October 7, 2021 – davidbruceblog #2

Jenny L: Haiku #396 — Exclusive Inflictions

Life’s full of closed roads,
and it’s the detours that lead
us to the unknowns
Haiku #396 — Exclusive Inflictions

Jennie Video on The Kelly Clarkson Show — A Teacher’s Reflections

For my blogging friends who are unable to see The Kelly Clarkson Show, here is a clip of my part on the show. Many bloggers have wanted to see me on the show, so here I am:
https://www.nbc.com/the-kelly-clarkson-show/video/preschool-teacher-gets-huge-surprise-after-35-years-connecting-kids-with-books/824261977
I cannot say enough about Kelly, her team, and the ‘bottom line’ of everyone on the show […]
Jennie Video on The Kelly Clarkson Show — A Teacher’s Reflections

https://www.nbc.com/the-kelly-clarkson-show/video/preschool-teacher-gets-huge-surprise-after-35-years-connecting-kids-with-books/824261977

David Bruce: The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes — Sex, Shakespeare

Sex

• During the “Popish terror” of 1681, English citizens were very angry at Catholics. Thinking that actress Nell Gwyn was King Charles II’s Catholic mistress, they surrounded her carriage, but she was able to save herself by pointing out, correctly, “Good people, let me pass. I am the Protestant whore.”

• British actor Pitt Wilkinson once walked into the kitchen of his boarding house, only to discover his landlady on top of the kitchen table having sex with the milkman. She looked at him and calmly said, “I bet you think I’m a right flirt, don’t you?”

• Comte Robert de Montesquiou, a cultured homosexual, fell so deeply in love with actress Sarah Bernhardt that he had sex with her. Big mistake. The only heterosexual sex that he had in his life made him feel ill for an entire day.

Shakespeare

• As a student at Eton, Patrick Macnee was cast as Macduff in a performance of Macbeth. Playing Lady Macbeth was a young boy named Simon Phipps. Unfortunately, the wardrobe woman made a mistake when she designed young Simon’s costume — she used a couple of pieces of metal to give Lady Macbeth a 38-inch bust. Young Simon’s appearance as Lady Macbeth was punctuated with wolf whistles from the all-male audience. Reviews of the play stated that Mr. Macnee didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, so a friend suggested that he should have grabbed Lady Macbeth.

• H. Chance Newton used to tell a story about a cousin of his who was suddenly called on to play the part of Osric in Hamlet. Being unfamiliar with the part, he put a copy of the play in Osric’s hat, planning to look up his dialogue as needed. Unfortunately, he came across a word he was unfamiliar with and hesitated during a speech. An audience member in the balcony, who had been observing the actor reading the copy of the play hidden in his hat, called out, “SPELL IT, OLD PAL! WE’LL TELL YOU WHAT IT IS!”

• In Macbeth, the character of Lady Macbeth disappears between the banquet scene in the middle of Act 3 and the sleepwalking scene at the beginning of act 5. Because of this long absence from the stage, some very good actresses have declined to play Lady Macbeth. For example, Edith Evans would not play Lady Macbeth because, she explained, the play has “a page missing.”

• Drama critic Sheridan Morley remembers overhearing an interesting conversation at a performance of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. At the end of the play, the stage was strewn with dead characters. As the curtain slowly dropped, hiding the corpses, Mr. Morley heard a woman telling her friend, “The very same thing, dear, happened to Maureen.”

• Sinead Cusack prepares physically for her roles in Shakespeare. Because she feels that Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing is graceful with “fluid” movements, she learned to dance before playing the role. And because she thinks Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew has “jagged” movements, she pumped iron before playing that role.

• After playing King Lear, Sir Henry Irving made his bows and spoke a few words to the audience. A member of the audience shouted, “Why didn’t you speak like that before?” Mystified, Sir Henry turned to actress Ellen Terry, who told him that all during the play she had not been able to understand anything he had said.

• While preparing a wall for his stage production of Romeo and Juliet, realist director Franco Zeffirelli flicked a brush soaked with dirty and watery paint about 18 inches from the bottom of the wall, explaining, “This is where the dogs pee.” He then flicked the brush higher on the wall, adding, “and this is where the men pee.”

***

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Music Recommendation: The Corbin Marsh Band — “Bottom Shelf Blues”

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Bottom Shelf Blues”

EP: WHEEL SPINNING ’ROUND

Artist: Corbin Marsh Band

Artist Location: Athens, Ohio

Info: A concentrated serving of self-penned blues tunes that hails from a land far from the realms of beat-correction and auto-tuned robot vocals.

All songs written and performed by Corbin Marsh Band.
Mike Flynn – Lead Guitar
J.J. Reed – Bass
Chris Lee – Drums, Organ, Backing Vocals
Corbin Marsh – Rhythm Vocals, Lead Vocals

Also featuring:
Stephen “Tebbs” Karney – Pedal Steel Guitar on Tracks 1, 2, & 5
Laurel Buschle – Backing Vocals on Tracks 1, 2, & 5

“Corbin Marsh has been stomping out country blues across the United States for only the better half of a decade, but at just 26 years old, he has the voice and playing style one would expect from a seasoned veteran. Channeling legends like Son House, Lightnin’ Hopkins and contemporary inspirations like Justin Townes Earle and Lucinda Williams, Marsh pens timeless ballads of death, deception and barroom laments of love lost.

“In November of 2010, Corbin joined blues guitar veteran Mike Flynn and longtime collaborator Chris Lee on drums to form Corbin Marsh Band. Joined later by Jeff Stritholdt of Makebelieves’ fame on bass, the group brought explosive and dynamic energy to Marsh’s tunes. The group also breathes new life to century old traditionals and blues songs by Robert Johnson, Elizabeth Cotten and others. In July of 2012, they released their first official EP, ‘Wheel Spinning ‘Round.’” [From the year 2012]

— https://www.reggieslive.com/show/corbin-marsh/