: Re: He's BAACCKKK At 08:13 PM 12/10/1999 -0600, you wrote: >>Wow, the Sleeve is back. How many discussions have we had on Gaslight >>when I've thought, If only the Sleeve were here with his blunt honesty and >>humor! >> >>Welcome back, Michael. It really is a pleasure to see your name and >>address in my e-mail again. >> >>Bob C. >---------- and don't forget, Mikey is Da Boss Sauce. Ya'll need BBQ sauce? Ask Da Boss! I still use the Buffalo Whiz <G> Linda Anderson
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 20:35:59 -0600 From: Andy Duncan <dunca012(at)bama.ua.edu> Subject: RE: Seeking Jerome K. Jerome story >===== Original Message From Kay Douglas ===== >He certainly couldn't go >wrong giving THREE MEN IN A BOAT for Christmas. And if you're looking for a second book to pair with it, you can't go wrong with Connie Willis' award-winning 1998 Victorian pastiche _To Say Nothing of the Dog_, which (as the title indicates) is a homage to Jerome's novel. -- Andy Andy Duncan Department of English Box 870244 103 Morgan Hall University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 andrew.duncan(at)ua.edu www.angelfire.com/al/andyduncan
===0===
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 21:06:23 -0700 From: Deborah McMillion Nering <deborah(at)alice.gloaming.com> Subject: Re: He's BAACCKKK Ya'll need BBQ sauce? Hey, get that contraction right, it's "y'all" as in You All. Not Ya All. ;) Deborah Deborah McMillion deborah(at)gloaming.com http://www.gloaming.com/deborah.html
===0===
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 01:16:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Robert Champ <rchamp(at)polaris.umuc.edu>
Subject: Today in History -- Dec 11
Interesting things that happened December 11th:
Birthdays on this date:
In 1781 Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist, inventor of kaleidoscope
In 1803 Hector Berlioz (in France), composer
In 1863 Annie Jump Cannon, American stellar spectroscopist
In 1882 Fiorello La Guardia (R), mayor of New York City (1933-45)
+ Max Born, German physicist (Nobel 1954)
In 1890 Carlos Gardel (in France), Argentinian singer, dancer, actor,
popularized the tango
In 1905 Gilbert Roland, actor (Barbarosa)
In 1913 Carlo Ponti, director
In 1918 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer (Cancer Ward) (Nobel 1970)
Events worth noting:
In 1816 Indiana becomes the 19th state.
In 1888 French Panama Canal company fails.
In 1914 Stockton Street Tunnel (SF) completed.
In 1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia.
===0===
Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 20:03:46 +0001 From: Ellen Moody <Ellen2(at)JimandEllen.org> Subject: OT_: The 1999 _MP_: A Must See for Janeites (long) I have just come home from watching the Miramax/BBC production of _Mansfield Park_, directed by Patricia Rozema, with Francis O'Connor as Fanny Price, Harold Pinter as Sir Thomas Bertram, Lindsay Duncan doubling as Lady Bertram and Mrs Price, Johnny Lee Miller as Edmund, Alessandro Nivola as Henry Crawford, Embeth Davidtz as Mary Crawford, and other actors whose names I can't remember (I also didn't catch who wrote the screenplay). It has been misrepresented in many of the descriptions and reviews I have read. I hope I will be forgiven for posting this long piece onto this list as a number of people have posted about the film here. We have had little traffic over the last few days, and my view of it differs from most of those put on this list until now. It reminded me very much of all the film adaptations of Jane Austen's novels I have seen and now studied (as I wrote a review article which was published). It has the same strength and the same weaknesses as most of them. Like the 1995 _S&S_ and _Persuasion_, it has (to quote Diana Birchall of _Janeites_) 'lots of psychological depth and understanding'. _Pace_ Rozema herself, she did understand and convey a good deal of inner life of the book. Not the overt didacticism which so many people seem to come away from the book with, but the marginalisation of Fanny herself, what it feels like to be so insecure, nor the keen hurt of someone subject to continual disrespect. They got Edmund's sensitivity right: towards the end of the film Miller-Edmund said he has been so anxious to do right, he has forgotten to think about what right might be in a particular situation (or words to this effect). Therein lies one problem of this -- and many other adaptations. The screenplay writer takes lines that are said by the narrator or presented as free indirect speech and gives them to characters to say as dramatic speech. Nontheless it is true to the spirit of the original book. The