Remember that part of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" when Hippolyta asks Theseus why he wants to see the bad play instead of the good one? And Theseus replies: "Where I have come, great clerks have purposed to greet me with premeditated welcomes; where I have seen them shiver and look pale, make periods in the midst of sentences, throttle their practised accent in their fears and in conclusion dumbly have broke off, not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet, out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome; and in the modesty of fearful duty I read as much as from the rattling tongue of saucy and audacious eloquence. Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity in least speak most, to my capacity." Remember that? Well, I ran into the Man Who Says "Palimpsest" at Snackbar last night and he brought it up. We were discussing our shared admiration for ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, and moreover for director Douglas Sirk's pronouncement about the relationship between high art and trash. Shakespeare was expressing an astonishingly modern sentiment related to Sirk's, thought the Man Who Says "Palimpsest." (Though no one could accuse Sirk of simplicity, tongue-tied or otherwise, I think.) Anyhow, you ought to talk to the Man Who Says "Palimpsest" sometime. Because that's the kind of stuff he talks about in a bar. After a few drinks! (Pictured, a particular scene under discussion last night.)
