July 28, 2009 : Barbara Wallace Grossman's book A Spectacle of Suffering

NEXT, THE SORTED STORY OF A
ONCE-FAMED ACTRESS.
>> Jared: CALLED THE EMPRESS OF
EMOTIONAL ACTING, CLARA MORRIS
WAS THE MERYL STREEP OF HER DAY
WHEN SHE WASN'T BEING THE
TROUBLED JULIE GARLAND OF THE
DAY.
ITS AUTHOR, TUFT'S UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR AUTHOR BARBARA WALLACE
GROSSMAN IS HERE.
WELCOME.
>> THANK YOU.
>> Jared: HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?
YOU THINK THE TROUBLES WE SEE
WITH ACTRESSES, DRUGS AND
TROUBLED LIVES AND THE DRAMA
WE'RE SEEING ON THE THEATER IN
THEIR TROUBLED LIVES IS A RESULT
OF THE FRENZIED LIFE WE SEE NOW.
SHE EXPERIENCED ALL OF THESE
THINGS IN THE LATE 1800'S AS WE
SEE IN YOUR BOOK?
>> YES, SHE DID.
WHAT DREW ME TO IT IN THE FIRST
PLACE IS I WAS LOOKING FOR A
WOMAN IN THEATER THAT KEPT A
DIARY.
SHE WROTE A 54-VOLUME DIARY
INCLUDING THREE BOOKS AND THREE
VOLUMES OF MEMOIRS AFTER HER
ACTING CAREER ENDED.
WHAT BOTHERED ME AS A TEAFER,
SCHOLAR AND WOMAN QUITE FRANKLY
IS COMMENTS ABOUT HER IN THE
50'S AND 60'S WERE DISMISSIVE.
THEY SAY WHEN HER YOUTH AND
BEAUTY FADED AND SHE LEFT HER
MALE MANAGERS HER CAREER ENDED
AND SHE WAS A FAILURE, A HAS
BEEN.
I KNEW THERE WAS MORE TO THIS
STORY THAN THAT.
IT TURNED OUT THAT MEDICAL CASH
THAT MEDICAL PROBLEMS AND DRUG
ADDICTION PLAYED A BIG PART IN
THE END OF HER ACTING CAREER
LIKE SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE 19TH
CENTURY.
SHE BECAME ADDICTED TO MORPHINE
BECAUSE MORPHINE REALLY FROM THE
CIVIL WAR ON WAS THE MOST
RECOMMENDED REMEDY FOR PAIN
AVAILABLE.
IF YOU HAD HEADACHE OR BACK PAIN
OR ANYTHING, IT WAS MORPHY
INJECTED HYPE DETERMINEICALLY.
SHE LIKE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
OF OTHER PEOPLE IN THAT ERA
BECAME ADDICTED BY HER
PHYSICIANS BECAUSE SHE DID HAVE
SOME FORM OF RUMTISM THAT CAUSED
HER TO BECOME AN INVALID.
SHE WAS BLIND FOR FOUR YEARS.
SHE REGAINED HER SIGHT OF IT WAS
THE LEGITIMATE MEDICAL PROBLEM
THAT LED TO HER ADDICTION.
THEN SHE GOT CAUGHT IN AN
ESCALATING VIRAL -- SPIFERL
SUBSTANCE ABUSE.
SHE NEVER TALKS ABOUT THAT
DIRECTLY IN HER DIARY.
>> HOW HONEST IS SHE IN HER
DIARIES?
PUBLICLY AS MOST PEOPLE TRY TO
DO CRAFTED ONE IMAGE WHICH IS
NOT REALLY NECESSARILY WHAT WAS
HAPPENING BENEATH?
>> IT'S INTERESTING, IN THAT ERA
DRUG ADDICTION WAS SEEN AS A
MORAL FAILURE.
1ST OF ALL, SHE DIDN'T USE THE
WORD ADDICTION.
HER DOCTORS DIDN'T USE THE WORD
ADDICTION.
ADDICTION WASN'T EVEN RECOGNIZED
AS A PHENOMENON UNTIL THE
1880'S.
IT REALLY WASN'T UNTIL THE TURN
OF THE CENTURY, REALLY UNTIL
1914 WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE
HARRISON NARCOTIC ACT WHERE ALL
OF A SUDDEN THESE SUBSTANCES
WERE NO LONGER STRABLE THROUGH
THE MAIL OR CORNER DRUG STORE
THAT THEY WERE -- LONGER
AVAILABLE THROUGH THE MAIL OR
CORNER DRUG STORE THAT THEY WERE
LABELED AS "DANGEROUS DRUGS."
SHE NEVER USED THE WORD
"ADDICTION."
IF ANYTHING IN THE DIARY, SHE'LL
TALK ABOUT HER WEAKNESS AND
FAILING.
THAT WAS ALSO SOMETHING THAT
REALLY SPOKE TO ME BECAUSE THE
FEAR OF FAILURE RUNS THROUGH ALL
OF HER WRITING.
SHE NEVER TALKS ABOUT HER OWN
FAILURE AND SHE DID FAIL
DISMALLY.
TO HER CREDIT, SHE PICKED
HERSELF UP AND WENT ON WHEN I
WENT TO SEE HER GRAVE IN
CEMETERY WHERE SHE'S BURIED IN
WESTCHESTER, BEAUTIFUL CEMETERY.
