Angolszász idézetek fordítással, Off Course nyelvtan videókkal és mondatgyűjteménnyel ______________________www.facebook.com/offcourseangol_____________________
Wikipedia:
...Encouraged by his family to study the violin, Youngman began in
show business as a musician. He led a small jazz band
called the "Swanee Syncopaters", and during their
performances he often told jokes. One night, the club's regular
comedian didn't show up and the owner asked Youngman to fill in. He
enjoyed it and began his long career as a stand-up comic...
...Like
many comedians, Henny Youngman treated his profession as a working
job, one where it is difficult to make a living, and getting paid for
the work is all-important. In numerous interviews, Youngman's advice
to other entertainers was to "nem di gelt" (Yiddish for
"take the money"). He was quoted in an interview with
the Web-based magazine Eye: "I get on the plane. I go
and do the job, grab the money and I come home and I keep it clean.
Those are my rules. Sinatra does the same thing, only he
has a helicopter waiting. That's the difference."...
...When
the New York Telephone Company started its Dial-a-Joke line
in 1974, over three million people called in one month to hear
30 seconds of Youngman's material – the most ever for a
comedian.
(bocs az elírásért -- hát persze hogy konzervatiVIzmus...) Segítség a nyelvtanhoz: * névelők_mondatok
Wikipedia:
Liberal Conservatism is a variant of
conservatism that combines conservative values and policies with
classical liberal stances. As these latter two terms have
had different meanings over time and across countries, liberal
conservatism also has a wide variety of meanings. Historically, the
term often referred to the combination of economic liberalism,
which champions laissez-faire markets, with the classical
conservatism concern for established tradition, respect for
authority and religious values. It contrasted itself with classical
liberalism, which supported freedom for the individual in
both the economic and social spheres...
...A secondary meaning for the
term liberal conservatism that has developed in Europe is
a combination of more modern conservative (less traditionalist) views
with those of social liberalism. This has developed as an
opposition to the more collectivist views of socialism.
Often this involves stressing what are now conservative views of
free-market economics and belief in individual responsibility, with
social liberal views on defence of civil
rights, environmentalism and support for a limited welfare
state. In continental Europe, this is sometimes also translated
into English as social conservatism.
Wikipedia: Conservative Liberalism is a variant of liberalism that
combines liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or,
more simply, the right wing of the liberal movement. The roots of
conservative liberalism are found at the beginning of the history
of liberalism. Until the two World Wars, in most European
countries the political class was formed by conservative liberals,
from Germany to Italy. Events after World War
I brought the more radical version of classical liberalism to a
more conservative (i.e. more moderate) type of liberalism.
Wikipedia:
National conservatism is a political term used primarily in
Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more
on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding
cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly
nationalist or supporting a far-right approach. In
Europe, national conservatives are usually eurosceptics.
National conservatism is heavily
oriented towards the traditional family and social
stability as well as in favour of limiting immigration...
Wikipedia: Walter
Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942), born
in Munich, Germany, was a painter and printmaker who was a
member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an
important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde
art in the 20th century.
Sickert
was a cosmopolitan and eccentric who often favoured ordinary people
and urban scenes as his subjects. His oeuvre also included portraits
of well-known personalities and images derived from press
photographs. He is considered a prominent figure in the transition
from Impressionism to Modernism...
...Sickert
took a keen interest in the crimes of Jack the Ripper and
believed he had lodged in a room used by the infamous serial killer.
He had been told this by his landlady, who suspected a previous
lodger. Sickert did a painting of the room and titled it "Jack
the Ripper's Bedroom." It shows a dark, melancholy room with
most details obscured. This painting now resides in the Manchester
City Art Gallery in Manchester...
...Although
for over 70 years there was no mention of Sickert's being a suspect
in the Ripper crimes, in modern times three books have been published
whose authors maintain that Sickert was Jack the Ripper or his
accomplice.
