Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

This weekend the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is ending a very successful run of Todd Kreidler's play "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" based on the screenplay for the 1967 Academy Award winning film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner by William Rose which starred Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Syndey Poitier. I meant to write about it right after I saw it a couple of weeks ago but time got away from me.

As we saw a couple of years ago when NBC aired the stage version of "The Sound of Music" it's hard to stage a play that audiences know primarily from a very successful movie.  The audience might object when scenes aren't exactly the same as the film scenes and the audience, who can watch a film performance over and over in this day of digital rentals, can object if the stage actors interpret roles even slightly differently than the screen actors. But in this case the Rep pulled it off very well.

For those who have never seen the film, the story takes place in a single day at the home of a wealthy white San Francisco couple, Matt and Christina Drayton.  He is the editor of a newspaper with a liberal slant and she is the owner of an art gallery.  Their only daughter JoAnna (Joey) comes home from a trip to Hawaii and brings a surprise - a fiance named John Prentice Jr.   Prentice is a doctor with a worldwide reputation.  But the real surprise to the white couple is that their daughter's new fiance is black.  They also eventually meet Dr. Prentice's parents who Joey, as a further surprise, invites to dinner.

Although Matt and Christina have brought Joey up to believe all people are equal, no matter the color of their skin, they are taken aback that she intends to marry Dr. Prentice, perfect though he is in all ways.  Matt, especially, is convinced that the couple is making a mistake in marrying because the world is not ready for an interracial couple and they can expect to receive abuse.  The family's long time black maid, "Tillie", who feels that Joey is as much her daughter as the Drayton's, is also against the marriage and warns Dr. Prentice off.  Finally, Prentice's parents are also completely taken aback and his father is dead set against the marriage.

 The 1967 film, coming in the midst of the civil rights movement, was very popular.  The staged version here in St. Louis, which because of Ferguson, has become the epicenter for a new civil rights movement, also proved popular.  Although this production was planned long before Ferguson happened, the Rep took advantage of the additional interest by publishing a study guide, a play guide and a library resource list on their website. They also had a display in the theater lobby highlighting mixed race couples who live in the area. 

After seeing the play, I rented the film.  It had been at least 20 years (or more!) since I had seen it.  I wanted to compare the stage adaptation to the original screenplay.  A film can open up locations, of course, in a way that a play cannot.  We see San Francisco, the airport, the streets, a drive in burger/soda shop, the art gallery that Christina owns.  But it mostly takes place in Matt and Christina's beautiful home overlooking San Francisco bay.  The Rep's three-quarter jut stage does not, of course, accommodate many changing sets but is tailor made for a one set play.  The set design by Kevin Depenit is beautiful.  The formal dining room in the rear, the California casual living room up stage and, along the edge of the stage, slightly lower than the living room, the "terrace".   We never see the art gallery so, instead, Christina's assistant Hilary shows up at the house with pieces of art.  The "big client" that Christina is to have lunch with is, in the stage version, supposed to come for lunch at the house.  This gives Tillie time, on stage, to interact with not only Christina and Matt but with Hilary and let's us learn that she is opinionated.  We like her and trust her opinions.

I wondered if I would be able to forget Tracey, Hepburn and Poitier's performances enough to enjoy the play.  Margaret Daly and, perennial Rep favorite, Anderson Matthews played the roles differently but I soon was swept away by their performances.  I completely believed in them and the movie versions left my mind.  Richard Prioleau, as John Prentice, was also very good but I never could quite get Syndey Poitier out of my mind.  I think he was somewhat hampered by the actress who played Joey.

Joey is a difficult part, especially in 2015 when upper class white women just don't get married young as much as they did in the 1960's and when getting married to a man they just met is hard to fathom.  I couldn't remember who played Joey in the movie (it was Katherine Hepburn's niece, Katherine Houghton) so I wasn't comparing Shannon Marie Sullivan's performance to anyone's.  I did think her portrayal was the weakest in the show - through much of it I kept thinking "You are far too young to get married to anyone."  In fact, I kept thinking that Matt Drayton shouldn't even have to focus on whether he was ok with his daughter marrying Dr. Prentice particularly, but just focus on the fact that she shouldn't get married AT ALL yet.  I wondered if I would feel the same way re-watching the movie.  I did, but only slightly.  Only on principal, not based on the performances. I completely bought that "movie Joey" knew what she was doing and was completely in love with this man in an adult way whereas I thought Sullivan's Joey seemed young, flighty and possibly in love with the idea of love.

