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papermoonloveslucy · 5 years ago

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FATHER’S DAY

The death of Lucille Ball’s father at an early age had a great impact. Throughout the four situation comedies built around her, the “Lucy” characters had mothers, but references to their fathers was rare. Here’s a tribute to the precious few dads found in the Lucyverse!

Henry “Had” Durrell Ball (1887-1915) ~ Father of Lucille Ball and Fred Ball.

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y Alberni II (1894-1973) ~ Father of Desi Arnaz and grandfather of Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz IV. Desi Jr. is now the father of two.

Ricky Ricardo (aka Ricardo Alberto Fernando Ricardo y de Acha aka Enrique Alberto Fernando Ricardo y de Acha III) ~ Father of Ricky Ricardo Jr. (Keith Thibodeaux). Actually, Ricky’s son was played by 8 actors over the course of the series.

In “Return Home From Europe” (ILL S5;E26), Ricky insists that he is not the father of baby Cheddar Chester!

Below are all the fathers on “I Love Lucy”!

But first, a (Father’s Day) word from our sponsor!

Will Potter ~ Father of Ethel Mertz. Besides Ricky himself, Will Potter (Irving Bacon) is the only father of the main characters on “I Love Lucy.” Although all four have living mothers (two of whom are characters on the show), only Ethel’s father is alive and well and appears on screen in “Ethel’s Hometown” (ILL S4;E16).

Charlie Appleby ~ Father of Stevie. Charlie makes two appearances on the series, although each time he is played by a different actor: Hy Averback played him in “Baby Pictures” (ILL S3;E5) and George O'Hanlon (inset photo) in “Lucy and Superman” (ILL S6;E13).

Harry Munson ~ Father of Billy. Harry and Grace live about a mile from the Ricardos in Connecticut. Harry is played by Tristram Coffin in two episodes: “Lucy Misses the Mertzes” (ILL S6;E17) and in “The Country Club Dance” (S6;E25).

Ralph Ramsey ~ Father of Bruce Ramsey. The Ramseys live across from the Ricardos in Westport. Ralph (Frank Nelson) was only seen in two Connecticut-based episodes: “Lucy Gets Chummy With The Neighbors” (ILL S6;E18) and “The Country Club Dance” (ILL S6;E25), although Nelson appeared in many more episodes as different characters.

Danny Williams ~ Father of Rusty, Linda and Terry, although Terry does not appear in “Lucy Makes Room For Danny”, the cross-over episode that brought “The Danny Thomas Show” to CBS. In fact, for its first three years, the show was known as “Make Room for Daddy.” Subsequently, Thomas did a sequel called “Make Room for Granddaddy” and Lucille Ball guest-starred on it in 1971.

The Sheriff of Bent Fork, Tennessee ~ Father of twin girls Teensy and Weensy. Will Wright played the character in “Tennessee Bound” (ILL S4;E15).

Mr. Stanley ~ Father to nine girls! When “Lucy Goes To The Hospital” (ILL S2;E16), Ricky meets a man in the fathers’ waiting room (played by Charles Lane) anxiously awaiting the birth of his latest (and he says last) child, whom he hopes will be a boy. His hopes are dashed - times three over!

The Italian Farmer ~ in “Lucy’s Bicycle Trip” (ILL S5;E24), claims to have nine children: Teresa, Sofia, Luigi, Pietro, Dino, Gino, Rosa, Mario, and Antonio! The Farmer is played by Mario Siletti, but his "multi bambini” remain off screen!

Ernie Kovacs ~ Father of Kippie and Bette, unseen but mentioned characters in “Lucy Meets the Mustache” (LDCH S3;E3) in 1960. The girls are said to be making friends with Little Ricky, while their father entertains at Lucy and Ricky’s (last) party.

Moving on to the Fathers of “The Lucy Show”...

Theodore J. Mooney ~ Father of Bob, Ted, Arnold, and Rosemary, who was never seen, but is said to live in Trenton and to have had a baby, making Mr. Mooney a grandfather as well! Gale Gordon played Mr. Mooney from 1963 to 1968. If the character was ever given a spin-off, it might have been called “My Three Sons”!

Father Time ~ Played by Sherman Bagley (Ralph Hart) in “Chris’s New Year’s Eve Party” (TLS S1;E14). He is accompanied by Baby New Year played by Jerry Carmichael (Jimmy Garrett). In the series, Sherman’s father Ralph is mentioned, but never seen. Jerry’s dad is deceased and never given a name.

Kenneth Westcott ~ Father of Debbie, who is a friend of Lucy Carmichael’s daughter Chris and Principal of their high school in 1963′s “Lucy is a Chaperone” (TLS S1;E27). He is played by Hanley Stafford.

Mr. Sanford ~ Father of Timmy, who is having a birthday where Lucy and Viv are hired as party planners and the entertainment in “Kiddie Parties, Inc.” (TLS S2;E2). Mr. Sanford is played by Lyle Talbot. If he was ever given a sequel, it might be called “Sanford and Son”!

Jonathan Winslow ~ Father of Charlie, Danny and Bobbie (aka Roberta) in “Lucy the Babysitter” (TLS S5;E16). What Lucy doesn’t realize is that the Winslow children are actually baby chimps! Mr. Winslow was played by Jonathan Hole.

In “Lucy and Harry’s Tonsils” (TLS S2;E5), Mr. Phillips (Jack Collins) plays an father expecting his first child who believes Mr. Mooney is there for the same reason, while Mr. Mooney thinks Mr. Phillips is there for a tonsillectomy! Phillips (having his third child) is similar to the character of Mr. Stanley (who is having his ninth – all girls!) in “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16).

