Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Neil, if you're still looking for a home for Lucy-the-boy-cat, I've
got a very nice veterinarian-in-training friend up in Duluth who'd be
willing and happy to add another feline presense to her household.
  

    <scribbled by sunnyrose>
  

    
Reg -- I think that humour based on human nature works, and humour
based on topical things doesn't. BUT... topical doesn't just mean
trying to work out why last year's Jay Leno monologue was funny. It
also has something odd to do with being in tune with the spirit of the
times.  Thus Charlie Chaplin doesn't translate well across the years,
nor do the Goons, perhaps because they were so perfectly of their time.
While Harry Langdon and Harry Lloyd and Buster Keaton work now as well
or better than they did back then, and the Jules and Sand dialogues of
Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddock work I suspect better now then they
ever did in the 60s, because they are gay actors (well, Kenny was)
doing extreme Marty Feldman written 60s camp with double entendres that
they only got away with because nobody who could have been censoring
knew what they were talking about. 

I remember laughing so hard I couldn't breathe at a production of
Sheridan's THE CRITICS, and the first time I saw, having no idea what
to expect, Mel Brooks's THE PRODUCERS.

Gilbert was hilarious, pretty consistently, and the jokes about Mr
Tupper may not be funny but we can tell from context who Martin Tupper
was and why he would be funny.

One of my dream projects would be directing a Ruddigore. With an
unlimited budget...

...

Sarah. You rock...  Do you have my assistant the fabulous Lorraine's
e-mail address?
  

    

I totally don't understand the notion of Chaplin or the Goons not
translating across time.  They are both hilarious to me, and to others
I've experienced then with.  I do understand people not getting them --
plenty of people didn't find them funny in their own time -- but I don't
see anything about Keaton that's more timeless than Chaplin.  
  

    
I do, shall I email her?  Or pass it on to my friend?  
  

    

Hans writes in e-mail:

Neil- I was wondering if you have ever been to the Ashland, OR
Shakespeare Festival? I'm heading up there on Sunday. Going to see
Hamlet and Henry V. You've referenced Shakespeare so many times, it
seems like the sort of thing that you would enjoy.
  

    
From Mary, in e-mail:

O.K., so I sat down at my computer at work this morning & checked The
Dreaming website (as usual) and followed the link here.  And laughed out
loud at the Shakespeare clown parody.  People are still looking at me
strangely.  I promptly e-mailed that little excerpt to all of my
theatrical friends, who are still giggling under their breaths.  Thank
you very much for a badly needed chuckle. 
 
It brought to mind one of my favorite acting texts-"The Art of Coarse
Acting" by Peter Green (God, I hope I'm remembering his name correctly). 
It's a very funny book about bad amateur play productions in church halls
across England (though Coarse Acting is hardly confined to one country)
and in it Mr. Green gives an example of the genre of Coarse Play-"'Tis
Pity She's the Merry Wife of Henry VIII Part IV" in which one of the
clowns has a similar speech.  The last line of it is "Aye, merry, fart,
and amen."  Which I have always thought summed up the whole issue rather
well.  
 
Which leads me, sort of, to a question I have long longed to ask you, Mr.
Gaiman.  What is this play about that you have been lazily working on? 
I'm an actor (well, I used to be) and I think it would be wonderful to
have your gifts used in the theatre, in particular your marvelous ability
to write female characters of depth and substance. 
 
Sorry this is so long, but thanks for reading all of it.
 
P.S. Can't wait for the reading in Chicago!
  

    
Scott Conner, asks, in e-mail:

Hello again.

Neil , in post #648 you stated "The bit that I was writing was the scene in
chapter 17, where Easter
and the madman go to the ash tree south of Blacksburg."

It it's not too much of a spoler to ask, would that be Blacksburg, VIrginia?
I just happen to live there.  Which is about an hour north of Charles Vess,
whom I will be seeing tomorrow.  Anything you'd like me to pass along to
him?
  

    
(Tell Charles hey from me.)
  

