Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ...
Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits
This page features links to reviews of movies, documentaries and exhibits with a historical theme. Listings are in reverse chronological order. Descriptions are taken directly from the linked publication. If you have articles you think should be listed on the Pop Culture page, please send them to the editor editor@historynewsnetwork.org.
SOURCE: Joyce Johnson in Smithsonian Magazine (9-1-07)
[A friend of the author of "On the Road," published 50 years ago this month, tells why the novel still matters.]
One snowy January night in 1957, I found myself in a Howard Johnson's in Greenwich Village buying a hot dog and baked beans for a virtually unknown writer named Jack Kerouac. It was a blind date arranged by Allen Ginsberg, who always looked out for his male friends. As Allen no doubt saw it, Jack needed a place in New York to stay for a while until he could take off for Tangier, and I was that rare thing—a girl who had her own apartment.
My independence at 21 would not be questioned now, but in the 1950s it was definitely the wrong way for an unmarried woman to be living, though nothing would have induced me to go back to my parents. By day, I typed rejection letters for a literary agent, for $50 a week; by night, I was working on a novel about a college student so intent on breaking through the glass wall that seems to separate her from...
One snowy January night in 1957, I found myself in a Howard Johnson's in Greenwich Village buying a hot dog and baked beans for a virtually unknown writer named Jack Kerouac. It was a blind date arranged by Allen Ginsberg, who always looked out for his male friends. As Allen no doubt saw it, Jack needed a place in New York to stay for a while until he could take off for Tangier, and I was that rare thing—a girl who had her own apartment.
My independence at 21 would not be questioned now, but in the 1950s it was definitely the wrong way for an unmarried woman to be living, though nothing would have induced me to go back to my parents. By day, I typed rejection letters for a literary agent, for $50 a week; by night, I was working on a novel about a college student so intent on breaking through the glass wall that seems to separate her from...
Friday, August 31, 2007 - 13:37
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SOURCE: http://www.spiegel.de (8-30-07)
Despite media criticism of his membership in Scientology, Tom Cruise chatted this week to a German magazine about his upcoming film about a Hitler assassination plot and the walks in Berlin's parks he enjoys with Katie and Suri. He also lashed back at critics, telling them to "see the film" before dissing it.
After more than a month of filming in a country whose press is often quick to vilify him for his membership in the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise has spoken to a German magazine about his current film role and life in Berlin.
Cruise, 45, along with wife Katie Holmes and daughter Suri are staying in Berlin for the filming of the World War II drama "Valkyrie." In the film, scheduled for release in 2008, Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an army officer of aristocratic lineage who was executed following the failed July 1944 attempt to kill Hitler.
In Germany, Scientology is not considered a religion, but rather a cult...
After more than a month of filming in a country whose press is often quick to vilify him for his membership in the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise has spoken to a German magazine about his current film role and life in Berlin.
Cruise, 45, along with wife Katie Holmes and daughter Suri are staying in Berlin for the filming of the World War II drama "Valkyrie." In the film, scheduled for release in 2008, Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an army officer of aristocratic lineage who was executed following the failed July 1944 attempt to kill Hitler.
In Germany, Scientology is not considered a religion, but rather a cult...
Friday, August 31, 2007 - 12:56
SOURCE: NYT (8-30-07)
It had been something of an open secret for years, but most people did not learn the story of Daniel Miller until last week, when Vanity Fair published an article called “Arthur Miller’s Missing Act.”
As described in Suzanna Andrews’s 5,000-word article, Arthur Miller, who died in February 2005, and his third wife, the photographer Inge Morath, had a son born with Down syndrome in 1966. Soon after, they made the painful decision to put the child, Miller’s youngest, in an institution for the mentally retarded before Miller essentially cut him out of his life.
Ms. Andrews describes in detail how Miller rarely, if ever, accompanied his wife on weekly visits to see Daniel, almost never mentioned him to shocked friends and didn’t mention him in his memoir, “Timebends.”
The picture that emerges is of a father in denial and a son who has moved on to live a happy life without him. “Miller excised a central character who didn’t fit the plot of his life as...
As described in Suzanna Andrews’s 5,000-word article, Arthur Miller, who died in February 2005, and his third wife, the photographer Inge Morath, had a son born with Down syndrome in 1966. Soon after, they made the painful decision to put the child, Miller’s youngest, in an institution for the mentally retarded before Miller essentially cut him out of his life.
Ms. Andrews describes in detail how Miller rarely, if ever, accompanied his wife on weekly visits to see Daniel, almost never mentioned him to shocked friends and didn’t mention him in his memoir, “Timebends.”
