The method, p.53
The Method, page 53
212 “there was a woman who read her own publicity” Author interview with Farran Smith Nehme.
212 You must listen with your blood! Mann, The Contender, 104.
212 “Olivier could stand on his head” Quoted in Kissell, Stella Adler, 18.
212 “You went back to the crap, the dirt, the filth” Quoted in Balcerzak, “Fellows Find.”
212 “taught me all I know” Quoted in Ochoa, Stella! Mother of Modern Acting, loc 3347.
212 He had been told all his life that he wasn’t smart Mann, The Contender, 30.
212 “I don’t understand life” Quoted in ibid., 33.
213 He held the pantomimed baby with casual indifference Ibid., 47.
213 Brando waddled over to his invisible nest Bosworth, Marlon Brando, 23.
213 Adler, taking a page from Boleslavsky Mann, The Contender, 98.
213 It was the person-to-person, human level of small talk Ibid., 56.
213 “But, Stella … don’t you realize that I have debts” Clurman, All People Are Famous, 110.
213 where at any moment some jumble of famous composers Mann, The Contender, 118.
213 “a woman of strong constitution” Clurman, All People Are Famous, 111.
214 “He’s a bum” Quoted in Mann, The Contender, 119.
214 He even received an offer of a film contract Ibid., 101.
214 In 1944, Piscator fired Brando Bosworth, Marlon Brando, 28.
214 thanks in part to Stella’s championing Ibid.
214 the Lab was a combination of acting school, studio Smith, Real Life Drama, loc 9423.
214 a formal constitution mandating that every member of the Lab Epstein, Joe Papp, loc 1347.
214 They froze Julie Garfield out Nott, He Ran All the Way, loc 1897.
214 “work from the bottom up” Quoted in Baron, Modern Acting, 200.
215 “those artists whose dedication to the essential ‘groupness’ ” Quoted in ibid., 201.
215 Students took fencing Ibid., 196-201.
215 “The Actors’ Lab … is an organization with the primary purpose of developing” Epstein, Joe Papp, loc 1270.
215 teaching everyone from movie stars to veterans Baron, Modern Acting, 193-4.
215 One of those GIs, Joe Papirofsky, studied at the Lab Ibid., loc 1347.
CHAPTER 16: OUR KIND OF ACTORS
217 In early 1945, Elia Kazan fled Schickel, Elia Kazan, 124.
217 Gadge did very little work on his assigned project Kazan, A Life, loc 6200.
217 “I determined to take charge of my own life” Ibid., loc 6566.
218 “Maxwell Anderson must have written ‘Truckline Café’ with his left hand” Nichols, “The Play,” New York Times, L-19.
218 “the worst play I have seen” Quoted in Mann, The Contender, 187.
218 “The play … had been an occasion for Harold to perform” Kazan, A Life, 300.
218 “too good to be an actor” McKay, Broadway: The Golden Age.
218 he had been the other man Mann, The Contender, 33; Clurman, All People Are Famous, 260. Clurman, who was prone to Freudian readings of his friends, explicitly links Brando’s genius to his pain over his mother’s alcoholism and his guilt over his sexual promiscuity.
218 Brando’s indirect and introspective approach Clurman, All People Are Famous, 259.
219 he walked farther and farther back in the theater Mann, The Contender, 186.
219 “our kind of actors” Kazan, A Life, loc 6807.
219 Clurman began discussing founding an acting school with Kazan Garfield, A Player’s Place, 46.
219 While Kazan would warm to Stella Kazan, A Life, loc 3298.
219 “I’m not going ahead with our partnership” Kazan, “Letter to Harold Clurman,” HC-CU. While the letter is undated, its contents make clear that it was written and sent while Clurman was casting The Whole World Over, which opened on March 27, 1947.
220 remembered the walk in Central Park Lewis, Slings and Arrows, 181.
220 she tried to re-create it with two ill-fated projects Crawford, One Naked Individual, 145–62.
220 The conversation that day began with mutual congratulations Ibid., 217.
220 Julie Harris, Anne Jackson, and Eli Wallach Ibid.
220 The Actors Studio would have no formal remit Garfield, A Player’s Place, 54.
221 The Actors Studio began in earnest Ibid., 53.
221 Greeting people at the door Ibid.
221 He turned down Nightmare Alley Nott, He Ran All the Way, loc 2322.
221 He had been so moved by its story of anti-Semitism Ibid., loc 2486.
222 he was arrested as an “undesirable alien” Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes, 127.
222 He would eventually flee the country Ibid., 129.
222 Gerhart Eisler’s movie industry connections Nott, He Ran All the Way, loc 2553.
222 HUAC alleged that perhaps Communists had used Stein, West of Eden, 70
222 “wherever they may be, I say let us dig them out” Quoted in ibid., 76
222 “They should either outlaw Communism” Quoted in Nott, He Ran All the Way, loc 2553.
222 “These actors … are outraged” Ibid., 2648.
223 “There’s a lot of stupid name-calling going on” Ibid.
223 “I leave this country not without bitterness and infuriation” Krones and Hartmut, “Writing Hollywood’s Music: Hanns Eisler,” in Quiet Invaders Revisited: Biographies of Twentieth Century Immigrants to the United States, loc 6244.