“Lucy Becomes a Father” (TLS S3;E9) finds single mom and widow Lucy Carmichael trying to be both mother and father to her son, Jerry. She joins five other cub scout dads on a weekend away, trying desperately to do what the other dads do. The fathers include (left to right): Hal Smith as Mr. Wilson, George ‘Red’ Fox as George (hidden), Gale Gordon as Mr. Mooney, George Niese as Mr. Carter, and Buster West as Tom. Coincidentally, Gale Gordon had the surnames Carter in “Here’s Lucy” and Wilson in “Dennis the Menace” but neither were dads!

In the play “The Founding of Danfield” staged in “Lucy and Arthur Godfrey” (TLS S3;E23) in 1965, Godfrey plays “Daddy” of Lucybelle (Lucy Carmichael), and [spoiler alert] Conrad P. Field (Mr. Mooney) turns out to be the daddy of the Honest-But-Poor Piano Player Dan (Vinnie, played by Max Showalter). In real life, Godfrey was the father of three.

The Father of Our Country ~ George Washington, as embodied by Lucy Carmichael when “Lucy and Viv Open a Restaurant” (TLS S2;E20). Viv (Vivian Vance) dresses a George’s wife, Martha, to promote their new Colonial-themed restaurant.

In “Lucy the Gun Moll” (TLS S4;E25), Lucille Ball plays both Lucy Carmichael and a look-alike gun moll named Rusty, who performs the Cole Porter song “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”!

And now the Dads of “Here’s Lucy”....

Mr. Caldwell ~ Father of Laurie in “Mod, Mod Lucy” (HL S1;E1), the very first episode of “Here’s Lucy.” Lew Parker played the over-protective dad of teenage Laurie (Nancy Roth). His wife is played by Nancy Howard. Parker was best known for playing the father of another TV character, Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) on “That Girl.” In real-life, Marlo’s father was Lucy’s friend and co-star - one of the most famous daddies on TV - Danny Thomas!

On “Lucy and Johnny Carson” (HL S2;E11), while appearing on “The Tonight Show” and playing Stump the Band, Lucy Carter chooses a song titled “Snoops the Lawyer” that she says her father sang to her when she was a child. This is the only mention of her father on the series. Coincidentally, Ball’s real mother is one of the audience members (Carson is sitting on the arm of her chair). Since the song was not written until 1920, and Lucille Ball’s real father Henry died in 1915, this cannot be a real-life recollection from Lucy.

Lee Wong ~ Father of Linda Chang and Sue Chin in “Lucy the Laundress” (HL S2;E17). The single father and business owner was played by James Hong.

Moose Manley ~ Father of milquetoast Wally in “Lucy and Wally Cox” (HL S2;E21). Moose was played by Alan Hale Jr. and his timid son by Wally Cox (insert).

Harrison Otis Carter the First ~ Great Grandfather of Harry Carter IV (aka Harry). Gale Gordon’s image was used to create Harry’s great grandfather. Harry claims he was one of the founders of Sinclairville, New York, and was father of 17 children!

Konstantin Kasos ~ Grandfather of the Bride in “Lucy’s Wedding Party” (HL S3;E8). The role was played by Bruce Gordon (”The Untouchables”) who was really just 55 years old playing a 77 Greek granddaddy.

Vincent Price - Father of Victoria aka “Little Vicky”, the name of Price’s real-life daughter, who is mentioned by Lucy, but does not appear in the episode “Lucy Cuts Vincent’s Price” (HL S3;E9).

Alfredo Colucci ~ Father of Ricardo, Anna Maria, Louisa, Luigi, Vincenzo, Dino, Lucrezia, Alfredo Jr., Margarito, Bruno, Rosa, and Frederico - all of whom appear in the final moments of “Lucy and Harry’s Italian Bombshell” (HL S4;E3) starring Kaye Ballard. Emile Autuori plays Alfredo, but the twelve children appear uncredited.

Claude Wolff ~ Husband of Petula Clark, who was noticeably pregnant when they played themselves on a “Here’s Lucy” in 1972. In real-life, Wolff became a dad for the third time with the birth of his first son, Patrick.

Harry Carter (Gale Gordon) finally got to play a working class dad to two unambitious teens when he appeared in a TV commercial during “Lucy and Cousin Ernie’s Fun Farm” (HL S1;E23) in 1969.

Harry Carter (Gale Gordon) pretends to be a husband and father (to be) when he convinces Lucy to play his pregnant wife to scare of a domineering suitor (Jean Willes) in “Lucy, The Part-Time Wife” (HL S3;E14).

The Lucyverse has plenty of room for fathers of all kinds. Father Lambros (Paul Picerni) showed up for a Greek wedding in “Lucy’s Wedding Party” (HL S3;E8).

And Finally, “Life With Lucy

All Lucy Fathers come back to Gale Gordon - a man who never had children in real life!

Curtis McGibbon ~ Father of Ted McGibbon and Grandfather of Ted’s children Rebecca and Kevin. Gale Gordon played Curtis, the patriarch on “Life With Lucy,” with Larry Anderson as Ted, Jenny Lewis as Becky, and Philip Amelio as Kevin.

In “Mother of the Bride” (LWL S1;E8) in 1986, Lucy Barker and her sister Audrey (Audrey Meadows) mention their father during a private conversation in the kitchen.

