2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
"Young people, who are still uncertain of their identity, often try on a succession of masks in the hope of finding the one which suits them"the one, in fact, which is not a mask."
W.H. Aude…
"Self-trust is the essence of heroism."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Heroism"
Continue reading Almanac: Ralph Waldo Emerson on heroism at About Last Night.
Part of the havoc wrought by the coronavirus is that artists of all kinds now find it increasingly and fearfully hard to pay their bills and stay afloat. To help them, the painter Makoto Fuj…
In this week's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column I discuss Frank Sinatra's little-remembered career as a part-time orchestral conductor. Here's an excerpt.
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Most p…
George Van Eps plays "The Boy Friend" and "I've Got a Crush on You" on his specially made seven-string electric guitar in a 1987 telecast:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and histo…
Yet one word more: grief boundeth where it falls,
Not with the empty hollowness, but weight:
I take my leave before I have begun,
For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done.
William Shakespear…
In order to divert those of you who, like me, are staying home these days, I've been posting images of some of the prints and paintings that hang on the walls of the Manhattan apartment that…
From 2010:
A friend on the West Coast sent me an e-mail the other day that ended, "Give me a call. We never talk." When I read this, it struck me that the only people I call simply to talk n…
"What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life"to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to ea…
Jason Robards talks about Eugene O'Neill. Robards appeared in the original stage production of Long Day's Journey Into Night and the 1956 New York revival of The Iceman Cometh:
(This …
"Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ag…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the American Shakespeare Center's webcasts of Much Ado About Nothing and both parts of Henry IV. Here's an excerpt.
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As America's t…
Some of Manie's Friends, an extremely rare kinescope of a televised tribute to Manie Sacks, the recording-company executive, hosted by Perry Como and originally broadcast by NBC on March 3, …
"There's nothing as safe as ignorance"or as dangerous."
Rex Stout, "The Squirt and the Monkey"
Continue reading Almanac: Rex Stout on ignorance at About Last Night.
"Ignorance is a kind of insanity in the human animal. People who delight in torturing defenseless children or tiny creatures are in reality insane. The terrible thing is that people who are …
"Nichols and May: Take Two," an American Masters documentary about Elaine May and Mike Nichols originally telecast on PBS in 1996:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-re…
"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something yo…
From 2010:
Each day is, of course, its own challenge, and I'm sure that I'll forget to be grateful for all my good fortune at some particularly exasperating point in the week to come. But th…
"Fortune is the least capricious of deities, and arranges things on the just and rigid system that no one shall be very happy for very long."
Evelyn Waugh, Labels (courtesy of Richard Zue…
Many of you have been asking if there are plans for a funeral or memorial service for Hilary Teachout, my beloved wife, who died peacefully on Tuesday night after we spent our last good day …
A few days after my beloved Hilary received her double-lung transplant, I published an open letter in The Wall Street Journal addressed to the family of the anonymous organ donor, now dec…
George Balanchine and Suzanne Farrell dance the "vision scene" from Balanchine's Don Quixote, choreographed in 1965. The score is by Nicolas Nabokov:
(This is the latest in a series of a…
"Such is the life of man. A few joys, quickly obliterated by unforgettable sorrows.
"There is no need to tell the children so."
Marcel Pagnol, In My Mother's Castle (courtesy of Bruce Baw…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review a pay-per-view webcast performance by Houston's Alley Theatre of a stage version of 1984. (This review was written before the death of my wife Hilary.…
This is, first of all, an expression of profound gratitude. I knew that many people were following the unfolding story of my beloved Hilary, but I had no idea how many until I posted this tr…
