2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
Walter Brennan is the guest on This Is Your Life, hosted by Ralph Edwards. This episode was originally telecast live by NBC on March 30, 1955:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- an…
"What makes Puccini a greater composer of operas than, in my humble opinion, a great composer, is that he knows how long it takes a person to cross the room."
Benjamin Britten (quoted in Pau…
From 2004:
Prior to the release in 1988 of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I no longer watched animated cartoons save on the rare occasions when I found myself in a hotel room on a Saturday morn…
"I am an arrogant and impatient listener, but in the case of a few composers, a very few, when I hear a work I do not like I am convinced it is my own fault. Verdi is one of those composers.…
Mrs. T's doctors told me a few minutes ago that she is continuing to make excellent progress recovering from last weekend's double-lung transplant surgery. She has been fully sedated since t…
"Night Club Boom," a March of Time newsreel about New York nightclubs originally released in 1946. Among the musicians seen performing are Jimmy Dorsey, the Ink Spots, and Eddie Condon's …
"Do you wish to find out a person's weak points? Note the failings he has the quickest eye for in others. They may not be the very failings he is himself conscious of; but they will be their…
I've written an open letter to the family of the anonymous, now-deceased organ donor whose lungs were transplanted into Mrs. T's chest this week. You'll find it on the op-ed page of today's …
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.
Emily Dickinson, "If I can stop one Heart from breaking"
Continu…
Mrs. T continues to recover smoothly from her double-lung transplant surgery. Her chest cavity, which was deliberately left open after the operation, was washed out and closed up last night,…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the off-Broadway premiere of Katori Hall's The Hot Wing King and the Broadway transfer of Girl From the North Country. Here's an excerpt.
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Bing Crosby sings "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, on an episode of The Hollywood Palace originally telecast by ABC on March 1, 1969:
(This is the latest in a seri…
"There must be a spice of mischief and wilfulness thrown into the cup of our existence to give it its sharp taste and sparkling colour."
William Hazlitt, "On Depth and Superficiality"
Contin…
A new episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening …
In today's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, I discuss Hollywood movies whose subject matter is infectious disease, with special reference to Panic in the Streets, directed by Elia Kaz…
"There must always be two kinds of art, escape-art, for man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep, and parable-art, that art which shall teach man to unlearn hatred and learn love."
W…
Billy Joel performs "New York State of Mind" on The Mike Douglas Show. This episode was taped on August 9, 1976:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that …
"Even for spirits less fastidious than Strachey's, there is, even at the best of times, a great charm in the past. Time, that sedulous artist, has been at work on it, selecting and rejecting…
I'm overjoyed to report that Mrs. T's condition has improved significantly since yesterday. She was having problems with "coagulopathy," which is a fancy way of saying that her blood wasn't …
From 2010:
A colleague remarked to me at breakfast the other day that 2009 must have been the most eventful year of my professional life to date, and I couldn't argue with him. The twin succ…
"I used to think that a man ceased to live when he ceased to be in love. Now I know that he ceases to live when he can no longer look forward."
James Lees-Milne, diary, April 30, 1975
Contin…
Mrs. T survived her double-lung transplant surgery and was moved to the cardio-thoracic intensive-care unit of New York-Presbyterian Hospital at noon today. She was on the operating table fo…
Victor Borge performs at the Eisenhower White House. This kinescope is an excerpt from an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour, originally telecast by NBC on January 11, 1953:
(This is the…
"'Now I want you to tell me just one thing more. Why do you hate the South?'
"'I don't hate it,' Quentin said, quickly, at once, immediately; 'I don't hate it,' he said. 'I dont hate it he t…
We got the Big Call. The transplant coordinator at New York-Presbyterian Hospital phoned Mrs. T on Saturday night with what is known as a "donor offer." In plain English, a pair of lungs has…
