2,374 stories by "Terry Teachout"
In this week's Wall Street Journal "Sightings" column, I call for shorter, better biographies. The immediate occasion is the publication of Con Chapman's Rabbit's Blues: The Life and Music o…
"For moviegoers to get the idea of real combat, you'd have to shoot at them every so often from either side of the screen." Samuel Fuller, A Third Face
Mabel Mercer and Jimmy Lyon appear on The Mark of Jazz, hosted by Sid Mark and originally telecast on WHYY-TV in 1976: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos …
"Jed Harris, in the full tide of success, could not imagine that anything he would do would fail; this is a form of imagination that must be acquired early by anyone who consigns his life to…
From 2009: ' Rooftop TV antennas. I don't miss the lamentably fuzzy reception that they provided, or the fact that my family could only pick up three channels in Smalltown, U.S.A. (I n…
"The author of a well-received novel never knows whether his book, even if it sells, is also read. Nor does he know where his reader yawns, at what page he may have decided that he wants no …
Jimmy Durante sings Gordon Jenkins' "This Is All I Ask" on Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters Hour. This episode was originally telecast by ABC on October 31, 1969: (This is the la…
"What strikes me as I look back is that I have known few contented people. I have known very busy ones, rich ones, triumphant ones, but few who have been contented." S.N. Behrman, People …
Titus Techera, who hosts a podcast for the American Cinema Foundation on which he and his guests discuss important films of the past and present, invited me back last week for the latest in …
Imogene Coca performs her "Modest Stripper" routine on Admiral Broadway Revue. This episode was originally telecast simultaneously by NBC and DuMont on March 11, 1949: (This is the latest…
"There is no more painful human illusion than that you can catch up on lost reading in old age. Old age is the busiest of them all. Things you used to do effortlessly take you forever, provi…
"To be brought up in a poverty-stricken household, to know nothing but poverty in childhood and adolescence, is not so bad while you are enduring it; it is quite tolerable in fact, at least …
Ethel Merman sings Irving Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business" (from Annie Get Your Gun) on Shower of Stars. She is introduced by Red Skelton. This episode was originally …
In today's Wall Street Journal drama column, I review the Irish Repertory Theatre's off-Broadway revival of The Plough and the Stars. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â Â * The most importan…
Anthony Blunt, the English art scholar who was exposed as a former Soviet spy in 1979 and stripped of his knighthood, discusses his crimes in an excerpt from a TV interview, the only one he …
"All children like to irritate and disappoint their parents. It's a way of growing up, of sharpening their teeth." Louis Auchlncloss, The House of the Prophet
"Children have no mercy on adults. It does not occur to them that adults may need it." Louis Auchlncloss, The House of the Prophet
William F. Buckley, Jr., interviews Louis Auchincloss and Helen MacInnes on "The Plight of the American Novelist" on Firing Line. This episode was taped on January 6, 1969: (This is the l…
"Nothing is more shocking about old age than the speed with which even the most famous persons are isolated and forgotten." Louis Auchlncloss, The House of the Prophet
As I grow older, I find that my personal definition of what it means to be beautiful is becoming far more encompassing. To be sure, I can't remember ever having had a perfectly clear-cut "ty…
From 2009: When I told Paul Moravec three years ago that I'd love to collaborate with him on an opera, it didn't occur to me that The Letter would open in the same year that Pops: A…
"Facing it"always facing it"that's the way to get through." Joseph Conrad, Typhoon
Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten perform Britten's arrangement of the English folk song "O Waly, Waly" (The water is wide) on the BBC in 1964: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and hi…
"That a pattering of sounds on the ear should have such moment is a fact calculated to give pause to those philosophers who attempt to explain consciousness by its utility, or who wish to ma…
In today's Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfer of Ink. Here's an excerpt. *Â Â *Â Â * The newspaper movie used to be an established genre in Hollywood, and a consisten…
