Shakespeare References in Classics Of The Silent Screen

I remember thinking it strange when I first heard that there were silent film adaptations of Shakespeare’s work. After all, isn’t language the main draw? In the Elizabethan times, people said they were going to hear a play, not see a play. But I’ve since watched several silent Shakespeare films and enjoyed them. This book by Joe Franklin does not focus on any of those films, but does mention a few of them. The section describing The Birth of a Nation begins with these words: “Writing a few paragraphs on The Birth of a Nation and hoping to do it some kind of justice is like trying to condense the Bible, or all the plays of Shakespeare, into a short synopsis” (p. 16). On the pages about Theda Bara, Franklin writes that she “was Juliet to Harry Hilliard’s Romeo in Romeo and Juliet” (p. 125). On the pages regarding Francis X. Bushman, another silent version of Romeo And Juliet is mentioned: “One of his earliest successes was as the most muscular of all Romeos, in 1915’s Romeo and Juliet. Juliet was Beverly Bayne, Bushman’s wife off-screen, a fact very much hushed up at the time, since it was feared that a married, and thus ‘unattainable,’ hero would lose much of his romantic appeal” (p. 140).

In the section on William S. Hart, Franklin writes: “But stardom in westerns came comparatively late; he spent twenty years first on the Broadway stage as a Shakespearean actor. It was from this period that the erroneous supposition grow that the ‘S’ in his name stood for Shakespeare; actually his middle name was Surrey. Even in his Shakespearean period however, Hart went in for a number of rugged roles, ranging from Messala in Ben Hur to The Squaw Man and The Virginian” (p. 177). (And yes, in the book “grow” is there, when it should be “grew.”) The pages on Sessue Hayakawa also mention Shakespeare: “Sessue, who is married to lovely Japanese star Tsuri Aoki (likewise a veteran of the silent screen), chose to be a Shakespearean actor after being educated for a Naval career, but made his greatest screen successes in roles anything but Shakespearean” (p. 179). Then on the pages about Emil Jannings, Joe Franklin writes, “In other words, Jannings was always Jannings – whether he was playing Henry VIII or Othello or a jealous suburban husband” (p. 180). And on the page about Norma Shearer, Franklin writes, “Thanks mainly to such spectacular sound films as Marie Antoinette and Romeo and Juliet, Norma Shearer is regarded primarily as a talkie star” (p. 220). And then: “It’s also usually forgotten that she also played Juliet before the 1936 film version, the previous occasion being for a sequence in M-G-M’s early sound extravaganza, The Hollywood Review of 1929 – in which she enacted one of Juliet’s love scenes to a Romeo played by John Gilbert” (p. 220). And once more: “Whatever it was, it paid off well, and continued to pay off, bolstered, of course, by acting refinements gathered during the years, in films as late as 1936’s Romeo and Juliet” (P. 220). At the end of the book, Joe Franklin answers questions that he had received in letters. One of the questions is, “Did Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks ever make a picture together?” His answer: “Two. They co-starred in a lively adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, which came out in both silent and sound versions. And Mary made a sort of ‘guest’ appearance in Doug’s The Gaucho” (p. 248).

Classics Of The Silent Screen was published in 1959.

Shakespeare References in The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare

As you might guess from the title of Lilian Jackson Braun’s novel The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare, there are plenty of Shakespeare references. The cover’s artwork includes a copy of Hamlet. And the description on in the inside flap of the dust jacket includes some references: “There’s something rotten in the small town of Pickax” and “Koko’s snooping into an unusual edition of Shakespeare may prove CATastophic…because somewhere in Pickax a lady loves not wisely but too well, a widow is scandalously merry and a stranger has a lean and hungry look” and “the second act of murder most meow.” The first reference in the story itself is to The Tempest: “It was a slender leather-bound copy of The Tempest – one of a thirty-seven-volume set of Shakespeare’s plays that had come with the house” (p. 6). In the story, Qwilleran has two cats, one of whom likes to knock books from the shelf. Qwilleran is a little nutty, and believes the cat is communicating with him through his choice of books. And later he tells someone: “He’s particularly attracted to those small volumes of Shakespeare in pigskin bindings. Yesterday I found Hamlet on the floor” (p. 31). Lilian Jackson Braun writes: “And then he quoted one of his favorite lines from Shakespeare. ‘Her voice was ever soft, gentle and low – an excellent thing in woman’” (pages 33-34). Polly responds to Qwilleran, “That’s from King Lear, act five, scene three” (p. 34). That in turn leads Qwilleran to say, “I am amazed and know not what to say” (p. 34). Polly then responds: “That’s Hermia’s line in act three, scene two, of A Midsummer Night’s Dream… Don’t look so surprised, Qwill. I told you my father was a Shakespeare scholar. We children knew the plays as well as our peers knew the big-league batting averages” (p. 34). The book’s next two references are to Shakespeare: “The four walls of books were accented by marble busts of Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare” (p. 38) and “It was ever soft, gentle, and low, and she knew Shakespeare forward and backward” (p. 39).

A little later, while Qwilleran is again talking with Polly, Jackson Braun writes: “‘He’s on a Shakespeare kick,’ Qwilleran said. ‘It may have something to do with the pigskin bindings. Just before you arrived, he pushed A Midsummer Night’s Dream off the shelf’” (p. 43). Polly then tells him she is named after one of that play’s characters. Qwilleran guesses, “Hippolyta?” (p. 43). Polly tells him her father named all her siblings after characters in the plays. “My brothers are Marc Antony and Brutus, and my poor sister Ophelia has had to endure bawdy remarks ever since the fifth grade” (p. 43). Odd characters to name your children after, I think. Anyway, the cat is soon knocking more books off the shelf. “On the floor lay the thin volume of King Henry VIII” (p. 44). Qwilleran then says, “There’s a gripping scene for a woman in the play – where the queen confronts the two cardinals” (p. 44). Jackson Braun writes: “‘It’s tremendous!’ Polly said. ‘Katherine claims to be a poor weak woman but she blasts the two learned men. “Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts!’” Do you ever wonder about the true identity of Shakespeare, Qwill?’” Polly then goes on to say she believes that Shakespeare was a woman. Nonsense, of course, all that garbage about someone else having written Shakespeare’s plays. The next reference is to Hamlet: “It was Hamlet again, and a line in the first scene caught his eye: ‘‘Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed’” (p. 48). There is a nod to Hamlet when Junior tells Qwilleran: “Yeah, I’ve been dreaming about my father every night. He’s just standing there in his leather apron and square paper hat, all covered with blood, and he’s telling me something, but I can’t hear it” (pages 57-58). His father’s death is believed to be an accident, but as it turns out, it was no such thing.

The cat continues knocking books from the shelf: “But whatever the explanation for Koko’s special interest in these books, two of them were now on the floor, and they happened to be Qwilleran’s favorite plays: Macbeth and Julius Caesar” (p. 82). Jackson Braun then writes: “He leafed through the latter until he found a passage he liked: the conspiracy scene, in which men plotting to assassinate Caesar meet under cover of darkness, shadowing their faces with their cloaks. ‘And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood up to the elbows, and besmear our swords’” (pages 82-83). Jackson Braun then mentions Macbeth again: “Conspiracy, Qwilleran reflected, was Shakespeare’s favorite device for establishing conflict, creating suspense, and grabbing the emotions of the audience. In Macbeth there was the conspiracy to murder the old king. ‘Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?’” (p. 83). There is another nod to Hamlet during an interview, when Amos says of a girl, “Throwed herself in the river one dark night” (p. 102), and another character mentions the poor girl had no mother. Soon Polly says to Qwilleran, “That’s not Shakespeare, Qwill” (P. 103). There is then a reference to Romeo And Juliet: “He seemed to have no friends, except Mrs. Cobb, and this inept Romeo now wanted to give her a .22 rifle!” (p. 107). And the cat continues its work, knocking books to the floor: “On this occasion Koko’s selection was The Life of Henry V, a good choice, Qwilleran thought. He thumbed through the pages for a passage he liked: the king’s pep talk to his troops. ‘Once more unto the breach, dear friend; once more!’” (p. 117). (By the way, there is a mistake there; it should be “dear friends.”) Lilian Jackson Braun continues: “It was a powerful speech, filled with graphic detail. ‘But when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger!’” (p. 117). And then: “Bellowing at full volume, Qwilleran delivered the last line: ‘Cry God for Henry! England and Saint George!’” (p. 118). But the cat is not done: “This time it was All’s Well That Ends Well” (p. 120).

