The Scottish Tragedy
Marv Soloff
I have heard, as part of show business lore and legend, that one does
not refer directly to
Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" directly as "MacBeth" - rather as "The
Scottish Play" or "The Scottish
Tragedy". Does anyone know how this convention got started? Where? Who?
Just wondering.
Marv
Richard Brooks
Try these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_play
Scroll down to 'The Superstition'
<http://www.lyttonplayers.co.uk/Previous%20Productions/Macbeth/macbeth.htm>
David Oberman
Wiki reports this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth#The_.22Scottish_play.22_-_superstitions
Jim Beaver
"Richard Brooks" <richar...@vickers-armstrongs.com> wrote in message
news:F6qdneG4qrmxro7V...@bt.com...
> Marv Soloff said the following on 26/04/2008 14:00:
>>
>> I have heard, as part of show business lore and legend, that one does not
>> refer directly to
>> Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" directly as "MacBeth" - rather as "The
>> Scottish Play" or "The Scottish
>> Tragedy". Does anyone know how this convention got started? Where? Who?
>>
>> Just wondering.
>>
>> Marv
>
> Try these.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_play
I've done the play twice and have been injured both times. The second time,
by far the most serious injury, was on a Friday the 13th. I don't take
chances with the Scottish play.
Jim Beaver
moviePig
> "Richard Brooks" <richardbro...@vickers-armstrongs.com> wrote in message
From Wiki: "The popularity of the superstition might also be related
to ... veteran actors [relating] some tale of woe that they witnessed
personally..."
Hmm...
--
- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com
Stone me
"moviePig" <pwal...@moviepig.com> wrote in message
news:2c0e8e3c-116d-410c...@2g2000hsn.googlegroups.com...
Hmm...
:-)
Why superstition at all?
We all know there is no spirit which will unleash itself if you say the name
of the play.
None of us actually belive in such spirits.
I dont believe in unlucky 13 or that there's any extra danger from walking
under
a ladder, yet I feel a strong aversion to testing that.
The world of ShowBizz keeps up it's superstitions perhaps to provide some
feeling
of permanence in a business which lacks the same for the individual.
Stone me.
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
[deletions]
> Why superstition at all?
>
> We all know there is no spirit which will unleash itself if you say the
> name of the play.
> None of us actually belive in such spirits.
> I dont believe in unlucky 13 or that there's any extra danger from
> walking under
> a ladder, yet I feel a strong aversion to testing that.
>
> The world of ShowBizz keeps up it's superstitions perhaps to provide
> some feeling
> of permanence in a business which lacks the same for the individual.
My own personal father, who died 45 years this coming July, was a highly
superstitious individual. He actually would toss spilled salt over his
shoulder, freak if someone threw his or her hat on a bed or open an
umbrella indoors. Forget about walking under ladders and crossing paths
with a black cat. I'm pretty sure his view of his own Catholic religion
were more magical than spiritual or ethical.
I should add that for most of his life he was involved in professional
gambling in one way or another -- slots and card rooms when they were
legal in Washington State in the 1940s, thoroughbred racing as a trainer
and owner up and down the West Coast, a stint as the state Parimutuels
Inspector, even hustling pool as a youngster in San Francisco.
Surely, it's all a way to control the uncontrollable universe, ain't it?
"Luck be a lady tonight.
Luck be a lady tonight.
Luck, if you've been a lady to begin with,
Luck be a lady tonight. . .
"A lady never leaves her escort.
It isn't fair, it isn't nice.
A lady doesn't wander all over the room
And blow on some other guys dice."
--
Frank in Seattle
____
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
"Millennium hand and shrimp."
Opry phantom
> "Richard Brooks" <richardbro...@vickers-armstrongs.com> wrote in message
You have to watch out for Birnam Wood; stay in the hoose.
Marv Soloff
is much more sensible . .. and rarely known by theatre peoples. The
superstition actually began in the old days of stock companies, which
would struggle at all times to remain in business. Frequently, near the
end of a season a stock company would realise that it was not going to
break even and, in an attempt to boost ticket sales and attendance,
would announce production of a crowd favourite . . . Macbeth. If times
were particularly bad, even 'the bard's play' would not be enough to
save the company, therefore, Macbeth often presaged the end of a
company's season, and would frequently be a portent of the company's
demise. Therefore, the fear of Macbeth was generally the fear of bad
business and of an entire company being put out of work."
