Re: An Acting Question.

David L. White (d-white@nwu.edu)
Mon, 07 Jul 1997 12:02:15 -0500 

>My computer is at work so I don't read the list over the weekend.  
>Unfortunately, after reading the holiday weekend installments, I am 
>pretty sad:  some much time on so little.

Hell, I was gone all week, last week.  I had over a hundred messages from
the list and the faux Salinger posts were such a waste of my time that I'm
sure I deleted a handful of interesting ones just to avoid them.
 
>One exception, its good to 
>hear from Sonny again.  Finally, for me, the occasional "highbrow" 
>threads and seaming pedantary of this list has been a constant 
>challenge to me and my approaches to literature (more than just JDS) and 
>I am indebted to the real players here (you know who you are).  Keep the 
>faith.

Very true!  And it's not as if the discussions on this list are elitist or
anything.  True, there have been snide comments from time to time, but
there are people on this list as young as 12 years old and no one has ever
accused anyone of asking a stupid or uninformed question.  Probably because
the young people on this list are more insightful than the Salinger
imposter.  (Imposter might be too complimentary a word.  How about
"time-waster"?)
>
>I saw a terrible performance of a great Tennessee Williams play this 
>weekend (Sweet Bird of Youth).  Does anyone know of a legit JDS 
>adaptation for the stage or Big Screen. I kinda doubt it.

No, and it's actually a shame.  I know this point of view will illicit
caustic responses from some people, but I think a handful of Salinger's
works would make great one act plays.  In college, I staged a scene from
"Zooey" for a directing class (although my familiarity with the story now,
makes my enthusiasm then seem rather naive) and when I taught acting at the
University of Pittsburgh, I used "Nine Stories" as one of my acting texts.
The class staged some amazing scenes from ESKIMOS, PRETTY MOUTH, and UNCLE
WIGGLY.  In fact, my interest in Salinger began when one of my college
acting professors did the same thing in a class I was taking.  In turn, I
know that several of my students are now Salinger fans.

Granted, some elements (important elements) could never, ever be captured
in a stage production of any of JDS's works, but his dialogue and character
development are so damn good that one wishes he had turned playwright at
least once, in his career.

I've read that "Pari" is actually pretty faithful to Franny and Zooey (even
though it's an Iranian film)  Hopefully it'll make an art-house showing in
Chicago sometime.

David White

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>Insurreptitiously redirecting,
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>Josh
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