When I went back to watch the film I wondered if Sydney Poitier would live up to my memory of him from watching the film 20+ years ago.  And he did.  Wow, did he.  He really was fabulous.  It is a subtle performance that includes his body language and his eyes.  Of course, these things are easier to do on film than on stage.  But not every screen actor could carry it off the way Poitier did.  And watching Poitier and Houghton interact in the film, especially after seeing the interaction between the characters in the play, I was struck by how well Poitier and Houghton conveyed a couple in love by the little touches that passed between them and the way their eyes would meet.  It was all very natural - but, again, naturalness is easier to catch on film than it is to portray on stage.

The other supporting players in the stage version were very good. All in all it was an enjoyable and thought provoking evening of theater.  What is sad is that while so much has changed, legally,  so little has changed socially - at least so little has changed here in St. Louis.  A white liberal family today, one who believes that all people are equal no matter the color of their skin, probably would still be concerned if a family member was to marry someone of another race -- because they know that society is still going to make it hard on them.

New Local Bookstore - The Novel Neighbor

One of the saddest things to happen in the 21st Century is the demise of local independent bookshops.  My favorite nearby local bookshop, Puddn'head Books, closed a year or so ago.  Then the downtown branch of Left Bank Books closed. I still go to the original Left Bank Books in the Central West End but not as often as I probably should because, well, I don't live in the West End. 

As I said when Puddn'head Books opened:  "The bookstore of my imagination is small, with a friendly proprietor who likes the kind of books I like, in an easily accessed location with a lot of books that excite me." 

I am excited to tell you that Webster Groves has a new independent bookstore called The Novel Neighbor at the corner of Dale and Big Bend.  I missed the announcement but my sister had heard about it from a friend of hers so we went to check it out last week.  It's a charming little store that sits on a street corner and has decent parking.  It's not only a bookstore - which is probably good in this economy.   As its website says:

The Novel Neighbor is a unique concept and space that carries new adult and childrens’ books, unique works from local artists (including our own “artist(s) in residence”). We offer an amazing community space for book clubs, classes, author events, after-school activities, tastings, parties, showers, and more! We also, include cozy areas for reading – and a fantastic kids’ section with plenty of materials for little ones (and those grown) to read, experience, and explore.

We met the owner, Holland, who was just lovely.  And passionate about what she is doing.  She realizes she needs a business plan built on diversity to bring people into the store.  It worked with us because my sister heard about the store from a local photographer-friend of hers.  The shop has a nice community-use space and they plan to have some really interesting speakers in the evening.  I'm definitely going to check that out. 

The selection of books is not incredibly large (which is very wise of her) but in looking through the shelves, they were "my" kind of books.  So I know that I'll never have trouble finding something there.  And she'll order what she doesn't have. 

One thing I loved is that she is partially funded through kickstarter and she allows some of her funders to have special shelves where they can tell the world what kind of books they like.  I have to say that her backers have the same taste in books that I do!

I really hope the community supports this store.  I don't live in Webster Groves but I live nearby.  If any community in the St. Louis area should be able to support a local bookseller, it should be Webster and environs. 

Check it out:  The Novel Neighbor, 7905 Big Bend Boulevard, Webster Groves Missouri 63119
7905 Big Bend Blvd. Webster Groves MO 63119

Welcome 2015

I hope the blog reading world had a safe Happy New Year celebration. We're still within the 12 days of Christmas so I won't act like the holidays are over yet.  For Christmas my sister surprised me by giving me a book made up of many of my blog posts.  I've had fun reading through it and seeing what interested me at the time. 

That made me realize that it has been ages since I've posted anything.  There are probably many reasons for that including general laziness.  From time to time I've thought about writing something but that thought usually occurred in the midst of some other general craziness in my life and I would decide not to do anything.  I knew I had enough time to think up what to say but I just didn't feel that I had time to "maintain" it after posting.  I'm not sure I ever formulated an idea of what it means to "maintain" my blog but I think I just wasn't in the mood to keep checking back on it or thinking about what I wrote after I wrote it.  That seems like the antithesis of what a blog is for.  So I always chose not to write anything.