223 In the audience, ready to refine their craft Garfield, A Player’s Place, 52.
224 Garfield’s demand to be cast in any future film Staggs, When Blanche Met Brando, 28.
224 Liebling had to put the word out on the street Mann, The Contender, 152.
224 On August 20, Brando finally auditioned for Kazan Ibid., 161.
224 Did he want to do this? Ibid., 163.
225 A fuse had blown, the toilet was broken Staggs, When Blanche Met Brando, 32.
225 “He was just about the best-looking young man I’ve ever seen” Quoted in Mann, The Contender, 176.
190 “there had been a latent feeling” Atkinson, Broadway: A History, 389.
190 “concluded … by the desperate” Ibid.
190 “fond propaganda” Ibid., 390.
190 Home of the Brave Arthur Laurents details both the themes and the writing process behind the play in Original Story By, 49–51.
190 The Voice of the Turtle The Voice of the Turtle is a beautiful, deeply felt play that I was fortunate to see in the fall of 2001 off-Broadway. It should be revived more often.
190 There was lighter fare Atkinson, Broadway: A History, 391.
227 “Even Kazan’s admirers” Schumach, “A Director Named Gadge,” New York Times, 18.
228 He rarely arrived on time Mann, The Contender, 202.
228 “Who the hell can get anything done around here?” Malden, When Do I Start? 176.
228 “I like to be cooperative” Ibid., 177.
228 “Marlon was living on stage” Kazan, A Life, loc 7738.
228 “I believe playing with Marlon” Malden, When Do I Start? 177.
228 “an impossible, psychopathic bastard” Quoted in Mann, The Contender, 202.
228 “I think Jessica could have made” Quoted in Staggs, When Blanche Met Brando, 91.
228 “She can do better” Quoted in Kazan, A Life, loc 7731.
229 “When you begin to arrange the action” Quoted in ibid., loc 7805.
229 “rest of the acting … of very high quality indeed” Atkinson, “First Night,” 42.
229 “I was aware that my apology to you was insufficient” Brando, “Letter to Jessica Tandy,” HC-JT, 6–10.
229 “bound to hurt you eventually” Tandy, “Letter to Marlon Brando,” HC-JT, 9–11.
230 “simple, straightforward, and honest” Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, 38.
230 “Lay your cards on the table” Ibid., 39.
230 “I don’t want realism, I want magic!” Ibid., 144.
231 According to Lewis, he suggested that Strasberg come in Lewis, Slings and Arrows, 183.
231 “We did a lot of sense memory exercises” Quoted in Hirsch, A Method to Their Madness, 122.
231 Lou Gilbert, a member in those early years, recalled Kazan Garfield, A Player’s Place, 58.
231 “Bobby Lewis’ class had more fun” Quoted in Hirsch, A Method to Their Madness, 123.
231 He once threw Tennessee Williams out of his class Garfield, A Player’s Place, 56.
231 Eli Wallach played an FBI agent Ibid., 61–62.
232 In a scene from Reunion in Vienna Lewis, Slings and Arrows, 185.
232 “Of course, the punch line is that the poor girl” Malden, When Do I Start? 207.
232 “When he knew I heard he had been offered the show” Lewis, Slings and Arrows, 188.
232 Kazan felt that so much time had elapsed Ibid., 189.
232 Bobby Lewis, among others, couldn’t believe it Ibid., 183.
232 including Sanford Meisner Garfield, A Player’s Place, 71.
232 and Daniel Mann Mann’s name is on attendance sheets collected in the Lee Strasberg papers, LS-141.
233 doubt himself as a teacher Garfield, A Player’s Place, 81.
233 He wanted to use the Studio Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genuis of the Actors Studio, 200.
CHAPTER 17: IT WAS MURDER
237 What success he found came in the classes he taught Ibid., 195.
237 authored the chapter “Acting and the Training of the Actor” Garfield, A Player’s Place, 79.
237 “not because I needed him” Quoted in Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 195.
237 She worked as Tallulah Bankhead’s secretary Ibid., 187.
237 “Paula’s sheer animal guts and dedication” Quoted in ibid., 193.
238 “Gadge was not too sympathetic” Quoted in Garfield, A Player’s Place, 80.
238 “Gadge thought a lot of Lee’s techniques were strange” Quoted in ibid.
238 At eleven on Tuesday and Friday mornings Hethmon, Strasberg at the Actors’ Studio, 2–3; Frome, The Actors Studio: A History, 100–101. These sessions were so ritualized that nearly identical descriptions of them appear in many places.
238 Strasberg would fill the rest of the time Frome, The Actors Studio: A History, 101.
239 “was a damn near despotic and frightening figure” Quoted in Hirsch, A Method to Their Madness, 156.
239 “he was impossible to please … it was murder” Quoted in Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 207.
239 “a horrible crippling fear” Malden, When Do I Start? 212–13.
240 “The simple fact is, I thought Lee talked too much” Stapleton, A Hell of a Life, 65.
240 “he’s hard to interpret” Quoted in Hirsch, A Method to Their Madness, 153.