The picture that emerges is of a father in denial and a son who has moved on to live a happy life without him. “Miller excised a central character who didn’t fit the plot of his life as...
Thursday, August 30, 2007 - 22:56
SOURCE: NYT (8-30-07)
Ten years have passed since Diana, Princess of Wales, died and Britain erupted in a febrile convulsion of grief and anger, but in some ways you would hardly know it.
The tabloids are still spinning breathless tales of conspiracy, cover-up and royal squabbling. “Document That Proves Diana Was Pregnant,” said a recent headline in The Daily Express, nicknamed The Diana Express because of its enthusiasm for even the most tenuous news about the princess.
“Charles ‘Hijacks’ Diana Memorial,” The Mail reported Sunday, in an article about fights over the guest list at the anniversary service, which is set for Friday at noon. (Elton John and Prime Minister Gordon Brown: in. Paul Burrell, Diana’s butler, who is now peddling products like tea sets and “Royal Butler” wine: out.)
The royal family is still fretting and bickering, still seemingly incapable of getting it right. After being attacked for deciding to attend Diana’s service, Prince Charles’s second wife...
The tabloids are still spinning breathless tales of conspiracy, cover-up and royal squabbling. “Document That Proves Diana Was Pregnant,” said a recent headline in The Daily Express, nicknamed The Diana Express because of its enthusiasm for even the most tenuous news about the princess.
“Charles ‘Hijacks’ Diana Memorial,” The Mail reported Sunday, in an article about fights over the guest list at the anniversary service, which is set for Friday at noon. (Elton John and Prime Minister Gordon Brown: in. Paul Burrell, Diana’s butler, who is now peddling products like tea sets and “Royal Butler” wine: out.)
The royal family is still fretting and bickering, still seemingly incapable of getting it right. After being attacked for deciding to attend Diana’s service, Prince Charles’s second wife...
Thursday, August 30, 2007 - 22:53
SOURCE: http://www.shelbyvilledailyunion.com (8-28-07)
For those of you who may not have watched the PBS series, “History Detectives” last night, Shelbyville native and Lincoln historian, John Lupton played a central role in authenticating a document supposedly written by Abraham Lincoln in 1858.
Lupton is Associate Director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield , IL .. His position there requires him to make sure the documents that enter into the collection are authentic.
The one-hour show featured Lupton in a 20 minute segment, filmed in Springfield at the Lincoln Presidential Library and at the old Springfield capitol building. "We did the 'detective' work at the Lincoln Presidential Library, and we filmed the segment on the context of the documents at the old capitol.”
The letter was found at an estate sale in Tampa , Florida several years ago. At that time, the owner had scanned and e-mailed copies to Lupton and Christie’s...
Lupton is Associate Director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield , IL .. His position there requires him to make sure the documents that enter into the collection are authentic.
The one-hour show featured Lupton in a 20 minute segment, filmed in Springfield at the Lincoln Presidential Library and at the old Springfield capitol building. "We did the 'detective' work at the Lincoln Presidential Library, and we filmed the segment on the context of the documents at the old capitol.”
The letter was found at an estate sale in Tampa , Florida several years ago. At that time, the owner had scanned and e-mailed copies to Lupton and Christie’s...
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 17:09
SOURCE: AP (8-27-07)
VATICAN CITY — As visitors ooh and aah at the vivid hues revealed by the cleaning of Michelangelo's frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, some of the greatest work of a fellow Renaissance giant has been quietly restored to glory a few rooms away.
Now, nearly 30 years after work began, the restoration of Raphael's frescoes in the rooms named after him in the Vatican Museums is approaching completion.
Restorers said in recent interviews that their work in the Raphael Stanzas has brought insights into how the artist worked, from mistakes he made in mixing plaster to how he transferred his exquisite designs from small pieces of paper to the sprawling walls of papal apartments.
Now, nearly 30 years after work began, the restoration of Raphael's frescoes in the rooms named after him in the Vatican Museums is approaching completion.
Restorers said in recent interviews that their work in the Raphael Stanzas has brought insights into how the artist worked, from mistakes he made in mixing plaster to how he transferred his exquisite designs from small pieces of paper to the sprawling walls of papal apartments.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 14:15
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (8-28-07)
Merlin the magician - hirsute confidant of King Arthur and the architect of Camelot - was, in fact, Scottish, according to a new book.
Not only Scottish but, to be precise, hailing from Ardery Street, just off the Dumbarton Road, in the Partick area of Glasgow.
While the English, Welsh and even the French have laid claim to the wizard with the peaked hat for centuries, this is the first time that anyone has tried to shift Camelot north of the border.
But Adam Ardrey, amateur historian and one-time SNP candidate, claims that his six years of research prove that Merlin was actually born in the year 540 in the Lanarkshire town of Hamilton and moved to a house in what was then open countryside but, later, was to become the original home of Partick Thistle FC.
Not only Scottish but, to be precise, hailing from Ardery Street, just off the Dumbarton Road, in the Partick area of Glasgow.
While the English, Welsh and even the French have laid claim to the wizard with the peaked hat for centuries, this is the first time that anyone has tried to shift Camelot north of the border.
But Adam Ardrey, amateur historian and one-time SNP candidate, claims that his six years of research prove that Merlin was actually born in the year 540 in the Lanarkshire town of Hamilton and moved to a house in what was then open countryside but, later, was to become the original home of Partick Thistle FC.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 13:57
SOURCE: NYT (8-26-07)
The fear of being forgotten after death is endemic in the creative arts. In the case of the iconic comic book artist Jack Kirby, it happened while he was still alive. By the 1960s, Mr. Kirby had already revolutionized the comic book business more than once. Working as principal artist and in-house genius for Marvel, he created a voice and an aesthetic unmatched by any other company.
Marvel took his talents for granted and denied him the credit and compensation he clearly deserved. Worse, he was overshadowed by his loquacious and photogenic collaborator, Stan Lee, who became the public face of an enterprise that depended heavily on Mr. Kirby’s skills.
Mr. Kirby eventually quit, leaving behind characters like the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Silver Surfer, and ending what was easily the most fruitful collaboration in comic book history. His long and ugly battle with Marvel over the rights to his original artwork galvanized the artistic community...
Marvel took his talents for granted and denied him the credit and compensation he clearly deserved. Worse, he was overshadowed by his loquacious and photogenic collaborator, Stan Lee, who became the public face of an enterprise that depended heavily on Mr. Kirby’s skills.
Mr. Kirby eventually quit, leaving behind characters like the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Silver Surfer, and ending what was easily the most fruitful collaboration in comic book history. His long and ugly battle with Marvel over the rights to his original artwork galvanized the artistic community...
Monday, August 27, 2007 - 17:54
SOURCE: NYT (8-26-07)
A POINT comes in the afterlife of an artist when, for the time being, biography has pretty much done its work. The essential history is known; the ambience is broadly understood; the relationship between the life and the work has yielded its chief mysteries. Barring bombshells any future surprises are apt to be minor: not revelations, just minutiae.
To judge by the title, the 90-minute documentary “Nureyev: The Russian Years,” written and produced by the British filmmaker John Bridcut, would promise to fall squarely into the category of marginalia. After all, when Rudolf Nureyev, the young sensation of the Kirov Ballet, bolted from the clutches of the K.G.B. to asylum in Paris, he was all of 23. That was in 1961, and his glory years lay before him.
Even so, the prelude behind the Iron Curtain proves a mesmerizing subject. Between previously unknown film clips of the young Nureyev in full flight and fresh interviews with associates whose lives he touched or...
To judge by the title, the 90-minute documentary “Nureyev: The Russian Years,” written and produced by the British filmmaker John Bridcut, would promise to fall squarely into the category of marginalia. After all, when Rudolf Nureyev, the young sensation of the Kirov Ballet, bolted from the clutches of the K.G.B. to asylum in Paris, he was all of 23. That was in 1961, and his glory years lay before him.
Even so, the prelude behind the Iron Curtain proves a mesmerizing subject. Between previously unknown film clips of the young Nureyev in full flight and fresh interviews with associates whose lives he touched or...
Monday, August 27, 2007 - 00:50
SOURCE: http://europe.courrierinternational.com (8-24-07)
A play called "1612", the result of a cooperation project with Moscow's "Teatr.doc", is currently in rehearsal at the "Ad Spectatores" theatre in Breslau. The play is about the victory of the Russian army over the Polish invaders of Moscow on November 4, 1612 in the midst of the Polish-Russian war (1609-1618). In an interview with Joanna Dekaczew, director Krzysztof Kopka explains that the piece is intended as a response to the Polish and Russian policy on history. "Two years ago, November 4 was established as Russia's official 'Day of National Independence,' but just three years ago no one was aware of the significance of this date. Only historians with a special interest in 17th century history knew the particulars of the expulsion of the Poles from the Kremlin... We want to free ourselves of a twisted history and use our sensibility and ability to empathise to draw a picture of these two societies at war."
