The history of theater from the medieval period until the nineteenth century has been in large part a history of further and furth...er separations of the scene of dramatic action from the physical situation of the audience. Even as the subject matter--in the plays of Ibsen, Chekhov, and Strindberg--became more and more continuous with the life of the audience, the stage itself pulled in its apron, emphasized its proscenium, and became a room with an invisible fourth wall, allowing the audience to look in, while keeping it more definitely outside. The progress of film was the reverse. From the stylized and theatrical settings of the early dramas, silent films moved into greater and greater involvement with the actors. Previously the audience saw actors from a distance, with a sense of tableau and formal separation. Although they seemed to be like us, they were not: silent, hieratic, caught in frightened frenzies of comedy, tragedy, and melodrama.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
All my humor is based upon destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I'd be standin...g on the breadline right in back of J. Edgar Hoover.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Part of a moon was falling down the west, Dragging the whole sky with it to the hills.... Its light poured softly in her lap. She saw And spread her apron to it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
All the historians are Harvard people. It just isn't fair. Poor old Hoover from West Branch, Iowa, had no chance with that crowd; ...nor did Andrew Jackson from Tennessee. Nor does Lyndon Johnson from Stonewall, Texas. It just isn't fair.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I'm an empress. I wear an apron.... My typewriter writes. It didn't break the way it warned. Even crazy, I'm as nice as a chocolate bar.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
All Coolidge had to do in 1924 was to keep his mean trap shut, to be elected. All Harding had to do in 1920 was repeat "Avoid fore...ign entanglements." All Hoover had to do in 1928 was to endorse Coolidge. All Roosevelt had to do in 1932 was to point to Hoover.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The myth of superwoman has hung on long after the media stopped airing fantasy-based commercials about working women's lives: Here... she comes, home from the office after 12 hours of high-powered negotiations in the executive suite. Her designer suit is still fresh and unwrinkled, her face radiant and unlined as she opens her arms to greet her two adorable children--and sends a seductive glance toward her handsome husband, beaming proudly in the background. Watch her as, with one smooth motion, she slips off her jacket and into a dainty apron as she glides toward the spotless kitchen to create a three-course meal for her beloved family. After dinner she will check the children's French homework and read them a chapter of Jane Eyre before tucking the little cherubs into bed. While her husband watches the late-night news, she will disappear into the den to make an overseas call that will clinch a multinational deal for her company.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The post-office appeared a singularly domestic institution here. Ever and anon the stage stopped before some low shop or dwelling,... and a wheelwright or shoemaker appeared in his shirt- sleeves and leather apron, with spectacles newly donned, holding up Uncle Sam's bag, as if it were a slice of home-made cake, for the travelers, while he retailed some piece of gossip to the driver, really as indifferent to the presence of the former as if they were so much baggage.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »