Originally posted on Art of Quotation: “When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: ‘Whose?’ “ — Don Marquis, writer, journalist, humorist ?
via “When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: ‘Whose?’ “ — M o o r e z a r t
My family began on the sea
fleeing a country to enter another
in high hopes of
a happier life.
My mother recounted stories of
explosions during lecture time
she fled so I would
never know what
that sounded like.
My parents worked laboriously
to keep our lives moving.
They often sighed, broken-backed
that we’d have nothing to inherit
when that time came.
I remember all five of us
decorating our artificial Christmas tree
trips to the community pool in summer
long car rides to amusement parks
Homemade birthday cakes with our names drawn on,
playing cards in candlelight
Blackout of 2003
and I know for a fact that they were wrong –
there is nothing in this world
I’d rather inherit
than this.
ROBERT MUELLER is a lifelong conservative Republican and the great hope of every liberal Democrat in the country. A prosecutor who, in nearly forty years in government service, has honored and worked within the parameters of that government and the law, he is the conservative’s conservative. When he was appointed United States attorney in San Francisco–a […]
https://pixabay.com/en/coneflower-blossom-bloom-petal-3521669/
***
Flower bud opens
Colors burst forth in the air
A rainbow is born
***
Free davidbrucehaiku eBooks (pdfs)
https://davidbruceblog.wordpress.com/patreon/
Free eBooks by David Bruce (pdfs)
https://davidbruceblog.wordpress.com/about-the-blogger/
Free eBook: YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIND
https://wordpress.com/post/davidbrucemusic.wordpress.com/5755
Sylvia Miles became an actress because she was incompetent at procuring theatrical props. She was working as a set designer at a Long Island theater when the producer sent her out to get some props. She returned after purchasing the props for $90. This shocked the producer, who told her, “You’re not supposed to pay for props. You’re supposed to rent or borrow them and give them billing.” Ms. Miles, of course, wanted her $90, so the producer said, “Tell you what. I’m going to give you a part in the play and I’ll give you $90 to play the part.”
During a rehearsal for a tour of Maxwell Anderson’s Eve of St. Mark, produced by Jules J. Leventhal, Mr. Leventhal tried to listen to a woman in the cast, but said, “I can’t hear her.” The stage manager said, “What do you care? She stinks.” Mr. Leventhal said, “I know, but for my money I like to hear her stink.” Jack Gilford’s future wife, Madeline, was also in the cast that day, and later she taught her acting students the maxim, “Let them hear you stink.”
Actors John Gielgud and Hugh Griffith once attended a party at which Sir John amused everyone by talking of various productions he had seen of Shakespeare’s Tempest. He especially criticized a particular production, saying it had “quite the worst Caliban I have ever seen.” Noticing how quiet Mr. Griffith was, he said, “You’re very silent, Hugh.” Mr. Griffith replied, “Not as a rule. I was just trying to recall my performance and wondering if you could possibly be right.”
Dorothy Lamour had a tough time making the Road movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Ms. Lamour memorized the script, but Mr. Hope and Mr. Crosby hired writers to come up with extra gags and ad libs for their characters. Once, during a lengthy scene in which Mr. Hope and Mr. Crosby ignored the script, Ms. Lamour finally said, “Hey, boys—will you please let me get my line in?”
Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) was immensely proud of his performances as King Lear. A friend once complimented him: “Mr. Forrest, I never saw you play Lear as well as you did last night.” The compliment, however, mad Mr. Forrest angry. He responded, “Play Lear! What do you mean, sir? I do not play Lear. I play Hamlet, Richard, Shylock, Virginius, but by God, sir, I am Lear!”
Leo McCarey was directing a movie when he ran into trouble with a ham actor. Mr. McCarey told the actor exactly where to stand for a shot, but the actor continued to position himself for better camera exposure. Finally, Mr. McCarey had to tell a member of the crew to nail the actor’s shoes to the floor.
Early in his career, Peter Ustinov appeared in a play with a star who had been chosen to act as himself on stage. When the star asked Mr. Ustinov what he was going to do in the next scene, Mr. Ustinov replied that he was going to do nothing. The star objected, “No! I’m the star. In this scene I do nothing.”
Aaron Ruben was the producer of The Andy Griffith Show, which featured Mr. Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Don Knotts as his incompetent deputy, Barney Fife. Once, someone told Mr. Knotts that Aaron Ruben thought there was a lot of Don Knotts in Barney Fife. Mr. Knotts replied, “Gee, I hope not too much!”