But it's a New Year and it's My Blog and, hey, I can set My Own Rules.  For 2015 the rule will be that I will write when the spirit moves me but will never check back in.  I will not allow comments so that I don't have to moderate them.  But I do check my Twitter feed regularly and I have an email address that blog readers use from time to time (and apologies to those emailing people to whom I never responded in the last few months - I'll try to be better this year.)

I'm excited about 2015 mostly because I really want it to be better than 2014.   See you around!

 

Hearing Voices

This week The Guardian asks the following questions:

• Do you ever hear characters’ voices when you are reading? If so, how often?
• Do you have visual or other sensory experiences of characters when reading?
• How easy do you find it to imagine a character’s voice when reading? How vivid are these voices when you read?

Here are my answers:

Yes, I hear characters' voices when I'm reading - all the time.  In fact it isn't a reading experience for me if I can't hear voices, including the narrator's voice.  I even hear a voice (not my own) when I'm reading non-fiction.  I have a very definitive idea of what each character sounds like.  I think this might be why I don't particularly like to listen to books being read, hearing someone else's voice detracts from the experience for me.

I have only miminam visual experiences of characters when reading.  If it is important for a plot point (and it has to be REALLY important) I will have a specific idea of hair color, eye color or other physical characteristics.  But in general I have only a vague idea of what a character looks like - a big man or a small man, a tall woman or a short woman, etc.  In my mind they are fairly generic.  I think that's why I never get very worked up about actors who are cast to play parts in adaptations of books - I figure wigs and contacts and makeup can do a lot.  But I'm constantly surprised if they don't SOUND like how I imagined the character sounding.

I just watched the first episode of the new Outlander television series based on the novels of Diana Gabaldon.  I read the first Outlander book long ago - so long ago that I have a hard time remembering it.  And after the first few books, I gave up on the series.   But I remembered really liking the first novel.  Watching the series I was having a hard time getting into the character of Claire but once Jamie was on the scene I thought - oh ,yes, he's a good Jaime.  After it was over, I realized that the actor playing Jaime sounded exactly as I imagined Jaime would sound whereas the actress playing Claire had a much more .... unemotional .... voice than I imagined Claire having.  (And that was a real problem for me since there was so much voice-over of her thoughts.)  Maybe if I see more episodes she'll grow on me. 

Another good example is The Game of Thrones.  When I read The Game of Thrones, the first novel in George R.R. Martin's epic series, I heard Tyrion with a specific American accent.  I read enough fantasy novels that are set in quasi-British settings that I usually hear the characters with British accents, but I heard Tyrion with an American accent.  So when I heard Peter Dinklage's interpretation of the character with his (somewhat) British accent, I thought "huh".  I got used to it after a while because he was so good.  But I wondered if I would continue to hear HIM when I read later books.  I found that I didn't.  "My" Tyrion still has an American accent when I read.

What I've found interesting is that when I tell people this, they don't seem to truly understand that the voice in my head has nothing to do with my visual impression.  I searched my recollection to figure out who "my" Tyrion sounded like and I finally came up with Robert Reich, the former US Secretary of Labor.  When I tell people that, they pause and then say "Well, I guess that makes sense because he is kind of little."   Which I find both annoying and somewhat hilarious.  I mean, I don't see Robert Reich when I read about Tyrion.  I have a somewhat generic idea of a dwarf man in my head.  These days I may even see Peter Dinklage more often or not.  But I still hear a voice similar to Robert Reich's.  But it seems that some people can't even imagine choosing a voice for a character that is not connected with their physical being.

Not only do I find it easy to imagine a character's voice, I find it essential.  Most novels that I grow bored with tend to be ones where the voices do not come me.  This often happens when I encounter novelists who "tell" and don't "show".   Even the narrator (even if it is a third person omniscient narrator) needs to have some kind of aural presence for me or I start to lose interest.