#Lucille Ball #Fathers Day #Fathers #Dads #Daddies #Pops #Papa #i love lucy #the lucy show #Here's Lucy #Life With Lucy #Gale Gordon #desi arnaz

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chlostertalks · 6 years ago

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The Raised Fists at Mexico City 1968: 50 Years Later

This is part of a series to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the social justice actions at the 1968 Olympics at Mexico City.

IT HAPPENED OCTOBER 16. Well before I was born on this day, and during one of the most violent years in American history, would come an event that would emphasize the fight for equality.

For those like me who were not of the 1960s, it is very hard to fathom all that happened in America and around the world in 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Tensions flared, and riots raged across the country. The Vietnam War was under way, and NASA used space exploration to combat the Cold War. Around the world, apartheid, the Chinese Revolution, and Australia's Stolen Generation were just a few of the major issues at the time. Television, film, and entertainment continued to evolve, and Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye were among many artists who used their platforms to chronicle and critique the era.

Athletes would also use their platforms to critique the era. In 1967, Bill Russell, the first black coach to win an NBA title, would join Jim Brown, Lew Alcindor, and Muhammad Ali at a summit in Cleveland amid Ali's draft evasion trial.

All this and more would serve as the backdrop for an autumnal sports fortnight in 1968.

The Games of the XIX Olympiad would be the only Olympics south of the United States until 2016. Mexico wanted to put forth the best its capital city had to offer during the Games, but had tensions on its own soil. Days before the Opening Ceremony, the government opened fire on college students mid-protest in what is known as the Tlatelolco Massacre.

Felipe Muñoz would win the 100m breaststroke and win his country's first gold on home soil. George Foreman defeated Jonas Cepulis in a Cold War showdown. The US track and field team set eight world records, including Bob Beamon's 29-plus-foot long jump. Dick Fosbury would even teach the world how to high jump backwards.

Estadio Olímpico Universitario hosted the fastest men's 200m final at that time. Tommie Smith briefly nursed a muscle pulled during the semifinal. Peter Norman of Australia held the world record heading into the final; had he run that race this millennium, he would have earned bronze behind Usain Bolt at the 2009 World Championships. Smith would rely heavily on his technique to win the race at a world-record time of 19.83. He was the first person to break 20 seconds in the event, and the only athlete to hold world records in 11 different track and field events simultaneously.

Memories of not only the race, but the entire 1968 Summer Olympics is summarized into the most iconic image of the 20th century.

Left to right: silver medalist Peter Norman (AUS), gold medalist Tommie Smith (USA), and bronze medalist John Carlos (USA) on the medal stand after the men’s 200m final. Associated Press (via Smithsonian Magazine).

In what is known universally as the Black Power Salute, Smith and Carlos, both running for Team USA, raised gloved fists in the air on the medal stand during the national anthem. Smith, Carlos, and Norman wore buttons in support of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Norman, who heavily participated in the Salvation Army in Australia and wholeheartedly believed in human rights, received his button from American rower Paul Hoffman.

Smith spoke with conceptual artist Glenn Kaino and moderator Michael Rooks at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta September 29, clarifying that it was not a Black Power salute at all. "It was called the Olympic Project for Human Rights, not civil rights," he said. "That human part covers everything–man, woman, and all ethnicities, religions, and so forth. It was a viable way to move everyone into a direction of their own belief, their own artistic belief." He adamantly repeats his statement in his autobiography, Silent Gesture.

However, it is easy to confuse the gesture as a Black Power salute. In an interview with ABC's Howard Cosell, Smith spoke of Black America, as quoted in Silent Gesture. "My raised right hand stood for the power in Black America. Carlos's left hand stood for the unity of Black America. Together, they formed an arch of unity and power. The black scarf around my neck stood for Black pride. The black socks with no shoes stood for Black poverty in racist America. The totality of our effort was the regaining of Black dignity."

Regardless of interpretation, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) had its roots planted in San José, California. Again, America was amid a turbulent time in the 1960s, and it was no different in California. The Free Speech Movement took place at the University of California at Berkeley; Los Angeles saw the Watts riots; and two years and one day before the gesture, Oakland became the birthplace of the Black Panther Party. San José State College (now University), known as Speed City for its world-class men's track team, would make its presence known in American history when Dr. Harry Edwards founded OPHR.

Edwards was a senior when Tommie Smith was a freshman at San José State. He would later become a sociology professor on campus. Like Smith, Lee Evans and East Texas State (now Texas A&M Commerce) transfer John Carlos became involved with the project. The project clearly stated its objectives, from the reinstatement of Muhammad Ali's WBO title to the removal of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) from the Olympics. The organization even called upon the removal of IOC President Avery Brundage.

To date, Brundage is the only American to head the International Olympic Committee. He finished behind Jim Thorpe in the 1912 Games in Stockholm. He became a member of the committee itself after persuading America not to boycott the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. In addition to his new promotion, Brundage would also build the Nazi German embassy in Chicago, as commissioned by Adolf Hitler himself. He even expelled two Jewish athletes from Team USA.

Brundage in 1972. Stripes.com.

Athletes and entertainers had mulled over an Olympics boycott for years, starting with comedian Dick Gregory. Talks became more serious at the Western Regional Black Youth Conference in November of 1967. Harry Edwards, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Stokely Carmichael spoke at the Los Angeles event. Dr. King even wanted to serve as advisor to OPHR. Athletes, including Smith, Evans, and UCLA standout Lew Alcindor, converged here to vote on boycotting the Games. The Black Power Salute documentary features Smith’s discussion about the boycott during the 1967 Universaide in Tokyo: "A boycott is possible, and it’s probable. The reasoning is, why should we participate for a country–and for 100% effort–and come back to our homes, and are denied some of the rights that should be given [to] us?”