Bob Denver is widely known as Gilligan of Gilligan’s Island, the TV series about a group of people who set out for a three-hour tour, were shipwrecked, and spent three years on an island. Every time Mr. Denver rented a boat, he knew he would hear the same joke: “Three-hour tour, huh? We’ll never see this boat again, will we?”
Kevin Kline has played Hamlet. Before one rehearsal, he sat before a mirror in his dressing room, brooding. An interviewer asked if he was brooding about the difficulty of playing such a complex character as Hamlet. “No,” replied Mr. Kline, “I can handle that, but there’s nothing I can do about my potato nose and I have no upper lip.”
Overweight actor John Banner played Sergeant Schultz, a German prisoner of war camp guard, in TV’s Hogan’s Heroes. In real life, he was a Jew and during World War II, he had been a sergeant in the United States Army. Back then, he was slim and even served as a model in a series of recruiting posters for the Army.
Dr. Samuel Johnson could be complimentary when he choose. When he received a visit from the actress Mrs. Siddons, one of his servants was slow in bringing her a chair. Referring to her ability to sell out a theater, Dr. Johnson said, “You see, madam, wherever you go, there are no seats to be had.”
Sir Herbert Tree was an actor who suffered from stage fright. Waiting to go on stage as Iago, he turned to Constance Benson, who was playing Desdemona, and asked, “Why do we choose a calling that causes us such utterable agony?”
Before Dick Van Dyke walked into an office to talk over what became The Dick Van Dyke Show with executive producer Sheldon Leonard and producer Carl Reiner, they were wondering how many people he would have in his entourage. They were pleasantly surprised when he came alone.
Ned Harrigan wanted his son William to be a good actor, so for the first six weeks that his son was a member of his acting troupe, he had him play all his scenes with his arms down at his sides so that he would be forced to learn to act with his voice and face.
Erich von Stroheim really got into his acting roles. A scene in the play Arsenic and Old Lace called for Joseph Sweeney to restrain Mr. von Stroheim, who was playing a psychopathic murderer. Mr. Sweeney did so, but in the process he received a hernia.
When comedian Jack Oakie (who played the Mussolini character in Charlie Chaplin’s Great Dictator) was pleased with his acting in a movie scene, he used to say, “That was some pretty good pretendin’.”
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
David Bruce’s Lulu Bookstore (Paperbacks)
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/brucebATohioDOTedu
David Bruce’s Amazon Author Bookstore
http://www.amazon.com/David-Bruce/e/B004KEZ7LY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
David Bruce’s Smashwords Bookstore
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bruceb
David Bruce’s Apple iBookstore
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/david-bruce/id81470634
David Bruce’s Barnes and Noble Books
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/david-bruce
Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=David%20Bruce&fcsearchfield=Author
***
When I first came to Spoon River
I did not know whether what they told me
Was true or false.
They would bring me the epitaph
And stand around the shop while I worked
And say “He was so kind,” “He was so wonderful,”
“She was the sweetest woman,” “He was a consistent Christian.”
And I chiseled for them whatever they wished,
All in ignorance of the truth.
But later, as I lived among the people here,
I knew how near to the life
Were the epitaphs that were ordered for them as they died.
But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chisel
And made myself party to the false chronicles
Of the stones,
Even as the historian does who writes
Without knowing the truth,
Or because he is influenced to hide it.
***
I was a lifelong Republican until the day after Trump’s election, but I now
agree with the centrist writers Benjamin Wittes and Jonathan Rauch when they call for voters to support Democrats “mindlessly and mechanically,” because “the Republican Party, as an institution, has become a danger to the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy.”
source: Journalist Max Boot, “America is resisting Trump’s onslaught. Just don’t get cocky.”
“The Nordic model starts with a deep commitment to equality and democracy, because you can’t have one without the other.”
“Four years on, thinking I should settle down, I returned to the United States.
It felt quite a lot like stepping back into that other violent, impoverished world, where anxiety runs high and people are quarrelsome.
I had, in fact, come back to the flip side of Afghanistan and Iraq: to what America’s wars have done to America.
Where I live now, in the homeland, there are not enough shelters for the homeless. Most people are either overworked or hurting for jobs; the housing is overpriced, the hospitals crowded and understaffed, the schools largely segregated and not so good. Opioid or heroin overdose is a popular form…
View original post 25 more words
I don’t want an
open casket funeral
unless
it’s held many years later
davidbruceblog #2 