SHE'S IN AN UNMARKED GRAVE
BURIED WITH HER MOTHER, NOT HER
HUSBAND.
WHAT REALLY GOT TO ME IS THERE'S
AN OBELISK WHICH IN THE RIGHT
LIGHT WOULD CAST A SHADOW ON HER
UNMARKED GRAVE.
THE FAMILY NAME ON THE MARKER IS
FAILING.
BEYOND THAT IS ANOTHER OBLISK.
THE NAME ON THAT ONE IS STORY.
THERE I WAS ON A COLD NOVEMBER
DAY FEELING AS THOUGH I WAS
GETTING A MESSAGE FROM BEYOND
THE GRAVE.
TELL MY STORY OF FAILURE AND
DISAPPOINTMENT.
IT WAS WHEN I STARTED TO TELL
THE STORY OF RESILIENCE AND
TENACITY -- SHE DID SHE
JUST -- WHEN HER ACTING CAREER
FAILED, SHE REINVENTED HERSELF
AS A WRITER.
AND SHE BECAME A WONDERFUL
FIGURE.
>> Jared: SHE SURVIVED AGISM AND
SO MUCH BEING FOCUSED ON
AESTHETICS RATHER THAN ABILITY.
>> WHAT'S INTERESTING, I THINK
SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL.
SHE NEVER THOUGHT OF
HERSELF -- .
>> Jared: I THOUGHT THAT TOO,
YEAH.
SO MANY PEOPLE POINT OUT SHE'S
NOT ATTRACTIVE.
IF YOU SEE THE PICTURES, SHE'S
STUNNING.
>> SHE IS.
SHE NEVER THOUGHT.
NEITHER DID THE CRITICS.
SHE DIDN'T HAVE THE STARCH
WEVCK -- STATUESQUE BEAUTY
THEY ASSOCIATE WITH PREMIERE
ACTRESSES.
SHE HAD THIS GALVANIC EMOTIONAL
POWER.
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT HER
PYROTECHNICS ON STAGE AND
EMOCKNAL -- EMOTIONAL ACTING
ABILITY.
A JOURNALIST IN 1910 SAID "WHERE
HER POWER LAY, I DO NOT KNOW.
SHE WAS PLAIN AND SMALL YET SHE
RAFFISHED HER AUDIENCES.
" THAT WAS THE THING.
IT WAS HER AFFECT ON AUDIENCES.
CRITICS WOULD WRITE ABOUT HOW
GROWN MEN DRESSED IN THEIR
FRAUGHT ANDOTS COLLARS
WOULD -- FRAUGHT COATS AND
COLLARS WOULD SOB.
I CALLED THE BOOK "SKEPTICAL OF
SUFFERING" WAS REALLY HER
ABILITY TO MOAT ON STAGE AND
FLEW KATHAT'LL THAT ARETIC
EFFECT ON THE -- CATHARTIC
EFFECT ON THE AUDIENCE.
IT WAS THE MOOD OF THE SOCIETY
AFTER THE WAR.
THERE WAS A GREAT BOOK "THE
REPUBLIC IS SUVERG" WHERE SHE
TALKED ABOUT THE MOOD OF THE
SOCIETY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR AND
THE MOOD OF THE NEXT DECADE.
>> IT WORKED INTERNALLY, TOO.
AS YOU TALK ABOUT SELECTED ROLES
BECAUSE SHE HAD SUCH AN
EMOTIONAL CONNECTION AND THERE
WAS SUCH A RESONANCE WITHIN HER,
IT CARRIED ITSELF, THESE
BREAKDOWNS CARRIED THEMSELVES
OFF STAGE AS WELL.
>> YES, BUT WHAT IS FASCINATED
IS SHE WORKED VERY HARD TO
DISTANCE HERSELF FROM HER STAGE
CREATIONS.
SHE WANTED TO BE SEEN AS THE
EPITOME OF STAUNCH, REPUBLICAN,
PATRIOTTIC, AMERICAN WOMENHOOD,
NOT AS A TORMENTED SOLE WHICH
SHE REALLY WAS.
SHE ALSO FOUND -- SOUL WHICH SHE
WAS.
SHE ALSO FOUND STRENGTH -- EVEN
AS AN INVALID IN THE LAST 15
YEARS OF HER LIFE WAS ABLE TO
PERSEVERE AND ACHIEVE.
IT'S AN INSPIRING STORY.
>> Jared: THANK YOU SO MUCH.
SPECTACLE OF SUFFERING.
GREAT READ.
IT'S GREAT THEATER HISTORY, TOO,
FOR THE HISTORY BUFFS OUT THERE.
THANK YOU FOR COMING, BARBARA
WALLACE GROSSMAN.
>> THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME.
>> Jared: TOMORROW NIGHT,
COUNTDOWN TO THE SALES TAX IS
ON.
RETAILERS ARE CASHING IN.
NEW REPERTOIRE THEATER'S CASTING
DIRECTOR KATE WARNER JOINS US.
THAT AND MORE TOMORROW AT
SEVEN:00 I'M JARED BOWEN, GOOD
NIGHT -- AT 7:00.
I'M JARED BOWEN, GOOD NIGHT.+++ATH0