RIP James Garner

James Garner made a lot of great television and some very good movies.  So is it wrong that my favorite memory of him was for a series of commercials that he made for Polaroid beginning in the late 1970's?   If so, I don't care.  They were a lot of fun.

My favorite James Garner movie was The Thrill of it All, with Doris Day.  It is also my favorite Doris day comedy.   Carl Reiner was one of the writers and it was hilarious.  Unfortunately there are no really good clips from it on Youtube so you'll just have to go rent it. 

250 Years Ago* ... Happy Birthday St. Louis!

Happy Birthday St. Louis.  Today you are 250 years old! Some people think your birthday was yesterday, but I side with those who think it is today.  February 15.  But we are celebrating all weekend.

How do we know when St. Louis began its existence?   St. Louis appears to be among the chosen few cities that has an account written by an eyewitness.  Many years after the fact (probably after the Louisiana Purchase in 1804) Auguste Chouteau hand-wrote (in French) his memoirs.  Unfortunately, most of the original was destroyed in the 1840's in a fire while the document was on loan.  But a fragment was found among Auguste Chouteau's papers and, fortunately for us, what survived was his "Narrative of the Settlement of St. Louis".   The original is now in the collection of the St. Louis Mercantile Library which is located on the campus of the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

In 1858 the Mercantile Library published the original of the work along with an English translation.  Then in 1911, the Missouri Historical Society Collections republished both the English and French versions and included helpful footnotes.  They also included a photograph of the original manuscript  that containes a portion of the description of the day of the founding.  This is the publication that I use. 

Chouteau wrote:

Navigation being open in the early part of February, [Laclede] fitted out a boat, in which he put thirty men, - nearly all mechanics, - and he gave the charge of it to Chouteau, and said to him:  "You will proceed and land at the place where we marked the trees; you will commence to have the place cleared, and build a large shed to contain the provisions and the tools, and some small cabins, to lodge the men.  I will give you two men on whom you can depend, who will aid you very much; and I will rejoin you before long."  I arrived at the place designated on the [15th] of March and, on the morning of the next day, I put the men to work.  They commenced the shed, which was built in a short time, and the little cabins for the men were built in the vicinity.

Ah, I hear you say.  But doesn't Chouteau state that the date was March 15th?  And isn't this February 15?  And, looking at the deep winter that surrounds us, doesn't it make more sense that they would have waited the additional month?

In helpful footnote (which refers us to the facsimile of the original page) we learn:

The date of the founding of St. Louis has been the subject of much discussion.  As will be seen in the facsimile here given, Col. Chouteau wrote fevrier - February.  By his, or some other hand, the word mars was written over the word fevrier.  In his deposition before Recorder Hunt, Colonel Chouteau testified that, "On the tenth of February, A.D. 1764, Mr. Laclede sent Auguste Chouteau, this deponent, at the head of a party of mechanics of all trades, amounting to upwards of thirty in number to select a place suitable for an establishment such as he proposed.  On the 15th of February, A.D. 1764, they landed at a place which they thought convenient for the purposes of the company and immediately proceeded to cut down trees, draw the lines of a town, and build the house where this deponent at present resides.  Mr. Laclede on his arrival named the town Saint Louis, in honor of the King of France."  1 Hunt's minutes, p. 107.

And why the brackets around the 15th?  The translation is the 14th but the footnote begs to differ: 

Some person have mistaken Colonel Chouteau's figure 5 for the figure 4 (see facsimile).  But a comparison with other documents shows beyond question that the date here is fifteen.  ...

So I looked at the way Chouteau wrote the number "5" and I'm in agreement.  It was the 15th.

Unfortunately Chouteau does not name the two men on whom he was to depend (Chouteau, you might remember, was only about 14 years old).  It also does not name the 30 "mechanics" who accompanied him.  Later, however, in the original manuscript there is a list of names which the editor says appears to be Chouteau's best effort at recalling the names of the thirty men who were with him.