Wikipedia:
The Boat Race is a set of annual rowing races between
the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge
University Boat Club, rowed between eights on the River
Thames in London, England. It is also known as
the University Boat Race and the Oxford and Cambridge
Boat Race, or by a title that includes the name of its
current sponsor (from 2016, the Cancer Research
UK Boat Race). It usually takes place on the last weekend of
March or the first weekend of April. The most recent race was
the 2015 race which took place on Saturday 11 April
2015, with Oxford winning the race by 20 seconds.
The
first race was in 1829 and the event has been held annually since
1856, except during the First and Second World
Wars. The course covers a 4.2-mile (6.8 km) stretch of
the Thames in West London, from Putney to Mortlake. Members
of both teams are traditionally known as blues and each
boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and
Oxford dark blue. As of 2015 Cambridge have won the race 81 times and
Oxford 79 times, with one dead heat...
...The
race is well-established and popular. Upwards of 250,000 people watch
the race from the banks of the river each year (in 2009, a record
270,000 people watched the race live) while a further 15 million
or more watch it on television; currently no other
non-country-representative rowing races are broadcast by a television
station.
Wikipedia: The United States
Senate is a legislative chamber in the bicameral legislature of
the United States, and together with the House of
Representatives makes up the U.S. Congress....
...The
Constitution requires that senators take an oath or affirmation to
support the Constitution. Congress has prescribed the following oath
for new senators:I, ___ ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true
faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely,
without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will
well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am
about to enter. So help me God...
...Norris H. Cotton (May 11,
1900 – February 24, 1989) was
an American Republican politician and a United
States Representative as well as United States Senator from
the state of New Hampshire...
...One of his
most controversial votes came when he was the only senator from New
England to vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However,
Cotton would vote for later civil rights acts such as the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 and theCivil Rights Act of 1968...
Wikipedia:
Florynce Rae "Flo" Kennedy (February 11, 1916 – December
21, 2000) was an American lawyer, activist, civil rights advocate,
lecturer and feminist.
Kennedy
was born in Kansas City to an African-American family. Her father
Wiley Kennedy was a Pullman porter, and later had a taxi business.
The second of her parents' five daughters, she had a happy childhood,
full of support from her parents, despite experiencing poverty in the
Great Depression and racism in her mostly white neighborhood. The Klu
Klux Klan being present in her neighborhood, Kennedy remembered a
time in her neighborhood with her father having to be armed with a
shotgun in order to ward off the Klan who was trying to drive her
family out of the neighbourhood. She later commented: "My
parents gave us a fantastic sense of security and worth. By the time
the bigots got around to telling us that we were nobody, we already
knew we were somebody."...
...Kennedy
often dressed in a cowboy hat and pink sunglasses. Once, to protest
the lack of female bathrooms at Harvard, she led a mass urination on
the grounds. When asked about this, she said:
I'm
just a loud-mouthed middle-aged colored lady with a fused spine and
three feet of intestines missing and a lot of people think I'm crazy.
Maybe you do too, but I never stop to wonder why I'm not like other
people. The mystery to me is why more people aren't like me...
...In
1974, People magazine wrote that she was "The biggest, loudest
and, indisputably, the rudest mouth on the battleground."
Wikipedia: Gloria Marie Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and spokeswoman for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 70s.
She
was a columnist for New York magazine and a founder
of Ms. magazine. In 1969, she published an article, "After
Black Power, Women's Liberation," which brought her to national
fame as a feminist leader.
In
2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded
the Women's Media Center, an organization that works "to
make women visible and powerful in the media."
Steinem
currently travels internationally as an organizer and lecturer and is
a media spokeswoman on issues of equality...
...Steinem
has stated, "I think the fact that I've become a symbol for the
women's movement is somewhat accidental. A woman member of Congress,
for example, might be identified as a member of Congress; it doesn't
mean she's any less of a feminist but she's identified by her nearest
male analog. Well, I don't have a male analog so the press has to
identify me with the movement...
