Philosopher Jay
7th May 2011, 02:30
Arthur Laurents died yesterday May 5th (Karl Marx's birthday) at the age of 92.
He is best known for writing two of the greatest broadway musicals "Gypsy" and "West Side Story" and one of the greatest love story films "The Way We Were."
Raised by Jewish atheist parents, Laurents was a socialist who was briefly blacklisted in the 1950's. (He would have been blacklisted longer, but he really hadn't done much in his life before that point, except write a progressive play called "Home of the Brave" which got a positive review in the Communist Party paper, "The Daily World".
"Gypsy" is a musical based on the early life of a famous 1930's/1940's burlesque queen/stripper named "Gypsy Rose Lee." Lee, incidentally, was also a socialist who gave a lot of the money she made taking off her clothes to the Communist Party in the 1930's. She wrote a novel and a play to prove that sex workers could be intelligent too.
The musical "West Side Story" updated Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and showed the racial tensions between Puerto Ricans and Italian youth gangs in New York City in the late 1950's.
Both the original movies of these musicals starred Natalie Wood who was radiant in both. They were both big hits.
He did the script for the clever murder mystery "Rope." The film seems to be done in a single take, but if you look carefully, you'll find ten cuts in the film. The story is about two upper class, wealthy egomaniacs who kill another student just to prove that they are the elite and can do what ordinary people cannot. According to Laurents, not only were the students supposed to be gay, but the detective (James Stewart) was also supposed to be gay.
Laurents himself was gay, living with a man for 52 years. He had affairs with a number of well known actors, including Farley Granger who starred in "Rope." He claims that he almost had an affair with Cary Grant, but he wasn't home when Grant came to rendezvous with him.
His most openly political work was the movie "The Way We Were," in which he described a 1930's-1950's love affair between a woman member of the Young Communist League (Barbara Streisand)and a liberal writer (Robert Redford). The climax of the movie comes when she decides to divorce him to protect him from the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Unfortunately, the director, Sidney Pollack, got cold feet and re-edited the film, so it now seems that she divorced him for marital infidelity. However, Streisand gives such a sympathetic portrayal of Katie, the young communist, that one can't help being deeply moved by her sincere personality and political activism.
Goodbye Comrade Laurents. Your work against racism, sexism, intolerance and war, and for socialism brought joy to millions and will continue to inspire millions in the future.
He is best known for writing two of the greatest broadway musicals "Gypsy" and "West Side Story" and one of the greatest love story films "The Way We Were."
Raised by Jewish atheist parents, Laurents was a socialist who was briefly blacklisted in the 1950's. (He would have been blacklisted longer, but he really hadn't done much in his life before that point, except write a progressive play called "Home of the Brave" which got a positive review in the Communist Party paper, "The Daily World".
"Gypsy" is a musical based on the early life of a famous 1930's/1940's burlesque queen/stripper named "Gypsy Rose Lee." Lee, incidentally, was also a socialist who gave a lot of the money she made taking off her clothes to the Communist Party in the 1930's. She wrote a novel and a play to prove that sex workers could be intelligent too.
The musical "West Side Story" updated Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and showed the racial tensions between Puerto Ricans and Italian youth gangs in New York City in the late 1950's.
Both the original movies of these musicals starred Natalie Wood who was radiant in both. They were both big hits.
He did the script for the clever murder mystery "Rope." The film seems to be done in a single take, but if you look carefully, you'll find ten cuts in the film. The story is about two upper class, wealthy egomaniacs who kill another student just to prove that they are the elite and can do what ordinary people cannot. According to Laurents, not only were the students supposed to be gay, but the detective (James Stewart) was also supposed to be gay.
Laurents himself was gay, living with a man for 52 years. He had affairs with a number of well known actors, including Farley Granger who starred in "Rope." He claims that he almost had an affair with Cary Grant, but he wasn't home when Grant came to rendezvous with him.
His most openly political work was the movie "The Way We Were," in which he described a 1930's-1950's love affair between a woman member of the Young Communist League (Barbara Streisand)and a liberal writer (Robert Redford). The climax of the movie comes when she decides to divorce him to protect him from the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Unfortunately, the director, Sidney Pollack, got cold feet and re-edited the film, so it now seems that she divorced him for marital infidelity. However, Streisand gives such a sympathetic portrayal of Katie, the young communist, that one can't help being deeply moved by her sincere personality and political activism.
Goodbye Comrade Laurents. Your work against racism, sexism, intolerance and war, and for socialism brought joy to millions and will continue to inspire millions in the future.