2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
"The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February."
Joseph Wood Krutch, The Twelve Seasons
Continue reading Almanac: Joseph Wood Krutch on F…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the off-Broadway premiere of a new musical version of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Here's an excerpt.
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Once upon a fast-r…
Peggy Lee sings "Them There Eyes" and "But Beautiful" on The Andy Williams Show, after which she, Williams, and George Gobel do a trio version of "You Are My Sunshine." This episode was o…
"I used to be surprised and shocked because old people accepted the calamities and deaths of their old friends with seeming equanimity. Now I realise that, had they not done so, they would h…
"He was late for every engagement, which denotes utter selfishness."
James Lees-Milne, diary, October 31, 1975
Continue reading Almanac: James Lees-Milne on chronic lateness at About Last Ni…
"It is audacity to write about anyone from the past. One can never know what their jokes were, their sophisticated nuances. One will take seriously what they laughed at and laugh at what the…
Bette Davis appears as the mystery guest on What's My Line? The panelists are Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Tony Randall and the host is John Daly. Davis' segment b…
From 2007:
I just got word that another book tentatively called Hotter Than That will be published around the time that my Louis Armstrong biography of the same name will be coming out…
"Have been pondering over what someone said the other day: that when one is awake at 3 A.M. then one sees life, and death, as they truly are, in their stark, terrible, hopeless reality; that…
A 1946 newsreel story about R. Buckminster Fuller's prefabricated Dymaxion House:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, …
"Perhaps we learn nothing from history, and the historian teaches us only that we are ignorant."
Thomas Flanagan, The Year of the French
Continue reading Almanac: Thomas Flanagan on learn…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review an all-female off-Broadway production of Macbeth. Here's an excerpt.
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Hunter College's Hunter Theater Project, which mounts profess…
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two perform "Get Rhythm," "You're the Closest Thing to Heaven," and "I Was There When It Happened" on Town Hall Party. This episode was originally telecast b…
"As I know more of mankind, I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly."
Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell, Life of J…
This is something I wrote in 1991:
Memory is the key to a small town. A stranger driving through Smalltown, U.S.A., would see nothing but schools, stores, and houses. Some are handsome, othe…
"The applause of a single human being is of great consequence."
Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell, Life of Johnson
Continue reading Almanac: Dr. Johnson on encouragement at About La…
In this week's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, I write about an important museum exhibition devoted to the work of a pioneer of modernism. Here's an excerpt.
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Surr…
Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, is interviewed on TV by Charlie Rose in 1997:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space eac…
"While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it."
Samuel Johnson, quoted in Jam…
From 2005:
I thought and thought, and suddenly it came to me: why not the bathroom? Not only is it tastefully decorated in cornflower blue and yellow, but it's next to the living room, thus …
"I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts by which a big book is m…
Joe Louis is the guest on This Is Your Life, hosted by Ralph Edwards and originally telecast by NBC in 1961:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appe…
"Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed."
Samuel Johnson, The Idler (May 26, 1759)
Continue reading Almanac: Dr. Johnson on wr…
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column I review the Broadway premiere of Bess Wohl's Grand Horizons. Here's an excerpt.
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Old-fashioned stage comedy is in short supply…
Martyn Green sings "My Name Is John Wellington Wells," a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer. This performance was originally telecast as part of an episode of Omnibus…