...Although
Steinem did not mention or advocate same-sex marriage in any
published works or interviews for more than three decades, she again
expressed support for same-sex marriage in the early 2000s,
stating in 2004 that "the idea that sexuality is only okay if it
ends in reproduction oppresses women — whose health depends on
separating sexuality from reproduction — as well as gay men and
lesbians." Steinem is also a signatory of the 2008 manifesto,
"Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision For All Our
Families and Relationships", which advocates extending legal
rights and privileges to a wide range of relationships, households,
and families...
...abortion
is supposed to make us a bad person. But I must say, I never felt
that. I used to sit and try and figure out how old the child would
be, trying to make myself feel guilty. But I never could! I think the
person who said: 'Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be
a sacrament' was right. Speaking for myself, I knew it was the first
time I had taken responsibility for my own life. I wasn't going to
let things happen to me. I was going to direct my life, and therefore
it felt positive. But still, I didn't tell anyone. Because I knew
that out there it wasn't...
Wikipedia:
James Bovard (born 1956) is a libertarian author and lecturer whose
political commentary targets examples of waste, failures, corruption,
cronyism and abuses of power in government. He is the author of
Attention Deficit Democracy, and eight other books. He has written
for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New
Republic, Reader's Digest, The American Conservative, and many other
publications. His books have been translated into Spanish, Arabic,
Japanese, and Korean.
Wikipedia:Benjamin
Disraeli (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British
politician and writer, who twice served as Prime Minister. He played
a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party,
defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered
for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles
with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his
one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the
Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of
the British Empire. He is the only British Prime Minister of Jewish
birth...
...Despite
the gravity of Disraeli's condition, the doctors concocted optimistic
bulletins, for public consumption. The Prime Minister, Gladstone,
called several times to enquire about his rival's condition, and
wrote in his diary, "May the Almighty be near his pillow."
There was intense public interest in the former Prime Minister's
struggles for life. Disraeli had customarily taken the sacrament at
Easter; when this day was observed on 17 April, there was discussion
among his friends and family if he should be given the opportunity,
but those against, fearing that he would lose hope, prevailed. On the
morning of the following day, Easter Monday, he became incoherent,
then comatose. Disraeli's last confirmed words before dying in the
early morning of 19 April were "I had rather live but I am not
afraid to die".
During
his 50-year career as a comedy writer, Gene Perret has written for
some of the greatest comedians and television shows in history.
Perret started writing stand-up material in the early 1960s, working
for greats like Phyllis Diller and Slappy Writer. Perret joined Bob
Hope’s writing staff in 1969 and was Hope’s head writer for the
last 12 years of Hope’s career...
...Perret
has received seven Emmy nominations, including one for original
music, and two Writer’s Guild Award nominations. He has captured
three Emmy awards and one Writer’s Guild Award.
Perret
has also helped start the careers of many television comedy writers
through his books, conferences, and classes. He is the author of over
40 books, including the classic guide to comedy writing, “The New
Comedy Writing Step-by-Step” and his latest book, “The Ten
Commandments of Comedy.”
Wikipedia:Raymond
Albert "Ray" Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984)
was an American businessman and philanthropist. He joined McDonald's
in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in
the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People
of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime. He owned
the San Diego Padres baseball team from 1974 until his death in 1984.
Similar to another fast-food giant, KFC founder Harland Sanders,
Kroc's success came later in life when he was past his 50th
birthday...
...Kroc
maintained the assembly line "Speedee Service System" for
hamburger preparation, which was introduced by the McDonald brothers
in 1948. He standardized operations, ensuring every burger would
taste the same in every restaurant. He set strict rules for
franchisees on how the food was to be made, portion sizes, cooking
methods and times, and packaging. Kroc also rejected cost-cutting
measures like using soybean filler in the hamburger patties. These
strict rules also were applied to customer service standards with
such mandates that money be refunded to clients whose orders were not
correct or to customers who had to wait more than 5 minutes for their
food...
...Kroc's
foundation supported research and treatment of alcoholism, diabetes,
and other diseases. He established the Ronald McDonald House
foundation. He was a major donor to the Dartmouth Medical School...