The result was unanimously in favor of a boycott, but it never came to fruition. Most black athletes boycotted a major meet at the New York Athletic Club during its centennial year. As the Games drew near, however, athletes debated inner fears, outer threats, and for some, the potential of being court-martialed as a result of jeopardizing their military service. Ultimately, Edwards would publish an article called "There Are Many Ways to Boycott," and, as mentioned in Black Power Salute, said that everyone is free to do what their commitment permits them to do. Just before the Games, Brundage commented on the matter: “A boycott would only be to the disadvantage of the boys themselves. I don’t think any of these boys would be foolish enough to demonstrate at the Olympic Games, and I think if they do, they’ll be properly sent home.”

Black athletes won over 1/3 of Olympic medals post-World War II, but were treated as second-class citizens. Though he competed before the War itself, Jesse Owens became a household name for winning four gold medals in the face of Hitler. Though he was celebrated in his return to America, he struggled to make ends meet. He lost his amateur status after Berlin, and resorted to racing horses for money. This same Jesse Owens that, regardless of intention, made a political and racial statement by competing in the Nazi German games, would later denounce making political statements on the world's biggest stage: “I deplore the use of the Olympic Games by certain people for political aggrandizement. There is no place in the athletic world for politics.”

Harry Edwards, who did not attend the Games due to threats from the FBI, noted that “sport inevitably recapitulates society.” In his autobiography, Smith talks about the responsibility to use his athletic platform to drive social change: "What I believed, instead, is that you take what you do best, which for me was running in track and field, and use it as a platform for something good, to get something done. The Olympic Games was a part of a platform that I was able to use because of what I had accomplished, to make people realize what's going on in this country. You can't not use it."

All on the victory stand suffered greatly after supporting the Olympic Project for Human Rights.

After the salute, Brundage sent Jesse Owens to talk to the American athletes. The IOC would send Smith and Carlos home, and the two were never allowed to race for Team USA ever again. Though his Olympic performance stands as the 200m Australian record to this day, Peter Norman was not invited to join Team Australia for the 1972 Games in Munich. He subsequently retired from track and field. Though Smith would participate in the Olympic Torch Relay for the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Norman was not even invited to participate in celebrations for Sydney 2000. Norman died in 2006.

Smith and Carlos faced unemployment, even when trying to take care of their wives and kids. Both faced tough personal losses and familial strains. Though they are not close as people would seem to believe, the two would rebound similarly with teaching and coaching tenures. To this day, Smith fears dying as a result of his protest on the medal stand.

In the present day, a larger-than-life statue of Smith and Carlos is on the campus of San José State University. Harry Edwards founded the Institute for Sport, Society, and Social Change on campus as well. Both Carlos and Smith reside in Georgia.

Dr. Harry Edwards (right) speaking in 2016. Behind him is the statue of John Carlos (left) and Tommie Smith (center) on the campus of San José State University. San José State University website.

It is very easy to compare the salute to the kneeling of Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid, and other football players of this decade. Similar sacrifices have been made, and similar repercussions have been faced. Though Reid recently joined the Carolina Panthers after months of unemployment, Kaepernick has yet to return to a professional football field. Smith, Glenn Kaino, and Kaepernick met in 2017 in New York to discuss the similarities among the protests.

Eric Reid (left) and Colin Kaepernick (right) kneel during a San Francisco 49ers game. Mike McCarn, Associated Press (via ABC News).

It happened October 16. The photo is still widely recognized around the world. The patterns between the protest of 1968 and those of today are clear that this country has come a long way, but has a long way to go. Continuing the fight may require all-out unity. Continuing the fight may require doing what commitments allow people to do, in Edwards' words. Regardless, it will require being uncomfortable and standing for positive change amid fear and backlash.

#tommie smith #john carlos #black power salute #mexico 68 at 50 #mexico city 1968 #olympics #track and field #colin kaepernick #eric reid #i know my rights #san jose state spartans #written work

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newyorktheater · 5 years ago

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The King and I on PBS Passport and BroadwayHD

Carousel available on Amazon Primse

John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons, available on Netflix

Verdi’s La Traviata, starring Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez, at the Metropolitan Opera, offered for free online

cast members from the new Broadway revival of Company singing live #InComesCompany, the daily Instagram presentation

Lindsay Mendez singing and dancing as part of “Stars in the House” twice-daily show.

Rachel Dratch in “A Story of Survival” from Viral Monologues

Judy Kuhn at Stars in the House

The Siblings Play, which was in previews Off-Broadway, will now be offered pay-for-view online.

The threat of COVID-19 is shutting down theaters across the world, but it’s not killing theater – which is increasingly going online.

There are two types of online theater now – the ongoing online sites that offer video-capture recordings of shows that were on stage, many on Broadway, but also Off-Broadway, and international performances.

The second type are newly created livestreaming events that are in response to the current situation, and from which may emerge exciting new forms of theater.

Regular Online Streaming Sites

Several of the ongoing services – Marquee, the Metropolitan Opera and On The Boards — are offering free access for the month, in response to the crisis.

Theater focused online streaming sites:

BroadwayHD

BroadwayHD offers hundreds of productions, from the recent acclaimed Broadway revival of Carousel to the original Sweeney Todd. A subscription costs $8.99 per month after a seven-day free trial

Digital Theatre

Digital Theatre focuses on British productions, from Shakespeare to West End versions of Broadway shows. Subscriptions cost £9.99 a month, but you can rent a specific production for £7.99 and up

Marquee TV

Marquee offers dance, opera and theater from around the world, including productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Subscriptions normally cost $8.99 a month, but Marquee is offering 30 days for free.

