“Ms. Baumann, who is presently the museum’s deputy director, has worked at the Cooper-Hewitt since 2001, where she has also served as director of development and director of external affairs. … [She] will succeed Paul Warwick Thompson, who is leaving to become the rector of the Royal College of Art in London.”
Tag: 07.02.09
Harve Presnell, 75, Actor With Two Careers
“[T]rained as an opera singer, [he] brought an imposing physical presence – he stood 6 feet 4 inches – and a resplendent voice to the Broadway stage, delivering a star-making performance as Leadville Johnny Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Unfortunately, “his triumphant debut led to unsatisfactory film roles and a somewhat stunted career appearing in national tours of Broadway musicals” until the “Coen brothers gave him a second Hollywood career as a character actor when they cast him in Fargo in 1996. That role led to a series of meaty film parts, including Gen. George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan.“
Small Companies Say British Equity’s Pay Demands Will Kill Fringe Theatre
“Fringe theatre companies have warned that the sector will be ‘destroyed’ if proposals by Equity seeking to enforce the National Minimum Wage for all actors become law.”
Shi Pei Pu, 70, Beijing Opera Singer And The Original M. Butterfly
“Mr. Shi, who was convicted of espionage in France in 1986 along with his lover, Bernard Boursicot, was believed to be 70. He had also been believed for years to be a woman, at least by Mr. Boursicot, who served time in prison after the affair and became a laughingstock in France.”
A Million Little Teen Novels: James Frey Moves Into YA Science Fiction
“A week after submitting a young adult novel anonymously to editors, James Frey, the notorious author of A Million Little Pieces, and a writing partner, Jobie Hughes, have sold North American rights to I Am Number Four to HarperCollins Children’s Books.” The book is the first in a planned series of four.
The King Of Pop, On The Organ
“Over the last few days, we’ve noted the many ways that homage has been paid to Michael Jackson, from sculpting him in butter to naming one’s Ukrainian village after him. … Yet none of these tributes possess the grandeur of this church organ medley of Mr. Jackson’s hits, performed by Robert Ridgell on Sunday at the conclusion of worship services at the Trinity Wall Street church.”
Thirteen (Or So) Ways Of Looking At A Hollywood Knock-Off Of An ’80s Video Game
“Universal has acquired the movie rights to Asteroids, the bleeping, blooping 1979 video game in which crude line drawings were used to represent rocket ships and gigantic space rocks. Before the motion picture industry sinks millions of dollars into the project, we’ll save it the trouble by imagining how Asteroids would be made into a film by directors like …” (Be sure to check out the reader comments.)
They Just Can’t Stop Themselves: Two More Authors Lash Out At Critics Online
After essayist Jill Lepore made a couple of uncharitable comments on Ayelet Waldman’s new book Bad Mother, Waldman tweeted, “May Jill Lepore rot in hell.” And in response to Caleb Crain’s review of his The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Alain de Botton staged a small hissy fit in a comment on Crain’s blog. (Don’t these people read Miss Manners?)
Restored Fresco Said To Reveal Michelangelo Self-Portrait
“The restoration of frescoes by Michelangelo in the Vatican has revealed what is believed to be a self-portrait of the artist. The face is in a wall mural in the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel or Cappella Paolina, according to Maurizio De Luca, the Vatican’s chief restorer. The chapel, which is used by the Pope and not open to the public, was unveiled this week after a restoration costing €3.2 million (£2.7 million).”
What Rub Might Do With Gehry, He Did With Vinoly In Ohio
While Timothy Rub, incoming director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, “brings to his new job a resume strong on all the essential art-world skills, one of the qualities that surely impressed the Philadelphia trustees is his ability to manage a big construction project and a big architectural ego.” This is key as the museum embarks on a $500 million expansion designed by Frank Gehry.