Wikipedia:
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22,
1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President
of the United States from 1963 to 1969, assuming the office
after serving as the 37th Vice President of the United
States from 1961 to 1963. Johnson was a Democrat from Texas,
who served as a United States Representative from 1937 to
1949 and as a United States Senator from 1949 to 1961. He
spent six years asSenate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority
Leader, and two as Senate Majority Whip...
...Johnson
escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1964,
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted
Johnson the power to use military force in Southeast Asia without
having to ask for an official declaration of war. The number of
American military personnel in Vietnam increased dramatically, from
16,000 advisors in non-combat roles in 1963, to 550,000 in early
1968, many in combat roles. American casualties soared and the peace
process bogged down. Growing unease with the war stimulated a large,
angry antiwar movement based especially on university
campuses in the U.S. and abroad...
...Historians
argue that Johnson's presidency marked the peak of modern
liberalism in the United States after the New Deal era.
Johnson is ranked favorably by some historians because of his
domestic policies and the passage of many major laws, affecting civil
rights, gun control, wilderness preservation, and Social
Security.
Wikipedia: Phyllis Ada Driver (July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012), better known as Phyllis Diller, was an American stand-up comedian, actress, singer, dancer, and voice artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, her self-deprecating humor, her wild hair and clothes, and her exaggerated, cackling laugh.
Diller was a groundbreaking stand-up comic – one of the first woman comics to become a household name in the U.S. She paved the way for Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr and Ellen Degeneres, among others, who credit her influence. Diller had a large gay following and is considered a gay icon. She was also one of the first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she was recognized by the industry.
Diller worked in more than 40 films, beginning with 1961's Splendor in the Grass. She appeared in many television series, often in cameos, but also including her own short-lived sitcom and variety show. Some of her credits include The Night Gallery, The Muppet Show, The Love Boat, Cybill, and Boston Legal, plus eleven seasons of The Bold and the Beautiful. Her voice-acting roles included the monster's wife in Mad Monster Party, the Queen in A Bug's Life, Granny Neutron in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Thelma Griffin in Family Guy.
Wikipedia: John Ruskin was the leading
English art critic of the Victorian era... Today, his ideas and
concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in
environmentalism, sustainability and craft...
Wikipedia: Milton Friedman (July 31,
1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist who received
the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research
on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the
complexity of stabilization policy. With George Stigler and others,
Friedman was among the intellectual leaders of the second generation
of Chicago price theory, a methodological movement at the University
of Chicago's Department of Economics, Law School, and Graduate School
of Business from the 1940s onward. Several students and young
professors that were recruited or mentored by Friedman at Chicago
went on to become leading economists; they include Gary Becker,
Robert Fogel, and Robert Lucas, Jr...
Wikipedia:
Art Hoppe (Arthur Watterson Hoppe, April 23, 1925 - February 1, 2000)
was a popular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than
40 years. He was known for satirical and allegorical columns that
skewered the self-important. Many columns featured whimsical
characters such as expert-in-all-things Homer T. Pettibone and a
presidential candidate named Nobody. Occasionally, Hoppe reined in
his humor for poignant columns on serious topics, such as "To
Root Against Your Country," a noted 1971 column against the
Vietnam War. Hoppe began at the Chronicle as a copy boy in 1949 and
was promoted to reporter before beginning his own column. At the peak
of its popularity, Hoppe's column appeared in the Chronicle five days
a week and was syndicated in more than 100 newspapers nationwide. His
close friends included fellow columnists Russell Baker and Art
Buchwald.
Hoppe
received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of
Newspaper Columnists in 1996. He died from complications of lung
cancer in February 2000, aged 74, survived by his wife Gloria and
four children.
Wikipedia: Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd
Baronet, CH (29 April 1879 – 8 March 1961) was an
English conductor and impresario best known for his association
with the London Philharmonic and the Royal
Philharmonicorchestras. He was also closely associated with
the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras.
From the early 20th century until his death, Beecham was a major
influence on the musical life of Britain and, according to the BBC,
was Britain's first international conductor...
