“The green-clad tough guy of the Lollipop Guild who famously handed Dorothy (Judy Garland) a giant lollipop … Maren moved beyond society’s stereotypes of shortness to make a successful living as an actor and spokesman. He racked up nearly 100 film and TV credits and starred in several commercials. He also played McDonald’s Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese, as well as Buster Brown and Little Oscar in Oscar Mayer’s 1950s ad campaigns.”
Tag: 06.06.18
At Age 99, Lawrence Ferlinghetti Has A New Novel Coming Out
“The novel, titled Little Boy, fuses elements of autobiography, literary criticism, poetry and philosophy, in a headlong, often stream-of-consciousness style. ‘It’s not a memoir, it’s an imaginary me,’ Mr. Ferlinghetti said in a phone interview. ‘It’s an experimental novel, let’s put it that way.'”
DC’s Forum Theatre Shuts Down
“Forum Theatre, the little company in Silver Spring that on a modest scale championed some of the most advanced ideas in modern playgoing, announced Wednesday that it would be closing shop for good on July 31, after 14 years of putting on adventurous shows. … Factors includ[ed] the crowded theater landscape in the region and [artistic director Michael] Dove’s desire to explore more esoteric kinds of theater than could be sustained by the company.”
Playwright Joe Pintauro, 87
“[He] made the unusual career switch from priest to playwright and [his] works” — among them Snow Orchid, Beside Herself, The Dead Boy, and Raft of the Medusa — “were staged by the Circle Repertory Company in New York and numerous regional theaters.”
How To Fix The Mess At Chicago’s DuSable Museum
“The DuSable Museum of African American History, which has the largest collection of African-American historical artifacts in the country, is facing a crisis of underfunding and management at a time when it should be getting ready for the arrival the Obama Presidential Center … First, though, the 57-year-old museum must regain financial and organizational stability in its day-to-day operations. If it can’t, it’s not clear it will survive until 2020, let alone the next decade or two. [Here’s what’s] on the punch list.”
Here’s Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Idea Of What A Great Classical Concert Could Be
“‘Foreign Bodies’ [is] a one-night-only interdisciplinary extravaganza on Friday that marks the end of his three-year tenure as the [New York Philharmonic’s] composer in residence. But the program isn’t only a showcase of Mr. Salonen’s work; he shares billing with the New York premiere of a violin concerto by Daniel Bjarnason, a video installation by Tal Rosner and choreography by Wayne McGregor. If anything, the evening is a manifesto for what Mr. Salonen thinks the 21st-century concert could — and should — be.”
The First Livable 3D-Printed Houses Are Coming
“In what is considered a world first, a single-floor, three-room house made of 3D-printed concrete will be ready for occupation in 2019. More than 20 people have already registered their interest in the house since Dutch construction company Van Wijnen announced the project. It will be the first of five 3D concrete homes to be built in a wood in [the Dutch city of Eindhoven].”
Kamila Shamsie’s ‘Home Fire’ Wins Women’s Prize For Fiction
“The British Pakistani author’s seventh novel” – which edged out Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, winner of the US National Book Award – “reworks Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone to tell the story of a British Muslim family’s connection to Islamic State … The [£30,000] annual award, which has been won by authors including Lionel Shriver, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Naomi Alderman in the last two decades, was previously known as the Orange prize and the Baileys prize.”
A Portrait Of The New Broadway Producer
At 42, Jordan Roth has become Broadway’s singular showman, pushing the boundaries of what it means — and, yes, what it looks like — to be a theater tycoon. In a famously flop-prone industry, he is wrapping up his best season ever — successfully luring not only Bruce Springsteen but also Disney (“Frozen”) and Tina Fey (“Mean Girls”) to his theaters, joining the long-running hits “The Book of Mormon” and “Kinky Boots.” He has three Tony Awards as a producer, and this weekend he is vying for a fourth, for a starry revival of “Angels in America.” As his confidence has grown, so has his appetite for provocative self-expression.
Here’s What It’s Like To Audition To Perform In NY’s Subway
It may come as a surprise that some, but not all subway performers in NYC subway stations, have passed a rigorous audition process.