The Metropolitan Opera

The Met is offering a different opera every day for free, each starting at 7:30 p.m. and staying up for 20 hours. During this period of shutdown and social distancing, they are offering it for free.

OnTheBoards.TV

On The Boards is a decade-old website that began in their Seattle-based theater and now offers some 60 performances by such avant-garde artists as Young Jean Lee, from their own theater, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the Fusebox Festival in Austin, and Performance Space 122 in New York. On The Boards is offering its show for free through the end of April!

Theater CloseUp

L-R: Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Mirirai Sithole, Paige Gilbert, Joanna A. Jones, MaameYaa Boafo and Latoya Edwards in the MCC Theater production of “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play”

Darren Pettie and Richard Thomas in Incident at Vichy at Signature Theatre

Bill Irwin and David Shiner

Free in the NY area. “a unique collaboration” between Channel 13 WNET and the large community of non-profit Off-Broadway theaters. The plays are up only for a limited time. Currently: Uncle Vanya with Jay O. Sanders; School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play; Buried Child; Incident at Vichy; Old Hats; and all three plays in The Gabriels series.

Theater Available from Online Streaming Services

Amazon Prime

Musicals and other Broadway shows, some of them taped directly from the stage, that you can rent (for as little as $2.95) or buy (usually for $9.99) if you have a membership on Amazon Prime. (Some, such as “Carousel,” are free with Amazon Prime membership.)

Live from Lincoln Center: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel

Into The Woods (the movie version)

Memphis

The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!

Wishful Drinking

Netflix

Netflix, available only by subscription, has lately made a habit of video-capturing Broadway shows on stage shortly before the end of their runs. Among the current offerings: American Son, John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons, Oh Hello, Shrek, Springsteen on Broadway. There are also a revolving selection of movie adaptations of the original stage musicals. Currently, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, Sweeney Todd.

PBS Passport

PBS Passport offers access to shows past and present from the Public Broadcasting System; it requires that you become a member. ($60 annual or $5 monthly) In addition to the full library of episodes from Great Perfromances, there is also a special collection of Broadway plays on Broadway on PBS including The Sound of Music, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, Red, Much Ado About Nothing and Kinky Boots.

New Livestreaming

There are new offerings sprouting every day, as theaters and theater artists adjust and innovate in the new reality.

New Series

Folksbiene Live.

On their Facebook page, the National Yiddish Theatre presented “Yiddish theater, past, present and future,” which is still available. The theater promises to do more.

#InComesCompany

The Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical Company is using their Instagram account to present different cast members each night.

Living Room Concerts on Broadway World

A series of one-song performances by Broadway stars from their own homes. Since it began March 13th, there have been performances (which you can still see) by Jagged Little Pill’s Kathryn Gallagher, Dear Evan Hansen’s Andrew Barth Feldman singing from Godspell (pictured), Andy Karl and Orfeh, Carolee Carmello singing from Hello, Dolly, Hadestown’s John Krause.

Stars in the House via The Actors Fund

This twice daily combination performance and talk show, with hosts Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, was launched on Monday March 16 with Kelli O’Hara, and has a roster of top-notch Broadway talent every day since. It’s turned out to be a combination of concert, talk show, and public service announcement – and it may well be the start of a new genre.

Theatre Without Theater

An instagram account that’s been offering a nightly “theatrical broadcast,” and soliciting artists to contribute more. Among the broadcasts so far (and still available) are Emily Walton singing from “Darling Grenadine” and Margot Seibert from “Unknown Soldier,” (which I reviewed.) both musicals that were playing Off-Broadway until all theaters were shut down.

Individual Shows

The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues

Twenty theater writers — including David Lindsay-Abaire and Stephen Adly Guirgis — were paired with 20 actors — including Hugh Dancy, Rachel Dratch, Marin Ireland, Richard Kind, Bobby Moreno — for 20 original monologues, which were posted from 6 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday, March 17 and are now available

Here, for example, is “A Story of Survival” by David Lindsay-Abaire in which Rachel Dratch plays a character who discovers ‘a bottle of Purell on the bottom shelf, sad and lonely, just like I am right now,’ but notices that an older woman has her eye on it too.

View this post on Instagram

#24viralmonologues @lindsayabaire @raedratch

A post shared by The 24 Hour Plays (@24hourplays) on Mar 17, 2020 at 3:03pm PDT

“Ghost Quartet” by Dave Malloy

A newly released recording of this 90-minute musical by the creator of “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.”

youtube

The Siblings Play at Rattlestick Playwright Theater in New York

Ren Dara Santiago’s play set in Harlem in 2014 “delves deep into the psyche of a teenage girl and her two brothers left to raise each other.” It was playing on stage when the theaters were shut down, but will now be available for pay-for-view online March 23-April 5: $15 tix.

“Teenage Dick” at Theater Wit in Chicago

The play by Mike Lew imagines Richard III as a disabled h.s. student, will be livestreamed starting 3/20. It’s a production of a Chicago company, but thanks to the miracle of Livestreaming, it’s available to New York theatergoers. I’m not sure how they’re going to be doing this, but the theater is promising talk-backs after each performance.

In New York, LaMama ETC, which has long experimented with livestreaming events all over the world, is planning to livestream their own productions.

