Programs

Wednesday August 6, 2008 at 6PM
Jefferson Market Branch of The New York Public Library
425 Avenue of the Americas
NY, NY 10011
212-243-4334

Presents the Penguin Classic Book Centennial Celebration:
Jose Garcia Villa’s Doveglion

Known as the “Pope of Greenwich Village,” Jose Garcia Villa had a special status as the only Asian poet among a group of modern literary giants in 1940’s New York that included, E. E. Cummings, Mark Van Doren, W. H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, and a young Gore Vidal. But Beyond his exotic ethnicity, Villa was a global poet who was admired for “the reverence, the raptness, the depth of concentration in [his] bravely deep poems” (Marianne Moore). Doveglion (Villa’s pen name—for dove, eagle, and lion) contains Villa’s collected poetry, including rare and previously unpublished material.

JOHN EDWIN COWEN, Editor—(Professor of Literacy, Fairleigh Dickinson University) and LUIS H. FRANCIA, Introduction Essayist—(Professor at the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Institute at New York University)—both widely published poets, authors, critics, and former students of Villa’s—will read and each give a personal analysis of this major Filipino-American’s poetry, including Villa’s technical innovations, his deeply spiritual, divine and uplifting lyrical poems as well as his playful caprices, aphorisms and unpublished writings appearing in this volume.

On a beautiful spring night last week picture story teller Ben Katchor came to Mid-Manhattan to do a reading of his work. I had asked Ben Katchor to come do a program almost a year ago and through many correspondences and date changes Wednesday, May 7th finally arrived. To be honest, I discovered Ben Katchor a few months before I had invited him to speak at the library. In a conversation with a friend, his name was mentioned as someone I should come to know. Ben Katchor I learned is a comic strip creator unlike any before.

His comic strips reveal the absurdity of everyday life. He presents wonderfully drawn scenes, using characters who are quintessentially human. The characters, sometimes subtle and sometimes not, always pack an ironic punch. Katchor has the uncanny ability to show the funny side of the ordinary, the mundane and the pedestrian. His work focuses on the parts the rest of us don’t think about until we happen to read one of his comic strips. The obvious we take for granted is the palette Ben works from. This is where the beauty of Ben Katchor’s work lies. I admire and enjoy his intuitive understanding of what can be funny… for Ben Katchor it is anything.

Ben Katchor has been making comics strips for years and his work has been in many publications, currently his work can be found in Metropolis Magazine. He has published a number of books and written operas. He is constantly working. I was a bit nervous about meeting him because of his stature. He was the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award, a 500,000 dollar Genius Grant, an award aimed at gifted and largely unrecognized talents. Ben Katchor is a big name and I was enormously proud when he came to Mid-Manhattan to do a reading.

At 6:15 PM the room was filling nicely. I stood at my usual spot in the hallway, greeting the people as they arrived. Ben came into the hallway at one point and we chatted briefly. I discovered he was pleasantly warm and easy to talk to. He expressed pleasure and appreciation of the people arriving. At 6:35 PM my programming director, Debbie Hirsch, suggested we begin. I ushered Ben into the room. I told him I would introduce him and then he could begin. At 6:40 PM I stood at the podium and read my introduction. I then turned the stage over to Ben Kacthor and the lights went dark.

Ben Katchor’s work is wonderful on paper. However Ben’s reading of his panels, displayed huge on a screen is truly special. Frame after frame in beautiful colors appeared in front of us. The written narrative normally seen in his comic strips was hidden from view. Ben read the narratives aloud, in the most calm and understated manner, he then punctuated the narrative with the animated voices of the characters. The audience responded with appreciative laughter throughout the program. 70 people attended a most enjoyable and intimate event.

