Shakespeare Reference in Monty Python Calendar

Yup, there are Shakespeare references everywhere. I’ve been going through boxes of magazines and other things of dubious worth that I’d been saving. I found a Monty Python 2002 calendar (“Now For Something Completely Different”), and it contains a Shakespeare reference. On the June page, there is a joke about “Famous First Drafts,” including a bit of one of Portia’s speeches from The Merchant Of Venice, with “Eeni-meeni-miney-mo” becoming “The quality of mercy is not strain’d.” Certainly an improvement.

By the way, unrelated to Shakespeare, there is also an early draft of Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier,” which reads, “Mary had a little lamb/And it was always gruntin/She tied it to a five bar gate/And kicked its little cunt in.” Coming from Sterling, Massachusetts (the land of Mary and her bloody lamb), I have fondness for this bit.

Shakespeare References In Magazines: Cascade, Entertainment Weekly, Screen Actor, Westways

Maybe I should no longer be surprised by how often Shakespeare is mentioned in the books and magazines I read. Here are a few more references found in magazines.

In the Spring 2015 issue of Cascade, the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences magazine, there is a short article titled “Bard’s Work Is Oregon Bound.” The article is about how a copy of the First Folio will be at the University of Oregon, and also mentions that the university has copies of the Second and Fourth Folios, which I didn’t know when I was there.

In the November 30, 2001 issue of Entertainment Weekly, there is a section on new DVD releases, including a blurb about the James Earl Jones King Lear.

Entertainment Weekly

The Winter 2005 issue of Screen Actor, the Screen Actors Guild Magazine, contains an article on protecting minors online. The title of the article is “A Brave New World?” The title is, of course, a reference to Miranda’s line in The Temptest, “O brave new world,/That has such people in ‘t.”

Screen Actor

In the May 2017 issue of Westways (the southern California AAA magazine), there is a short interview with actor Jimmy Smits. When asked, “Is there any character you’ve always wanted to play?” Jimmy Smits begins his answer by saying, “I have a great appreciation for Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw and English literature” (p. 64).

Shakespeare References in The Office Party

I was quite surprised when I found Shakespeare references in Little Girl Lust, but perhaps even more surprised to find a couple of references in a second porn novel, The Office Party. The Office Party isn’t the usual fare, but is about a woman who would like to have sex with dogs and then has sex with dogs. There are two Shakespeare references in this book, and the first is to Hamlet. But, no, it is not to the “dog will have his day” line. A missed opportunity there. Instead the reference is to the most famous speech of the play. Jon Larson writes, “Sounds groovy – but can I ever take that huge thing up my but – that, my luv, is the question – to fuck my asshole or not to fuck my asshole!” (p. 72). And yes, “but” is spelled with one T. These books aren’t carefully edited. The entire book is told in the third person, except half of one page, which is suddenly from the main woman’s perspective. Anyway, the second reference is to Romeo And Juliet. At the office party, Dennis – the boss – is attracted to Diane, while Dennis’ girlfriend is fooling around with Diane’s husband. Jon Larson has Dennis say to Diane, “A husband and wife coming to a party like this, and no getting uptight when a Romeo like me plays with his pretty wife!” (p. 99). I’m pretty sure he meant to write “not getting uptight,” not “no getting uptight.” But he could have meant “no getting uptight,” I suppose.

The Office Party was published in 1978 by Casino Books.

Shakespeare References in Premiere, May 1999 Issue

I’ve been going through a lot of old Star Wars magazines that I collected (and am now parting with), and found that the May 1999 issue of Premiere contains a few Shakespeare references. Even before the magazine’s table of contents, there is a Shakespeare reference. There is a two-page advertisement for Max Factor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Collection. At the time, A Midsummer Night’s Dream was in the movie theaters, and on the upper left corner of the first page it says, “Experience the film, William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream only in theaters” (p. 6). And the film’s poster is shown. Below that it says, “A dream you never want to end.” On the second page, the collection is shown, and mostly the items are named after the fairies: Pease Blossom lipstick, Cob Web nail polish, Mustard Seed nail polish, Mustard Seed lipstick. Ad copy reads, “A collection inspired by the movie, and designed by the movie make-up artist Ronnie Specter” (p. 7).

Then there is a little blurb about the movie in the Previews section. It reads, in part: “Fairies, lovers, and fools (if that’s not redundant) take up residence in a quasi-19th-century Tuscany, in this fifth cinematic adaptation of the Bard’s mirthful play” (p. 24).

There is also a reference to King Lear in a short piece on Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories: “Over the next few years the undoubtedly gun-shy Allen generated such undemanding and self-exonerating fluff as Broadway Danny Rose and The Purple Rose Of Cairo, casting himself or Mia Farrow as the likable schlemiel – more sinned against than sinning – and didn’t recover his artistic footing until Crimes And Misdemeanors, in 1989” (p. 60). The phrase “more sinned against than sinning” is from a speech that King Lear delivers in the third act.