...Beecham
has been much quoted. In 1929, the editor of a music journal wrote,
"The stories gathered around Sir Thomas Beecham are innumerable.
Wherever musicians come together, he is likely to be one of the
topics of conversation. Everyone telling a Beecham story tries to
imitate his manner and his tone of voice." A book, Beecham
Stories, was published in 1978 consisting entirely of his bons
mots and anecdotes about him. Some are variously attributed
to Beecham or one or more other people, including Arnold
Bax and Winston Churchill; Neville Cardus admitted to
inventing some himself. Among the Beecham lines that are
reliably attributed are, "A musicologist is a man who can read
music but can't hear it"; his maxim, "There are only
two things requisite so far as the public is concerned for a good
performance: that is for the orchestra to begin together and end
together; in between it doesn't matter much"; and his
remark at his 70th birthday celebrations after telegrams were read
out from Strauss, Stravinsky and Sibelius: "Nothing from
Mozart?"
Jean Pougnet (20 July 1907 – 14
July 1968) was a Mauritian-born concert violinist and
orchestra leader, of British nationality, who was highly
regarded in both the lighter and more serious classical repertoire
during the first half of the twentieth century. He was leader of
the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1942 to 1945.
Wikipedia: Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie
Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an
Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet. After writing in
different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most
popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is remembered for his
epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, as
well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.
Wikipedia:
Phyllis Ada Driver (July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012), better
known as Phyllis Diller, was an American stand-up comedian,
actress, singer, dancer, and voice artist, best known for her
eccentric stage persona, her self-deprecating humor, her wild hair
and clothes, and her exaggerated, cackling laugh.
Diller
was a groundbreaking stand-up comic – one of the first woman comics
to become a household name in the U.S. She paved the way for Joan
Rivers, Roseanne Barr and Ellen Degeneres, among
others, who credit her influence. Diller had a large gay
following and is considered a gay icon. She was also one of the
first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she
was recognized by the industry.
Diller
worked in more than 40 films, beginning with 1961's Splendor in
the Grass. She appeared in many television series, often in cameos,
but also including her own short-lived sitcom and variety show. Some
of her credits include The Night Gallery, The Muppet Show, The
Love Boat, Cybill, and Boston Legal, plus eleven seasons of The
Bold and the Beautiful. Her voice-acting roles included the monster's
wife in Mad Monster Party, the Queen in A Bug's Life,
Granny Neutron in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,
and Thelma Griffin in Family Guy.
Wikipedia: Noah Webster, Jr. (October
16, 1758 – May 28, 1843), was an American lexicographer,
textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political
writer, editor, and prolific author. He has been called the "Father
of American Scholarship and Education". His blue-backed speller
books taught five generations of American children how to spell and
read, secularizing their education. According to Ellis (1979) he
gave Americans "a secular catechism to the
nation-state."
Webster's name has become synonymous
with "dictionary" in the United States, especially the
modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published
in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.
He was one of the Founding
Fathers of the United States...
... In 1806, Webster published his
first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English
Language. In 1807 Webster began compiling an expanded and fully
comprehensive dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English
Language; it took twenty-six years to complete. To evaluate the
etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-eight languages,
including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Gothic, German, Greek,
Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, Welsh, Russian, Hebrew,
Aramaic, Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit. Webster hoped to
standardize American speech, since Americans in different parts of
the country used different languages. They also spelled, pronounced,
and used English words differently...
Wikipedia:
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965)
was an American politician and diplomat, noted for his intellectual
demeanor, eloquent public speaking, and promotion of liberal causes
in the Democratic Party. He served as the 31st Governor of
Illinois, and received the Democratic Party's nomination for
president in 1952 even though he had not campaigned in the
primaries. John Frederick Martin says party leaders selected him
because he was "more moderate on civil rights than Estes
Kefauver, yet nonetheless acceptable to labor and urban machines —
so a coalition of southern, urban, and labor leaders fell in behind
his candidacy in Chicago."
...