Picture Story: The Call of the Wall by Ben Katchor

Links to articles on Ben Katchor: Bomb Magazine, Identity Theory

About six years ago when I started working at the Mid-Manhattan Library in the General Reference Collection, a man came to the desk, wanting a book on New York Public Library history. He said the book was written by a woman. The first book that came to my mind was Phyllis Dain’s New York Public Library: A History of its Founding and Early Years. At that moment I did not know the call number but I knew its location on the shelf. I pulled the book from the shelf and gave it to him. I gestured for him to take a seat and with a smile he walked over to a table. I went back to my seat.

A half hour later, he came to the desk to return the book and thanked me. I asked if he found what he was looking and with that he told me he was giving a lecture at the National Arts Club that evening. He had come to Mid-Manhattan to do a last bit of fact- checking. The topic of his lecture, New York Public Library history in relation to Andrew Haswell Green. Our conversation was not long, but at the end of it I decided to ask him for his business card. “Gladly!” he replied and then pulled the card out of his wallet and handed it to me. We shook hands and said goodbye. I looked at his card carefully, looked at the name. Up to that point though we had engaged in a lively conversation, however we had not exchanged names. The card said in bold lettering “Rediscovering Andrew Haswell Green NYC’s Forgotten Visionary” and under this in small letters was the name Michael Miscione. Almost half the card was taken up with a photo of a man from the neck up, his bearded visage serene, confident. The man, no doubt, Andrew Haswell Green. Once off the desk, I put the card away in my desk and thought about what an interesting hour it had been.

Later I looked up Andrew Haswell Green. He was a very prominent figure among the movers and shakers in New York City in the late 19th century and he was integral to the establishment of Central Park and New York City as we know it today, by combining the boroughs in 1898. Green was instrumental in creating the famous grid of streets and avenues that help to define Manhattan. He also was a major participant in the establishment of The New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum. You name it--Haswell was involved in every iconic facet of what we know to be New York City for the latter part of the 19th century. Unfortunately, he was murdered by a crazed individual who mistook him for someone else and his name sank into obscurity. That is until Michael Miscione came along. Michael Miscione has been a one-man force in trying to revive the name Andrew Haswell Green and his importance in New York City History.

I kept Michael Miscione’s card in my desk along with other cards that I felt may somehow be important to me one day. That day came last year, many years after we had first met. When I was asked by my supervisor to begin doing programs in late 2006, I was at first a reluctant participant. Once I started doing programs, I discovered I really liked it and that is where my programming passion began. As I searched for interesting and dynamic programs, my thoughts went all over the place. Everything I read, saw or heard suddenly had an import beyond its initial interest. A potential program was in everything I experienced.

I decided to contact Michael Miscione to speak at the library. I knew he lectured based on our one encounter many years ago. And more important I knew he would be interesting. New York City- related programs are always a draw. We get hundreds of questions about New York City; patrons can’t get enough of the subject, me included.

After many attempts at contacting Michael Miscione, I finally reached him. I relayed the story of how we met many years ago and why I saved his card and ultimately why I was calling him that day. Initially he hesitated and then like a rubber band being shot, he remembered the encounter almost exactly as I did, except he could go onto to remember a really successful lecture he gave that evening at the National Arts Club. I thought to myself “Bingo! Cyn you just got yourself a really good program.” Michael was more than happy to come and speak at the library. I learned that he was the Borough of Manhattan Historian, that he was a filmmaker, and he was in fact as interesting as I found him to be many years before.

Michael Miscione has come twice to speak at the library. The first program he presented in the spring of 2007 was The Combining of the Boroughs of 1898 and the Establishment of New York City. He presented his second program this past February: The People vs. Wayne Boyd: The Murder Trail That Nearly Redrew The Map of New York City.

Both talks were the best that programming could offer. Slide lectures with wonderful historic photographs were supported by a dynamic speaker whose command of his subject takes the viewer on a most exciting intellectual ride. One hundred people attended each program. Michael Miscione will be speaking again on Monday, November 17, 2008. I encourage New York City history enthusiasts to mark their calendars now. You won’t be disappointed!

