2,374 stories by "TERRY TEACHOUT"
Ray Bolger and Ann Miller perform Irving Berlin's "Puttin' on the Ritz" on "Music of the Movies," a 1966 episode of The Bell Telephone Hour originally telecast by NBC on March 13, 1966: (…
"Journalists follow authority as sharks do a liner, hoping to feed off the waste it discharges, with perhaps someone occasionally falling overboard to make a meal, and once in a way the whol…
"It is always easy to talk to someone with whom one is going to become intimate; the future casts its shadow backwards, and there is no explaining to be sone, even though there is everything…
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, I discuss Nan Goldin's protests at museums that accept charitable contributions from the Sackler family. Here's an excerpt. *  *…
Johnny Mercer is interviewed by Ralph Price in 1962 on WSAV-TV of Savannah, Georgia, his home town: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this sp…
"I have never been able to relate my feelings about people as individuals to my relations to their public attitudes and behaviour, whether approving or disapproving"something that has often …
From 2009: Eric Gibson, my editor at The Wall Street Journal, called to tell me of the death of John Updike. "What city are you in?" he asked. I went blank. "Wait a minute," I said, then …
"It is terrifying how suddenly fate becomes invincible and how unsuspectingly we accept it." Salka Viertel, The Kindness of Strangers
Wes Montgomery plays Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" on Belgian TV in 1958. He is accompanied by Harold Mabern on piano, Arthur Harper on bass, and Jimmy Lovelace on drums: (This is th…
"A society of atheists would immediately invent a religion." Honoré de Balzac, The Social Catechism
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column, I review an important off-Broadway revival of Seán O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman. Here's an excerpt. *  *  * In Ireland, Seá…
From 2009: Of all the countless newspaper and magazine pieces that I've written over the years, one of the most immediately consequential was "Too Cool to Cash In, Favorite of the Few," whic…
"Commentators on the political scene tend in retrospect to regard the figures who emerge into prominence as totally derisory. Understandably so. It is extremely difficult, as I know from per…
I wrote a Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column in 2015 about Edward G. Robinson's art collection. It's no longer widely remembered, but Robinson, the greatest of all big-screen gangsters, …
Salvador Dalà is interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge on Panorama. This program was originally telecast by the BBC on May 4, 1955: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-r…
"I also learnt at an early age the great truth that the twentieth century is an age of almost inconceivable credulity, in which critical faculties are stifled by a plethora of public persuas…
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column, I review Classic Stage Company's off-Broadway repertory productions of two plays by August Strindberg. Here's an excerpt. * * …
The John Wilson Orchestra plays a medley of cues composed by Scott Bradley for MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons, performed live at the 2013 BBC Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall. The cartoo…
"Atheism is, I suppose, the supreme example of a simple faith." G.K. Chesterton, Where All Roads Lead
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, I look at an important new tendency in charitable giving. Here's an excerpt. * * * New York's Museum of Modern A…
"Meg had spent the time in working as well as waiting, growing womanly in character, wise in housewifery arts, and prettier than ever; for love is a great beautifier." Louisa May Alcott,…
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen appears as the mystery guest on What's My Line? John Daly is the host and the panelists are Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, David Niven. This episode …
"For the majority of English people there are only two religions, Roman Catholic, which is wrong, and the rest, which don’t matter." Duff Cooper, Old Men Forget
From 2009: Many years ago I worked as a teller in a downtown Kansas City bank, a job that allowed me to pay the rent while simultaneously playing jazz and writing concert reviews for the …
"It requires moral courage to grieve; it requires religious courage to rejoice." Søren Kierkegaard, journal entry, July 19, 1840