Your injuries were unfortunate - a coincidence - not the work of the curse.
Marv
Richard Brooks
> Why superstition at all?
>
> We all know there is no spirit which will unleash itself if you say the
> name of the play.
> None of us actually belive in such spirits.
Yet there are one or two who believe in a thing called God and look at
the trouble that's still causing!
> I dont believe in unlucky 13 or that there's any extra danger from
> walking under
> a ladder, yet I feel a strong aversion to testing that.
Ahh! The walking under a ladder I can explain. When the gallows in a
prison were ready for use, a ladder was placed against the platform
for the condemned man's last walk of life. If, by chance, someone was
in the yard and walked under the same ladder, they felt that it would
be their time next.
It's still felt rude to put your elbows on the table but I bet your
parents wouldn't think of calling you Judas also! ;-)
> The world of ShowBizz keeps up it's superstitions perhaps to provide
> some feeling
> of permanence in a business which lacks the same for the individual.
>
> Stone me.
I think it's more that they are (ahem) 'special' artistic people in
their own lifetimes. I remember one student at college who, because
he had put his jumper on back to front, had to wear it that way
because he was told it was bad luck. Why no enterprising masters had
not thought that to bring back the good luck, any junior who had
broken that luck had to buy the whole cast drinks for the rest of the
week, I don't know?
David Matthews
"Marv Soloff" <mso...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:NAJQj.73$WS1.29@trndny04...
I think you could probably come up with the same percentage of misfortunes
in any long running theatrical production.
I recall when the Bermuda Triangle nonsense was at its height a debunker
with an analytical mind drew arbitrary triangles over busy traffic air and
shipping areas all over the world. He could find unexplained
disappearances, accidents etc. in all.
Dave in Toronto
Paul B. Thompson
news:piHQj.12013$GE1....@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com...
I have heard there are comparable "good luck" plays, Shaw's "Pygmalion"
being one.
PBT
Marv Soloff
Well, I think the convention of not mentioning "Macbeth" by name
somewhat charming and will
go along with referring to it as The Scottish Tragedy". I would imagine
the same sort of thing
applies to the phrase "Break a leg" (although not to Jim Beaver who just
might) for good luck.
Lady Luck is fickle and we must pander to her.
Marv
Howard Brazee
<fr...@blarg.net> wrote:
>My own personal father, who died 45 years this coming July, was a highly
>superstitious individual. He actually would toss spilled salt over his
>shoulder, freak if someone threw his or her hat on a bed or open an
>umbrella indoors
I had never heard of the hat on a bed thing - possibly because hat
wearing is so different than it was at one time.
But then I never really understood such superstitions.
rcp
>
> I recall when the Bermuda Triangle nonsense was at its height a debunker
> with an analytical mind drew arbitrary triangles over busy traffic air and
> shipping areas all over the world. He could find unexplained
> disappearances, accidents etc. in all.
>
An old friend had a knack for putting these things in perspective. He
remarked that there were no similar "Bermuda Triangles" over land where
freight trains mysteriously disappeard. For some odd reason those things
only happened at sea!
rcp
David Johnston
Although in Macbeth's case since it has an onstage pitched battle
there really is a higher chance that someone will get hurt than with
most Shakespeare plays.
Jack Lefton
>
> I had never heard of the hat on a bed thing - possibly because hat
> wearing is so different than it was at one time.
>
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
> On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:10:48 -0700, "Frank R.A.J. Maloney"
> <fr...@blarg.net> wrote:
>
>> My own personal father, who died 45 years this coming July, was a highly
>> superstitious individual. He actually would toss spilled salt over his
>> shoulder, freak if someone threw his or her hat on a bed or open an
>> umbrella indoors
>
> I had never heard of the hat on a bed thing - possibly because hat
> wearing is so different than it was at one time.
