Tuesday

Feb. 10, 1998

Leisure

by William Henry Davies

TUESDAY 2/10

Today's Reading: "Leisure" by William Henry Davies.

Arthur Miller's play, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, opened 49 years ago tonight at the Morosco Theater in New York with Lee Cobb playing Willy Loman. It won the 1949 Pulitzer

It's the birthday of soprano LEONTYNE PRICE, born in Laurel, Mississippi in 1927. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1961 in Verdi's Il Trovatore and got a 42-minute standing ovation at the final curtain C a Met record

It's the birthday in 1902 of the American physicist WALTER BRATTAIN born in Amoy, China. He did the research into semiconductors that gave rise to the transistor, which replaced the old vacuum tubes in electronics

It's the birthday of STELLA ADLER, in Manhattan, 1901, the teacher who specialized in Method acting. She taught actors to rely on imagination, not their own personal memories to create characters

It's the birthday of BERTOLT BRECHT, born in Bavaria, Germany, 1898 C best known here in the States for his librettos to Kurt Weill operas written in the 20s and early 30s: The Threepenny Opera, and The Rise and Fall of the Town Mahagonny

BORIS PASTERNAK, who wrote Doctor Zhivago, was born on this date in 1890. Zhivago brought him nothing but heartbreak: he submitted it for publication in 1956, but the Soviets condemned him for it and rejected it. He said, "in every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth as he sees it," then mailed it to an Italian publisher who quickly bought it; a year later it'd been translated into 18 languages

It's the WEDDING ANNIVERSARY of VICTORIA, Queen of England, and PRINCE ALBERT C married on this day in 1840. They were first cousins, and since she was the queen she proposed to him. She wrote in her journal that "Albert really is quite charming, and so extremely handsome, a beautiful figure, broad in the shoulders and a fine waist; my heart is quite going."

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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