Anywhere was live-streamed by HERE Arts March 18th

Here Arts Center, another downtown NYC theater, which just presented the puppet Anywhere online, plans a weekly series Here@Home

And that’s just a sample of what’s to come.

And watch out: Livestreaming (and its aesthetic) is going mainstream too. Here’s Lin-Manuel Miranda on a homier, less snazzy version of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, playing and singing (starting at around 5:30) “Dear Theodosia.” from ‘Hamilton.”

youtube

Where To Get Your Theater Fix Online, Old Favorites and New Experiments (Plus Lin-Manuel Miranda) #DontScreamLiveStream The threat of COVID-19 is shutting down theaters across the world, but it’s not killing theater – which is increasingly going online.

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shg11 · 7 years ago

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The basketball legend and social activist who counted Ali and King among his contemporaries discusses Colin Kaepernick, LaVar Ball and Trumps America

Like all people my age I find the passage of time so startling, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says with a quiet smile. The 70-year-old remains the highest points-scorer in the history of the NBA and, having won six championships and been picked for a record 19 All-Star Games, he is often compared with Michael Jordan when the greatest basketball players of all time are listed. Yet no one in American sport today can match Kareems political and cultural impact over 50 years.

In the 90 minutes since he knocked on my hotel room door in Los Angeles, Abdul-Jabbar has recounted a dizzying personal history which stretches from conducting his first-ever interview with Martin Luther King in Harlem, when he was just 17, to receiving a hand-written insult from Donald Trump in 2015. We move from Colin Kaepernick calling him last week to the moment when, aged 20, Kareem was the youngest man invited to the Cleveland Summit as the leading black athletes in 1967 gathered to meet Muhammad Ali to decide whether they would support him after he had been stripped of his world title and banned from boxing for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War.

Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who has been shut out of the NFL for his refusal to stand for the US national anthem, is engaged in a different struggle. But, after being banished unofficially from football for going down on a bended knee in protest against racism and police brutality, Kaepernick has one of his staunchest allies in Abdul-Jabbar.

At the Cleveland Summit Abdul-Jabbar was called Lew Alcindor, for he had not converted to Islam then, and he became one of Alis ardent supporters. When Ali convinced his fellow athletes he was right to stand against the US government, the young basketball star knew he needed to make his more reticent voice heard. He has stayed true to that conviction ever since.

Were talking about 50 years since the Cleveland Summit, wow, Abdul-Jabbar exclaims. We were tense about what we were going to do and Ali was the opposite. He said: Weve got to fight this in court and Im going to start a speaking tour. Ali had figured out what he had to do in order to make the dollars while fighting the case was essential to his identity. Bill Russell [the great Boston Celtics player] said: Ive got no concerns about Ali. Its the rest of us Im worried about. Ali had such conviction but he was cracking jokes and asking us if we were going to be as dumb as Wilt Chamberlain [another basketball great who played for the Philadelphia 76ers]. Wilt wanted to box Ali. Oh my God.

Abdul-Jabbars face creases with laughter before he becomes more serious again. Black Americans wanted to protect Ali because he spoke for us when we had no voice. When he said: Aint no Viet Cong ever called me the N-word, we figured that one out real quick. Ali was a winner and people supported him because of his class as a human being. But some of the things we fought against then are still happening. Each generation faces these same old problems.

The previous evening, when I had sat next to Abdul-Jabbar at the Los Angeles Press Club awards, the past echoed again. Abdul-Jabbar received two prizes the Legend Award and Columnist of the Year for his work in the Hollywood Reporter. Other award winners included Tippi Hedren, who starred in Alfred Hitchcocks thriller, The Birds, and the New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey who broke the Harvey Weinstein story two months ago. As if to prove that the past can be played over and over again in a contemporary loop, we saw footage of Hedren saying how she would not accept the sexual bullying of Hitchcock in the 1960s just before Kantor and Twohey described how they earned the trust of women who had been abused by Weinstein.

Abdul-Jabbar explained quietly to me how much of an ordeal he found such occasions. He was happiest talking about John Coltrane or Sherlock Holmes, James Baldwin or Bruce Lee, but people kept coming over to ask for a selfie or a book to be signed while, all evening, comic references were made to his height. Abdul-Jabbar is 7ft 2in and he looked two feet taller than Hedren on the red carpet.

The following morning, as he stretches out his long legs, I tell Kareem how I winced each time another wise-crack was made about his height. I can tell you I was six-foot-two, aged 12, when the questions started, Abdul-Jabbar says. Hows the weather up there? I should write down all the things people said when affected by my height. One of the funniest was at an airport and this little boy of five looked at my feet in amazement. I said: Hey, how youre doing? He just said: You must be very old because youve got very big shoes. For him the older you were, the bigger your shoes. Thats the best Ive heard.

In his simple but often beautiful and profound new book, Becoming Kareem, Abdul-Jabbar writes poignantly: My skin made me a symbol, my height made me a target.

A group of top black athletes gather to give support to Muhammad Ali give his reasons for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War at a meeting of the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, held in Cleveland in June 1967. Seated in the front row, from left to right: Bill Russell, Ali, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Standing behind them are: Carl Stokes, Walter Beach, Bobby Mitchell, Sid Williams, Curtis McClinton, Willie Davis, Jim Shorter and John Wooten. Photograph: Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images

Race has been the primary issue which Abdul-Jabbar has confronted every day. In another absorbing Abdul-Jabbar book published this year, Coach Wooden and Me, he celebrates his friendship with the man who helped him win an unprecedented three NCAA championship titles with UCLA. They lost only two games in his three years on campus as UCLA established themselves as the greatest team in the history of college basketball and Wooden, a white midwesterner, and Kareem, a black kid from New York, forged a bond that lasted a half-century. Yet, amid their shared morality and decency, race remained an unresolved issue between them.

