Author: Douglas McLennan

REMEMBERING MERRICK

Producer David Merrick, who died this week, was a producer to be reckoned with.  “Merrick is the Bermuda Triangle in a Brooks Brothers suit. He lures writers and playwrights in like naval air squadrons, never to be seen or heard from again,” said the writer and comic Stan Freberg, a survivor of a Merrick flirtation with one of his plays. – Washington Post

A CRUSHING BLOW

Porters at Sotheby’s London mistakenly put a crate containing a £100,000 Lucien Freud painting arriving for a sale into the trash, where it was hauled away and crushed in a machine. The mistake was not, Sotheby’s officials hasten to explain, a comment by the porters on the artwork. – The Independent (UK)

IDENTITY CRISIS

Frank Gehry’s Experience Music Project, soon to open in Seattle is one of a new generation of experiential museums “characterized by a sometimes brash and loopy mix of commercialism and high-tech exhibition space. These facilities often “celebrate not the past but the present of American popular culture: from Virginia’s Newseum to the Grateful Dead’s prospective Terrapin Station in San Francisco, from numerous science museums such as the Museum of Innovation in San Jose to the various halls of fame. The new museums are sometimes more akin to dazzling amusement arcades or electronic playgrounds than to the somber and solidly physical dignities of the Met. Visitors are called upon to play, participate, and buy, rather than contemplate. Some curators, indeed, question whether they are really museums at all and not entertainment complexes with a loose educational veneer. – Metropolis

WHAT TO DO…

Hollywood heavyweights from a variety of disciplines, from film’s Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee to television’s Gary David Goldberg, are being invited to what’s being called the PBS Summit on Creativity and Community. They’ll be asked for ideas about what the noncommercial broadcaster ought to be doing. “We’re looking at a media landscape that’s going to change dramatically in the next five years, and public television and its member stations really need to look at some new ideas,” says new PBS president Pat Mitchell. “We need an infusion of outside thinking.” – Los Angeles Times 04/28/00

CHANGE OF DIRECTION

Even though the Berlin Film Festival – the Berlinale – is second in size in Europe only to Cannes, it’s not had the luster many of its supporters think it should have. Now Festival director Moritz de Hadeln has been fired – after more than two decades at its helm. – Die Welt (Germany) 04/28/00

DINING ROOM EDIT

Costs for shooting and editing a movie have plunged, bringing sophisticated technology to the home user. A Pittsburgh man edits his full-length feature on his dining room table – total budget $2000.   “We had a 3/4-inch online video editing system that was worth $250,000.” says a movie maker. “Now, it can be done on a computer for less than $20,000.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 04/28/00

A HOME OF HIS OWN

What does it say that even some of the most talented modern dance companies lead itinerant existences, eking out rehearsal space wherever they can. For years Mark Morris’s main office has operated from the back seats of taxis. But that’s all about to change with a home of his own in Brooklyn. – Village Voice

EAST BAY EXPRESS

The rudderless Oakland Ballet is a long way from the glittery world of the Dance Theater of Harlem. But newly-appointed artistic director and former DTH star Karen Brown likes the challenge. Besides, her appointment was announced by the mayor. “The purpose of a ballet company is to affect the community it serves by sharing the art form. And part of my job is to do my homework to see what is needed.” – San Francisco Examiner