I saw this mention in the Los Angeles Times .
There will be a memorial service held at 3 p.m. March 11 at the Skylight Theater, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.
More information is available by phone at (323) 469-8745 or through e-mail to cleobaby@sbcglobal.net.
I won't be able to attend, but thought for all my ranting in my last post regarding a lack of a memorial service for a fictional character that I certainly should mention one for a person who passed away.
I never met Mr. Shurtleff, but his words and ideas inspire me. I shall remember his wisdom for years to come.
Linda
P.S. Edited to add, for those who are scratching their head and going, "Who's he?" I wrote two other posts about my veneration of Michael Shurtleff. You can find those posts here and here.
Showing posts with label obituary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obituary. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Michael Shurtleff died at age 86
I am saddened to read in the New York Times that Michael Shurtleff died January 28th at his home in Los Angeles.
Shurtleff had been the casting director for such Broadway shows as Chicago, Pippin, Becket, Gypsy, The Odd Couple, Jesus Christ Superstar and for the movies The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Graduate.
His eye for talent led to casting Barbara Streisand at age eighteen in her first Broadway musical.
He also wrote one of my favorite books of all time is Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part. It has been instrumental in my writing over the years as I look at his wisdom to remind me what I as a writer need to put into my story.
His 12 guideposts show a richness, complexity and variety of human emotion that should be a part of every character and every scene.
There are so many pearls of wisdom in his book including the reason why alcohol is used in plays (or novels or movies). Here are two snippets from his book:
"There is only one reason why anyone drinks in a play: to release inhibitions, to be able to say and do things he was normally afraid to do, too repressed to do, too considerate or cowardly to say, too polite or fearful to risk. Have a few drinks and all this can come pouring out, once the blocks are down and the dam has broken.
…
Actors tend to use drinking negatively. It’s important to find the positive: allow drinking to heighten the emotional needs, to free you to express deeply-buried feelings. Not to escape from relationship, but to pursue it. Not to become vague and fuzzy about the world and whoever is in it with you, but to seek confrontation, to fight for what you want in ways normally denied you. Not to withdraw from your scene partner, but to seek in a richer, more needful way, warmth, camaraderie, love."
Ahh, that's why I love his book and I turn to it as my reference book of choice. I wrote my second post on this blog about my veneration of Shurtleff. If anyone hasn't read it and is interested in reading more, you can check it out here.
If you haven't read his book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. Buy it from a store or check it out from your library.
I am sorry that Michael Shurtleff died, but I am happy that he lived because the world benefited from his talent.
Thank you for everything Michael. You will be missed.
Shurtleff had been the casting director for such Broadway shows as Chicago, Pippin, Becket, Gypsy, The Odd Couple, Jesus Christ Superstar and for the movies The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Graduate.
His eye for talent led to casting Barbara Streisand at age eighteen in her first Broadway musical.
He also wrote one of my favorite books of all time is Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part. It has been instrumental in my writing over the years as I look at his wisdom to remind me what I as a writer need to put into my story.
His 12 guideposts show a richness, complexity and variety of human emotion that should be a part of every character and every scene.
There are so many pearls of wisdom in his book including the reason why alcohol is used in plays (or novels or movies). Here are two snippets from his book:
"There is only one reason why anyone drinks in a play: to release inhibitions, to be able to say and do things he was normally afraid to do, too repressed to do, too considerate or cowardly to say, too polite or fearful to risk. Have a few drinks and all this can come pouring out, once the blocks are down and the dam has broken.
…
Actors tend to use drinking negatively. It’s important to find the positive: allow drinking to heighten the emotional needs, to free you to express deeply-buried feelings. Not to escape from relationship, but to pursue it. Not to become vague and fuzzy about the world and whoever is in it with you, but to seek confrontation, to fight for what you want in ways normally denied you. Not to withdraw from your scene partner, but to seek in a richer, more needful way, warmth, camaraderie, love."
Ahh, that's why I love his book and I turn to it as my reference book of choice. I wrote my second post on this blog about my veneration of Shurtleff. If anyone hasn't read it and is interested in reading more, you can check it out here.
If you haven't read his book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. Buy it from a store or check it out from your library.
I am sorry that Michael Shurtleff died, but I am happy that he lived because the world benefited from his talent.
Thank you for everything Michael. You will be missed.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Here's to Molly Ivins, a Texas Grande Dame
I miss her already.
Molly Ivins died yesterday after a long fight with breast cancer. She was an incredible writer who had her own distinct voice.
Molly Ivins lived, breathed and loved Texas and Texas politics. Molly was a reporter and worked for many years at different papers and even worked for a few years for the New York Times. She readily admitted that she was miserable while working for the Times because they didn't get her humor. She found her columns heavily edited and one turn of phrase she had submitted which was "a beergut that belongs in the Smithsonian" was transformed into "a man with a protuberant abdomen." She was fired by the Times when she used the term "gang-pluck" to describe a community's chicken-killing festival.
She returned to Texas to work for the Dallas Times-Herald and began emerging as the star she was. They gave her free reign to write about what she wanted in the style she wanted. Because she used humor and she wrote about Texas politics, she did rile a few feathers. There was an effort to pressure the Times-Herald to fire her when she made the observation about one legislator that "if his IQ slips any lower, we'll have to water him twice a day." Instead they stuck by her and rented billboards around town with the slogan, "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?" Later that was the title of her first book which was a collection of her newspaper columns.
