There are two film productions of 'The Women', 1939 and 2008. 1939 production. Click HERE for more info. 2008 Re-Make: Click HERE for info and trailors.
I suggest trying to watch both before we start rehearsing!
Emma x
Friday, November 25, 2011
Other blogs on 'The Women'
Surfing the net I keep coming accross other bloggers, with rather useful thoughts and information of 'The Women'. Check this one out - and search for more of your own!
Emma x
Emma x
Another review/images
Here is another review from the 2010 Shaw festival production of 'The Women' with some lovely images too...
A critical review - and some thoughts....
Hello all,
I'm hoping you are now all fully signed up here, and ready to log on daily as this will be our best means of sharing thoughts and research in advance of our January rehearsals. Please make sure you scroll down through all my various posts, as there are lots of useful resources for you. Here are some thoughts, and a couple of things for your Xmas 'To Do List'.
* This is biting SATIRE
From dictionary :
Sat·ire
noun* CLB is presenting the awful potential of an elite group of socialite women, not asking us to sympathise with or like them!
So the question is how do we link this to women today? What is our modern day parallel? Try THIS
Sex and the City. If you haven't seen the series of the films, now is your chance (first time for me too!). There's some Xmas break homework for you!
Until the next post/thought...
Emma x
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Women is a comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce.
The play is an acidic commentary on the pampered lives and power struggles of various wealthy Manhattan socialites and up-and-comers and the gossip that propels and damages their relationships. While men frequently are the subject of their lively discussions and play an important role in the action on-stage, they are strictly characters mentioned but never seen.
The original Broadway production, directed by Robert B. Sinclair, opened on December 26, 1936 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where it ran for 666 performances[1] with an all-female cast that included Arlene Francis, Ilka Chase, and Marjorie Main.
Character SketchesMary (Mrs. Haines): middle 30s,upper middle-class housewife, married to Stephen Haines with two children (little Mary and little Stephen), demure, faithful, innocent/positive outlook towards marriage
Crystal: middle 20s, single (until marriage to Stephen), no children, lower-class, fragrance salesperson, flirtatious, deceitful, ambitious, manipulative, unfaithful, disrespectful
Sylvia (Mrs. Fowler): 34, upper middle-class housewife, married to Howard Fowler with no children, gossiper, assertive, disloyal, dishonest, blunt, inconsiderate, selfish
Peggy (Mrs. Day): 25, middle-class housewife (she has money but not her husband), married to John Day with no children (but longs for a child), innocent, compliant, awkward, sympathetic
Nancy Blake: 35, upper middle-class writer, single, possibly bi-sexual (virgin), traveler, blunt, direct, feminist, unemotional
Edith (Mrs. Potter): 33/34, upper middle-class housewife, married to Phelps Potter with 4 children, one dimensional, dull, non-confrontational, does not like children, sexual tendencies, static
Mrs. Morehead: 55, upper middle-class, Mary's mother, presumably a widow, old fashioned/traditional, strict, wise
Countess De Lave: middle-aged, upper middle-class, divorced four times, outgoing, hopeless romantic
Crystal: middle 20s, single (until marriage to Stephen), no children, lower-class, fragrance salesperson, flirtatious, deceitful, ambitious, manipulative, unfaithful, disrespectful
Sylvia (Mrs. Fowler): 34, upper middle-class housewife, married to Howard Fowler with no children, gossiper, assertive, disloyal, dishonest, blunt, inconsiderate, selfish
Peggy (Mrs. Day): 25, middle-class housewife (she has money but not her husband), married to John Day with no children (but longs for a child), innocent, compliant, awkward, sympathetic
Nancy Blake: 35, upper middle-class writer, single, possibly bi-sexual (virgin), traveler, blunt, direct, feminist, unemotional
Edith (Mrs. Potter): 33/34, upper middle-class housewife, married to Phelps Potter with 4 children, one dimensional, dull, non-confrontational, does not like children, sexual tendencies, static
Mrs. Morehead: 55, upper middle-class, Mary's mother, presumably a widow, old fashioned/traditional, strict, wise
Countess De Lave: middle-aged, upper middle-class, divorced four times, outgoing, hopeless romantic
[edit]Themes
1) Ideal Woman The ideal woman in The Women is one who bears children, cares for her husband, while relying on him financially. Women are expected to be perfectly happy fulfilling this role.
