Monday, June 18, 2007

The Monday bon mot

"An actor without a playwright is like a hole without a doughnut."

George Jean Nathan (1882-1958)


I recently went to see a "play" that had had no discernible writing expended on it; the entire evening was a doughnut-less hole.
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12 comments:

EARTHLING said...

Now you ARE pulling our legs!! I am sure there were no doughnuts in George's time, so he wouldn't have been writing that.

Are these bon mots all your own words disguised as words of George Jean Nathan? That must be cheating. Or have you adapted to the ways of your hosts?

June 18, 2007 12:55 AM
Froog said...

Well, I think doughnuts have been around for at least 100 years or so, probably longer. And GJN lived into the 1950s; so I don't catch any whiff of anachronism here.

In general, the unattributed aphorisms are my own. I don't feel the need to make up phony personae to hide behind.

June 18, 2007 6:25 AM
Anonymous said...

I disagree, Earthling.

Doughnut holes have been around at least since 1847, but arguably, much longer than that.

I learned this on the Web, so it must be true.

my favorite doughnut is Dunkin Donuts, original or crueller. My favorite donut hole is powdered or cinnamon. What's yours? Do they have Dunkin Donuts in Denmark?

Anyone know if they have Dunkin Donuts in China?

June 18, 2007 6:38 AM
Anonymous said...

Froog,

Ouch, that is a harsh review. Though it makes me less eager to put that particular play on my list of cultural things "must do".

June 18, 2007 6:40 AM
Froog said...

There's really a variety of doughnut called "crueller"?? That brings back creepy memories of a druggy night in San Francisco, getting drunk and high in Haight Park (not quite the 'Summer of Love', but hanging out with a bunch of middle-aged hippies who'd been stuck in that time warp for 25 years). The one and only time I have tried acid (solid objects became bendy or yielding to the touch, particularly the sidewalk paving slabs which seemed spongy under my feet; and I became convinced that I could control pedestrian crossing signals with the power of my mind!). We went to a Dunkin (or some similar store) at about 3 or 4 in the morning to deal with an attack of the munchies, and one of my companions became gibberingly paranoid about the holes in the doughnuts, seemed to think they were 'black holes' that were going to suck him into oblivion. I was becoming rather more rationally paranoid about the night security guard and the enormous revolver on his hip.

There was a lot of hullabaloo about Dunkin coming to China at the start of this year - but that was Taipei. Still no sign of them on the mainland, I don't think. Expect them to hit Hong Kong or Shanghai first.

What is it that dates to 1847? Is it doughnuts, ring doughnuts, or 'doughnut holes' as a separate product?? Is there a Wikipedia article on 'doughnut holes'? Must go check....

So, you're still expecting me to relay your comments, huh?

Not using that mobile proxy dodge I told you about?

June 18, 2007 6:59 AM
Froog said...

And yes, it was that play. I didn't want to name names because, well, I know the people involved, and I hate to discourage artistic endeavour (however misguided). But it was hard to think of anything positive to say about it. It exceeded my expectations - in the downward direction. No plot to speak of, no real characterisation, no dramatic energy.... not even any Beijing-specific references, which is what it was supposedly selling itself on. And only a handful of very lame jokes. Just abysmal, embarrassingly bad. Our friend has many estimable qualities, but she can't write.

June 18, 2007 7:03 AM
Froog said...

Aha, so ring doughnuts are thought to be a mid-19th Century invention, although other kinds of doughnuts may go back much further. Live and learn.

June 18, 2007 9:59 AM
EARTHLING said...

Funny about the controling things with the power of mind. Late last night while I was reading ALL the blogs and trying to catch up a bit on my reading, BBC Prime was sending a program about "Uri Geller", the very thin Israili guy who became famous in US and UK in 70's and 80's. I had once before seen him on TV in a program about Michael Jackson, but didn't know that he had been famous in any way. Well, he can bend spoons and he was tried and used by the CIA, I read minds and have prophetic dreams and thoughts all the time and I have still not been offered a job by any of the Intelligence services. So I guess I should have been born in the 60's to get anywhere with my "talents".

And about the "doghnuts", I only looked at 18xx in the brackets and didn't realise he had been living in the 90's. And now Tulsa says doghnuts have been around for that long. I am so glad I read blogs these days, I am learning so much about the earth and all things on it.

June 18, 2007 1:52 PM
Froog said...

Ah, so that other type of doughnut is a 'cruller'! I'd never heard the word before.

For a lawyer, Tulsa, your spelling is sometimes a bit, er, creative.

June 19, 2007 6:34 AM
Froog said...

Reading minds, Earthling? I should have thought that was terribly dull, most of the time.

I'd much rather read a good book.

June 19, 2007 2:34 PM
Anonymous said...

I could tell you that I was my school's spelling bee champion, and that if I misspell a word here or there, now, as an adult, it's quite possibly on purpose or quite possible because I trust the reader is intelligent enough to figure it out. But perhaps I'll just say -- Ah, but dear Froog, the teacher in you had fun looking it up to standardize my spelling, now didn't he??

June 19, 2007 3:32 PM
Anonymous said...

Earthling, would you want to work for an intelligence organization??

June 19, 2007 3:33 PM

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