The Silver Screen Oasis

So glad you guys are discussing the Brooklyn Dodgers, my grandson almost called me a liar when I told him the Dodgers originally were in Brooklyn! Now I have a way to prove it to him. The little gutter snipe.

Anne

I know that we're supposed to be throwing a daylong party for the centennial of Bette Davis' arrival on the planet today, (she's such a neglected figure), but I've got to put a word in for the 100th anniversary of the birth of a great conductor and flawed human being, Herbert von Karajan born April 5th, 1908.

Born in Austria, his shimmering, romantic orchestrations of everyone from Wagner, Bruckner, Ravel, to the three Bs to Shostakovich are remarkably moving--and as a matter of fact, he may be the most recorded conductor in history. He may have been a bit of a showboat (what conductor isn't?), but his recordings have a beauty and clarity that almost makes his Nazi ties less vexing...to some. Musical giants (at least to me) of the violin, Isaac Stern & Itzhak Perlman would never appear with any orchestra he headed. Still, since Karajan married a woman who was one quarter Jewish during the Nazi reign, he was either confident that his musical gifts were great enough to have her declared an "honorary Aryan" or he didn't really give a hoot about politics, except when it might assist his career ascent. Either way, Herb wasn't exactly Herr Ethics, was he?

All in all, ol' Herb, as one musician who worked with him said, "elevated those under him and exalted the human spirit" when he devoted himself to a lifetime of "caressingly beautiful" music. Now, if only that Göring guy hadn't liked him so much.

Here's a pretty good article weighing his contributions and controversies from Deutsche Welle.

Thanks for your comment on von Karajan. I have quite a few of his recordings and enjoy them greatly. I think his '63 recordings of the Beethoven symphonies is still among the best selling. (And is the ever competition for those.) I have the '58 Szell and the '72 Karl Bohm.

I never knew that about those violinists. Do you know if he had trouble with other soloists?

Hi Chris,
Philadelphia Orchestra director Eugene Ormandy refused to shake Karajan's hand when the Berlin Philharmonic toured the U.S. in 1955 and his concert was banned from Detroit during that same visit. As feelings toward him softened under the influence of his great talent, two musicians whose careers were made by their association with Karajan were Anne-Sophie Mutter & James Galway. You can read about their feelings toward him here.
An article that concentrates on the long shadow that Karajan's Nazi roots cast on his life and career can be seen here.

Here's a link to an admittedly problematic list of top five recordings by the conductor (only 5?) that many are sure to disagree with, though the quality of the extended excerpts included in the link are difficult to refute. The feeling evoked by the music is beyond words and certainly can't be fully described with any adjectives I know. But, isn't that what music is for?

Never mind.

Who hasn't seen at least one movie with him in it? And he's 92 today.
Here's to you, Harry.

Ditto.

Every time I see him, I find myself smiling (and humming "I'm just wild about Harry")

Happy birthday, Harry!

jdb1 wrote:Who hasn't seen at least one movie with him in it? And he's 92 today.
Here's to you, Harry.

My favorite HM quote?
(From the 9th season of "M*A*S*H", in response to a midnight barge-in of his tent by the "Majors"):
"You two yahoos interrupted a Zane Grey shoot-out for this malarkey?!"

"And a jaunty aller-wetta to you!"

Halcarter:

My little perfect granddaughter looks so much like little Judy, it's freaky.

jdb1:

Okay, I give up. Who is Eadweard Muybridge, and why should we be grateful to him?

Doesn't matter if it's a 1 minute commercial, a half hour M.A.S.H., or a 3 hour epic movie - anything is better with Mr. Harry in it!!!!

Anne

Anne, this is from About.com on Muybridge:

"Eadweard Muybridge developed a fast camera shutter and used other state-of-the-art techniques of his day to make the first photographs that show sequences of movement. In 1879, the Zoopraxiscope was developed by Eadweard Muybridge, which projected a series of images in successive phases of movement obtained through the use of multiple cameras. In Eadweard Muybridge's most famous motion studies, a row of cameras snapped a dozen or more photographs of a passing horse; the public was astonished to see proof that a trotting horse can simultaneously have all four hooves off the ground."

In other words: movies.

Is it possible for someone with greater tech savvy than I to post a moving image of Muybridge's horse or the running/jumping, etc. people?

Today's birthday (traditional):

Mr. Shakespeare

"I can no other answer make but thanks/And thanks and ever thanks." [Twelfth Night]

Trivia that I'm sure some of us will know. Shakespeare died on his own birthday. I'm sure other famous personages did too but he's the only one I can think of.