March 24, 2011, Filed Under: Theatre + Performing ArtsHarry Houdini slideshow celebrates 137th birthday The Harry Ransom Center owns a collection of materials related to magician Harry Houdini, whose 137th birthday is today. This slideshow highlights some examples of materials in the collection. Parts of the Houdini (1874-1926) collection pertain to the numerous magicians with whom Houdini cultivated personal relationships, but the focus of… read more
March 23, 2011, Filed Under: Theatre + Performing ArtsElizabeth Taylor connections to Ransom Center holdings Actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died today at the age of 79, has connections to the Ransom Center holdings, ranging from the Mel Gussow collection to the Ernest Lehman collection. The former New York Times theater critic Mel Gussow, who died in 2005, wrote Elizabeth Taylor’s obituary. His obituary, with updated… read more
March 22, 2011, Filed Under: Exhibitions + EventsIn the galleries: Russell Banks adapts to a word processor Today it seems, with iPads and hybrid cars and 3-D blockbusters, technology advancements are, quite literally, right in our faces. Almost jaded by the constant onslaught, we expect constant development and easily adapt, rarely finding ourselves bewildered by new devices. This, however, was not always so. American author Russell Banks’s… read more
March 17, 2011, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing ArtsIn the galleries: The productive, but complicated, relationship between Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan Among the material in the Ransom Center’s current exhibition, Becoming Tennessee Williams, is a picture of Tennessee Williams holding a photograph of Elia Kazan. Kazan was an American film and theater director, producer, screenwriter, and co-founder of the influential Actors Studio. In his theatrical career, Kazan became one of the… read more
March 15, 2011, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing ArtsIn the galleries: Stella Adler’s notes on Tennessee Williams’s ‘The Glass Menagerie’ Stella Adler was considered one of this country’s most important teachers of the principles of acting, character analysis, and script analysis. Adler began acting when she was just four years old, alongside her parents, Jacob and Sara Adler, in a production of the Yiddish play Broken Hearts by Z. Libin.… read more
March 10, 2011, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing ArtsIn the galleries: Marlon Brando’s little black book “On bended knee I beg you to return this. I lost eight others already and if I lose this I’ll just drop dead!” These are Marlon Brando’s words inscribed on the flyleaf of his address book, which was later dropped on the stage of the Barrymore Theatre in New York… read more