Qwilleran at times tries to figure it out what it is about these particular books that interests the cat. Lilian Jackson Braun writes: “He wrested the book away from Koko. It was Hamlet again. Before returning it to the shelf he sniffed it. Qwilleran had a keen sense of smell, but all he could detect was the odor of old book. He sniffed Macbeth and the other titles Koko had dislodged. They all smelled like old book. Then he compared the odor with titles that Koko had so far ignored: Othello, As You Like It, and Antony and Cleopatra. He had to admit they all smelled exactly the same – like old book” (p. 136). Passages like this prove again that people who own cats are insane. Anyway, Qwilleran interviews various people, and in one of those interviews, Homer Tibbitt says: “I used to have a Falstaff in one of my classes, and a Scroop. Straight out of Shakespeare, eh?” (p. 145). There is another reference to Hamlet: “‘No readings tonight,’ he told Koko. ‘I’ve had enough stimulation for one day. “The rest is silence.” That’s from Hamlet, in case you didn’t know’” (p. 186). Again, he’s insane. That cat later knocks another book from the shelf. “The cats were not in the library, but a copy of The Tempest lay on the floor beneath the bust of Shakespeare” (p. 194). Maybe he could close the door to the library, so the damn cat wouldn’t disturb his books. Just a thought.

The book contains another reference to Hamlet, with Qwilleran saying, “For this relief, much thanks, for it is bitter cold” (p. 202). In the first scene of the play, Francisco says, “For this relief, much thanks. ‘Tis bitter cold,/And I am sick at heart.” Polly then replies, “When you quote Shakespeare, I know you’re all right” (p. 202). Later Qwilleran says to Mrs. Hobbs, “All’s well that ends well” (p. 207). And later than that, Qwilleran says to Susan, about his cat: “He’s an insufferable snob. He’d rather play the title role in Richard the Third, I’m afraid” (p. 223). That insufferable snob knocks another book to the floor. “It was a copy of Othello, and the best-known quotation came to Qwilleran’s mind: ‘Then must you speak of one who loved not wisely but too well’” (p. 223). Is that the best-known quotation from that play? I’m not sure. Anyway, Lilian Jackson Braun continues: “As he carried the Siamese across the yard in the wicker hamper, he remembered another line, and his moustache bristled. ‘Kill me tomorrow; let me live tonight’” (p. 223). At the end of the book, Qwilleran is still trying to learn why the cat had been knocking those books from the shelf. “If so, why did he concentrate on Hamlet?” (p. 247). And then: “What was the plot of the play? Hamlet’s father had died suddenly; his mother remarried too soon; the father’s ghost revealed that he had been murdered; the mother’s name was Gertrude” (p. 247). And then: “The similarity to the Goodwinter tragedy was too fantastic; one could go mad pondering such a possibility. Koko’s predilection for Hamlet was strictly a coincidence” (p. 247). But of course it has already been established that Qwilleran is mad. At the end of the book, he is talking to the cat: “You probably don’t understand the fire and all its ramifications. Will you miss your Shakespeare game? Thirty-seven priceless little books went up in flame” (p. 248). Priceless little books that this nut let his cat damage over and over. Then he tells his cat his new plan: “Pickax needs a theater. ‘The play’s the thing,’ as Hamlet said. We’ll have a playhouse, Koko, and you can play Richard the Third” (p. 248). Again, insane.