2) Marriage Marriage is viewed in many ways throughout the play. Many characters in "The Women" use it to achieve social advancement, such as Crystal and Miriam. The play also emphasises the impact of children on a marriage and how they can hold a couple together. There are varying ideas on the acceptability of adultery and whether it is treated equally for men and women.
3) Relationships Between Women -negative view, it's hard for women to truly be friends -trust is frequently an issue between the women characters -jealousy is rampant for women throughout the play -mother daughter relations are touched on----mother often gives advice to her daughter
[edit]Ways in which the play is radical
For the 1930s, a Broadway production featuring an all-women cast was a surprising event. The play's smashing success could be partly attributed to the fetishization of female bodies. By using the women actors as models for new fashion, Boothe had the opportunity to feature new styles of fashion at the expense of female modesty. Although the Mary's character emphasizes the traditional idea of a woman's role in the household as well as the need for the support of a husband, she is quite radical in the decision to take control of her life by initiating a divorce. Contrasting the rather radical ideas about divorce presented in the play, wise Mrs. Morehead, symbolizes the traditional values of an older generation by disapproving of Mary's decision to divorce, showing the evolution of generational values.
[edit]1973 revival
After seven previews, a revival directed by Morton Da Costa opened on April 25, 1973 at the 46th Street Theatre, where it ran for only 63 performances. The cast included Dorothy Loudon, Myrna Loy, Alexis Smith, Kim Hunter, Rhonda Fleming, Jan Miner, and Camila Ashland. Other productions have starred Gloria Swanson and Elaine Stritch
[edit]2001 revival
After 32 previews, a second revival directed by Scott Elliott opened on November 8, 2001 at the American Airlines Theatre, where it ran for 77 performances. The cast includedKristen Johnston, Rue McClanahan, Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Coolidge, Jennifer Tilly, Heather Matarazzo, and Hallie Kate Eisenberg. Fashion guru Isaac Mizrahi won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design, and Coolidge was nominated as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. This production was also filmed for the PBS series Stage On Screen. The television broadcast premiere took place on June 8, 2002.
[edit]Film versions
The 1939 film version was directed by George Cukor and starred Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford. Supporting cast included Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaineand Mary Boland. In 1956, the story was made into a musical film titled The Opposite Sex, starring June Allyson and Joan Collins. Diane English directed and co-wrote a long-in-development contemporary remake of the film, starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes and Annette Bening, which was released in 2008.
[edit]Television adaptation
On February 7, 1955, the NBC anthology drama series Producers' Showcase broadcast an adaptation of the play.[2] Paulette Goddard, Mary Boland and Ruth Hussey, who had each appeared in the 1939 film, also appeared in this production, as Sylvia Fowler, the Countess and Mary Haines, respectively.
[edit]External links
- 1936 Broadway production
- 1973 Broadway revival
- 2001 Broadway revival
- Turner Classic Movies article on The Women
- "The Women" Past & Present @ LaFemmeReel.com
[edit]
Early life
Clare Boothe Luce was born Ann Boothe in New York City, the second child of dancer Anna Clara Schneider (aka Snyder, aka Anne Boothe) and William Franklin Boothe. Her father, a violinist and patent-medicine salesman, instilled in his daughter a love of music andliterature. Parts of her childhood were spent in Chicago, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee (where the Boothe-Snyder family began using the surnames Murphy and Murfé); Union City, New Jersey; and New York City, New York. She had an elder brother, David Franklin. Clare's unmarried parents separated in 1912.
Boothe attended schools in Garden City and Tarrytown, New York, graduating in 1919. Her original ambition was to become an actress. She understudied Mary Pickford on Broadway at age 10, then briefly attended a school of the theater in New York City. While on aEuropean tour with her mother and stepfather, Dr. Albert E. Austin, whom her mother married in 1919, Boothe became interested in theWomen's suffrage movement.
