HUAC
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“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?”
Eric Bentley edited a script out of the testimony of a number of notable actors, writers and directors who were called in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the beginning of what has come to be called the McCarthy era. Ostensibly the hearings were intended to investigate the Communist infiltration of show… Continue reading
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TROUBLE IN MIND — Alice Childress
I continue to read plays from the past I’ve never gotten to see. Mostly, as I’ve said before, I’m alternating between an anthology of plays that won the Pulitzer Prize early on and an anthology of post-war plays by Black writers. Finally caught up with Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress. It’s been going through… Continue reading
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Icons of the Fifties–Bruce and Holliday
On successive nights I saw shows about two entertainment icons of the 1950s. Neither quite worked, but seeing them in succession triggered a few thoughts. I’m Not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce is by Ronnie Marmo and features him as the groundbreaking comic, and Smart Blonde by Willy Holtzman is a 90-minute survey of the life… Continue reading
Jeffrey Sweet--Making the Scene 