Alfred Hitchcock Harassed And Bullied Tippi Hedren? That’s Not What We Remember, Say Cast And Crew Of ‘The Birds’

“In her new [memoir], Hedren alleges that the director made sexual approaches to her and regarded her as his personal property. … [Two biographers] argue that Hedren’s claims are not supported by others who worked on the films, or by the shooting schedules and other documents in Hitchcock’s archive.”

When Ballet And Modern Dance Meet – Just To Mess Around, With No Performance Pressure

“All too often, when ballet and modern dance meet, compromises are made: Dancers – and dances – turn to mush. That was exactly what Sara Mearns, the New York City Ballet principal, was trying to avoid when she asked the contemporary choreographer and dancer Jodi Melnick to work with her as part of a residency at Jacob’s Pillow last fall.”

Here’s What Happens When You Ask Ivo Van Hove If Being Faithful To A Play’s Text Is Important

“I don’t know what ‘being faithful to a text’ means. There’s not one truth. As a director or actor, you have to give an interpretation of a line. I get 10 different people to say ‘I love you’ – three words, an objective truth – and yet each time it is spoken it is different. I’m known for my preparation. For actors, this is not a threat, it is freedom.”

Toronto Art Museum Scanned An Ancient Object That Had Been Defying Understanding For 500 Years. They Found Something Interesting

“The discoveries relate to much more than technique. In an ever-more virtual world awash in technology and information, at a time when machines are increasingly more capable than humans, the show raises profound questions about ancient objects that, it turns out, can be made by human hands alone – treasures we can see and contemplate and touch, but never completely understand, exactly as their makers intended. That might be a big idea.”

Claim: The National Book Awards Have Been Corrupted And Demeaned

“When two friends of mine were on recent panels, discord was so intense that each judge picked one finalist, the kind of situation that can produce unpredictable horsetrading and compromise winners. Corruption can also enter in. The year I was a judge, one colleague tried to give the award to a family friend. Another judge supported the writer with whom she shared an agent.”

So You Idealize Victorian England? The Reality Was Rather More… Smelly Than You Might Have Thought

“To the modern sensibility, even the most carefully turned-out Victorian — male or female — reeked. Heavy perfumes covered bodily smells; onion juice was a popular hair tonic; dental hygiene was primitive and certainly not concerned with freshness of breath. Households were poorly ventilated, so various cooking smells clung to fabrics and damp walls.”