• A. Joseph Tayon
• Roger Tayon
• Dechene
• Beauchamps
• Morcerau
• Joseph Bequet*
• Andre Bequet*
• Gabriel Dodier
• Baptiste Marligne
• Lemoine Marligne
• Beaugenou
• Cotte
• Pichet
• Hervieux
• Bacune
• Francois Delin
• La Garosse
• Kierseraux
• Gregoire Kierceraux
• Alexia picard
• Antoine Pothier
• Th. Labrosse
• Labrosse
• Louis Chancellier
• Chancellier
• Gamache
• Ride
• Roi
• Layoie
• Le Grain

I've asterisked the two Becquets.  As the footnote says:

... the list is intended to be the muster roll of the thirty (in a deposition given 18 April, 1825 Col. Chouteau said upwards of thirty) men who came with Chouteau from Fort Chartres.  ... The errors in the list seem to be the mistakes of a copyist, and would indicate that Col. Chouteau had transcribed it from some previously written document.  Beauchamps was probably intended for Deschamps.  Marcereau should be Marcheteau dit Desnoyers.  The Becquets were both named Jean Baptiste.  Marligne should be Martigny.  The Martignys were near kinsmen of Iberville and Bienville.  Bacane should be Bacanne dit Riviere.  Layoie was Jean Salle dit Lajoie.  Most of the men named in the list became respected citizens of St. Louis. Nearly all were Canadians who had lived in the village about Fort Chartres.  (emphasis mine).

Other books about the founding of St. Louis reference the two Becquets (or Bequets as it is sometimes spelled) and agree that they were named Jean Baptiste and were from the Fort de Chartres area.  There were two Becquets, both named Jean Baptiste, who came to St. Louis.  (There was another Becquet family who went to Ste. Genevieve.)   Later records make clear that one was a blacksmith and one was a miller.   

The blacksmith, Jean Baptiste Becquet, was my ancestor, the son of Jean Baptiste Nicolas Becquet and his wife, Catherine Barreau who were immigrants from France.  J. B. Becquet (the younger) was married to Marie Francoise Dodier, the sister of Gabriel Dodier who was another member of the group of thirty who came with Chouteau.  Both men were blacksmiths.  If you intend to build a settlement, blacksmiths are essential to help make hinges and locks, etc.  They are also very useful to have around for trade because they would draw the Indian population in to have their metal goods repaired.

Jean Baptiste Becquet and his brother-in-law Gabriel Dodier were among the thirty who accompanied Chouteau.  Eventually Marie Francoise Dodier would join her husband in Saint Louis, as well as JB Becquet's mother-in-law, Veuve (Widow)  Dodier.  The founding would be a family affair for my family.

Over the years the family would become less French and more Irish and German, just as St. Louis became less French and more Irish and German.  Eventually in the late 1800s a descendent of Jean Baptiste Becquet would, for the first time, marry someone not of French descent - an Irish immigrant girl who had recently arrived in St. Louis.   Their daughter would marry a British citizen who had come to St. Louis from the British West Indies.  Her son would marry a woman of German-Irish descent.  The stories of our family's French heritage would be almost forgotten.  I would have a general understanding that my great-great-great grandfather with the French name had come "from Canada".  The knowledge that we were descended from a founding family would be misplaced.

But knowledge that is misplaced is not lost forever.  My father started digging into the history of that g-g-g grandfather.  Thanks to the tremendous resources of the St. Louis Public Library, the St. Louis County Library and the Missouri History Museum Library, and some help from my sister and me, the link was rediscovered.    And, thankfully, it was discovered in time for the Birthday Party!

So, again, Happy Birthday St. Louis.  You are a fine place to live.

   



*Part of my continuing blog series leading up to the 250th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis in February 2014.

250 Years Ago* ... Chouteau Sets out from Fort Chartres with Thirty Men

After spending the winter in the little village outside Fort Chartres, Laclede and Chouteau were anxious to move on.  As Auguste Chouteau would later remember: 

 "On the tenth of February, A.D. 1764, Mr. Laclede sent Auguste Chouteau, this deponent, at the head of a party of mechanics of all trades, amounting to upwards of thirty in number to select a place suitable for an establishment such as he proposed."  1 Hunt's minutes, p. 107. (As cited in the Missouri History Museum Collections of 1911).

It would take about five days to get to their destination.   Let's hope that the weather in February 1764 was milder than the weather in February 2014.

*Part of my continuing blog series leading up to the 250th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis in February 2014.