>
Or to quote Elaine Stritch singing "The Ladies Who Lunch":
"Then to a fitting,
Claiming they're fat.
And looking grim,
'Cause they've been sitting
Choosing a hat.
Does anyone still wear a hat?
I'll drink to that."
> But then I never really understood such superstitions.
Isn't it in _All About Eve_ that someone -- Celeste Holm, perhaps -- is
jumped on for whistling in the dressing room?
I always been particularly fond of the knock-on-wood practice, which
probably goes back to the time when people thought that spirits, gods,
or dryads lived in holy trees. Worshipers probably knocked on the trunks
to get the tutelary spirit's attention before asking a favor or leaving
an offering.
Do you remember the tree in _Howards End_ with pigs' teeth driven into
the bark? The country folk thought the bark was a specific for toothache.
tomcervo
l.
>
> Although in Macbeth's case since it has an onstage pitched battle
> there really is a higher chance that someone will get hurt than with
>
The actor's explanation relates exactly to that. It's a play full of
violence from edged weapon props, nearly everyone onstage is armed and
it's often staged in darkness. It's an accident waiting to happen.
Mind you, there's just as much violence in the Henry VI trilogy, but
when was the last time you saw one of them?
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
The first professional production of a Shakespeare play I ever saw was
"Julius Caesar" at the Seattle Rep. There's a fight scene in it that was
staged by having the actors freeze in an attack and then quickly turning
the stage lights off and on, strobe-like, during which the actors moved
into the next position (no doubt the director had been reading up on
kabuki, I realized much later). More interesting than effective I
thought at the time, but then I was used to the movie fights.
Bill Anderson
1996. I can't believe it's been that long. It was a "good parts
version" of all three plays, sorta like something you'd do to an S.
Morgenstern classic. And very nicely done, too, with an unforgettable
closing scene in which Richard and his men were pointing guns at the
audience in anticipation of the bloodletting we all knew was about to
begin.
http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/details.aspx?id=48&source=l
Then they made me wait six years to see the sequel.
http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/details.aspx?id=21&source=l
--
Bill Anderson
I am the Mighty Favog
David Matthews
"Break both legs" - telegram to Elvis Presley from Tom Jones on the eve of
Presley's come-back performance in Las Vegas.
Dave in Toronto
David Oberman
>From Wiki: "The popularity of the superstition might also be related
>to ... veteran actors [relating] some tale of woe that they witnessed
>personally..."
>
>Hmm...
I just finished reading Frank Kermode's magisterial essay on "Macbeth"
in my Riverside Shakespeare. Not a friggin' word about the
superstition in question!
Kermode -- ya big turd.
@#$&*(@!
Jim Beaver
"Frank R.A.J. Maloney" <fr...@blarg.net> wrote in message
news:9c6dnVCc1JSF_47VnZ2dnUVZ_u2dnZ2d@isomediainc...
> Stone me wrote:
>
> [deletions]
>
>> Why superstition at all?
>>
>> We all know there is no spirit which will unleash itself if you say the
>> name of the play.
>> None of us actually belive in such spirits.
>> I dont believe in unlucky 13 or that there's any extra danger from
>> walking under
>> a ladder, yet I feel a strong aversion to testing that.
>>
>> The world of ShowBizz keeps up it's superstitions perhaps to provide some
>> feeling
>> of permanence in a business which lacks the same for the individual.
>
> My own personal father, who died 45 years this coming July, was a highly
> superstitious individual. He actually would toss spilled salt over his
> shoulder, freak if someone threw his or her hat on a bed or open an
> umbrella indoors. Forget about walking under ladders and crossing paths
> with a black cat. I'm pretty sure his view of his own Catholic religion
> were more magical than spiritual or ethical.
I've got every one of those superstitions. Weird, because I don't REALLY
believe them. But I always toss salt over my shoulder, get freaky about
hats on beds and umbrellas indoors, etc., etc. Not Catholic, and I don't
buy into almost any kind of hoodoo. Yet I'm sort of weirdly adamant about
such things. I never thought much about how odd it is that I feel that way
even in light of my confidence that such things are meaningless.
Great. More self-investigation to do. Sheesh.
Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
"moviePig" <pwal...@moviepig.com> wrote in message
news:2c0e8e3c-116d-410c...@2g2000hsn.googlegroups.com...
Hmm...
---
RESPONSE:
My second tale of woe, the Friday the 13th one, ended with me crawling
offstage and being hospitalized while a then-unknown Ted Levine had to kill
Mackers for me and ad lib my lines.
Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
> Stone me said the following on 26/04/2008 17:01:
>
>> Why superstition at all?
>>
>> We all know there is no spirit which will unleash itself if you say the
>> name of the play.
>> None of us actually belive in such spirits.
>
> Yet there are one or two who believe in a thing called God and look at the
> trouble that's still causing!
>
>> I dont believe in unlucky 13 or that there's any extra danger from
>> walking under
>> a ladder, yet I feel a strong aversion to testing that.
>
> Ahh! The walking under a ladder I can explain. When the gallows in a
> prison were ready for use, a ladder was placed against the platform for
> the condemned man's last walk of life. If, by chance, someone was in the
> yard and walked under the same ladder, they felt that it would be their
> time next.
Walking under a ladder is not a bad way to end up with either a painter or a
bucket of paint on your head.
>
> It's still felt rude to put your elbows on the table but I bet your
> parents wouldn't think of calling you Judas also! ;-)
>
>> The world of ShowBizz keeps up it's superstitions perhaps to provide some
>> feeling
>> of permanence in a business which lacks the same for the individual.
>>
>> Stone me.
>
> I think it's more that they are (ahem) 'special' artistic people in their
> own lifetimes.
I've never associated any of these superstitions except the ones about the
Scottish play and whistling in the dressing room/theatre with show business.
I've encountered about a thousand times more superstitions among baseball
players than I have among actors.
Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
Ya think?
Of course. But that didn't keep me from considering the matter earlier this
year when it looked like I might be doing the play again. It also wouldn't
have kept me from doing the play, of course. But in 85 plays in 36 years,
I've only been significantly hurt twice, and both times it was Mackers.
Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
I think that's really it. Adhering, at least in form, to the superstition
acknowledges a long history and tradition of the theatre, and I think I
enjoy it more for that than any actual concerns about its reality. My other
posts notwithstanding.
Jim Beaver
Jim Beaver
"tomcervo" <tomc...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:0fe48255-49fa-49b1...@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
On Apr 26, 5:39?pm, David Johnston <da...@block.net> wrote:
l.
>
> Although in Macbeth's case since it has an onstage pitched battle
> there really is a higher chance that someone will get hurt than with
>
The actor's explanation relates exactly to that. It's a play full of
violence from edged weapon props, nearly everyone onstage is armed and
it's often staged in darkness. It's an accident waiting to happen.
Mind you, there's just as much violence in the Henry VI trilogy, but
when was the last time you saw one of them?
RESPONSE:
I'm going to see all the Henrys except, I think, Henry VIII at the RSC next
month. Over the course of two days.
Jim Beaver
Anim8rFSK
"Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
"hats on beds"?
--
Star Trek 09:
No Shat, No Show.
http://www.disneysub.com/board/noshat.jpg
tomcervo
> "tomcervo" <tomce...@aol.com> wrote in message
The BBC Shakespeare Plays has its lows, but the HVI/RIII is not one of
them. All four were done by one rep company. You see Julia Foster as
Margaret, from a sweet young thing to that tiger's heart; Bernard Hill
as York, the great man who realizes that he's way out of his depth;
Ron Cook emerge into the truest, finest Richard I've ever seen--at the
end it's The Bunker; surrounded by an impeccable company.
And you've got more than two days to see it.
Jim Beaver
"Anim8rFSK" <ANIM...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:ANIM8Rfsk-7A243...@news.west.cox.net...
old ones still today) always wore that strange hat of theirs, and never took
it off even inside a building. However, when they went to the beside of the
dying for extreme unction and confession, they had to take it off to put on
their vestments. Then you would see the priest, who at this point was
usually seated or standing next to the dying person in their bed, take off
his hat and put it on the nearest flat surface - the bed!