Wooden was mortified when a little old lady stared up at the teenage Kareem and said: Ive never seen a nigger that tall. Even though he would later say that he learnt more about mans inhumanity to man by witnessing all his protg endured over the years, Woodens memory of that encounter softened the womans racial insult by saying that she had called Kareem a big black freak.

Abdul-Jabbar nods. He would never see a little grey-haired lady using such language. When it doesnt affect your life its hard for you to see. Men dont understand what attractive women go through. We dont get on a bus and have somebody squeeze our breast. We have no idea how bad it can be. For people to understand your predicament youve got to figure out how to convey that reality. It takes time.

Abdul-Jabbar made his first high-profile statement against the predicament of all African Americans when, in 1968, he boycotted the Olympic Games in Mexico. After race riots in Newark and Detroit, and the assassination of King in April 1968, he knew he could not represent his country. Dr Harry Edwards [the civil rights activist] helped me realise how much power I had. The Olympics are a great event but what happened overwhelmed any patriotism. I had to make a stand. I wanted the country to live up to the words of the founding fathers and make sure they applied to people of colour and to women. I was trying to hold America to that standard.

The athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos took another path of protest. They competed in the Olympic 200m in Mexico and, after they had won gold and bronze, raised their gloved fists in a black power salute on the podium. I was glad somebody with some political consciousness had gone to Mexico, Abdul-Jabbar says, so I was very supportive of them.

Does Kaepernicks situation mirror those same issues? Yeah. The whole issue of equal treatment under the law is still being worked out here because for so long our political and legal culture has denied black Americans equal treatment. But I was surprised Kaepernick had that awareness. It made me think: I wonder how many other NFL athletes are also aware? From there it has bloomed. This generation has a very good idea on how to confront racism. I talked to Colin a couple of days ago on the phone and Im really proud of him. Hes filed an issue with the Players Association about the owners colluding to keep him from working. Thats the best legal approach to it. I hope he prevails.

Over dinner the night before, he intimated that Kaepernick knew he would never play in the NFL again. We didnt get that deep into it, he says now, but he has an idea that is whats going down. But hes moved on. He hadnt prepared for this but he coped with different twists and turns. Some of the owners in the NFL are sympathetic, some arent. Its gone back and forth. But he appreciates the fact that kids in high school have taken an interest. So he got something done and this generations athletes are now more aware of civil rights.

Abdul-Jabbar is proud of Colin Kaepernicks stand. Photograph: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images

Kaepernick has been voted GQs Citizen of the Year, the runner-up in Time magazines Person of the Year and this week he received Sports Illustrateds Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. Considering the way Kaepernick has never wavered in his commitment, Abdul-Jabbar writes in Sports Illustrated that: I have never been prouder to be an American On November 30, it was reported that 40 NFL players and league officials had reached an agreement for the league to provide approximately $90m between now and 2023 for activism endeavors important to African American communities. Clearly, this is the result of Colins one-knee revolution and of the many players and coaches he inspired to join him. That is some serious impact Were my old friend [Ali] still alive, I know he would be proud that Colin is continuing this tradition of being a selfless warrior for social justice.

In my hotel room, Abdul-Jabbar is more specific in linking tragedy and a deepening social conscience. I dont know how anybody could not be moved by some of the things weve seen. Remember the footage of [12-year-old] Tamir Rice getting killed [in Cleveland [in 2014]. The car stops and the cop stands up and executes Tamir Rice. It took two seconds. Its so unbelievably brutal you have to do something about it.

LeBron James and other guys in the NBA all had something to say about such crimes [James and leading players wore I Cant Breathe T-shirts in December 2014 to protest against the police killing of Eric Garner, another black man]. They werent talking as athletes. They were talking as parents because that could have been their kid.

If the NFL appears to have actively ended Kaepernicks career, what does Abdul-Jabbar feel about the NBAs politics? The NBA has been wonderful. I came into the NBA and went to Milwaukee [where he won his first championship before winning five more with the LA Lakers]. Milwaukee had the first black general manager in professional sports [Wayne Embry in 1972]. And the NBAs outreach for coaches, general managers and women has been exemplary. The NBA has been on the edge of change. I was hoping the NFL might do the same because some of the owners were taking the knee. But theyre making an example of Colin. Its not right. Let him go out there and succeed or fail on the field like any other great athlete.

Abdul-Jabbar smiles shyly when I ask him about his first interview with Martin Luther King 53 years ago. As a journalist I started out interviewing Dr King. Whoa! By that point [1964], Dr King was a serious icon and I was thrilled he gave me a really good earnest answer. Moments like that affect your life. But my first real experience of being drawn into the civil rights movement came when I read James Baldwins The Fire Next Time.

Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, with Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Has he seen I Am Not Your Negro Raoul Pecks 2016 documentary of Baldwin? Its wonderful. I saw it two weeks after the Trump election. It was medicine for my soul. It made me think of how bad things were for James Baldwin. But remember him speaking at Cambridge [University] and the reception he got? Oh man, amazing! I kept telling people: Trump is an asshole but go and see this film. Trump doesnt matter because weve got work to do.

In 2015, after Abdul-Jabbar wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post, condemning Trumps attempts to bully the press, the future president sent him a scrawled note: Kareem now I know why the press always treated you so badly. They couldnt stand you. The fact is you dont have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again.

