“Marlon Brando, the rebellious prodigy who electrified a generation and forever transformed the art of screen acting but whose obstinacy and eccentricity prevented him from fully realizing the promise of his early genius, died on Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 80.”
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Endless Promise, Tragic Self-Sabotage
Like so many other artists dubbed “genius,” Marlon Brando was his own worst enemy, writes Stephen Hunter. He invented an entirely new way of acting that revolutionized the film industry, and yet, his interaction with the insular Hollywood world was “rebellious, beyond [narcissistic], almost countercultural,” and would be his undoing. “Death finally found Brando at 80 and he went to it sublimely, having had much experience with the ends of things: He had murdered his own career years earlier. But in the beginning, oh, boy, was he something.”
The Man Who Invented Acting
Forget all the controversy, all the self-destructive weirdness, says Ty Burr. “It’s this simple: Marlon Brando is the most important actor in the history of the movies. He broke the art of screen performance in two. Before Brando, films starred people whose work was rooted in the theater, and whose plummy diction or rat-a-tat toughness was all a marvelous put-on… That’s why Brando freaked people out at first. He crossed some inarticulate border of self-presentation that felt private, taboo.”
The New Jazz (But What?)
In the past two decades jazz has been transformed as an artform. “While some argue in favor of this evolution of jazz onto the concert stage, into museums, and onto the archival stacks of various institutions, others see it as dangerous to the continued evolution of a living, breathing, and constantly advancing art form. Regardless of opinion, jazz has most assuredly found its place on the concert stage.”
Musicians Criticize US Travel Restrictions For Cubans
A group of musicians has criticized new U.S. regulations that will further limit travel to Cuba, urging the United States to build bridges to the island instead of tearing them down.
South African Family Sues Disney Over Song Royalties
A South African family is suing Disney for unpaid royalties from the hit song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, originally a Zulu tune composed by the family’s father, who died broke in 1962
Actors Strike Would Mean High Broadway Attrition
Broadway producers are anxious about the possibility of an actors strike this summer. Many show would close. How many? “Almost a third of the shows running right now probably would cut their losses in the event of a strike and close. That’s partly because of timing. The musicians’ strike occurred in March, so Broadway had plenty of time rebound during the robust spring run-up to the Tony Awards. But the summer is a lot dicier.”
Dreaming Our Digital Future
Intel has a vision: “Consumers will start to use their PCs at home to download, store and manage films, songs and games, in order to transmit all this fun stuff wirelessly to TV screens and stereo speakers throughout the house. The kids could then watch “Shrek 2” in the basement, while mum listens to Brahms in the kitchen and dad browses the holiday pictures on the main TV screen in the living room.”
Motion Picture Assoc. Names New Leader
The Motion Picture Association of America has a new chief. “To succeed Jack Valenti, 82, once an aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Motion Picture Association of America has chosen Dan Glickman, a former agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton and a Democratic congressman from Kansas, as its new chairman.”
Britain’s New Cabaret
Live performance and cabaret acts have never been so popular in the UK. “Welcome to Britain’s Cabarenaissance. Across the country a new breed of night owl has sworn to bring the dressing-up, the decadence and the dandy back into after-hours debauchery. Clubbing is getting classy. For a growing number of people seeking to burn it at both ends, standing in a cramped stench-box listening to some trend-ophile play six hours of ‘fusion grime’ just doesn’t cut the mustard any more.”