Maybe, maybe, maybe this is it

[sovay]

This is more than five things. I say it's still a post.

New Mission of Burma. I have to wait till July?

(Why have I not even read The Hunger Games and I want somebody to vid the movie to "Academy Fight Song"? Seriously, brain.)

Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Discovered via cover photo here. I can't believe I'd never heard of her.

New England Conservatory is giving Benjamin Britten and W.H. Auden's Paul Bunyan (1941) its Boston premiere. American myth by the archetypally British. It is not supposed to be the best thing either of them ever wrote. Yes, please.

A radio adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones' Witch Week?

Grow a sunflower for Alan Turing!

I don't even like baseball and I wish I'd written this poem.

I would have enjoyed Lover Come Back (1961) more if I had not desired to go after the script with a brickbat almost every time gender came up, which was constantly, but an entire plot thread was pretty much redeemed by Tony Randall proclaiming himself the king of the elevator.

rushthatspeaks is showing me the pilot of Due South (1994–1999) this afternoon.

I should do things till then.

Comments

[larryhammer]

One wonders about Annemarie Schwarzenbach*'s relationship with Erika Mann's husband, Wystan.


* Who, let it be said for the record, is hot.

---L.

[sovay]

One wonders about Annemarie Schwarzenbach*'s relationship with Erika Mann's husband, Wystan.

THAT COMBUSTING NOISE YOU HEAR WAS MY BRAIN.

WHY AM I JUST FINDING OUT ABOUT ALL OF THIS NOW?

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

I must have known that. I must have. But WHOA I DID NOT KNOW THAT EVEN THOUGH I MUST HAVE. [lies like black beetle on back on floor flailing]

[sovay]

But WHOA I DID NOT KNOW THAT EVEN THOUGH I MUST HAVE.

I had no idea, so I'm just sputtering and fusing here. I don't expect random crossovers between the artistic circles I've been reading for years, even though the lesson all history seems to be teaching me is that everyone knew everyone else; I just didn't.

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

The reason I'm sure I must have known this is that I distinctly recall reading a biography of Auden, and it was some standard thing, not a little memoir, so I'm SURE it would have mentioned his getting married, however briefly. Of course what I actually remember is stuff about his peeing in the sink, urk. (Ah, the habits of Great Men.)

You realize the biographers chronicling our generation are going to be gleefully identifying internet pseudonyms -- there will be articles about how someone figured out that so-and-so on Livejournal was also thus-and-such on Disqus, which means zie must be Famous Person's Sibling, etc. Heck, I can't remember half the time who's who on Livejournal, even though I know most people's real names if I care to dig back a little way.

[sovay]

You realize the biographers chronicling our generation are going to be gleefully identifying internet pseudonyms -- there will be articles about how someone figured out that so-and-so on Livejournal was also thus-and-such on Disqus, which means zie must be Famous Person's Sibling, etc.

That will be so much fun to read.

Heck, I can't remember half the time who's who on Livejournal, even though I know most people's real names if I care to dig back a little way.

Most of my friendlist are people I know in some offline capacity, but there are still a few whose names are unknown to me. One I just learned yesterday.

[larryhammer]

Me, I'm coming at this from the other direction: I know something of the Auden/Isherwood tangle of relationships -- WHY HAVEN'T I LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE MANNS' CIRCLE BEFORE NOW?

---L.

[sovay]

WHY HAVEN'T I LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE MANNS' CIRCLE BEFORE NOW?

Pamela Wedekind. Daughter of Frank Wedekind who wrote Spring Awakening (whose original production starred Peter Lorre and Lotte Lenya) and the Lulu plays (whose film adaptation starred Louise Brooks). Herself a cabaret singer, married to Carl Sternheim (Expressionist playwright, although I admit I've never seen any of his plays). That's just one of Mann's lovers. She had a role in the landmark lesbian film Mädchen in Uniform (1931). And everyone winds up in New York City with World War II! What the hell, universe. What the hell!

[larryhammer]

Lessee -- spinning out the other direction on cabaret singers: Auden wrote "O Tell Me the Truth About Love" and "Funeral Blues," both set to music by Britten, to be sung by Hedli Anderson, who eventually married Louis MacNeice. Britten, of course, during the War lived in a Brooklyn house shared with Auden and others -- including of all people Carson McCullers (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter). (I somehow feel she ought to have a Mann-wise connection, but I'm not finding one.) Gypsy Rose Lee was also part of that set in the early 40s.

---L.

[sovay]

including of all people Carson McCullers (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter). (I somehow feel she ought to have a Mann-wise connection, but I'm not finding one.)

She was in love with Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Bingo.

Gypsy Rose Lee was also part of that set in the early 40s.

That I know—I missed the musical about it!

[larryhammer]

*blink* Bingo indeed. Whee.

---L.