bitchy lines are for once done justice to; these are connected to a presentation of the Fanny character which reminds me of an older film called _Alfie_ with Michael Cane. Francis O'Connor winked at us; she stepped from the frame of the picture to suggest a version of Austen herself. This does differ from other adaptations of Austen -- and made the film better than they. It played with the audience. While slavery is brought forward in the film, it is only in the one scene where the characters are given conversation they are not in the book. That is, we are not taken to Antigua; slavery remains in the background of the movie. Tom has brought home some drawings he made of what shocked and traumatised him. Austen's Tom is not so susceptible to guilt, but this guilt is only a fleeting moment as is the one reference to slavery in the book. Again, in one conversation Fanny is told she is the beneficiary of the slavery she so abhors, something which reminds me of deconstructionist criticism; the problem with this is the film itself shows how precarious is Fanny's position in the family. She is shunted off to Portsmouth once she rejects Crawford. And Portsmouth is realistically presented as a desperate household. Like the recent _S&S_ and _Persuasion_, this _MP_ takes advantage of the new computerised mermerising sound and colour techniques, the continual movement of the camera. On the other hand, I would say these are not overdone. We are actually given scenes in which the actors are given a pause to act subtle drama out in (rare in the 1995 BBC _P&P_ which I would say transgresses the spirit of the original book far more than _MP_). The same kinds of use of Austen's text and _Lovers Vow_ is made in this _MP_ as was made in the 1983 BBC _MP_ except perhaps with less dramatic tact. I was again very moved by the scenes between Fanny and Edmund, Fanny and Sir Thomas. Nivola's Crawford was much sexier than the boyish man who played Crawford in the previous film, but that made the experience Fanny and Maria have make more sense. Too much has been moved of the lesbian eroticism of the two scenes which occur between Mary Crawford and Fanny in the film; I wasn't startled at all. I am told some nudity was cut, and there is little nudity in the pre-1995 films. But I was not made to feel Mary and Fanny were the lovers; no, Edmund and Fanny were; as were Maria and Henry when Maria had experienced the still life as the wife of an oaf she is bored with and Henry is rejected by Fanny and angry. Accurate historical costuming characterised the film. The characters' teeth were not great; their clothes not immacuately clean, wrinkle free, the buildings not astonishingly bright, luxurious with all their parts perfectly symmetrical. At the same time -- as in the other Austen adaptations, women's breasts were clearly to the fore, we had the dream-drenched green landscapes. There is a gothic like sequence at Mansfield when Fanny first arrives and again when Tom gets sick, but this is matched by similar sequences in the 1995 _S&S_ I am not sure the building imagined by Austen would have looked like the sparkling building that graces the _Brideshead Revisited_ film. These buildings were piles of stone, and stone stains. Of course I was irritated at moments -- as I have been in all the film adaptations. Where Austen presents a theme subtly, Rozema and her screenplay writer hit us over the head with a hammer. Lindsay Duncan as Mrs Price comes to tell Fanny that there is nothing evil in marrying for money, and grimaces theatrically as her coarse drunken husband calls her to his bed. Mary Crawford's desire to see Tom die so Edmund may replace him is given the poor actress as an explicit speech. Far from a _femme fatale_, this film's Embeth Davidzt as Mary was gauche, and more inadequate to the moment than the roles and speeches given Tom, Sir Thomas, Maria Betram, and Henry Crawford. Somehow the film made the non-macho sincere Edmund touching. The irritation came from giving him speeches which were thoughts of the narrator in the novel. (I have always been puzzled at why audiences will sit through these stilted pieces.) I wasn't offended by Fanny at first accepting and then rejecting Henry; it echoed Austen's life for those in the know (the Bigg--Wither incident); it also conveyed what is Austen's Fanny's hesitation and real movement in the direction of Henry at Portsmouth. I was bothered by the sudden shifts in tempo to indicate comedy. This reminded me of the first BBC _P&P_ (1978) and the old _Tom Jones_ movie (Albert Finney as Tom). Yet even here the moral was right: at the end it is repeatedly many times that it could easily have