Friday

Feb. 20, 1998

Pockets

by Howard Nemerov

FRIDAY 2/20

Today's Reading: "Pockets" by Howard Nemerov from TRYING CONCLUSIONS, published by University of Chicago Press.

It's the birthday in Kansas City, Missouri, 1925, of director ROBERT ALTMAN, best known for M*A*S*H in 1970 and Nashville in 1976.

It's the birthday of photographer ANSEL ADAMS, born in San Francisco, 1902. He was originally a pianist and made his living giving concerts and lessons around San Francisco in the 1920s. But he switched to photography in 1930, and became famous for his Western landscapes, particularly those in Yosemite and New Mexico.

The French novelist PIERRE BOULLE was born on this day in 1912, in Avignon. He studied electrical engineering then went to southeast Asia where he worked first as a farmer then as a soldier during the War. In 1952, he came out with his most popular book, The Bridge over the River Kwai, which won six Academy Awards when it was made into a movie in 1957...the story of British prisoners of war who built a bridge for the Japanese.

And it's the birthday of JIMMY YANCEY, in Chicago, 1898, the blues pianist who created boogie-woogie.

It's the birthday in Warsaw, 1888, of the dancer MARIE RAMBERT, who helped choreograph Stravinsky's landmark ballet "The Rite of Spring" - premiered in Paris, in 1912. In the 20s she moved to London and opened a studio where most of Britain's leading ballet dancers and choreographers of this century studied, including one from America, Agnes de Mille.

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

 

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