So - we have been eating well @ 96th St. the past few weeks. Working with Ebeth Johnson and Ludie Minaya of Green Gourmet , we have made some amazing food and attracted many kids who don't always participate in library programs.

Here at the 96th Street Branch, teens come in almost every day to do homework and to pass the afternoon before their folks get home from work. Now, I know this is probably the case in a lot of libraries. The thing is that some of these kids are really studious, often spending the whole 3 or so hours they are at the library doing their homework. The great thing about this program; Get Food Smart! With Green Gourmet! is that it appeals to those who are not only interested in learning about nutrition, healthy eating, and cooking skills but also those who are just plain HUNGRY.

If serendipity is a useful thing when browsing through the holdings of The New York Public Library, it's all the more true for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, whose extensive collection contain an enormous amount of ephemera (most of which does not appear in the catalog). Some years ago, in going through some of our extensive program files, a coworker found an intriguing flyer for the Town Hall (and possibly New York City) recital debut of Oliver J. Dragon, baritone.

The soloist was none other than Ollie, from the famed 1950s television show Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. The rear of the flyer offers many informative comments, and a warm picture with "a friend" -- Licia Albanese, soprano of the Metropolitan Opera.

.

(You may be thinking this is some kind of joke, but bear with me -- I do have a point to make below.)

The reviews were singular. Writing in the New York Herald-Tribune of November 27, 1953, Jay S. Harrison wrote:

"Oliver J. Dragon, a distinguished baritone member of the Kuklapolitan Players, gave a recital last night in Town Hall. It was his debut. It was also mine. Never before had the present writer reviewed a singing dragon, and, if the fates oblige, he never will again."

From the same date in the New York Times, chief music critic and author Harold C. Schonberg wrote:

"He is a rather remarkable performer. The way he moves around the stage you'd think he was made out of cloth, or something. He is completely uninhibited. He even departed from the printed list, choosing what suited his fancy. Very unorthodox, very.

It is difficult to appraise his voice, a cross between a whiskey baritone and a basso chevalier. Part of this difficulty stems from the program he selected. Was Bach present? No. Hugo Wolf? No. And how can one assess a singer's musicality without any excerpts from the "Quellennachweissamlungantiphonariumromanusbuchstaben?"

The Music Division has an extensive run of programs from Town Hall, where I was able to find one for November 26, 1953:

The note on page one of the program is particularly interesting:

"Since it is undetermined, at the time of this printing, whether or not Mr. Dragon is going to be in the proper artistic frame of mind to cope with the program as listed, his managers have persuaded him to render his selections in any order he pleases. Consequently, we have numbered each individual song and Mr. Dragon will announce from the stage, by number, the actual order of appearance. Intermission will, in a like manner, be determined by the artist."

Page four of the program offers a unique view of the range of compositions, including composers such as the French Dragoneau through the Italian Dragoni to the "native songs" of Chicago:

A look through the finding aid of the Town Hall Archives (held in the Music Division, call number: JPB 88-26) did not reveal any documentation of this special recital.

So you may be wondering why highlight a children's tv character from the 1950s in a blog devoted to rarities from the Music Division?

Out of necessity (for example, whether by limitations of space, or preservation) most libraries need to make a distinction between materials that can and should be acquired, and those which should not be. For many years, the Music Division has been known for its excellent collections of classical music, but less so in the popular or non-classical areas. Observing current interests and trends in research, it's obvious that we should try to avoid such distinctions, and leave it to our patrons to make that determination for themselves. The value that accrues to objects and information is based on how it is used by the public and the meaning and significance they attach to it.

This recital of a then-leading television program character is certainly humorous, but it can also be seen as a gentle parody of other recitalists who eschew a strict program in favor of a selection and order that is determined on the spot. (Is that not suggestive of later trends in contemporary music, where the unplanned nature of a recital was akin to the creation of music? Think of John Cage.) From the point of view of Town Hall, it shows the democratizing influence of their management (which still continues a tradition of diverse programming).

Much can be learned from an examination of flyers and ephemera. And it's a pleasing thing when the materials are so entertaining.

