A most happy birthday to playwright and screenwriter Peter Shaffer, who also happened to work as a clerk at The New York Public Library! The creator of the plays Equus and Amadeus visited the Library back in 2000 to honor the 100th anniversary of Oscar Wilde’s death and we have it all on tape! Enjoy one great playwright discussing another!
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The balcony has closed. It is with great sadness that the NYPL learned of the passing of the legendary film critic Roger Ebert today. We were enormous fans of both Ebert’s film reviews - in print and on television - as well as the many different books that he penned. You can find all of his great books such as I HATED, HATED, HATED THIS MOVIE, and his fantastic memoir LIFE ITSELF at branches throughout the entire New York Public Library system. We give the great Roger Ebert two very big enthusiastic thumbs up, WAY UP. You will be missed.
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Happy 70th Birthday to the great Christopher Walken! In celebration our amazing librarian at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jeremy Megraw, wrote an awesome blog about Walken. Jeremy also uncovered some rarely seen photos of a VERY YOUNG Walken from The Library’s incredible Billy Rose Theatre Collection. The photo above is from Ronnie Walken’s (his birth name) 1955 acting resume. Our friends at Gothamist also shared some of these photos as well as some that they found as well…
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Congratulations to all of the Academy Award nominees today! In celebration of the nominations it has becoming an annual tradition for us to post a photo of one of our most famous treasures at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Yep, believe it or not, but The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses TWO Academy Awards in its collections. One is the Oscar that Paul Muni won in 1937 for Best Actor in THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR and the other belonged to Burl Ives who won it for Best Supporting Actor in 1959 for THE BIG COUNTRY.
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Today, we honor the work of award-winning actor Jack Klugman, who passed away on Monday. The Emmy Award winner was best known for his work in Gypsy (photo with Ethel Merman courtesy of NYPL’s Digital Gallery/Billy Rose Theater Division), Quincy, M.E., Ben Casey, and The Odd Couple with Tony Randall.
He will be missed.
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Next week one of the most anticipated films of the year, Les Miserables, opens in theaters. In celebration of the film’s release Doug Reside, our Digital Curator of Performing Arts at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, has written a wonderful blog about his long anticipation to see a film adaptation of Les Miserables: The Musical. He also has been able to digitize and post on his blog some great photographs of the early cast from the show. And of course you can find all of your Les Miserables needs from soundtracks to films to books throughout branches of The New York Public Library.
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Just a reminder that tonight at 6:30pm at The Seward Park Library there will be a free screening of the 1980’s classic DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN that will feature a Q&A with the film’s director Susan Seidelman!!! This screening is part of the new Lower East Side Heritage Film Series: The 80s. Seats are on a first come, first serve basis.
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1980’s lovers do we have an absolute gem of a program for you this Tuesday, November 20 at 6:30pm at our Seward Park Library. As part of the Lower East Side Heritage Film Series: The 80s there will be a free screening of the classic DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, starring Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, and the one and only Madonna. Oh but it gets better because following for the screening there will be a Q&A with the film’s director Susan Seidelman!!! So GET INTO THE GROOVE and come on down to the Seward Park Library and get a chance to watch this classic Lower East Side film… in the LOWER EAST SIDE!!! Seating is on a first come, first serve basis.
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In honor of Bram Stoker, born 165 years ago today and best known for his novel DRACULA, we thought we’d share an old favorite, this Kenn Duncan photo of the late Raul Julia in the 1978 stage production of Stoker’s novel. This photograph is part of our Kenn Duncan collection which is housed at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Billy Rose Theatre Division. You can see more photos from this production at the NYPL Digital Gallery. Tell us your favorite vampire moments in film, books, television or anything else…
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For all you Katharine Hepburn fans out there, please note that The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has just opened an amazing free exhibition entitled KATHARINE HEPBURN: DRESSED FOR STAGE AND SCREEN which examines the influential fashion style of the iconic actress. Over 40 original Hepburn dresses and costumes are on display including pieces from THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, ON GOLDEN POND and from the still above WITHOUT LOVE. Check out Cathy Horyn of The New York Times article on the exhibition.