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare was published in 1988.

Private Lives (2023 Independent Shakespeare Company 2023 Production) Theatre Review

The Independent Shakespeare Company is known for its wonderful summer performances of Shakespeare’s works in Griffith Park. But the company also has an intimate indoor space where it puts on productions throughout the year, and where its repertoire sometimes moves outside of the plays of Shakespeare. The company is currently performing Noel Coward’s Private Lives, taking the 1930 comedy and setting it in the late 1950s, moving the action from France to Acapulco and Palm Springs. The production stars Melissa Chalsma and David Melville as the divorced couple Amanda and Elyot, and Brent Charles and Asha Noel Iyer as their respective new spouses, Victor and Sibyl. When the newlyweds end up in adjacent rooms at the same hotel on their honeymoons, all of the emotions – but positive and negative – that Amanda and Elyot once felt for each other re-emerge.

Before the performance begins, we hear the sounds of the beach, the waves gently coming in. The set for the first act is fairly simple, the space divided in half, each half containing identical chairs and a table, showing the terraces of two hotel rooms. Elyot and Sybil are the first couple we meet, occupying the stage left space. When Sybil asks her husband if he’s happy, David Melville’s hilarious delivery of “Tremendously happy” shows that he’s not really all that happy. But happiness doesn’t seem to be what he’s looking for in this relationship. As he soon says, he wants a love that is “undramatic,” one that is “cozy” and without jealousy. Unfortunately for him, Sibyl does seem to be jealous of the intimacy he once shared with Amanda, and cannot help herself but continue to probe him about that relationship. It is as if she doesn’t feel secure in her new marriage, and feels a need not only to show her husband that she is the better catch, but to hear him say that she is. David Melville will of course be familiar to anyone who has attended Independent Shakespeare Company productions before, and his comic timing and sensibilities are well-known, and put to splendid use here. But this is Asha Noel Iyer’s first time performing with the company. And she gives a wonderful performance. The way she pronounces Amanda’s name whenever she speaks of her is delightful, stressing the second syllable and hitting the consonants. At one point she agrees not to mention Amanda again, and then without even the slightest of pauses, immediately asks Elyot about their honeymoon. So she is quite capable of holding her own on stage with Melville.

When Victor enters, he comes running onto the stage, as if from the beach. Brent Charles recently turned in an excellent performance as both Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse in Live At The Porpentine, the company’s film adaptation of The Comedy Of Errors, and here does another wonderful job as Victor. And of course Melissa Chalsma is fantastic as Amanda. In this production, her line about the material being “very rough” refers to Victor’s beach towel, which is around his neck. And her line “Several places,” in answer to Victor’s question about her being struck by Elyot, has a playfully sexual tone. There are hints that Elyot and Amanda’s marriage had a volatile element or nature to it, with both parties being at fault. And so we begin to understand Elyot’s desire for a relationship without drama. And it seems that Amanda has sought out the same. When Victor asks her, “Do you remember when I first met you,” her “Yes” comes after a moment of searching for the memory, which is funny. He is behind her at that moment and so doesn’t see her expression. But in that moment, it is clear that theirs is not a deep, striking or passionate love. The audience knows that these two should not be together, any more than Elyot and Sibyl should be. But should Elyot and Amanda be back together? From what the audience has heard, it seems the answer is likely No, though they are probably more suited for each other.

