Though well-known and
beloved by their peers, Harold and
Lillian Michelson had the sorts of jobs that are often so far below the
line that they're not credited at all. As
a production designer and art director, Harold would eventually earn Academy
Award nominations for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Terms of Endearment, but for the bulk of his career,
dating back to an apprenticeship at Columbia Pictures in the late '40s, he
worked the art department as a concept illustrator and storyboard artist. Despite a passion for books and a formidable
intellect—she was a spelling bee champion in her youth—Lillian stayed home and
raised their three children until the early '60s, when Harold was brought onto
the lot at Samuel Goldwyn. He helped
land her a volunteer position in the research library across the street, and a
second career was born. Only the most
hardcore cinephiles have heard of the Michelsons, but even casual viewers are
familiar with their work. Harold's
talent for adjusting his storyboards for different camera lenses and telling
stories shot-by-shot is readily apparent in sword-and-sandal epics like The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, and Spartacus,
and he worked side-by-side with Alfred Hitchcock on The Birds and Marnie,
two of the master's most strikingly composed films. One of the most famous shots in cinema
history—Benjamin Braddock framed by Mrs. Robinson's leg in The Graduate—appeared first on Harold's sketchbook
before it was immortalized on screen. He wouldn't start collecting more
prominent credits until later, when he worked in production design and/or art
direction for filmmakers like Mel Brooks and Danny DeVito. For her part, Lillian toiled in the research
department, where she quietly unearthed the specific period details and
bric-a-brac that would lend real-world authenticity to Hollywood fictions. In the documentary Harold and Lillian, she describes the extraordinary
lengths she would go to get things right, like querying old Jewish women at a
deli to find out what 1890s bloomers looked like for Fiddler on the Roof or pressing ex- (and current)
drug lords and DEA agents for information relevant to Scarface. When
asked the impossible, like getting photos from inside CIA headquarters, she
could deliver. She talks about research
as a "time machine" that allows her to access other worlds. Scott
Tobias https://www.npr.org/2017/04/27/525056001/a-behind-the-scenes-couple-get-star-treatment-in-harold-and-lillian
7,000 books. 100,000 periodicals. Over 1,000,000 clippings. This is the
Lillian Michelson Research Library. It
is the largest private motion picture library in Hollywood and it’s been a
passion of Lillian’s since 1961 when she happened upon it at the Samuel Goldwyn
Studios. Under the tutelage of a librarian named Lelia Alexander, Lillian
learned how to have a seven-track mind--as questions poured in from filmmakers,
needing research for films they were making--and every question was answered in
detail--because nothing was more important to great storytelling than “getting
it right.” By 1969, the library was
facing eviction. Lelia was done, too,
but she had a strange vision she shared with her pupil, “Lillian, I feel as if
you’re going to own this library.” The
library would move a few more times--to Paramount and, most prominently, under
Lillian’s care, via Jeffrey Katzenberg to Dreamworks Animation Studios in
Glendale. Harold and Lillian quietly
became known, through their mentorship and giving back, the heart and soul of
the best of what Hollywood can be. The
very definition of invaluable behind-the-scenes contributors--and true
Hollywood royalty. Sweetly, in 2004,
Dreamworks Animation (who’d lent office space to the couple to continue work at
their ripe young age) made a sequel to their greatest success and, let’s just
say, there’s no coincidence Princess Fiona’s parents in Shrek 2 are named King
Harold and Queen Lillian. There they
were--on screen--the orphan girl and the prince of Miami, ruling over their own
fairy tale kingdom, just as it should be.
https://www.mptf.com/reelstories/lillianmichelson
“Books aren't eggs, you know. Simply because a book has aged a bit
doesn't mean it's
gone bad.”
" . . . eating was more sacred to the French than state, religion and
money combined . . . " "laugh
with each other rather than at each other"
"Books help me breathe better--it's that simple." Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop
See more quotes at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/42866547-das-lavendelzimmer A bookseller has a book barge on the Seine
called Literary Apothecary and cats named Kafka and Lindgren. He can diagnose a shopper's ills and select a
literary remedy. Find Jean Perdu's
Emergency Literary Pharmacy from Adams to Von Arnim at the end of the
book. The titles are followed by
treatments and, sometimes--side effects.
