Margaret Layne

@emelleghostlight.bsky.social

197

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Ex-pat New Yorker now in the PNW. 30 years a theatre casting director. Eng Lit major, Anglo-, biblio-, ailurophile. I double-space after a period, and I defend and deploy the Oxford comma. Liberal & Lively Arts 4eva!

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Happy Birthday to Independence Day baby Gertrude Lawrence! It's a great shame there's so little of her work on film, and what there is from the later part of her career, but this clip from The Battle of Paris (1929) definitely capture something of the gaiety and charm for which she was famous. /1

Gertrude Lawrence 1929 (Special Request)youtu.be From the movie: THE BATTLE OF PARIS 1929I've had a request for this number so here it is. Gertrude Lawrence was of course one of the major musical comedy st...

If you need a thrill, give a listen to Damson Chola Jr, the high school senior who just won the 2024 Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor.The other finalists knew they were toast after four bars. (You can watch the full competition on YouTube thru 6/27. The kids are definitely all right.)

2024 Jimmy Awards Solo Performance - Damson Chola Jr.youtu.be Finalist Damson Chola Jr. from the Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theatre Awards performs "Make Them Hear You" from "Ragtime" at the 2024 Jimmy Awards.

I'm not as a rule in favor of physical violence, but every time I see MTG now I want to stuff her upside down into a barrel of eels.

"Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like wind in the meadow. The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow...." Rest in power, Bernard Hill.

I seem to have reached the age where if I don't get myself arranged just so before going to sleep, the next day I may not have the full use of my left arm until noon.

I knew that alligators are essentially dinosaurs. I didn't know that apart from getting smaller (an adjustment for which we can all be grateful) in an evolutionary sense they have changed NOT AT ALL in 200 million years - they haven't needed to. Now that's a perfect machine.

I haven't in recent memory seen as lonely a figure as Princess Kate sitting by herself on that garden bench talking about her cancer diagnosis.

I say we give 'em each a broadsword and let them decide this thing on the South Lawn.

Reminded this AM of Matt McConaughey's Oscar acceptance when he quoted the great Charles Laughton (whom he referred to as "Charlie") as saying "When you got God, you got a friend and that friend is you." Seriously, picture Charles Laughton, and try to imagine him saying anything remotely like that.

At a time when it's hard to find much to feel good about, it makes me happy to know that I live in a world that also has Andrew Scott in it.

I can't help feeling that if a medication's side effects include an increased likelihood of death from the thing that you're taking the medication *for*, someone needed to spend a little more time in the lab.

Every now and then I get one of those helpful ads on my newsfeed reminding me that by now I should have saved $1 million from my assumed $150,000 annual salary for my retirement and I roll my eyes so hard I fall over.

If it's down to only two possible choices, I will literally *always* pick the wrong one first. One would think that statistically on 50/50 odds I'd eventually pick correctly, but no, apparently I'm the Rosencrantz of Wordle. " "Heads...heads....heads...heads..."

The end of an era. My first & always actor-crush Sam Waterston makes his final appearance as DA Jack McCoy on tonight’s episode of Law & Order. Now 83, he originated the character in 1994 & has played the role in over 400 episodes. Jack never aspired to the bench, but let's say it anyway: All Rise.

Many terrific speeches at Sunday's BAFTAs. Here's one of them. (The whole ceremony - elegantly efficient as usual & hosted by David Tennant w/the slightly belligerent charm peculiar to the Scots & the energy of a sheepdog determined to get the herd in by twilight - available to stream on Britbox.)

Da'Vine Joy Randolph's emotional speech as she wins Supporting Actress | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024youtu.be Da'Vine Joy Randolph wins the Supporting Actress BAFTA for her performance in The Holdovers and gives an emotional speech thanking her co-stars. Presented by...

Just when I feel I'm coping fairly adequately with the state of the world, Rachel Maddow comes at me with her A block.

Bought some bulk ground cinnamon at the market this morning and thought for a second about Western Europe getting its first hit of that extraordinary scent. People must have lost their damn minds.

For those who've wondered about the collective noun for a group of playwrights: Pinter, David Hare, Ronald Harwood, Simon Gray & Tom Stoppard were once sharing a VIP box at Lord's when from the neighboring box David Frost put this very question, to which Stoppard instantly responded "a snarl."

"I have a strong preference for being alive." We have a strong preference for your being alive too! Happy birthday to Alan Alda, who turns 88 today. 📷 as Adam in THE APPLE TREE ("The Diary of Adam and Eve""), Friedman-Abeles Photography 📷 as Arnold Vinick in THE WEST WING, NBC Studios

I'm enchanted by this beautiful little Otter Table, carved from solid Scottish elm by Master Carver David Robinson. 📷 Callum G. Robinson

"The novel is written in Omniscient...." Ah yes, the indigenous language of the small nation of Omniscia, unrelated to the languages of its neighboring countries Ironia and Sardonica....

I would like to nominate pine litter box pellets to succeed Legos as The Most Painful Thing To Step On Barefoot.

"There are supposed to be endorphins or whatever that make you feel great when you exercise. I don’t think I have any, because I only feel great when I’m lying on the sofa reading a book, possibly while simultaneously eating biscuits." -- Judith Flanders

Freudian Typo of the Day: "Add the fettucine and salt, stirring to prevent the past from sticking." Words to live by.

You know something you don't hear people say much anymore? "By cracky!"

How badly does it date me that when someone refers to "The Avengers" I still assume they're talking about John Steed and Emma Peel?

I know we have a ways to go on this, but man I'll be so glad when the year turns enough that 7 AM stops feeling like the middle of the damn night.

With her unmistakeable purring voice and sidelong wit, Glynis Johns was an absolute oner, effervescent and sparkling, like champagne in human form, a uniquely irresistible presence in everything she did. Bring down the curtain on a long and glamorous life. Rest well, Desiree.