Had another lively book discussion at the Tottenville branch. I wasn’t sure how the group would receive this one. (Plot summary below.)  While all, including me, pretty much reviled all the characters in this book, the story, and what the characters did and how they acted, made for a good discussion. Even though the description below makes it sound like a standard detective-thriller, it is suffused with moral, philosophical, religious, and spiritual questions.
There was one participant who thought the book was anti-Catholic, but everyone else disagreed. It was about characters who, according to one participant, had a twisted view of their Catholic faith. (And Catholicism is a prominent theme in this book, as I believe it is in many of Greene’s books.) Most were somewhat sympathetic to Rose who is Pinkie’s (the main character) girlfriend, although there was a debate about how much she was being used as opposed to her quietly getting what she wanted and needed, even if it hurt other people.
Most had a much more positive view than I did of the character Ida Arnold, who acts as a sort of detective and protector of Rose, trying to save her from Pinkie. They saw her as earthy and fun-loving; I saw her as kind of a sad, lonely middle-aged woman who was very disappointed with her life. However, I agree that she is a seeker of justice, and yes, someone concerned with Rose.
There was a lot of British slang in the book that made it difficult at times, and the book is actually a sequel to “A Gun for Sale” and a lot of relevant action is not explained in “Brighton Rock” which made things a bit difficult for all of us. But we cleared it up at the discussion.
I have to say, that as I was reading the book, I felt it was just OK, maybe somewhat interesting. And if the book would have ended on page 266 instead of 269, I would have said it is just a so-so book. BUT THE LAST CHAPTER BLEW ME AWAY!!! It had one of the most devastating endings I think I have ever read in a book in my entire life! (Or at least in the last few years.) And the final line of the final chapter had the effect of the rug being pulled out from under you!
However,  the group didn’t quite get the last chapter, at least in the way that I did, and I had to ask a lot of follow-up questions to get them to see what was going on. I didn’t want to give them “the answer.” It was an interesting process trying to elicit from them something I saw that they didn’t see. I think I was successful at getting most of them to see the point Greene was making without giving them my interpretation outright.
I’ve only read one other Graham Greene book,  “The Heart of the Matter,” also for a book discussion. I have to read more of Greene’s books!!!
Highly recommended for a book discussion!!!  
ABOUT THE BOOK
Pinkie Brown is the newly appointed leader of the rival to the Colleoni race gang in Brighton. The gang’s previous leader, Battling Kite, for whom Pinkie was right-hand man, was murdered by the Colleoni gang, because of information supplied by Fred Hale, a reporter turned informer. In revenge Pinkie murders Hale. The murder is rash and Pinkie spends the remainder of the novel trying to cover up the small mistakes that tie him to the murder. Every cover-up effort Pinkie makes fails to solve the problem entirely, leading him to make further murders which result in further cover ups.
Ida Arnold, an easy-going demimondaine who Hale befriends on the last day of his life in an attempt to stave off his potential killers, turns detective when she discovers discrepancies in the events surrounding his death and doggedly pursues Pinkie in her search for justice.
Rose is a young waitress who stumbles upon a major flaw in Pinkie’s alibi. In order to ensure her silence Pinkie marries her and then coerces her into a suicide pact. When Ida realises that she will not gain her evidence against Pinkie she sets her heart to saving Rose instead.
(Plot Summary from www.randomhouse.co.uk)

Tottenville branch is having another book discussion starting in September.  Here’s what’s on tap:
Sept 24-The Rules of Engagement by Anita Brookner
Oct 22-The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Nov 19-Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni
Dec 17-The March by E.L. Doctorow
Jan 14-Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Feb 11-The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
March 10-The Full Matilda by David Haynes
April 7-The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
May 5-The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
June2-The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The group is relatively small.  Usually we get about 6 or 7 attending, but they are really into the books and the discussions.  I’ve been doing book discussions for over 15 years, and this is one of my favorite groups.