This explains the arcane: a hat on the bed recalls a scene of death
(imminent or just occurred)."
Variants: the superstition comes from a time when people believed that evil
spirits lived in the hair. This could have been believed from the static
electricity that would discharge in the air when taking a hat off in a warm,
dry environment. It is also believed that you don't lay your hat where you're
going to lay your head because evil spirits spill out from hats. Another
view on this custom is one of sanitary origins. Keeping the hat off from the
bed also meant keeping lice from infesting the hat or the bed.
I never knew any of these. I just heard it was bad luck to put a hat on a
bed.
Jim Beaver
Howard Brazee
<jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
>
>I've got every one of those superstitions. Weird, because I don't REALLY
>believe them.
You're an actor - your vocation and advocation are to play roles.
These actions are roles to play.
Jim Beaver
On Apr 26, 10:15?pm, "Jim Beaver" <jumble...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
> "tomcervo" <tomce...@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> news:0fe48255-49fa-49b1...@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 26, 5:39?pm, David Johnston <da...@block.net> wrote:
> l.
>
>
>
> > Although in Macbeth's case since it has an onstage pitched battle
> > there really is a higher chance that someone will get hurt than with
> > most Shakespeare plays. ?- Hide quoted text -
>
> The actor's explanation relates exactly to that. It's a play full of
> violence from edged weapon props, nearly everyone onstage is armed and
> it's often staged in darkness. It's an accident waiting to happen.
> Mind you, there's just as much violence in the Henry VI trilogy, but
> when was the last time you saw one of them?
>
> RESPONSE:
>
> I'm going to see all the Henrys except, I think, Henry VIII at the RSC
> next
>
> Jim Beaver
The BBC Shakespeare Plays has its lows, but the HVI/RIII is not one of
them. All four were done by one rep company. You see Julia Foster as
Margaret, from a sweet young thing to that tiger's heart; Bernard Hill
as York, the great man who realizes that he's way out of his depth;
Ron Cook emerge into the truest, finest Richard I've ever seen--at the
end it's The Bunker; surrounded by an impeccable company.
And you've got more than two days to see it.
RESPONSE:
Is that the set with Jon Finch that played on American television in the
early 1980s? I've seen them, but not since then. Lovely.
Jim Beaver
Anim8rFSK
"Jim Beaver" <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
Wow. I'd heard all the others, although I never practiced them (shy of
walking under a ladder which, let's face it, is just a stupid thing to
do) but I'd never heard of "hats on beds" at all.
Thanks for the info!
moviePig
> "moviePig" <pwall...@moviepig.com> wrote in message
On the golf links, it's said that every shot makes somebody happy. I
trust your misfortune didn't become Ted's big break ...and leave him
conflicted about The Scottish Tragedy vs. The Luck of the Irish...
(I know where that came from. I'm soon to watch ALL ABOUT EVE...)
--
- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com
Jim Beaver
-------------
RESPONSE:
That show wasn't anybody's big break.
Jim Beaver
tomcervo
>
> - Show quoted text -
Here's a scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nafT5ypFaU
David Oberman
>Here's a scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nafT5ypFaU
Pretty good, but those costumes look like the Sleestak in THE LAND OF
THE LOST.
Richard Schultz
: I've got every one of those superstitions. Weird, because I don't REALLY
: believe them.
The story is told of the great physicist Niels Bohr that a visitor to his
office noticed that he had a horseshoe over the door. The visitor said
to him, "You can't possibly believe that a horseshoe over the door will
bring you good luck," to which Bohr replied, "Of course I don't. But I've
been told that the horseshoe will bring me good luck whether I believe
in it or not!"
-----
Richard Schultz sch...@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and
if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."
sli...@slidge.com
> not refer directly to Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" directly as "MacBeth"
> - rather as "The Scottish Play" or "The Scottish Tragedy".
[Actors Mossop and Keanrick haughtily enter in the middle of a
conversation.]
Mossop: ...lest you continue in your quotation, and mention the name of
the Scottish play.
Keanrick: Oh-ho-ho... never fear, I shan't do that.
Blackadder: By the Scottish play, I assume you mean Macbeth.
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaah!