ended differently, it just happened to end this way. However, if anything disappointed me as omitted from the original book it was the bland presentation of Mrs Norris. Sheila Gish was given very little to do, and made harmless I suppose the modern movie-maker either cannot imagine or doesn't not want to show how an older woman who has power over a younger one can poison her existence, and humiliate her to the point of real self-maiming. This was an important element in this and other novels to Austen, the spinster dependent on her family members for comfort and peace. I think this movie brings the book to life in the ways the film adapations of Austen's books do. We have beautifully shot glimpses of Portsmouth, the sea, the ships, the characters dancing, of rooms with the characters sitting there in tension and frustration and ironic moments. There was an attempt to dress them operatically for their parts in the play. It does seem to me there were far less people in the audience than I expected, and I know that the film has come to my neighborhood theatre rather quickly. If the film fails to stay in the theatres I would put it down to the following: the stars are not true stars and not glamourously gorgeous; in fact the film moves slowly at times and gives the audience a chance to enter slowly into the emotional predicaments and intensities of the characters, and -- most of all -- the advertising campaign has been misguided. It has been suggested the film falls between two stools: it tries to please the crowd who want sensational sex and pop cant sentimental attitudes and gives us glamorised costume drama which pleases audiences by lulling them into identifying with the rich and leisured of earlier times. I can't say it doesn't do the latter -- although like the 1995 _Persuasion_ it does reveal a non-pretty world of sickness which is not curable (in the scenes by Tom's bedside). But it turns between these two awkward stools no more than did the 1995 _S&S_ and _Persuasion_ and considerably less than did the 1995 BBC _P&P_ and the Miramax _Emma_ (with Gweneth Paltrow). By those places where it intelligently interprets and presents the texts, it offers an attractive and moving dramatic visualisation of the original text in terms of moving pictures. In those places where it feels it has to depart from the original, and where it falls down in tact in comparison to Austen, it throws interesting lights on the original book versus our own time. This book means so much to me. Since I read it at 15 I think there has scarcely been a year when I didn't reread it, and it so often comes to mind as analogous to situations in my life. I identify with Fanny and see her version of strength as the one possible to vulnerable people in the real world. Probably that was why I came out gratified by many phases of the film. I liked how the film used Fanny to figure forth the young Austen writing wacky, violent and subversive lines in the _Juvenilia_. I don't know that others would join in in delighting with how slowly she and Edmund are erotically drawn to one another, and the tender affection and sweet sexual-coming together on the bench at the end they experience as I did. I liked how their hands were pictured next to one another in a carriage, the focus on her thighs next to his. Still I would say that just as with the other intelligent film adapations of Austen's novels (by which I mean to omit the recent _NA_ which panders by substituting lurid sensation for Austen's book and is to my mind the worst adaptation I have ever seen), anyone interested in Austen's book makes a mistake not to see Rozema's film. Silly Rozema. She has misrepresented her own product in an effort to get people into her theatre who won't go there in the first place. I did note that the bonnets in this film differed considerably from the one worn by the Mary Crawford of the 1983 _MP_ and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 _P&P_. So the BBC did make new hats for the leading ladies at long last. I also delighted in Fanny's attic and reading in the library -- though the speech of Sir Thomas about the lack of a fire was sadly overdone. I hope eventually there will be a screenplay and book of the film to buy. Ellen Moody - ---- What matters is not what other people think about you but what you think about yourself ... If you have love to give, you give it and you give it where it is needed, but never, never ask for anything in return. Once you've got that in your head, the idea of your heart being broken will disappear forever ----Quentin Crisp ------------------------------ End of Gaslight Digest V1 #120 ******************************