Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

Remembering Jack Kerouac

[A friend of the author of "On the Road," published 50 years ago this month, tells why the novel still matters.] One snowy January night in 1957, I found myself in a Howard Johnson's in Greenwich Village buying a hot dog and baked beans for a virtually unknown writer named Jack Kerouac. It was a blind date arranged by Allen Ginsberg, who always looked out for his male friends. As Allen no doubt saw it, Jack needed a place in New York to stay for a while until he could take

Arthur Miller's Missing Act (The son with Down syndrome he never talked about)

No photograph of him has ever been published, but those who know Daniel Miller say that he resembles his father. Some say it's the nose, others the mischievous glimmer in the eyes when he smiles, but the most telling feature, the one that clearly identifies him as Arthur Miller's son, is his high forehead and identically receding hairline. He is almost 41 now, but it's impossible to say whether his father's friends would notice the resemblance, because the few who have ever seen Daniel have not

Tom Cruise: 'I Bear a Great Responsibility to Stauffenberg'

Despite media criticism of his membership in Scientology, Tom Cruise chatted this week to a German magazine about his upcoming film about a Hitler assassination plot and the walks in Berlin's parks he enjoys with Katie and Suri. He also lashed back at critics, telling them to "see the film" before dissing it. After more than a month of filming in a country whose press is often quick to vilify him for his membership in the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise has spoken to a G

A New Stage for Arthur Miller’s Most Private Drama of Fathers and Sons

It had been something of an open secret for years, but most people did not learn the story of Daniel Miller until last week, when Vanity Fair published an article called “Arthur Miller’s Missing Act.” As described in Suzanna Andrews’s 5,000-word article, Arthur Miller, who died in February 2005, and his third wife, the photographer Inge Morath, had a son born with Down syndrome in 1966. Soon after, they made the painful decision to put the child, Miller’s youngest, in an institutio

After 10 Years, Fascination With Diana Hardly Fades

Ten years have passed since Diana, Princess of Wales, died and Britain erupted in a febrile convulsion of grief and anger, but in some ways you would hardly know it. The tabloids are still spinning breathless tales of conspiracy, cover-up and royal squabbling. “Document That Proves Diana Was Pregnant,” said a recent headline in The Daily Express, nicknamed The Diana Express because of its enthusiasm for even the most tenuous news about the princess. “Charles ‘Hijacks’ D

History Detectives: Is This Letter From Lincoln the Real Thing?

For those of you who may not have watched the PBS series, “History Detectives” last night, Shelbyville native and Lincoln historian, John Lupton played a central role in authenticating a document supposedly written by Abraham Lincoln in 1858. Lupton is Associate Director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield , IL .. His position there requires him to make sure the documents that enter into the collection are authentic

New book claims Merlin had Scottish roots

Merlin the magician - hirsute confidant of King Arthur and the architect of Camelot - was, in fact, Scottish, according to a new book. Not only Scottish but, to be precise, hailing from Ardery Street, just off the Dumbarton Road, in the Partick area of Glasgow. While the English, Welsh and even the French have laid claim to the wizard with the peaked hat for centuries, this is the first time that anyone has tried to shift Camelot north of the border. But Ad

Decades-long restoration of Vatican Raphael frescoes almost completed

VATICAN CITY — As visitors ooh and aah at the vivid hues revealed by the cleaning of Michelangelo's frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, some of the greatest work of a fellow Renaissance giant has been quietly restored to glory a few rooms away. Now, nearly 30 years after work began, the restoration of Raphael's frescoes in the rooms named after him in the Vatican Museums is approaching completion. Restorers said in recent interviews that their work in the Raphael St

Jack Kirby, a Comic Book Genius, Is Finally Remembered

The fear of being forgotten after death is endemic in the creative arts. In the case of the iconic comic book artist Jack Kirby, it happened while he was still alive. By the 1960s, Mr. Kirby had already revolutionized the comic book business more than once. Working as principal artist and in-house genius for Marvel, he created a voice and an aesthetic unmatched by any other company. Marvel took his talents for granted and denied him the credit and compensation he clearly deserved. W

The Nureyev Nobody Knows, Young and Wild (Documentary)