[The actors launch into a bizarre "pattycake" routine while reciting...]
Mossop, Keanrick: "Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends."
[... and finish by tweaking each other's noses.]
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaah!
Blackadder: What was that?
Keanrick: We were exorcising evil spirits. Being but a mere butler, you
will not know the great theatre tradition that one does never speak the
name of the Scottish play.
Blackadder: What, "Macbeth"?
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaah! "Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make
amends." Aaah-haa!
Blackadder: Good lord, you mean you have to do that every time I say
"Macbeth"?
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaah! "Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make
amends." Aaah-aaah-haa!
Mossop: Will you please stop saying that! Always call it "the Scottish
play".
Blackadder: So you want me to say, "the Scottish play"?
Mossop, Keanrick: Yes!
Blackadder: Rather than "Macbeth"?
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaaaah! "Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make
amends." Aaah-haa! Oww!
[Prince George enters.]
Prince George: For heaven's sake, what is all this hullabaloo, all this
shouting and screaming and yelling blue murder? Why, it's like that play
we saw the other day, what was it called... uh...
Blackadder: "Macbeth", sir?
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaaaah! "Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make
amends." Aaah! Oooh!!
Prince George: No, no, no, no, it was... it was called "Julius Caesar".
Blackadder: Oh yes, of course. "Julius Caesar"... Not
"Macbeth".
Mossop, Keanrick: Aah! "Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make
amends." Owwww!
Blackadder: Are you sure you want these people to stay?
[Later...]
Keanrick: From a play connected with Scotland ...
Blackadder: [having just walked in] That's Macbeth, isn't it?
Mossop, Keanrick: Aaah! ...
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
> In article <C8RQj.23130$%41.1...@nlpi064.nbdc.sbc.com>, Jim Beaver <jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
>
> : I've got every one of those superstitions. Weird, because I don't REALLY
> : believe them.
>
> The story is told of the great physicist Niels Bohr that a visitor to his
> office noticed that he had a horseshoe over the door. The visitor said
> to him, "You can't possibly believe that a horseshoe over the door will
> bring you good luck," to which Bohr replied, "Of course I don't. But I've
> been told that the horseshoe will bring me good luck whether I believe
> in it or not!"
Sounds like Bohr had been reading Pascal.
moviePig
>
> > : I've got every one of those superstitions. Weird, because I don't REALLY
> > : believe them.
>
> > The story is told of the great physicist Niels Bohr that a visitor to his
> > office noticed that he had a horseshoe over the door. The visitor said
> > to him, "You can't possibly believe that a horseshoe over the door will
> > bring you good luck," to which Bohr replied, "Of course I don't. But I've
> > been told that the horseshoe will bring me good luck whether I believe
> > in it or not!"
>
> Sounds like Bohr had been reading Pascal.
...or Yogi Berra.
rcp
> The story is told of the great physicist Niels Bohr that a visitor to his
> office noticed that he had a horseshoe over the door. The visitor said
> to him, "You can't possibly believe that a horseshoe over the door will
> bring you good luck," to which Bohr replied, "Of course I don't. But I've
> been told that the horseshoe will bring me good luck whether I believe
> in it or not!"
>
Wow! That's one of my favorite little stories, but I thought it was
Einstein, not Bohr. I think (thought?) that because I'm fairly sure I read
it in a book about Einstein (Dover? 1970's reprint of earlier work?).
Perhaps Einstein was the visitor.
And I thought it was a hunting cabin, not an office. (I picture a rustic
cabin in the woods with the horseshoe over the fron door.)
And the quote I remember is " ... these things are supposed to work
whether you believe in them or not."
All of those memories could be partially constructed with some fill-in-the
blanks my mind put there just to make things complete.
Can you give me a reference?
Thanks for reminding me of this!
INTERLUDE!
Just as I was about to post the above I figured a Google search would help
-- the last time I tried to research this I was fixated on Einstein. This
time I used Bohr and got many hits.
Wikipedia quotes a 1974 source (The Interaction Between Science and
Philosophy (1974) by Samuel Sambursky, p. 357) as the most reliable where
the quote is attributed to a friend of Bohr's.