Boothe married George Tuttle Brokaw, heir to a New York clothing fortune, on August 10, 1923, at the age of 20. They had one daughter, Ann Clare Brokaw (April 25, 1924 - January 11, 1944). According to Boothe, Brokaw was an alcoholic, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1929. On November 23, 1935, Boothe married Henry Robinson Luce, the wealthy and influential publisher of Time, Fortune, and Life.
On January 11, 1944, Luce's daughter Ann Clare Brokaw, while a senior at Stanford University, was killed in an automobile accident. As a result of this tragedy, Luce explored psychotherapy and religion, joining the Roman Catholic Church in 1946, ultimately becoming aDame of Malta.
[edit]Writing career
As a writer for stage, film and magazines, Luce was known for her skill with satire and understatement, as well as her charm with people, which she displayed in oft-quoted aphorisms such as, "No good deed goes unpunished." After the end of her first marriage, Luce resumed her maiden name, and joined the staff of the fashion magazine Vogue, as an editorial assistant in 1930. In 1931, she became associate editor of Vanity Fair, and began writing short sketches satirizing New York society. In 1933, the same year she became managing editor of the magazine, her sketches were compiled and published under the title Stuffed Shirts. Boothe resigned from Vanity Fair in 1934 to pursue a career as a playwright.
In 1940, after World War II had begun, Luce took time away from her success as a playwright and traveled to Europe as a journalist for her husband's Life Magazine. During a four-month visit, she covered a wide range of battlefronts. Her observations of Italy, France,Belgium, the Netherlands, and England in the midst of the German offensive were published as Europe in the Spring in 1940. This anecdotal account describes "... a world where men have decided to die together because they are unable to find a way to live together."
In 1941, Luce and her husband toured China and reported on the status of the country and its war with Japan. After the United States entered World War II, Luce toured Africa, India,China, and Burma, compiling reports for Life. Luce endured the frustrations and dangers familiar to most war correspondents, including bombing raids in Europe and the Far East. Luce's unsettling observations eventually led to changes in British military policy in the Middle East.[citation needed]
During this tour, she published interviews with General Harold Alexander, commander of British troops in the Middle East; Chiang Kai-Shek; Jawaharlal Nehru; and General Joseph Warren Stilwell, commander of American troops in the China-Burma-India theater. While in Trinidad and Tobago, she faced house arrest by British Customs due to Allied discomfort over the contents of a draft article for Life magazine. In 1944 she also wrote for the monthly magazine Prevent World War III.
In 1947, after her second term in the US House expired, Luce wrote a series of articles describing her conversion to Roman Catholicism under the influence of Fulton J. Sheen. These were published in McCall's magazine. In 1949, she wrote the screenplay for the film Come to the Stable, about two nuns trying to raise money to build a children's hospital. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Luce returned to writing for the stage in 1951 with Child of the Morning.
In 1952, she edited the book Saints for Now, a compilation of essays about various saints written by authors including Whittaker Chambers, Evelyn Waugh, Bruce Marshall, andRebecca West. She wrote her final play, Slam the Door Softly, in 1970.
[edit]Political career
In 1942, Luce won a Republican seat in the United States House of Representatives representing Fairfield County, Connecticut, the 4th Congressional District. She filled the seat formerly held by her late stepfather, Dr. Albert E. Austin. An outspoken critic of the Democratic President's foreign policy, Luce won the respect of the ultraconservative isolationists in Congress and received an appointment to the Military Affairs Committee.
However, her voting record was generally more moderate, siding with the administration on issues such as funding for American troops and aid to war victims. Luce won a second term in the House in 1944 and was instrumental in the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission and began warning against the growing threat of international Communism. In 1946 she was the co-author of the Luce–Celler Act of 1946, which allowed immigration of Indians and Filipinos to the US, who had previously been limited to 100 immigrants per year because they were non-white, and allowed Indian-Americans and Filipino-Americans to become naturalized citizens. In 1948 she delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention.
