“As I grow older, the urge to write gets less and less. I’ve pretty much spewed out everything I have to say, none of which has been particularly monumental. I’ve written articulate stuff, reasonably bright stuff over the years, but nothing that will stand the test of time. The good writing, like wine, has to age well with the years, and my stuff is momentarily adequate.”
—Rod Serling, 1972
Girl on the Beach, 1896
Basil Rathbone, 1937
American artist,1836-1910
Moonlight
Lella in Concarneau, 1948
Moonlit Cove, early to mid-1880s
Oil on canvas
14 1/8 x 17 1/8 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Geraldine Chaplin: “For the discipline. My father’s fanatical about discipline. Besides I was so wild, when I was ten, that I don’t know what would have happened if the nuns hadn’t brought me up. They were strict, the nuns, as strict as father, but they were so gentle too. And then the nuns gave me something I didn’t have, they gave me religion. You see, we Chaplin kids were never baptized into any religion. That’s the way father wanted and wants it. We’d never heard any talk of God, we’d never heard a prayer and…well, now I’ll tell you a very silly, a very odd thing.
The first day I went into class, all the girls were standing up praying. I didn’t know about praying, you see, and so I thought they were reciting a lesson. But the second day they stood up again and recited the same lesson again, so I thought, that’s odd, didn’t they say the same lesson yesterday? I turned to one of the girls and asked her: ‘What are you doing?’ ‘We’re praying,’ she said. ‘Praying?’ I said. ‘Yes, praying,’ she said. “Praying to whom?” I said. ‘Praying to God,’ she said. ‘God who?’ I said.
Well, the girl looked at me in amazement and didn’t say any more. So then, when the lesson was over, I went to the nuns and asked who God was: was he the head of the school? The nuns said yes, God was also the head of the school. So then I asked the nuns if I could meet this head of the school and the nuns replied that this head of the school was very good and was taking care of me. If I spoke to Him, He would listen and… well, it was like a fairy tale only more beautiful, and I believed it…“
Q: Is it really true that until you were ten you’d never heard religion spoken of?
Geraldine Chaplin: “No. Never….my father says he’d have liked to be religious, that it would have been a great help to him, but he just can’t be. If he could, he says, he’d put more trust in people. My father is a man with no illusions, and we all grew up without any illusions — except for the early years, when we thought it was Father Christmas who brought us cookies. But by now even the youngest of the children know the cookies come from mother and father, that there is no such person as Father Christmas.”
—Geraldine Chaplin, excerpted from a 1965 interview by Oriana Fallaci, published in The Limelighters
Bank of the Seine, 1949
Approaching a City, 1946
Oil on canvas
27 1/8 x 36 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Vogue, April, 1930
The Godfather (1972)
Screenplay by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola
Based on The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Myrna Loy, 1933
Miss Amelia Van Buren, c. 1891
Oil on canvas
45 x 32 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
“I want a big career, a big man, and a big life. You have to think big — that’s the only way to get it..I just couldn’t stand being anonymous. I don’t want to be just ‘one of the Farrows,’ third from the top and fifth from the bottom.”
—Mia Farrow, 1965
Six O’Clock, Winter, 1912
Oil on canvas
26 1/8 x 32 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C
Djemila
Jerusalem, 1931
Toussaint L’Ouverture series: Contemplation, 1993
Silkscreen on two ply rag paper
32 1/8 x 22 1/8 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Gift of Jacob Lawrence, 1993
Interior My Room, 1933
Boat and Grain Elevators, No. 2, 1942
Oil on hardboard
20 1/8 x 16 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Acquired 1943
Vogue, Oct., 1938
Black Sea, 1959
Oil on canvas
50 x 67 3/4 inches
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Acquired 1965
by Ori Resheff
Israel, 1990
sterling silver
Accession #: 2003.059
Gift of Robert & Karen Avrech to the Mina K. Avrech Collection of Judaica, Yeshiva University Museum
Was the Crawford painted in Buffalo? Those look like our grain elevators and waterfront.
I’m going to answer my own question (Google is my friend!). Those are indeed our grain elevators. Crawford did a whole series on them. They are still standing, and a local treasure.
When I was six I had a babysitter who watched Twilight Zone. I am not afraid of much, but I was terrified by the episode of the talking, murderous doll (maybe that’s why I was never a doll person). Twilight Zone, like Star Trek, was a cult favorite during my college years, but I didn’t enjoy watching–I much preferred Captain Kirk and friends. My oldest daughter saw the TZ mannequin episode and is still spooked by them.
re: Rod Serling, the TV series, “Law and Order” has gone all preachy and it is a shame. They had good writing and a marvelous character actor in Jerry Orbach,
Michael – I am sure that is the reason they were cancelled. I got tired of hearing political messages in the screenplays. Used to watch it every week. Dick Wolf, I read, was hoping that NBC would have kept it awhile longer as that particular franchise would have set some kind of longevity record (against Gunsmoke maybe?)
Robert – as a screenwriter (and a pretty good one!) what do you think of Rod Serling?
I am watching his Twilight Zone series yet again on Netflix.
Obviously some episodes were better than others, and not all were written by Rod but overall I think he was amazing. He had about 20-22 minutes (net from Commercials) to develop a story and then have it turn such that the audience was not expecting it.
The endings many times came from out of nowhere (“I shot an arrow in the air….” really smacked you.
To Serve man –
I shot an arrow in the air – one of my all time favorites
Mirror Image….just to name a few. The other thing I have noticed is how many actors who went on to greatness make appearances here.
Even when CBS dropped the hammer and said because of budgets we can only allow this – Mirror Image is 2 actors and a hotel room –
To me anyway an amazing series
For him to think that nobody would remember them? We’re still talking about his episodes 50 years later!
When I was a kid, I adored The Twilight Zone. It was my favorite TV show. Looking back, I see now that Serling tended to get preachy and even worse, liberal-preachy. But when he was more restrained and let the story tell itself he was very good. His weakness as a writer is on full display in his feature films, which are just awful.
Yeah,
And Robert have a good one of those Shabbat things!
Thanks so much. Have a great weekend.
Thank you for another wonderful Friday Photos edition, Robert.
Time constraints prevent my usual observations (some would say “blathering on”) about your artistic choices, but I will say this: Mia Farrow got her wish. She certainly doesn’t lead an “anonymous” life. Be careful what you wish for…
Have a wonderful Shabbat.
Watch it Joe, blathering is my bailiwick. My friends say I’m a natural.
I always look forward to your blather:-)