Saturday, August 25, 2007 - 17:08
SOURCE: NYT (8-25-07)
Nine-year-old Julie Albright likes to wear her long blond hair loose, with a single thin braid in the front. With her parents divorcing, and with her move from a big house in San Francisco to a smaller apartment across town, she is trying to adapt to a bewildering web of changes, just like a lot of other children growing up in the 1970s.
Except she is 18 inches tall.
Julie and her Chinese-American friend, Ivy, are the latest additions to American Girl’s fabulously popular line of historical dolls and books. Scheduled to be introduced on Sept. 10 in the company’s stores in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, these West Coast girls are the first new characters in the series in five years and the first to be situated in an era so close to the present. Girls who grew up playing with Dawn and Chatty Cathy can now watch their own daughters play with a doll version of themselves.
“We have high expectations and hopes for this character, because it’s...
Except she is 18 inches tall.
Julie and her Chinese-American friend, Ivy, are the latest additions to American Girl’s fabulously popular line of historical dolls and books. Scheduled to be introduced on Sept. 10 in the company’s stores in New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, these West Coast girls are the first new characters in the series in five years and the first to be situated in an era so close to the present. Girls who grew up playing with Dawn and Chatty Cathy can now watch their own daughters play with a doll version of themselves.
“We have high expectations and hopes for this character, because it’s...
Saturday, August 25, 2007 - 16:09
SOURCE: Time Magazine (8-23-07)
Ten years on, there is still something dreamlike about the week that followed
the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Was central London really carpeted with
flowers? Did every U.S. TV network throw out its schedule to cover, at length,
the funeral of an English divorcé of uncertain prospects? Did the most
levelheaded folk you know choke up about 10 times that week, snuffling into
their tissues,"I can't imagine why it's gotten to me so much"?
Yes, and yes, and they probably did. To be sure, quite soon after Diana's death, a school of thought argued that the raw hugs-and-tears emotionalism of her funeral was an embarrassing aberration, a fake sentiment tricked up by the mass media, keen for a good end-of-summer story. But that's not a line that convinces. The memories are too real for that, the significance of them too apparent.
In Diana's funeral week, what had been considered the virtues--the Roman virtues, an earlier generation would have called them--of restraint...
Friday, August 24, 2007 - 17:25
SOURCE: NYT (8-23-07)
BECKET, Mass., Aug. 21 — It would be nice to feel unmitigatedly positive about Joanna Haigood’s “Invisible Wings,” an ambitious site-specific evocation of slave culture and history, linked to the history of the land that the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival now inhabits. On Tuesday — a day late, after rain forced the cancellation of the scheduled opening — a new version of this open-air work, first presented at the Pillow in 1998, opened on the festival grounds amid a sense of excitement heightened by the delay.
But by the end of “Invisible Wings,” the anticipation of imaginative transportation to another time and place had dissipated into the duller sensation of having been offered a well-staged history lesson. And after two and a half hours of that — no matter how enjoyable the music and how persuasive the performances — even this most passionate of topics can feel (dare one say it?) a little boring.
Ms. Haigood, a San Francisco choreographer, has a well-...
But by the end of “Invisible Wings,” the anticipation of imaginative transportation to another time and place had dissipated into the duller sensation of having been offered a well-staged history lesson. And after two and a half hours of that — no matter how enjoyable the music and how persuasive the performances — even this most passionate of topics can feel (dare one say it?) a little boring.
Ms. Haigood, a San Francisco choreographer, has a well-...
Friday, August 24, 2007 - 15:35
SOURCE: BBC (8-23-07)
Prime exhibits from Culloden are heading for a spring clean before returning to play a central role at a new visitor centre.
Staff from the National Trust for Scotland have been packing up important items dating back to the battle.
The exhibits include a sword seized from Bonnie Prince Charlie's baggage after the fight ended.
It also features a letter from the prince to King Louis of France pleading for vital support to the Jacobite army.
Staff from the National Trust for Scotland have been packing up important items dating back to the battle.
The exhibits include a sword seized from Bonnie Prince Charlie's baggage after the fight ended.
It also features a letter from the prince to King Louis of France pleading for vital support to the Jacobite army.
Friday, August 24, 2007 - 13:32
SOURCE: BBC (8-23-07)
A missing sketch by celebrated artist John Constable has been rediscovered at the British Library in London.
Scholars lost track of the drawing of a church after it was sold by Constable's grandson Eustace at Christie's in 1896.
