![Marlon Brando applying his make-up on the set of On the Waterfront (1954, dir. Elia Kazan) “[In On the Waterfront] there was a scene in a taxicab, where I turn to my brother, who’s come to turn me over to the gangsters, and I lament to him that he never looked after me, he never gave me a chance, that I could have been a contender, I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum…It was very moving. And people often spoke about that, ‘Oh, my God, what a wonderful scene, Marlon, blah blah blah blah blah.’ It wasn’t wonderful at all. The situation was wonderful. Everybody feels like he could have been a contender, he could have been somebody, everybody feels as though he’s partly bum, some part of him. He is not fulfilled and he could have done better, he could have been better. Everybody feels a sense of loss about something. So that was what touched people. It wasn’t the scene itself. There are other scenes where you’ll find actors being expert, but since the audience can’t clearly identify with them, they just pass unnoticed. Wonderful scenes never get mentioned, only those scenes that affect people.” -Brando, quoted in Lawrence Grobel's Conversations with Brando (1993)](http://www.seraphicpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/brando.jpg)
“[In On the Waterfront] there was a scene in a taxicab, where I turn to my brother, who’s come to turn me over to the gangsters, and I lament to him that he never looked after me, he never gave me a chance, that I could have been a contender, I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum…It was very moving. And people often spoke about that, ‘Oh, my God, what a wonderful scene, Marlon, blah blah blah blah blah.’
It wasn’t wonderful at all. The situation was wonderful. Everybody feels like he could have been a contender, he could have been somebody, everybody feels as though he’s partly bum, some part of him. He is not fulfilled and he could have done better, he could have been better. Everybody feels a sense of loss about something. So that was what touched people. It wasn’t the scene itself. There are other scenes where you’ll find actors being expert, but since the audience can’t clearly identify with them, they just pass unnoticed. Wonderful scenes never get mentioned, only those scenes that affect people.”
-Brando, quoted in Lawrence Grobel’s Conversations with Brando (1993)
—Alla Nazimova (b. Marem-Ides Leventon) 1923.
How do we know the pain or another’s earlier years, let alone all that he drags with him since along the way at best a lot of leeway is needed for the other – yet how much is unhealthy for one to bear. I think to love bravely is the best and accept – as much as one can bear.”
—Marilyn Monroe, quoted in Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters
Photo by Andre de Dienes, ’50.
I posted a Yom Kippur greeting, but for some reason, it didn’t come out. I wish all the religious Jews on this website an easy fast. May you be inscribed ro a good and sweet year.
Some great art this week. I love Hopper’s Rooms for Tourists, which is beautiful and warm as I can imagine. I don’t love Nighthawks, though I appreciate the contrast between in and out, and the color within. I’m conflicted about Office at Night.
Paris Rooftop is great, the composition, the lines and shapes.
I like the Apolonia too — modern dressing up as ancient — what’s it about?
I have no idea what’s going on in Natalia’s Letters, but it’s beautiful.
The two modern pieces are wasted on me.
I have no idea what’s going on with Apolonia. I’ve just recently become aware of the photographer’s work. It is part of a series. But doesn’t she look like she’s holding a lulav?
Yeah, a pasul one!
Can’t stop looking at the crazy quilt of Paris Rooftop.
And will you look at the drab surroundings of MM’s chupah? Looks like they had it in some shul’s basement social hall. I would have expected something a bit more schmaltzy.
She particularly enjoyed the matzo ball soup that was served at the Miller home. One evening, after consuming a big bowl of the soup, MM asked: “Gee, isn’t there any other part of the matzo you can eat?”
Wasn’t she a little old to think that was funny?
I visited a family, recently, that had a parody of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” hanging in their living room. The luncheonette sign was in Hebrew.
Well, it made me laugh, and I’m 53.
Heard this story from an elderly friend. Don’t know if it’s apocryphal or true: the first time Arthur Miller brought MM home to meet his parents at their modest apartment, MM excused herself to use the loo. For privacy, she turned on the tap and let the water run at maximum to provide ‘white noise’. After a few minutes the senior Mr. Miller commented to his son, “Zizz a shayne maydel, ubbe ze pisht azoi vee a fehrt” [translation from the Yiddish: “She’s a beautiful girl, but she pisses like a horse”]
Good Shabbos Vayelech,
Joe
That story is not true. I don’t know how it got started. But I have also heard it numerous times. MM was very close to Isidore. Even after her divorce from Arthur, she remained in touch with him and invited him to be her escort at several functions. Of course, MM was always looking for a father.
Shortly after Arthur Miller died, somebody posted an obituary on the Internet. It was a long critique of why Willy Loman, in Death of a Salesman, was not a fair portrait of Isidore Miller.
Both profound comments – both my Brando and MM. I still can’t get over MM in your younger days when she looked like th girl next door – and her movie star days. Inside she was probably the GND with all of her problems until the day she died.
BTW Ariel, by the way she positions her glasses, seems like a Hollywood player! Has she offered to do lunch with you yet Robert?
My grandson Ariel is a boy. And we will do lunch over the holiday of Succot which comes after Yom Kippur.
Mea culpa Robert. I suspected that but I had never seen you mentioning him before. You most likely have; my memory these days seems to come and go. Had to go to AAA (that’s 3 A’s; not 2) to reorder a vehicle registration card because apparently in my zeal to clean out the car I tossed the current registration.
That’s just for starters; I don’t want to bore you with all the rest of my stories.
That and looking at my above text with all the typos; more specifically wrong words – wondering if I have my last grip on sanity.
Regarding your comment yesterday that the world is on fire – it has been my belief for some time.
The only thing that I can cling too is knowing ultimately that G*d is still in charge.
Bill:
Don’t worry about it. Have a great weekend.
“I am vain, and afraid that I’ll leave nothing of myself behind when I die, nothing to be remembered by…An actress is dead when the last person to remember her dies! And that’s not enough for me!”-Alla Nazimova
What every atheist knows, unknowingly.
I had a similar reaction. This is at the core of all belief. We live and are remembered for all time. The zichronos prayer of Rosh Hashanah. Awe-inspiring yet comforting.
I love Hopper. I like Wolf. Stout is… I’m not sure. Callahan, umm, I don’t get it.
Stout was a pioneering abstract painter. Callahan was one of the great photographers of the modern era.
Stout “Number 3” doesn’t move me. It doesn’t inspire or awe me. (which is what I’m looking for in my art). Frankly, it looks like someone creating the letter U in a modern font using FontForge.
Is “Weed Against a Sky” a photograph or a painting?
Weed is a photograph. Callahan was a modern master.
LOL – I saw that title (Number 3), and my first thought was, “That’s not a 3! That’s a U!” But I am a part-time typographer.
I like the Callahan. Not only is the weed reaching for the sky, it’s also shaking both fists.