Abdul-Jabbar smiles when I say that schoolyard taunt is a long way from the oratory of King or Malcolm X. If you judge yourself by your enemies Im doing great. Trumps not going to change. He knows he is where he is because of his appeal to racism and xenophobia. The people that want to divide the country are in his camp. They want to go back to the 18th century.

Trump wants to move us back to 1952 but hes not Eisenhower who was the type of Republican that cared about the whole nation. Even George Bush Sr and George W Bushs idea of fellow citizens did not exclude people of colour. George Ws cabinet looked like America. It had Condoleezza Rice and the Mexican American gentleman who was the attorney general [Alberto Gonzales] and Colin Powell. Women had important positions in his administration. Even though I did not like his policies, he wasnt exclusionary.

Look whats going on with Trump in Alabama [where the president supports Roy Moore in the state senate election despite his favoured candidate being accused of multiple sexual assaults of under-age girls]. You have a guy like him but hes going to vote the way you want politically. Thats more important than what hes accused of? People with that frightening viewpoint are still fighting a civil war. They have to be contained.

Does he fear that Trump might win a second term? I dont think he can, but the rest of us had better organise and vote in 2020. I hope people stop him ruining our nation.

Abdul-Jabbar also worries that college sport remains as exploitative as ever. Its a business and the coaches, the NCAA and universities make a lot of money and the athletes get exploited. They make billions of dollars for the whole system and dont get any. Im not saying they have to be wealthy but I think they should get a share of the incredible amount they generate.

In Coach Wooden and Me, he writes of how, in the 1960s, he was famous at UCLA but dead broke. Yeah. No cash. Its ridiculous. Basketball and football fund everything. College sports do not function on the revenue from water polo or track and field or gymnastics. Its all down to basketball and football. The athletes at Northwestern tried to organise a union and thats how college athletes have to think. They need to unionise. If they can organise they can get a piece of the pie because they are the show.

The legendary Michael Jordan never showed the social conscience of Abdul-Jabbar and other rare NBA activists like Craig Hodges. But Abdul-Jabbar is conciliatory towards Jordan and his commercially-driven contemporaries. I was glad they became interested in being successful businessmen because their financial power makes a difference. I just felt they should leave a little room to help the causes they knew needed their help. But Jordan has come around. He gave some money to the NAACP for legal funds, thank goodness.

President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the White House in November 2016. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Abdul-Jabbar defines himself as a writer now. As he reflects on his LA Press Club awards he says: To be honoured by other writers is incredible. Im a neophyte. Im a rookie.

He grins when I say hes not doing not too badly for a rookie who has written 13 books, including novels about Mycoft Holmes brother of Sherlock. Yeah, but I still feel new to it and to get that recognition was wonderful. I was very flattered that the BBC came to interview me about Mycroft because the British are very protective of their culture. Arthur Conan Doyle is beyond an icon. So I was like, Wow, maybe I am doing OK. When I was [an NBA] rookie somebody gave me a complete compilation of Doyles stories. I went from there.

People were amazed because I always used to be reading before a game whether it was Sherlock Holmes or Malcolm X, John Le Carr or James Baldwin. But that was one of the luxuries of being a professional athlete. You get lots of time to read. My team-mates did not read to the same extent but Im a historian and some of the guys had big holes in their knowledge of black history. So I was the librarian for the team.

I tell Abdul-Jabbar about my upcoming interview with Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics and how the 21-year-old has the same thirst for reading and knowledge. While enthusiastic about the possibility of meeting Brown when the Celtics next visit LA, Abdul-Jabbar makes a wistful observation of a young sportsmans intellectual curiosity. Hes going to be lonely. Most of the guys are like: Where are we going to party in this town? Where are the babes? So the fact that he has such broader interests is remarkable and wonderful.

Abdul-Jabbar acknowledges that his own bookish nature and self-consciousness about his height, combined with a fierce sense of injustice, made him appear surly and aloof as a player. It also meant he was never offered the head-coach job he desired. They didnt think I could communicate and they didnt take the time to get to know me. But I didnt make it easy for them so some of that falls in my lap absolutely. But its different now. People stop me in the street and want to talk about my articles. Its amazing.

Most of all, in his eighth decade, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar loves to lose myself in my imagination. Its a wonderful place to go when youre old and creaky like me. I see myself working at this pace [writing at least a book a year] but its not like I have the hounds at my heels. Since my career ended Ive been able to have friends and family. My new granddaughter will be three this month. Shes my very first [grandchild]. So my life has expanded in wonderful ways. But, still, we all have so much work to do. The work is a long way from being done.

Main photograph by Austin Hargrave/AUGUST

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/dec/08/kareem-abdul-jabbar-kaepernick-trump-interview

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: ‘Trump is where he is because of his appeal to racism’

The basketball legend and social activist who counted Ali and King among his contemporaries discusses Colin Kaepernick, LaVar Ball and Trumps America

In his simple but often beautiful and profound new book, Becoming Kareem, Abdul-Jabbar writes poignantly: My skin made me a symbol, my height made me a target.

Abdul-Jabbar is proud of Colin Kaepernicks stand. Photograph: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images

Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, with Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

Does he fear that Trump might win a second term? I dont think he can, but the rest of us had better organise and vote in 2020. I hope people stop him ruining our nation.

President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the White House in November 2016. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Abdul-Jabbar defines himself as a writer now. As he reflects on his LA Press Club awards he says: To be honoured by other writers is incredible. Im a neophyte. Im a rookie.

Main photograph by Austin Hargrave/AUGUST