It was found in an elaborate sketchbook on the life of Constable's rival JMW Turner, which was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1919.
Scholars lost track of the drawing of a church after it was sold by Constable's grandson Eustace at Christie's in 1896.
It was found in an elaborate sketchbook on the life of Constable's rival JMW Turner, which was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1919.
Friday, August 24, 2007 - 13:22
SOURCE: Slate (8-22-07)
Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson would have turned 99 today. A co-founder of Magnum Photos, he was both a remarkable photojournalist and an artist trained in the techniques of classic painting and the avant-garde juxtapositions of Surrealism. In February 2007, Meghan O'Rourke analyzed Cartier-Bresson's work, observing that "Carrtier-Bresson's work demonstrated two qualities that rarely go hand in hand: a formal, highly geometric acuity … in combination with an empathetic fascination with people." [Click on the SOURCE link to view a montage of his pictures.]
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - 16:56
SOURCE: AP (8-21-07)
Most spas take pride in keeping up with the latest trends, from organic ingredients to Asian massage.
But a half-dozen new spas have opened this year in landmark hotels and historic places. While offering contemporary treatments and luxurious new facilities, spas in settings like Williamsburg, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, are also looking to the past for inspiration in everything from decor to botanical remedies.
In May, The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg opened, offering treatments that spa manager Kate Mearns calls "a modern-day interpretation of five centuries of wellness." For example, a treatment using hot stones, linen wraps and cool aromatherapy cloths was inspired by a Powhatan Indian sweathouse ritual. Traditional remedies and ingredients also inspired the spa's lavender baths, lemon verbena manicures and massage oils containing cypress, juniper and rosemary.
But a half-dozen new spas have opened this year in landmark hotels and historic places. While offering contemporary treatments and luxurious new facilities, spas in settings like Williamsburg, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, are also looking to the past for inspiration in everything from decor to botanical remedies.
In May, The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg opened, offering treatments that spa manager Kate Mearns calls "a modern-day interpretation of five centuries of wellness." For example, a treatment using hot stones, linen wraps and cool aromatherapy cloths was inspired by a Powhatan Indian sweathouse ritual. Traditional remedies and ingredients also inspired the spa's lavender baths, lemon verbena manicures and massage oils containing cypress, juniper and rosemary.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - 14:02
SOURCE: Telegraph (UK) (8-22-07)
The British Museum started the delicate task of unpacking the vanguard of the largest consignment of China's terracotta army ever to leave its shores in preparation for its blockbuster exhibition The First Emperor, which opens on Sept 13.
More than two dozen huge crates carrying the fragile, 2,000-year-old figures were delayed for two days in Beijing because they would not fit into the holds of two cargo planes chartered for the job.
When the 20 figures - a dozen warriors plus assorted musicians, acrobats and court officials - and their five horses eventually arrived, they would not fit through the doors of the museum's famous Round Reading Room, which is being used for an exhibition for the first time.
The main door frame was removed and the horses, weighing 360kg each, had to be unpacked outside, in the Great Court, in the middle of Monday night and gently carried into the reading room.
"It has been a bit scary. You don't want any...
More than two dozen huge crates carrying the fragile, 2,000-year-old figures were delayed for two days in Beijing because they would not fit into the holds of two cargo planes chartered for the job.
When the 20 figures - a dozen warriors plus assorted musicians, acrobats and court officials - and their five horses eventually arrived, they would not fit through the doors of the museum's famous Round Reading Room, which is being used for an exhibition for the first time.
The main door frame was removed and the horses, weighing 360kg each, had to be unpacked outside, in the Great Court, in the middle of Monday night and gently carried into the reading room.
"It has been a bit scary. You don't want any...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - 13:57
SOURCE: WaPo (8-19-07)
Ralph Ellison died leaving four decades'worth of scribbled notes, thousands of typed pages and 80 computer disks filled with work on an ambitious second novel. For 14 years,a pair of literary detectives labored to fit the pieces together. Now they're ready to share with the world.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - 01:05
SOURCE: CNN (8-21-07)
A handgun stolen from an exhibit during last week's commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death has been recovered.
Surveillance video showed a man reaching into a display case at the "Elvis After Dark" exhibit at Graceland, Presley's mansion, and removing a black, 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol on August 14.
Travis Brookins turned the gun over to police Monday after the theft was reported by news media.
Surveillance video showed a man reaching into a display case at the "Elvis After Dark" exhibit at Graceland, Presley's mansion, and removing a black, 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol on August 14.
Travis Brookins turned the gun over to police Monday after the theft was reported by news media.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 22:09