Amanda says, “It’s chance that we’re here,” and then “Everything that happens is chance.” That is a key idea here, for chance has put the two couples not only in the same hotel at the same time, but in adjacent rooms. This also speaks to the rather dim, or at least light, view the play has about marriage, about relationships. Is it only chance that brings Amanda and Elyot back together again? It seems so, and the text basically says as much. Though when Elyot and Amanda find themselves out on their respective terraces at the same time, they have the same drinks. Chance? Amanda’s reaction when she sees Elyot is fantastic. When Elyot tries to convince Sibyl to leave the hotel, he says, “We can have our first night together in Santa Monica,” a line that gets a big laugh from the Los Angeles audience. That is of course a change from the text’s “first night together in Paris.” And when Sibyl tells Elyot that there is nothing there that can explode, he glances to where Amanda was and says, “Oh, isn’t there?” Another hint of the volatile nature of their relationship. And of course a funny moment. Amanda’s “taking the body home to England” becomes “body home to Cleveland” in this production. As Amanda and Elyot stand in their respective spots, smoking, the audience gets a strong sense of what their marriage was like. The clear division between hotel rooms acts also as a clear division in their relationship. Though Amanda soon breaks it by moving to his side.

The action moves to an apartment in Palm Springs, with Elyot on the couch and Amanda on the carpet in front of him. There is a piano stage left, and a record player upstage. Interestingly, the record that is visible next to the player is Frank Sinatra’s 1957 album Where Are You? The title track to that album contains the line, “Where is that happy ending?” and for a moment it seems that this couple will have their happy ending. (That album also contains the song, “I’m A Fool To Want You.” So there.) They’ve even concocted a plan to keep their arguments from escalating, using the code word “Jackson Pollock” to initiate a short period of silence (in the text, it is “Solomon Isaacs”). But it isn’t long before they are using that code word. And it isn’t long before they are talking about Victor and Sibyl, which is interesting because Sibyl and Victor earlier couldn’t help but talk about Amanda and Elyot. And soon Victor and Sibyl arrive, and that image of the four of them crowded together on the couch is delightful. Noriani Estevez brings more light into the room as Louise, the maid, in this production speaking Spanish instead of French. This is her first performance with the Independent Shakespeare Company. And though much of what happens is hilarious, there are some serious moments which help bring the audience in closer, such as when Victor calmly tells Amanda that he is there in order “To find out what you want me to do” and when he tells her: “You never loved me. I see that now.” Those quite, calm, human moments are in contrast to much of what occurs. But interestingly, we see that Victor and Sibyl are beginning down a path quite similar to that which Amanda and Elyot have been navigating. Are we all doomed to follow such a destructive pattern?

This production of Private Lives was directed by Nikhil Pai. Performances run through May 7, 2023, and there is one intermission, which comes at the end of Act I. Visit the Independent Shakespeare Company’s website for the complete schedule and more information. The theatre is located at 3191 Casitas Ave. in Los Angeles, California. There is a free parking lot next to the theatre, so parking is not a problem.

Shakespeare References in Echoes

Maeve Binchy’s novel Echoes contains a few references to Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet. All three times, the character Gerry Doyle is referred to as Romeo. Binchy writes, “‘I can’t believe he’s still the Romeo,’ David complained” (p. 182). And then: “People sang the words softly to each other, oddly assorted people like David Power who sang them into Josie’s ear because he hadn’t got to Clare O’Brien before Romeo” (p. 200). And finally: “Well hadn’t Clare got David Power as her husband, and the town Romeo Gerry Doyle was saying only the other night in the hotel that he wished he had moved in before the young doctor” (p. 436). In addition to those references, Binchy’s line “Instead, her mind was full of snakes and worries slithering around” (p. 84) reminds me a bit of the line from Macbeth, “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife.” And Blinchy’s line “No, there would be neither rhyme nor reason going somewhere like Rome and drinking milk” (p. 139) makes us think of the lines from The Comedy Of Errors, “Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,/When in the why and the wherefore is neither rhyme nor reason?” Apparently, the phrase did not originate with Shakespeare, though he popularized it, using it again in As You Like It: “Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much.”

Echoes was first published in 1985.