The actor, who died yesterday, went up against an entrenched system, and won. Her successful 1943 lawsuit against Warner Bros. “destroyed the indentured servitude that was the studio system, and helped pave the way for the modern age of movie stars as independent mini-moguls, with control of their own artistic and financial fortunes.” – The Atlantic
Author: ArtsJournal2
As Long As Zoom Lives, We’ll Want To Know What’s On Other People’s Bookshelves
Especially, it seems, the bookshelves of celebrities. Take Regina King: “Tupac Shakur Legacy, by Jamal Joseph: Curated by a family friend, this “interactive biography” of the rapper includes photos of Shakur’s home life and reproductions of handwritten lyrics.” – The New York Times
Audra McDonald: Theatre Can’t Miss This Moment
The Broadway star – the only performer to win six Tonys, in all four available categories – says it’s her job to create more space for other African American actors, and call for institutional change as well. “This feels like real change now. There are going to be too many people watching and too many people demanding that things look different. … Theatre will be left in the dust, I think, if we don’t make substantive changes.” – The New Yorker
What Do You Do To Thank Brooklyn Hospital Workers During The Pandemic?
If you’re Los Angeles artist Michael Gittes, you paint 1800 small pieces of work, one for each worker, and deliver them to Brooklyn. The artist: “I decided to paint flowers because even though these people are all part of a big beautiful garden, I wanted them to know they were all individual flowers, and without them, there would be no garden. I wanted it to have a ‘secret admirer’ kind of vibe.” – Washington Post
An Almost Finished Series Plus The Virus Shutdown Equals A Deleted Episode
Whoops, not an eight-episode season; a seven-episode season. That standalone can come later, if at all. – BBC
Lotty Rosenfeld, Artist Who Protested The Chilean Dictatorship With Her Art, Has Died At 77
Rosenfeld, “through the simple act of creating a line on a street in Chile, mounted an important artistic and political intervention against an oppressive government.” – ARTNews
Blockbuster Movies Are Delayed Again, Indefinitely
With fresh spikes in the virus in the U.S., studios delay releases again, and “hopes for a speedy substantial resurgence at the global box office were dashed.” – The Guardian (UK)
Writer Walter Mosley Has Some Thoughts On How The Pandemic Will Change Humanity
The mystery and TV writer says maybe we’ll be better at responding to dangerous events in the future – or at least some of us will be. – LitHub
For A Musician At The Intersection Of Art, Community, And Activism, Awards Seem Superfluous
Martha Gonzalez sings with the band Quetzal and has a new memoir out as well. When the band was nominated for (and won) a Grammy, “Quetzal never showed up to the pre-Grammy gala. Instead, they did the most Quetzal thing ever: They opened the doors to the Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights, invited every band from East L.A. that had ever been nominated for a Grammy and threw a concert. Who needs a Grammy when you have community?” – Los Angeles Times
For Most Of The 20th Century, To Be Chinese In Hollywood Meant Your Name Didn’t Matter
Victor Sen Yung started in Hollywood as a “Chinese peasant boy” in The Good Earth, and his last role was 43 years later, in The Man With Bogart’s Face. He was credited as Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Yung, and Victor Young. And then there was Bonanza. “Between 1959 and 1973, Yung played the easygoing cook, Hop Sing, in more than 100 episodes of the long-running TV series, Bonanza. This, of course, is all a Chinaman can do on television: hop, sing, spout gnomic bits of wisdom, and die.” – Hyperallergic