Welcome to the Literary Apothecary "Reading, and then writing about it" Inspired by The
Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George See book ratings at https://k2harvey.wordpress.com/
June 7, 2018 The
Leaning Tower of Pisa is surprisingly still standing, surviving numerous
earthquakes over the years. New research
says it's the unique interaction between the tower's foundation and the soft
soil it stands in that's helped it ride the seismic waves. University of Bristol professor George
Mylonakis said: "As the earthquake
waves reach the tower, the tower somehow rides the waves and doesn't move. So the soil moves but the tower doesn't move;
like riding the waves. So had the soil
been stiff, the waves would have hit the tower and the tower would have
possibly if not probably collapsed."
European engineers, including those from Roma Tre University and the
University of Bristol, installed seismic instruments around the tower. They found that the soil below, combined with
the tower's height and thick marble walls, provided perfect dynamic
soil-structure interaction. Professor
Mylonakis said: "These earthquakes
produce waves that do not resonate with the tower, and this is a very
significant factor that has contributed to the survival of the
structure." The ground beneath the
tower was a pre-historic riverbed, making the soil there softer. Ironically, it's the same soil that caused
the tower to lean precariously at a five-degree angle. The 14,000-tonne structure was built between
1174 and 1370.
LIBRARYREADS JUNE 2018 Link to six different
suggested reading lists from Bookpage Magazine posted by Lily, Associate Editor on May 17, 2018
at
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be
compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived
well. Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)
Cucumbers are extremely beneficial
for overall health,
especially during the summer since they are mostly made of water and important
nutrients that are essential for the human body. The flesh of cucumbers is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, and folic acid, while the hard skin is rich in fiber and a range of minerals including magnesium, molybdenum, and potassium.
Additionally, cucumber contains silica, a trace mineral that
contributes greatly to strengthening our connective tissues. They are known to heal many skin problems,
under eye swelling, and sunburn. Cucumbers
also contain ascorbic and caffeic acids which prevent water loss,
therefore they are frequently applied topically to burns and dermatitis. Cucumber is
a fruit from the Cucurbitaceae family. Scientifically known as Cucumis
sativus, it belongs to the same family as zucchini, watermelon, pumpkin, and other types of summer squash. https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/cucumber.html
The link in your Muse entry for
"Dinomorphosis" leads to a
dead end on the Pelican site. Here's a better link: http://pelicanpub.com/proddetail.php?prod=9781455623044#.WyJy4RJKg3F And here it is on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dinomorphosis-Paul-Many/dp/1455623040
Thank you, Muse reader!
Word of the Day from Wiktionary
June 14, 2018 move the goalposts verb (idiomatic) To alter the terms of
an agreement or
an agreed target,
or the rules of
a negotiation while
it is ongoing,
especially in an unfair way. Challenge:
Use the phrase "move the goalposts" in a sentence. Answer: Literary critics raved that
Kafka "moved the goalposts" when he imagined the protagonist of his
book as a giant bug! Thank
you, Muse reader!
D. J. Fontana,
whose simple but forceful drumming behind Elvis Presley helped to shape the
early sound of rock ’n’ roll, died June 13, 2018 in Nashville. He was 87.
Mr. Fontana was the first drummer in Presley’s band and played with him
for 14 years, from Presley’s earliest days in the national spotlight through
the 1968 television special, called simply “Elvis,” that was widely hailed as
Presley’s return to form. He backed
Presley on more than 450 recordings, including hits like “Hound Dog,” “All Shook Up,” “Blue Suede Shoes”
and “It’s Now or Never,” and was seen playing with him in the movies “Loving
You,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “G.I. Blues.” He was later an in-demand studio musician in
Nashville. Mr. Fontana’s entree into
rock history came by way of his job as a member of the band on “Louisiana Hayride,” a popular country-music radio
show broadcast from Shreveport, La. Kurt Gottschalk
Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/obituaries/dj-fontana-87-elvis-presley-drummer-is-dead.html
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1903
June 15, 2018
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