“To say there was only one Edith Head is an understatement. As the movie industry’s most well-known costume designer (her career spanned 1923 to 1982) Head worked on more than 750 movies, received 35 nominations and won eight Oscars – more than any other woman. For 44 years, she was the fashion queen of Paramount Studios’ design department. And she ruled her empire with a royal fervor. In a world where the Hollywood power brokers were men, Head proved to be one tough cookie, staying on top of her field with cunning, ruthlessness and skill.”
Tag: 10.23.04
Authors To Rice: Calm Down, They’re Only Readers
Last month, author Anne Rice took on the amateur critics who had been trashing her latest novel on Amazon.com, calling their negative comments “libel.” It was an unusual if not unprecedented move, and other authors are making it clear that Rice crossed an invisible line with her rant. “I’d be more worried if I impressed a moron than if I made one unhappy. And on Amazon… it’s usually clear within a sentence or two which side of the intelligence fence the commentators fall on.”
Levine Sweeps Into Boston In High Style
Say this for the Boston Symphony Orchestra: it knows how to welcome a maestro to town. A champagne reception, a black-tie dinner featuring such celebrities as James Taylor and John Williams, and a gala concert with ticket prices as high as $2500 kicked off James Levine’s tenure as the BSO’s 14th music director this weekend.
Starting Off With A Bang
Levine and the BSO pulled out all the stops for the maestro’s debut, performing Mahler’s monumental “Symphony of a Thousand”, which requires a mind-boggling 328 musicians. Richard Dyer liked what he saw. “[Levine’s] conducting was undemonstrative, but vividly detailed and obviously inspiring. Only a little of it was invisible weaving; most of the time his baton sliced through plenty of space, and decisively… There was an occasional rough edge or sloppy entry in the orchestral playing, but an edge-of-the-chair intensity and excitement carried all before it.”