Then one of the articles on Star Wars is titled “Brave New Worlds,” a play on Miranda’s line from The Tempest: “O brave new world,/That has such people in ‘t.” There is also an article on actor Liam Neeson, who played Qui-Gon Jinn in Episode I. “‘Nobody’s interested if you played the greatest Hamlet in Christendom,’ says Neeson, who played Oscar Wilde on Broadway last year” (p. 90).

And there may be more references than the ones I’ve listed. I didn’t read every single word in the magazine.

Shakespeare References in The Art Of Star Wars Galaxy

Shakespeare is mentioned everywhere, it seems, even in a galaxy far, far away. Well, in a book about a galaxy far, far away anyway. The Art Of Star Wars Galaxy, edited by Gary Gerani (and with a foreword by George Lucas), contains a couple of Shakespeare references. The book takes a look at the art, artists and subjects of the series of Topps trading cards titled Star Wars Galaxy. On a page about Grand Moff Tarkin, regarding actor Peter Cushing, it reads, “Cushing also had roles in several film classics, including Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet and John Huston’s Moulin Rouge” (p. 50). And then on a page about Darth Vader, regarding the two men who played the part, it reads, “It took two actors to portray the Dark Lord of the Sith: David Prowse, the undefeated weightlifting champion who was physically inside the awesome costume; and James Earl Jones, the celebrated Shakespearean actor who lent his imposing voice to the character” (p. 90).

The Art Of Star Wars Galaxy was published in November of 1993.

Shakespeare References in Little Girl Lust

Yes, this one surprised me. I did not expect to find Shakespeare references in a trashy pornographic novel from the seventies. And let me make two things clear right away. First, I did not purchase this book; it was given to me. And second, though the book’s title, Little Girl Lust, might seem to imply the story is about young girls, it is actually about college-age folks working at a hotel for a summer.

This book actually has several Shakespeare references. The first two are to Shakespeare himself. Frederick Kunz (perhaps not the author’s real name) writes, “There was a small window near the ceiling with colorful red polka dot curtains hanging on it, and a desk in the corner with a dictionary and a book of Shakespeare” (p. 59). Kunz continues: “Mavis picked it up. ‘Chaucer has more sex than Shakespeare,’ she said, thumbed through it quickly, and set it down again” (p. 59). That’s followed by a reference to Hamlet: “She pressed her boobies against his chest hard. ‘There’s the rub,’ she said” (p. 60). Yes, a fairly goofy reference.

But Kunz is not finished yet. He writes: “Rochelle blushed. Sneed started singing an aria a minute later. All’s well that ends well, thought Mavis” (p. 119). And then there is a reference to Macbeth’s great speech: “And we got a publisher. And that fuckin’ research book, a tale told by an idiot, me, a personal narration, a true confession, butted by raw fact, that book, cookies, sold like hotcakes” (p. 179). Macbeth’s speech is one of my favorite passages in all of Shakespeare (thus, in all of literature), and the lines referred to here are, “It is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing.”

And if all that isn’t enough, this book also has a reference to Jacques’ famous speech in As You Like It. Kunz writes: “I told him all the world was watchin’. I told him to try harder. I kept beatin’ his meat and suckin’ his cock and still, nothing. I told him all the world’s a stage. And we were just players. I didn’t want him to take it too serious, or anything” (p. 180). Yes, “All the world’s a stage,/And all the men and women merely players.”

While I have your attention, here is a bit from the book that I found funny. It has nothing to do with Shakespeare, but it’s amusing all the same. “Carol Lou’s big tits dangled down like apples from a tree. Greg had visions of aiming his beebee gun at them, but he didn’t have it with him. In fact, he didn’t even own one. It was just a pleasant fantasy” (p 98). Lines like that made me laugh.

Little Girl Lust was published in 1976 by Star Distributors, Ltd.

Shakespeare References in Everything I Know I Learned From Rock Stars

Bill Paige’s Everything I Know I Learned From Rock Stars: Conversations 1975 – 1995 contains two Shakespeare references. The first is in a piece about Karla DeVito. Paige writes: “Since graduating from Lincoln-Way in 1971, DeVito has appeared in a number of stage productions both in Chicago and New York. Godspell, El Grande de Coca-Cola, Jubilee (which she describes as ‘off, off-Broadway’), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (at New York’s Schaeffer Festival) and Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (as Linda Ronstadt’s replacement on Broadway) all appear on her resume” (p. 245). And then in the piece on Richard Thompson, Paige writes, “Over the years, however, Thompson has suffered the slings and arrows of one particular group that perhaps fails to properly interpret his musical ravings” (p. 396). Obviously, the “slings and arrows” phrase refers to Hamlet’s famous soliloquy.

Everything I Know I Learned From Rock Stars: Conversations 1975 – 1995 was published in 2017.