THE OTHER POTTER

"It's a Wonderful Life": the film is falling out of favor lately, largely because it's been on the vintage favorites list for a long time and people are looking for something new. Too bad, it's a great film. Anyway, I brought it up because I want to talk about one of my favorite sequences in the film, the one where Potter tries tries to buy off George Bailey with the promise of a high-paying job.

It's an interesting sequence because Potter's been treated as a one-note villain up to this point so you'd expect him to play the sequence in a high-hatted, "Take this offer or else!" kind of way. Instead Potter uncharacteristically tries to sweet talk Bailey. Watch the clip. It begins 4 1/2 minutes into the video.

Did you watch it? What intrigues me about this is that it's a simple attempt at bribery that doesn't add anything to the story, yet it manages manages to be one of the best scenes in the whole film. Think about it. We already knew that Bailey and Potter were enemies. We already had abundant evidence that Bailey preferred integrity to money. The sequence tells us nothing new, and yet....

What I'm going to argue here is that the sequence exists for a theatrical reason. Up till now the Potter part of the story simply laid down information. It took great pains to let us know who the good and bad guys were. That's fine so far as it goes, but live theater people know that audiences crave scenes where they can boo the villain...where they're tempted to yell, "Don't go in there, Dick! he's got a gun!" Even in the middle of a story, they want sequences that end with the patriotic triumph of right exemplified with angelic choirs waving the flag and the villain being hissed off the stage.

Not only that, but actors need scenes where they can shine and not simply be pawns racing ahead to the next plot point. In this sequence Barrymore gets to be sunny for a while. This means he can anchor his performance in a deliberately insincere sing-song, which live audiences love to re-act to, and actors love to play.

That's all I have to say on the subject of live theater and film, but I have a copy of "Cyrano de Bergerac" on the desk in front of me and it wouldn't be much trouble for me to scan in a couple of terrific paragraphs that I read last night. Let's see...Okay...here goes!

Great, huh? Here's an excerpt from the same scene, a couple of pages later:





Wow! Good old Cyrano...a real force of nature!

THE NEXT NEW THING IN ARCHITECTURE

Here's (above) the previous movement: the "post modern" look, with flat, sterile concrete walls punctuated by uniform window slats. This hideous building is by Frank Gehry. Gehry later converted to the "crumpled" look, where buildings looked like crumpled pieces of paper in a wastebasket.

Crumpled evolved into twisted. Twisted is appealing on some level, but I don't think it lends itself to interesting interiors. I imagine this will last another ten years, at least.

Here's what's coming: buildings covered with bas-relief. How do I know? Because relief is beautiful and has become easy and cheap to make. That sounds like a formula for success to me.

Frank Lloyd Wright tried to introduce texture into modern building (above) but he was past his prime when he did it, and his interesting blocks were lost in bland, repetitious, modernist flatness.

What puts makes bas-relief a player again is the new building materials, especially the new hard styrofoams. Complex shapes are easily and cheaply molded and produced in quantity...sometimes from computer renderings. Sometimes the renderings are scans of old reliefs like the Aztec pattern above.

Right around the corner we'll also see a resurgence of interest in stone masonry for those who can afford it. I say this with confidence because when interest in texture returns to architecture, interest in stone, which is the ultimate texture, can't be far behind.

For those who have less money we'll see plenty of hard styrofoam stones which look identical to the quirky, pitted, silica-embedded real thing. Some of the fake stones will take designer shapes like the relief stone above.

I hope you like this Aztec relief calendar (above) because you'll see plenty of imitations of it on buildings in the near future.

The Mayans (above) were big on relief sculpture. Your kids may live in a house with Mayan-type walls like this, but punctuated with big, picture windows. Maybe they'll use undecorated real stone for the first floor, and realistic Mayan relief styrofoam for the upper floors.

Poor Rockwell Kent (above) will be plundered again and again for relief ideas.


Computer-guided hard styrofoam molding will put realistic cathedral window arches (above) within reach of average homeowners.

Some will prefer more contemporary abstract designs like the Frank Lloyd Wright stones above. Anything you can draw can be molded into what appears to be real stone. You'll have bricks made bricks that look like your family and friends. Lots of people will do this. I for one am tired of looking at bare, flat, undecorated modernist walls. Who said that things modern always have to be flat and sterile?

A STREETCAR NAMED DEZYRE

STUNLEY: "STALLA! STALL-LAHHHHHH!!!!!"

STUNLEY: "Where's the scissors!? I'll bet your hoity-toity sister Blunche has them!"

STALLA: "Here, Dear. They're right here on the table where you left them.

STUNLEY: "Oh.....well anyway, your sister's always runnin' me down...sayin' I'm stupid and stuff. Well, I ain't stupid!"

AAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!


STUNLEY: "Slut! It's YOUR fault!"

STUNLEY (VO): "Oh, I'm sorry, Stalla. Come 'ere, Baby...Daddy'll kiss it and make it better!"

Blunche re-acts.


STELLA (VO): "Here I am, Daddy! Mommy needs those kisses! (Sloppy kisses and groans)."

STALLA (VO): "Careful, Stunley! Blunche is here, remember?"

STUNLEY: "Oh, right...stupid old Blunche is here! Hmmmm...."



STUNLEY: "Hey, a man gets hungry and there's nothin' around ta eat!"

STUNLEY: "STAAAAALLLAAAA!!!!!!"

STUNLEY: The refrigerator's all the way across the room! How am I gonna get my celerey!?"

STALLA: "Here, Dear. Celerey. Right here."

STUNLEY: "Huh? Celerey? Oh, thanks."

STUNLEY: "Yessir, when you're really hungry, there's nothing like a good...."

STUNLEY: "AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!"

STUNLEY: "Ooooh, my eye!!!!!"

STUNLEY: "Slut! It's your fault again!"

STUNLEY (VO): "Oh, did I do that? Come over here, I want my baby over here!"

Blunche re-acts.

STALLA (VO): "Daddy was mean to his Poopsey-Woopsey!"

STUNLEY (VO): "Never again, Poopsey! Two lips'll fix it!"

STALLA (VO): "Careful, Stunley! Blunche is still here, remember?"

STANLEY (VO): "Oh, right...Blunche."



STUNLEY: (Sniff! Sniff!).

STUNLEY: (Blows nose).

STALLAH: "Sigh! That's my man!"

STUNLEY (VO): "Stalla, quick, get my shotgun! There's a fly on the ceiling!"