Synopses & Reviews
The Studs Terkel Interviews: Film and Theater collects the Pulitzer Prizewinning oral historians remarkable conversations with some of the greatest luminaries of film and theater. Originally published under the title The Spectator, this knowledgeable and perceptive” (Library Journal) look at show business presents the actors directors, playwrights, dancers, lyricists, and others who created the dramatic works of the twentieth century.
Among the many highlights in these pages, Buster Keaton explains the wonders of unscripted silent comedy, Federico Fellini reflects on honesty in art, Carol Channing reveals that she is far more serious than she lets on, and Marlon Brando turns the tables and wants to interview Terkel. We learn about crucial artistic decisions in the lives of Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee and hear from a range of film directors, from Vittorio De Sica and King Vidor to Satyajit Ray. We even get to witness Terkel playing straight man to a wildly inventive Zero Mostel. Because Terkel knows his subjects work intimately, he asks precisely the right questions to elicit the most revealing responses. As the New York Times Book Review noted, Terkels knowledge and force of personality make him fully a player alongside his famous guests.”
About the Author
Studs Terkel (1912–2008) was an award-winning author and radio broadcaster. He is the author of Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession; Division Street: America, Coming of
Table of Contents
Overture -- Prologue: morning, noon, and night (with Jack Kirkland) -- Act One. Beginnings. In the wings (with Francois Truffaut). Buster Keaton. Lillian Gish. King Vidor. Vittorio De Sica -- Say it with music. Eubie Blake. Agnes DeMille. Carol Channing (and Talluah Bankhead) -- Hard Times. Arthur Miller. Eva LeGallienne. Hiram (Chub) Sherman. E.Y. (Yip) Harburg. Harold Clurman. -- Chicago Boom-Boom. James Cagney -- War. War movies. On seeing The Deer Hunter. Pauline Kael -- O Death. Lila Kedrova. Reflections on The Last Mile and Watch on the Rhine. John Randolph on Alfred Lunt --Kindness of strangers. Tennessee Williams (and Claudia Cassidy). Geraldine Page. Marlon Brando -- Act Two. Ways of seeing. Federico Fellini (and Marcello Mastroianni and Alain Cuny). Rene Clair. Satyajit Ray (and Ravi Shankar) -- Ways of doing. Francoise Rosay. Ruth Gordon. Simone Signoret -- Ways of seeing II. Ian McKellan. Jonathan Miller -- A touch of Shaw. Sybil Thorndike. Robert Morley -- Bert and Sam: Brecht and Beckett. Kenneth Tynan (and Peter Hall). Lotte Lenya (and Arnold Sundgaard). Joan Littlewood. Alan Schneider. Gilbert Moses (and Joe Lattimore). Rick Cluchey. E.G. Marshall -- Act Three. Solo flight. Ruth Draper. Emlyn Williams. Hal Holbrook -- Out of the shadows. Moms Mabley. Lorraine Hansberry. James Baldwin. August Wilson (and Clifford Burke) -- Success. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Uta Hagen -- Winners and losers. William Saroyan (and Bill Veeck). Jose Quintero. Jose Quintero and Jason Robards. E.G. Marshall. Edward Albee -- The Clowns. Marcel marceau. Jacques Tati. Zero Mostel (and Eugene Ionesco) -- Epilogue. Burr Tillstrom.