She wrote in a manner that allowed people to hear how Texans sound. She chose to write the word "bidness" rather than business because that's how the word sounds when spoken in Texas. She'd write about Texas bidnessmen and politicians in the "Lege" (pronounced like ledge) which was short for the state legislature. You could hear Molly's voice while you were reading her columns and people grew to love her.
Her columns became syndicated and appeared in over 300 newspapers. Molly was unlike most political columnists who people read because they feel they ought to. People read Molly because they loved her.
I remember the first time I had ever heard of Molly was back in 1991 when I was working the afternoon shift and happened to hear a program on my local National Public Radio station. It was one of their pledge drives and they aired a talk by her. I was enchanted by her voice, her manner, her wit and above all her style.
About a week later I was in a book store and was waiting in line to check out with an armload of books when I started looking around. I saw the bookshelf with new releases and saw her book Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? I stepped out of line, grabbed a copy and when I got home I promptly forgot all the titles I had so carefully chosen to purchase and dived into the impulse buy.
I sat in bed reading her columns, howling with laughter and then read passages to my husband. We became Molly Ivins fans and at Christmas I gave copies of her book to both my parents and to my in-laws. They were also won over by her charm.
Here is a small slice of her observations about Texas politics:
"Texas politicians aren't crooks: it's just they tend to have an overdeveloped sense of the extenuatin' circumstance. As they say around the legislature, if you can't drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against 'em anyway, you don't belong in office."
Here is a link to one of her columns called Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh.
That will give you an insight as to how much she loved Texas and how much it showed.
I was fortunate to see her speak twice in person at sold out venues. She was just as witty, charming and personable as one could hope.
I heard Lou Dubose today being interviewed on Pat Thurston's radio program. Lou and Molly co-wrote two books together about George W. Bush. Lou spoke of Molly with fondness and said that she was conversant in French and felt just as comfortable in a salon on the West Bank of Paris as she was in watering holes in East Texas.
She was an incredible woman and will be sorely missed. The world benefited from her wit, wisdom and mighty pen.
Thanks Molly for everything.
Molly Ivins died yesterday after a long fight with breast cancer. She was an incredible writer who had her own distinct voice.
Molly Ivins lived, breathed and loved Texas and Texas politics. Molly was a reporter and worked for many years at different papers and even worked for a few years for the New York Times. She readily admitted that she was miserable while working for the Times because they didn't get her humor. She found her columns heavily edited and one turn of phrase she had submitted which was "a beergut that belongs in the Smithsonian" was transformed into "a man with a protuberant abdomen." She was fired by the Times when she used the term "gang-pluck" to describe a community's chicken-killing festival.
She returned to Texas to work for the Dallas Times-Herald and began emerging as the star she was. They gave her free reign to write about what she wanted in the style she wanted. Because she used humor and she wrote about Texas politics, she did rile a few feathers. There was an effort to pressure the Times-Herald to fire her when she made the observation about one legislator that "if his IQ slips any lower, we'll have to water him twice a day." Instead they stuck by her and rented billboards around town with the slogan, "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?" Later that was the title of her first book which was a collection of her newspaper columns.
She wrote in a manner that allowed people to hear how Texans sound. She chose to write the word "bidness" rather than business because that's how the word sounds when spoken in Texas. She'd write about Texas bidnessmen and politicians in the "Lege" (pronounced like ledge) which was short for the state legislature. You could hear Molly's voice while you were reading her columns and people grew to love her.
Her columns became syndicated and appeared in over 300 newspapers. Molly was unlike most political columnists who people read because they feel they ought to. People read Molly because they loved her.
I remember the first time I had ever heard of Molly was back in 1991 when I was working the afternoon shift and happened to hear a program on my local National Public Radio station. It was one of their pledge drives and they aired a talk by her. I was enchanted by her voice, her manner, her wit and above all her style.
About a week later I was in a book store and was waiting in line to check out with an armload of books when I started looking around. I saw the bookshelf with new releases and saw her book Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? I stepped out of line, grabbed a copy and when I got home I promptly forgot all the titles I had so carefully chosen to purchase and dived into the impulse buy.
I sat in bed reading her columns, howling with laughter and then read passages to my husband. We became Molly Ivins fans and at Christmas I gave copies of her book to both my parents and to my in-laws. They were also won over by her charm.
Here is a small slice of her observations about Texas politics:
"Texas politicians aren't crooks: it's just they tend to have an overdeveloped sense of the extenuatin' circumstance. As they say around the legislature, if you can't drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against 'em anyway, you don't belong in office."
Here is a link to one of her columns called Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh.
That will give you an insight as to how much she loved Texas and how much it showed.
I was fortunate to see her speak twice in person at sold out venues. She was just as witty, charming and personable as one could hope.
I heard Lou Dubose today being interviewed on Pat Thurston's radio program. Lou and Molly co-wrote two books together about George W. Bush. Lou spoke of Molly with fondness and said that she was conversant in French and felt just as comfortable in a salon on the West Bank of Paris as she was in watering holes in East Texas.
She was an incredible woman and will be sorely missed. The world benefited from her wit, wisdom and mighty pen.
Thanks Molly for everything.
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