Photo by Donovan Reeves on Unsplash
I have a thing for old buildings, the kind of places, as my Gram used to say, that have “more history than the Bible.” So whenever time, convenience and funds allow (the last being the most serious consideration given my state of life), I like to stay in old hotels, which I think of as
les grande dames of a city’s architectural high society. A great, historic hotel not only tells a thousand fascinating stories, but speaks a kind of wisdom to those who are listening.
The Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco (now called the Westin St. Francis) is such an oracle. Built in 1904, the original 12-story building presides over the city’s ever-bustling Union Square, a kind of society matron reminding the passersby, in the lyrics of the Stephen Sondheim song, that there have been “good times and bum times. I’ve seen them all. And, my dear, I’m still here.”
Excerpts From Edwin Wilsonâs âMagic Timeâ
A memoir of a lifetimeâs active engagement with American theater, by a former drama critic for The Wall Street Journal.
Broadway at night. Photo: Alamy Stock Photo Dec. 17, 2020 6:13 pm ET
As a schoolboy in the early 1940s, Edwin Wilson saw Al Jolson drop to his knees in the footlights of the Shubert Theatre and belt out âMammy.â As a young man he thrilled to the original Broadway productions of âA Streetcar Named Desire,â âDeath of a Salesman,â âOklahoma!ââthe standard American repertoire aborning. In his memoir âMagic Time,â Mr. Wilson, now 93, writes fondly of how these and other electrifying moments of New York playgoing led him, circuitously, to Yale Drama School and a lifetime of teaching and making theater happenâwriting scripts, directing and producing plays, encouraging young talent, and writing or cowriting three
A 1971-1972 book of interest greensburgdailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from greensburgdailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Winnipeg Free Press By: Ben Waldman | Posted: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020
The prices on the wall at the new Fortune Block restaurant Modern Electric Lunch seem too cheap to be true: a cup of coffee for a dime. A braised sirloin for three. An order of fish and chips for four.
The prices on the wall at the new Fortune Block restaurant Modern Electric Lunch seem too cheap to be true: a cup of coffee for a dime. A braised sirloin for three. An order of fish and chips for four.
It feels as if those numbers are from a different time, when Al Jolson was the biggest movie star, the stock market hadn’t yet crashed, and there had only been one world war.
New York s Iconic 21 Club To Close Indefinitely Due To Covid zerohedge.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from zerohedge.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.