Rec Humor Funny (*the* authoratative source!) atributes the quote to a
Bohr quoting his neighbor. Reference "Science and Religion" by Werner
Heisenberg (1927).
Several others attribute it to Bohr replying to a reporter during a
reception at his country cabin in Denmark after receiving the 1922 Nobel
Prize.
Many do mention his office wall.
rcp
tomcervo
Everything was bright and shiny for the start of the trilogy, but by
Part 3 the set and the players looked like Stalingrad. The opening
placard for Part 1 was a beautiful painted banner. At the start of the
fourth play Ron Cook limps out and chalks "RICHARD III" on a wall.
Magnus, Robot Fighter
<jumb...@prodigy.spam> wrote:
The only bit of superstition i follow is to check my fly repeatedly
before going on stage.
Magnus, Robot Fighter
I take it Ted didn't strip naked, tuck his Macduff between his legs
and say "I'd fuck me".
David Oberman
>The only bit of superstition i follow is to check my fly repeatedly
>before going on stage.
A worthy check, as many have learned. My nephew forgot to zip (& his
parents are idiots) before his piano recital last weekend. We didn't
realize it until we were at lunch afterward. (Although your repeated
checks may indicate neurotic compulsion.)
I can't offhand think of any films with fly-open scenes.
____
"I want to ask you a bunch of questions, &
I want you to answer them immediately."
-- Arnold Schwarzenegger as
"Kindergarten Cop" to kids
moviePig
> "Magnus, Robot Fighter" <M...@Key.com> wrote:
>
> >The only bit of superstition i follow is to check my fly repeatedly
> >before going on stage.
>
> A worthy check, as many have learned. My nephew forgot to zip (& his
> parents are idiots) before his piano recital last weekend. We didn't
> realize it until we were at lunch afterward. (Although your repeated
> checks may indicate neurotic compulsion.)
He realized it at lunch? Hmm... "Waiter, there's soup in my fly."
> I can't offhand think of any films with fly-open scenes.
Was there ever an era when it would've been no longer obscene but
still funny?
George Peatty
>A worthy check, as many have learned. My nephew forgot to zip (& his
>parents are idiots) before his piano recital last weekend. We didn't
>realize it until we were at lunch afterward. (Although your repeated
>checks may indicate neurotic compulsion.)
I suppose I reveal more of myself than I should, but this frightens me more
than the nightmare of being seen in public naked, probably because it is so
much more likely ..
Frank R.A.J. Maloney
> "Magnus, Robot Fighter" <M...@Key.com> wrote:
>
>> The only bit of superstition i follow is to check my fly repeatedly
>> before going on stage.
>
> A worthy check, as many have learned. My nephew forgot to zip (& his
> parents are idiots) before his piano recital last weekend. We didn't
> realize it until we were at lunch afterward. (Although your repeated
> checks may indicate neurotic compulsion.)
>
> I can't offhand think of any films with fly-open scenes.
To check once is prudent, but to check repeatedly seems to me to be
bordering on Obsessive Compulsive Behavior, which is probably distinct
from mere superstition.
I was at a dance recital last weekend where a young fellow, 20 or so,
came on stage with his white underwear clearly exposed against the open
fly of his black pants. He tapped away for a while until he noticed
someone trying to signal him, turned away from the audience, zipped up,
and finished his routine. Never missed a beat.
There's no business like show business,
Like no business I know.
David Matthews
Johnny Carson once did his opening monologue to The Tonight Show with his
fly open, didn't realize it 'till he walked to his desk.
Dave in Toronto
David Matthews
> To check once is prudent, but to check repeatedly seems to me to be
> bordering on Obsessive Compulsive Behavior, which is probably distinct
> from mere superstition.
I notice that even women, when wearing jeans, often give a touch to top of
the zipper if they realize they are being observed.
Dave in Toronto
Anim8rFSK
"David Matthews" <dmatt...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
So did The Great Flydini
Jim Beaver
"Magnus, Robot Fighter" <M...@Key.com> wrote in message
news:jqad14diaklv4o8g5...@4ax.com...
Um, no. Not that I noticed.
Jim Beaver