Odds and Ends
• I had written about University of Florida students laughing inappropriately during Grapes of Wrath (they thought the grandmother’s death in the back of the truck especially hilarious) since they’ve never read or been taught Steinbeck, and are too lazy to ready a playbill. Last night at Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, set in 1959 for this production at the GAMM Theater here in Rhode Island, people giggled at lines such as, “Even for a wife, a husband would never sacrifice his dignity!” They apparently didn’t realize that women leaving their husbands in 1959 was rare, and in 1879 when Ibsen wrote it, unheard of. There is a stunning dearth of historical reference today, and an intellectual sloth that’s frightening.
• A Doll’s House was staged in Pawtucket by the estimable GAMM Theater which features artistic director Tony Estrella, simply one of the finest actors I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been to over 200 Broadway performances, let alone regional theater. If you’re in the area, you need to see this.
• From a letter to the editor in today’s Wall Street Journal: “During my recovery (from a heart attack) my cardiologist interviewed me to discover any possible cause for the attack. When I related that I had stopped drinking but I smoke a cigar every day, he encouraged me to resume moderate drinking and continue with the cigar. I welcomed his suggestion but questioned the wisdom of such. He replied that the stress relief from these recommendations far outweighed the benefit of doing without them.” Here’s to martinis and Aruturo Fuentes.
• Both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison lived in Canada before coming south to dabble in invention. The world might have been quite a different place if they had stayed put! (In the 1980s, when antitrust legislation broke up AT&T, it was the most valuable company on earth, worth more than the combined Coca Cola, IBM, Ford, and GM corporations, and employed over one million people.)
• I read a great book called Sea Dragons, by Richard Ellis, a scientist who specializes in prehistoric, marine reptiles. He provided superb glimpses into the ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, and equivalent startling life of the day. I began wondering how long these air-breathing creatures could remain under water hunting for prey. So I wrote him a letter. A couple of weeks later, he kindly answered: “You know something, in all this time and study, I never thought to investigate that!”
• I have ducks eating under my backyard birdfeeders, sharing food with the squirrels and birds. None of them seems to mind. Although I feed the ducks on the pond side of the house, these guys come into the back to get extra food. I’m watching Darwinism at work: The most creative ducks will be better fed, live longer, and breed more, I’d guess. Some fly into the yard, but several walk across the pool area and through the fence. I try to give them some warning before Koufax goes out. So far as I know, his 18 kills don’t include a duck, and I’d like to keep it that way.
© Alan Weiss 2011. All rights reserved.