The governor proved to be a popular public speaker, gaining a
national reputation as an intellectual, with a self-deprecating sense
of humor to match. One example came when the Illinois legislature
passed a bill (supported by bird lovers) declaring that cats roaming
unescorted was a public nuisance. Stevenson vetoed the bill, and sent
this public message regarding the veto: "It is in the nature of
cats to do a certain amount of unescorted roaming...the problem of
cat versus bird is as old as time. If we attempt to solve it by
legislation who knows but what we may be called upon to take sides as
well in the age old problem of dog versus cat, bird versus bird, or
even bird versus worm. In my opinion, the State of Illinois and its
local governing bodies already have enough to do without trying to
control feline delinquency. For these reasons, and not because I love
birds the less or cats the more, I veto and withhold my approval from
Senate Bill No. 93."
Wikipedia: Robert Keith "Bob"
Rae (born August 2, 1948) is
a lawyer, negotiator, public speaker and former Canadian politician.
He was the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and was
the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from
2011 to 2013. He was previously leader of the Ontario New
Democratic Party and the 21st Premier of Ontario, from
1990-1995.
(www.biography.com)
Dorothy Parker was the sharpest wit of
the Algonquin Round Table, as well as a master of short fiction and a
blacklisted screenwriter.
In addition to her writing, Dorothy
Parker was a noted member of the New York literary scene in 1920s.
She formed a group called the Algonquin Round Table with writer
Robert Benchley and playwright Robert Sherwood. This artistic crowd
also included such members as The New Yorker founder Harold
Ross, comedian Harpo Marx, and playwright Edna Ferber among others.
The group took its name from its hangout—the Algonquin Hotel, but
also also known as the Vicious Circle for the number of cutting
remarks made by its members and their habit of engaging in
sharp-tongued banter.
(excerpt from an interview with Dorothy Parker by Marion Capron – www.theparisreview.org)
INTERVIEWER: That’s not showing much
respect for your fellow women, at least not the writers.
PARKER: As artists they’re not, but
as providers they’re oil wells; they gush. Norris said she never
wrote a story unless it was fun to do. I understand Ferber whistles
at her typewriter. And there was that poor sucker Flaubert rolling
around on his floor for three days looking for the right word. I’m
a feminist, and God knows I’m loyal to my sex, and you must
remember that from my very early days, when this city was scarcely
safe from buffaloes, I was in the struggle for equal rights for
women. But when we paraded through the catcalls of men and when we
chained ourselves to lampposts to try to get our equality—dear
child, we didn’t foresee those female writers. Or Clare
Boothe Luce, or Perle Mesta, or Oveta Culp Hobby.
INTERVIEWER: You have an extensive
reputation as a wit. Has this interfered, do you think, with your
acceptance as a serious writer?
PARKER: I don’t want to be classed as
a humorist. It makes me feel guilty. I’ve never read a good tough
quotable female humorist, and I never was one myself. I couldn’t do
it. A “smartcracker” they called me, and that makes me sick and
unhappy. There’s a hell of a distance between wisecracking and wit.
Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.
I didn’t mind so much when they were good, but for a long time
anything that was called a crack was attributed to me—and then they
got the shaggy dogs.
Wikipedia: Tallulah Brockman
Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an
American actress of the stage and screen, and a
reputed libertine. Bankhead was known for her husky voice,
outrageous personality, and devastating wit. Originating some of the
twentieth century theater's preeminent roles in comedy and melodrama,
she gained acclaim as an actress on both sides of the Atlantic.
Bankhead became an icon of the tempestuous, flamboyant actress, and
her unique voice and mannerisms are often subject to imitation and
parody ...
... In her personal life, Bankhead
struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction, and was infamous for
her uninhibited sex life. Despite her vices, Bankhead was capable of
great kindness and generosity to those in need, supporting
disadvantaged foster children and helping several families escape
the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Bankhead was inducted
into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972, and
the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981. Upon her
death, Bankhead was credited with nearly 300 film, stage, television,
and radio roles. She is regarded as one of the 20th century
theatre's great Leading Ladies.