Luce returned to politics during the 1952 presidential election, when she campaigned on behalf of Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower. Luce's support was rewarded with an appointment as ambassador to Italy, confirmed by the Senate in March 1953. MeetingPope Pius XII, she allegedly instructed him to be tougher on communism in defense of the Church, prompting the Pontiff to a quiet reply, "You know, Mrs. Ambassador, I am a Catholic too."[1] As ambassador, Luce addressed the issue of anticommunism and the Italian labor movement and helped settle the dispute between Italy and what was then Yugoslavia over the United Nations territorial lines in Trieste. Not long afterward, Luce fell seriously ill with arsenic poisoning caused by paint chips falling from the stucco that decorated her bedroom ceiling, and was forced to resign in 1956.[2]
Luce maintained her association with the conservative wing of the Republican party. She was well known for her anti-Communist views, as well as her advocacy of fiscal conservatism. In 1964, she supported Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the Republican candidate for president, and considered a candidacy for the United States Senate from New York on the Conservative party ticket. However, also in 1964, her husband retired as editor-in-chief of Time, and Luce joined him by also retiring from public life. In 1979, she was the first female to be awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point.
In 1981, newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan appointed Luce to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. She served on the board until 1983, the year President Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
[edit]Death
Clare Luce died of brain cancer on October 9, 1987, aged 84, at her Watergate apartment in Washington D.C. She is buried at Mepkin Abbey, in South Carolina.
[edit]Legacies
Since its first grants in 1989 the Clare Boothe Luce Program has become the single most significant source of private support for women in science, mathematics and engineering.[citation needed] The organization has claimed that it has given grants of more than $120 million to supported some 1,550 women. Grants are made to colleges and universities, not directly to individuals.
[edit]Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
The CBLPI was founded in 1993 by Michelle Easton.[3] The non-profit think tank seeks to advance American women through conservative ideas and espouses much the same philosophy as the late Clare Boothe Luce, both in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy.[4]
[edit]Clare Boothe Luce Heritage Foundation Award
The Clare Boothe Luce Award, established in 1991 in memory of Luce, is the Heritage Foundation's highest award for distinguished contributions to the conservative movement. Prominent recipients include Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and William F. Buckley Jr.[5][6][7]
[edit]Publications
Plays:
- 1935 Abide with Me
- 1936 The Women
- 1938 Kiss the Boys Goodbye
- 1939 Margin for Error
- 1951 Child of the Morning
- 1970 Slam the Door Softly
Screenplays:
- 1949, Come to the Stable
Books:
- 1933, Stuffed Shirts
- 1940, Europe in the Spring
- 1952, Saints for Now (editor)
[edit]See also
[edit]References
- ^ Paolucci, Antonio (9/13-14/2010). "La salvaguardia della Sistina. Stiano tranquilli i consiglieri troppo zelanti. [Sistine chapel safeguard. Too zealous counselors be quiet.]" (in Italian).L'Osservatore Romano (www.chiesa.espressonline.it). Retrieved 9/14/2011. "Signora sono cattolico anch'io"
- ^ "Foreign Relations: Arsenic for the Ambassador", Time, 23 July 1956
- ^ Writer, Diplomat Clare Boothe Luce, cblpi.org
- ^ About the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
- ^ Rankin, Margaret (12 December 1997). "Heritage of conservatism is ongoing after 25 years". Washington Times.
- ^ "Thatcher praises Blair’s support for US". BBC News. 10 December 2002. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
- ^ "William F. Buckley Jr.". National Review Online. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
[edit]Sources
- Shadegg, Stephen C., Clare Booth Luce: A biography, Simon & Shuster, New York: 1970 (ISBN 0-671-20672-9)
- Sheed, Wilfred, Clare Boothe Luce, E.P. Dutton Publishers, New York: 1982
[edit]External links
 | Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Clare Boothe Luce |
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clare Boothe Luce |
- Clare Boothe Luce at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Clare Boothe Luce at the Internet Movie Database
- Clare Boothe Luce at the Internet Broadway Database
- http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/wcf/wcf0010.html
- http://www.creighton.edu/Luce/aboutcbl.html
- http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/luce-cla.htm
- http://www.cblpi.org/
- http://www.hluce.org/cblprogram.aspx
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