A POINT comes in the afterlife of an artist when, for the time being, biography has pretty much done its work. The essential history is known; the ambience is broadly understood; the relationship between the life and the work has yielded its chief mysteries. Barring bombshells any future surprises are apt to be minor: not revelations, just minutiae. To judge by the title, the 90-minute documentary “Nureyev: The Russian Years,” written and produced by the British filmmaker John Bridc

Historic dolls--now celebrating the 1970s

Nine-year-old Julie Albright likes to wear her long blond hair loose, with a single thin braid in the front. With her parents divorcing, and with her move from a big house in San Francisco to a smaller apartment across town, she is trying to adapt to a bewildering web of changes, just like a lot of other children growing up in the 1970s. Except she is 18 inches tall. Julie and her Chinese-American friend, Ivy, are the latest additions to American Girl’s fabulously popul

A play on Polish-Russian history policy

A play called "1612", the result of a cooperation project with Moscow's "Teatr.doc", is currently in rehearsal at the "Ad Spectatores" theatre in Breslau. The play is about the victory of the Russian army over the Polish invaders of Moscow on November 4, 1612 in the midst of the Polish-Russian war (1609-1618). In an interview with Joanna Dekaczew, director Krzysztof Kopka explains that the piece is intended as a response to the Polish and Russian policy on history.

The Diana Effect: 10 years later

Ten years on, there is still something dreamlike about the week that followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Was central London really carpeted with flowers? Did every U.S. TV network throw out its schedule to cover, at length, the funeral of an English divorcé of uncertain prospects? Did the most levelheaded folk you know choke up about 10 times that week, snuffling into their tissues,"I can't imagine why it's gotten to me so much"? Yes, and yes, and they probably did.

History Lessons about slavery (Review/Dance Performance)

BECKET, Mass., Aug. 21 — It would be nice to feel unmitigatedly positive about Joanna Haigood’s “Invisible Wings,” an ambitious site-specific evocation of slave culture and history, linked to the history of the land that the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival now inhabits. On Tuesday — a day late, after rain forced the cancellation of the scheduled opening — a new version of this open-air work, first presented at the Pillow in 1998, opened on the festival grounds amid a sense of excitement heightened

'Spruce up' for Culloden exhibits (UK)

Prime exhibits from Culloden are heading for a spring clean before returning to play a central role at a new visitor centre. Staff from the National Trust for Scotland have been packing up important items dating back to the battle. The exhibits include a sword seized from Bonnie Prince Charlie's baggage after the fight ended. It also features a letter from the prince to King Louis of France pleading for vital support to the Jacobite army.

Missing John Constable sketch is found

A missing sketch by celebrated artist John Constable has been rediscovered at the British Library in London. Scholars lost track of the drawing of a church after it was sold by Constable's grandson Eustace at Christie's in 1896. It was found in an elaborate sketchbook on the life of Constable's rival JMW Turner, which was bequeathed to the British Museum in 1919.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Slate features his work

Photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson would have turned 99 today. A co-founder of Magnum Photos, he was both a remarkable photojournalist and an artist trained in the techniques of classic painting and the avant-garde juxtapositions of Surrealism. In February 2007, Meghan O'Rourke analyzed Cartier-Bresson's work, observing that "Carrtier-Bresson's work demonstrated two qualities that rarely go hand in hand: a formal, highly geometric acuity … in combination with an empathetic fascination with

Terracotta warriors tear down British Museum

The British Museum started the delicate task of unpacking the vanguard of the largest consignment of China's terracotta army ever to leave its shores in preparation for its blockbuster exhibition The First Emperor, which opens on Sept 13. More than two dozen huge crates carrying the fragile, 2,000-year-old figures were delayed for two days in Beijing because they would not fit into the holds of two cargo planes chartered for the job. When the 20 figures - a dozen warrio

New spas look to history for inspiration

Most spas take pride in keeping up with the latest trends, from organic ingredients to Asian massage. But a half-dozen new spas have opened this year in landmark hotels and historic places. While offering contemporary treatments and luxurious new facilities, spas in settings like Williamsburg, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, are also looking to the past for inspiration in everything from decor to botanical remedies. In May, The Spa of Colonial Williamsburg opened

Elvis Presley's gun found near portable toilets

A handgun stolen from an exhibit during last week's commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death has been recovered. Surveillance video showed a man reaching into a display case at the "Elvis After Dark" exhibit at Graceland, Presley's mansion, and removing a black, 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol on August 14. Travis Brookins turned the gun over to police Monday after the theft was reported by news media.