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Florence James
May. 6th, 2009 09:37 pmI spent the entire afternoon with a laptop & several boxes of manuscripts in the Special Collections room of the UW.
I learned three things from primary document research today:
1.Anyone who grew up in the age of Google & ctl+f is luckier than they even know. Searching through folders of loose-leaf papers for particular key-words that will probably not even be here is part of research, totally necessary, & really, really frustrating.
2. On the plus side: Florence left behind piles of notes for her autobiography as well as several drafts & revisions.
On the minus side: I can't decipher her handwriting.
...oh well.
3. Florence James is really, really cool, & if I didn't have a) a deadline, b) a necessity for context & c) work during most of the open hours of Special Collections, I would probably just write her biography instead of this paper.
4. If I ever need a project (not that this will ever happen, since I generally seem to have a plethora of them), remind me that I could always go in & edit Florence Bean James' manuscripts and actually publish her memoirs, since she never did. I don't know that anyone outside of the relatively small circle of theater people / Seattle historians would find it that interesting, but that might be enough; & it really is a fascinating insight into what theater was like here before Gregory Falls and the Seattle Rep (Theater, not Playhouse), & the burgeoning theater scene that really got started in the 60s.
Some quotes I liked:
“In 'What is Art' Leo Tolstoy defines good art as art that unites people, and bad art as art that divides people. The same may be said about good or bad directing. Directing must unite not only the multiplicity of details, but also the play with the audience as well as the members of the cast.”
-FBJ, fragments of FUAS.
“This departure of matured members of the group for the uncertain fame of the theatre capitols was a matter that irked Florence considerably. She was wont to observe quite often that the only thing that ever succeeded and didn't move away was Mount Rainier, and also that it was the only local attraction that didn't have to work itself to the edge of the grave to be a success.”
- Biography, bk 2 ch 4 p3
On the censoring of Lysistrata:
"A meeting was called, the matter was discussed. How could they know what they were censoring unless they saw it? Don Abel, State Supervisor of the W.P.A., sent his wife and secretary to the opening. Another meeting was called the next day. Mr. Abel reported that his wife and secretary said the play was "indecent and bawdy."
My husband said, "my wife directed it. Does that mean that my wife's tastes are 'bawdy and indecent,' or that your wife doesn't know anything about theater, and in any event shouldn't be permitted to censor productions?""
Box 2-11, p. 8
In other news, our preview was tonight--some good moments, some wonky moments, overall pretty much what a preview should be. Now I must watch Othello, two hours and forty-five minutes of Olivier in blackface...hmm. I hope it will be good.
I learned three things from primary document research today:
1.Anyone who grew up in the age of Google & ctl+f is luckier than they even know. Searching through folders of loose-leaf papers for particular key-words that will probably not even be here is part of research, totally necessary, & really, really frustrating.
2. On the plus side: Florence left behind piles of notes for her autobiography as well as several drafts & revisions.
On the minus side: I can't decipher her handwriting.
...oh well.
3. Florence James is really, really cool, & if I didn't have a) a deadline, b) a necessity for context & c) work during most of the open hours of Special Collections, I would probably just write her biography instead of this paper.
4. If I ever need a project (not that this will ever happen, since I generally seem to have a plethora of them), remind me that I could always go in & edit Florence Bean James' manuscripts and actually publish her memoirs, since she never did. I don't know that anyone outside of the relatively small circle of theater people / Seattle historians would find it that interesting, but that might be enough; & it really is a fascinating insight into what theater was like here before Gregory Falls and the Seattle Rep (Theater, not Playhouse), & the burgeoning theater scene that really got started in the 60s.
Some quotes I liked:
“In 'What is Art' Leo Tolstoy defines good art as art that unites people, and bad art as art that divides people. The same may be said about good or bad directing. Directing must unite not only the multiplicity of details, but also the play with the audience as well as the members of the cast.”
-FBJ, fragments of FUAS.
“This departure of matured members of the group for the uncertain fame of the theatre capitols was a matter that irked Florence considerably. She was wont to observe quite often that the only thing that ever succeeded and didn't move away was Mount Rainier, and also that it was the only local attraction that didn't have to work itself to the edge of the grave to be a success.”
- Biography, bk 2 ch 4 p3
On the censoring of Lysistrata:
"A meeting was called, the matter was discussed. How could they know what they were censoring unless they saw it? Don Abel, State Supervisor of the W.P.A., sent his wife and secretary to the opening. Another meeting was called the next day. Mr. Abel reported that his wife and secretary said the play was "indecent and bawdy."
My husband said, "my wife directed it. Does that mean that my wife's tastes are 'bawdy and indecent,' or that your wife doesn't know anything about theater, and in any event shouldn't be permitted to censor productions?""
Box 2-11, p. 8
In other news, our preview was tonight--some good moments, some wonky moments, overall pretty much what a preview should be. Now I must watch Othello, two hours and forty-five minutes of Olivier in blackface...hmm. I hope it will be good.