    
Scraps -- I think the Goons are very funny. But they, like in the US,
OUR SHOW OF SHOWS, were once the kind of show that kept an entire
country rapt, splitting sides, mouthing and repeating catchphrases, and
so forth. Bilko wasn't, but I'd rather watch a Bilko repeat than an
Our Show Of Shows repeat any time. Chaplin was once THE american comedy
star... the only time I ever saw Chaplin in a film theatre, where
people were very grave, and they nodded gravely at the good bits.
Nobody laughed when he gassed fatty Arbuckle with the gaslamp though.
And I've watched and joined an audience at the National Film Theatre
killing themselves laughing at Harold Lloyd, and at Laurel and Hardy
silents. I like Buster Keaton, but have never seen any of his films in
company, so can't make a call on that.

I suppose I'm thinking -- suggesting perhaps -- that there's a point
at which something catches the mood of a time or a place so well, that
it's hard to see from outside in the same way. WHereas some stuff that
doesn't catch its time as well holds up better, or differently, in the
long run.

Sarah -- drop her an e-mail, and we'll set this in motion. And I'm
very grateful.

Hans, no, never been there. Is it good?  

mary -- Yes, the Art of Coarse Acting. Best book on acting in
existence. I found a copy several years ago (I remembered it from my
childhood) and gave it to the afformentioned Jim Miller (drama
professor at the local university) and spent an enjoyable long car trip
reading him several scenes out loud...

Scott -- that would be the Blacksburg. Say hi to Charles for me -- we
need to chat...
  

    

Huh.  Well, see, I think Your Show of Shows is the funniest thing to come
out of American television before All in the Family and M*A*S*H, and while
Phil Silvers makes me laugh, Bilko basically seems formulaic and
predictable to me while Your Show of Shows was anarchic and wonderful.

So I =still= don't understand.  So it goes!
  

    
Scraps, y'know, I toyed with putting All In The Family, or M*A*S*H
instead of Your Show of Shows as examples of the same thing. But my
point is not that the shows in question aren't funny now. As I said, I
still love the Goons.... It's more a question of time. 

From UK TV, I think The Young Ones and Absolutely Fabulous are
probably examples of what I'm talking about-- total and absolute
saturation of the cultural psyche at the time... but AbFab already
feels strangely dated, while The Young Ones is a lot more difficult to
watch now than it was in 1983.

I'm not sure what I'm actually burbling about here: I may have to
write a story to try and figure it out. Although I suspect that Borges
story about the man who wrote Don Quixote may have said it already
better than I can.
  

    
Hans replies, via e-mail...

Actually, this is going to be my first visit to the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival. However, I've been to Ashland quite a few times. It's very,
very beautiful there. It's got... atmosphere. Very northwestern. Lots of
pine trees, mysterious forests and strange people. And theaters all over
the place, including a couple of gorgeous period reconstructions. The
Festival is world-famous; the actors are supposed to be brilliant. For
anyone who's interested, I'll post reviews of the plays to my weblog on
the 5th (when I get back). Check then, if you want. The address is
http://www.softanswer.com/hans/index.html
  

    
Mary Alice Correa Tunas e-mails:

 Neil. I liked your work since the first time I read Sandman.When I have
finished to read it, I had a lot of questions in my head.As I can't ask
you all of them I will ask the one which I think is the most interesting.
  Why was Destruction the first endless to discover that things changes?
  

    
Hans -- definitely report back. Especially with regard to the quality
of acting and directing.

The last Shakespeare I saw at a lovely open air theatre in this part
of the world was a Macbeth of astonishing clumsiness. The actors were
okay but the director (who was, I am embarassed to say, English)didn't
have a clue. My favourite moment was when something rather unimpressive
happened, and someone in the audience started laughing, loudly. And
the rest of the audience, finally relieved that someone else was
laughing, began to laugh.... and then we turned around as the maniac
laughter continued and discovered it was one of the witches, sent out
to laugh in the audience as a commentary on the action. They never
really got the play back after that.

Mary Alice....  because of what he is, and because of who he is and
because of what that entails.
  

    <hidden>
  

    

I hid a long response to Mary Alice above, in which I ramble a fair amount
about the Sandman mythos.
  

    
And you chose to do that in the Post of the Beast?
  