240 “I don’t care what exercises you do” LS 54-2, 4.
240 “felt that no one understood his work fully” Quoted in Hirsch, A Method to Their Madness, 153.
241 “I think he’s like an X-ray technician” Bevan, “Lee Strasberg.”
241 “it was frightening and scary for some people” Ibid.
241 “insists that we work moment by moment” Quoted in Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 214.
241 “You learn more when you make mistakes” Bevan, “Lee Strasberg.”
241 “Every time a guy sat next to a girl” Quoted in Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 219.
241 “Everybody was at the Studio” Author interview with Estelle Parsons.
241 “a fledgling organization called the Actors Studio” Gelbfriedman-Engeler, “Behind the Scenes,” New York Times.
242 On May 4, 1948, the Supreme Court finally ruled Sklar, Movie-Made America, 274.
242 The studio system—and the star model of acting it required Basinger, The Star Machine, 16.
242 making his Broadway debut at age fourteen Bosworth, Montgomery Clift, 42.
242 “the accumulation of subtle details” Quoted in Baron, Modern Acting, 75.
242 he met Mira Rostova while acting in a play Bosworth, Montgomery Clift, 76.
242 He would agree only to single-film contracts Ibid., 75.
244 “Marlon was totally submerged in the part of Stanley” Quoted in Bosworth, Marlon Brando, 79.
244 Brando had yet to learn to play the Hollywood game Mann, The Contender, 330.
245 As for Kazan, he maintained that he was overlooked Kazan, A Life, loc 10299.
245 Universal, Twentieth Century–Fox, and Warner Bros. all stopped sending actors Baron, Modern Acting, 202.
245 On September 8, 1948, the Los Angeles Examiner reported Ibid., 205.
245 On February 24, 1949, after months of government harassment Ibid.
245 American Business Consultants Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America, 218.
245 “the hour is not too late” “Red Channels,” 6.
245 Nearly every person listed in “Red Channels” Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America, 218.
245 The third name on the list “Red Channels,” 12.
245 “a concealed communist” Quoted in Ochoa, Stella! Mother of Modern Acting, loc 3795.
245 She quipped that she could only live Smith, Real Life Drama, loc 2238.
245 The FBI placed Adler in its security index Ochoa, Stella! Mother of Modern Acting, loc 3804.
245 “blacklisted actually meant people didn’t want to go near you” Quoted in ibid., loc 3887.
245 Someone leaked it to the Hollywood Reporter Schickel, Elia Kazan, 255.
246 Kazan had admitted his own ties to—and disavowal of—the Communist Party Kazan, A Life, loc 10090.
CHAPTER 18: SLICE-OF-LIFE
247 “Nobody means that much to me one way or another” Quoted in Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 201.
247 He had broken with Communism seventeen years prior Schickel, Elia Kazan, 287.
247 arguing decades later that those who refused to testify Kazan, A Life, 458.
247 the committee would see how ineffectual Schickel, Elia Kazan, 261.
248 Warner’s buried the film Nott, He Ran All the Way, loc 3172.
248 “As I had watched the picture progressing” Winters, Shelley II, 63.
248 he learned that he had lost a television role Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 242.
248 In his testimony, Kazan named “Kazan Admits,” New York Daily News, 9.
248 Kazan made sure to note that both he and Odets Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 243.
249 “Kazan’s decision caused a tremendous rift” Wallach, The Good, The Bad, and Me: In My Anecdotage, 149.
249 Kazan also believed that testifying Kazan, A Life, loc 10671.
249 “was terrible” Quoted in Stein, 74.
249 “didn’t want to be put in” Ibid.
249 Strasberg backed him throughout … Garfield, A Player’s Place, 87.
249 Paula had urged him to testify Ibid.
249 “Gadge did not check [with] me” Quoted in Adams, Lee Strasberg: The Imperfect Genius of the Actors Studio, 243. Adams also notes that some anti-Strasbergians blame Strasberg for Kazan’s testimony, claiming that Strasberg put him up to it to spare Paula. Given that Kazan named Paula, this is an unlikely scenario.
249 “ ‘Coward,’ I remember thinking” Wallach, The Good, The Bad, and Me: In My Anecdotage, 150.
249 “Zero Mostel didn’t talk to me for years” Malden, When Do I Start? 218.
249 The Studio considered issuing a formal statement Browning, “Inside the Box,” NYU, 97.
249 The actress Jean Muir Barnouw, Tube of Plenty, 125
250 Some members, including Kim Stanley Schneider, “Television’s Tortured Misfits,” 37.
250 Studio members took to hiding Garfield, A Player’s Place, 88.
250 “there was a real terror in that time” Quoted in Kisseloff, The Box, 382.
250 “I’ve alternated and wavered” Quoted in Garfield, A Player’s Place, 88.
251 his production of Tennessee Williams’s Camino Real Ibid., 84–85.
251 End as a Man began as an experiment at the Actors Studio Garfield, A Player’s Place, 102–8. The development of End as a Man, itself an interesting story, is detailed here.
251 Television networks, hungry for programming options Simon, “The Golden Age of Television, Act III.”
