— tried to prevent Paul Robeson from entering the UK, new papers show. “The star, who died aged 77 in 1976, was regarded as a ‘nuisance’ by MI5 because of his outspoken left-wing views and support for black civil rights.” – BBC
Blog
THEATER OF SUBSTANCE
Much has been written lately about the lack of new plays and experiences of substance on Broadway this season. One critic wonders if the analysis is justified. – Boston Globe
BEING AT THE OFF-CENTER
As New York’s Times Square has spiffed itself up, Off-Broadway theaters, traditionally resident on the fringe of the Great White Way, have begun springing up in the heart of the district. – Christian Science Monitor
THE POLITICS OF TRADITION
A jury has awarded a judgment against the London Times for accusing composer Keith Burstein of disrupting concerts of atonal music. Burstein is on a campaign to bring back traditional harmony to classical music and has made no secret of his disdain for music without tonality, especially that of Harrison Birtwistle. – The Guardian
MUSICAL MID-RANGE
In olden days composers wrote plenty of music for all levels of skill at the piano. Not modern composers. So a new commissioning project aims at helping to fill in the intermediate range. – New York Times
BEFORE HE DIED, …
“Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schultz told his family he didn’t want anyone else drawing his strip, and that animated shows based on the characters should end as well. But when Schultz began the strip in the 1950s cartoonists routinely gave up their copyrights to distributors. United Media owns the “Peanuts” copyright and it got 61 percent of its $84.9 million in 1998 revenues from the comics, TV shows and licensing deals. Think they’ll let the franchise go dark? – San Francisco Examiner (AP)
VERONESE DAMAGE
After inspecting how the Louvre has cleaned a prominent painting by Italian master Veronese, a French conservation expert despairs: “Clothes that were originally red were now green. The whole spatial and wonderful chromatic harmony is distorted. When you look at the painting . . . black, red and blue colors seem to be floating among other colors like pieces of a broken puzzle. The light is now a cold, artificial, modern one.” – The Times (UK)
CAN’T TELL THE PLAYERS WITHOUT A SCORECARD
Who’s who and what’s what in the auction-house scandals. – New York Observer
JERUSALEM’S ISRAEL MUSEUM —
— gets architects’ approval for controversial expansion designed by American James Freed. – Haaretz (Israel)
NOW THAT BRITAIN HAS COME CLEAN…
by publishing a list of art in British museums that might have been stolen by the Nazis, what are American museums waiting for? “How is it possible that in Britain alone there are 350 works that may have been stolen and U.S. museums can’t find any?” asked Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress. – Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP)
- An example to the world. – Chicago Tribune