    

Evidently so, as I noted when I had to hide it. Had I noticed while in
there, I would have found a way to include Lucifer in it somehow.
  

    
Another from Maria Alice Correa Tunas:

Hello again!
 
I have another question for you.I think when someone writes a book his
vision of life has a lot of influence on it.In all of your books i noticed
that thre is a kind of world which only a few persons can note or enter.I
coul see this in Books of Magick when Tim and John Constantine took a ride
with a stranger who told them he have looked for magick for many years and
couldn't find it. In Sandman there are persons with strange powers and
other worlds too. Even in Good Omens I could see this line of thought.

Have you ever met something or someone that gave you this kind of vision?
 
Forgive my Engish.I am a Brazilian fan.
  

    
And this from Maria is directed primarily to <madman>:

Thanks for the hide message.I am not fond of conversations on the web, but
when I arrived home , opened The dreaming page and I faund this forum  I
decided to send a question.I think Neil's books are wonderful because they
give us a lot of stuff to discuss.Of course each person has a diferent
opinion about them but this is also great because I think this makes
things more interesting.

Unfortunately I am from Brazil and Neil is not much popular here.The
first time I have heard about him was in 1993 and till now he is an
unknown author. It is a pity.
  

    
Maria -- I can't be *that* unknown in Brazil. I'm always getting asked
to come out there (most recently, last week). Unfortunately, they
normally ask me to come out to events that are happening sometime in
the next few weeks, and I always try and explain that a year or so in
advance is the best way to get me.

I think you'll have to elaborate on your question a little for me,
though. But if you're talking about worldview, I think my worldview is
pretty much the same one I had when I was three...
  

    
From Shira:

Neil- I told my parents your comment about the kitty, involving them not
letting me reading any of your books ever again.

When I told my mom, she got a bit flustered and said "Tell him we don't
censor your reading!" a bunch of times.  This is actually true, although
when she flipped through my JTHM comics, she was somewhat alarmed and
asked me if I ever felt like killing anyone.  I replied, "Of course,
doesn't everyone?" Muahahaha.  Anyway, I'm sure my parents wouldn't be
incredibly impressed with some of the things I read, but it is very cool
that they don't censor me.

When I told my dad, he agreed wholeheartedly with you.  Go figure.

-shira
  

    
Shira, please reassure your mother that I assume that any parents who
allow their v.bright daughter to read my stuff and turn up at signings
when she was 12, lo those many years ago, not only do not censor their
daughter's reading material, but certainly have the right attitude. And
make sure she knows that it was a joke, albeit a tongue in cheek one.

And please say to your father, yup.

It was good to see you and Sarah at the RenFest. Sorry I was in
"Got... to... Finish... novel" mode (imagine it being said by William
Shatner). 
  

    
From Brazil, Maria Alice Correa Tunas continues in e-mail:

  Neil.Sorry.It's hard to me to express myself in English.You are known
here, but you are popular among persons who plays RPG and like comics.It
seems to me that in U.S.A. and in England you are more popular, aren't
you?I live in Rio de Janeiro.It is hard to find your books here, and It
isn't a small city.I had to buy almost all of them in the web.

 Don't care about Brazilians because We are always doing the things
whithout time to prepare them.

 I will try to explain my question more clearly.In your books some of the
characters are different from "normal"people.Some are hundreds of years,
others are whiches and so on...But at the same time they walk among
"normal "persons whithout calling atention.And the characters who are
"normal"people are kind of introduced to other realities by them.For
exemple Rose Walker who faund out that Sandman existed.Another example is
Mad Hattie( I forgot how to write the name) was a person who baged things
in the streets( I forgot the name for this kind of people.Here we call
them mendigo.), but actually she was not what she seemed to be.

 I don't know, maybe It is an Oriental filosofy.They care about what a
man is and not with what a man have.What I tryed to ask was if you one
day have met someone who made you belive in other worlds and people who
don't seem to be what they are.

  By the way, for what event were you invited for?I used to play RPG, but
I stopped some years ago.The last RPg event I went was in 1994.Mark from
White Wolf was there.