Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actress who won two Oscars in the 1930s, left Hollywood in disgust, and returned decades later for a role in The Gambler.
On the island
Eight records
Oscar Levant and the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
I had the good fortune of knowing [him] ... he played and he composed in my house and ... I would go to sleep with his music playing below
Farewell Prayer (from Boris Godunov)
Chalyapin sang happy birthday for me. And of course it was wonderful, this great, great, great man, this Basso, and I would love to hear a record by him.
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"
It's actually my very first experience. My mother was a very beautiful pianist and my first memory actually is ... I was lying ... a bundle under her grand piano and I was sobbing my heart out
Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra with the Robert Shaw Chorale
After I left Hollywood I lived in New York and ... I met Toscanini. ... Hitler screamed through that loudspeaker said We are marching into Poland. ... And that night I went to a beautiful church in Luserne. Where does Canini play it? Verde's requirement.
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter
This is my husband, Clifford Odess. Who sent me? The Seventh Symphony. And he said, listen to it, listen to it carefully. It's What do you mean to me?
Marian Anderson, accompanied by Franz Rupp
out of my mouth it came Marian Anderson. ... And she looked at me and she said, Louise Reiner. ... And we sat together. And she even sang one song for me.
Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001
Robert, my husband, went with the fiddle up to the matterhorn, and on the top of the matterhorn he played a bach sonata.
Francisco Araiza, José van Dam, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
It sees everything. Everything is in it. You can't say more than the word creation.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:12Were you a completely natural actress who just felt it and could do it?
Well, it's inside. I was born with it. ... It's something that wouldn't get lost because it's not put on. It has to come from inside out.
Presenter asks
2:25How did [the film The Gambler] differ as an experience from Hollywood in the thirties?
Work is work. We were working girls, that's all
Presenter asks
3:23Didn't you once have a huge row with [Louis B.] Mayer when you told him he hadn't hired a cat in a [circus]?
It was a very quiet row. ... I felt after three years I was very unhappy. ... and this enormous career because I made these two Academy Awards within three years. And it was very difficult and I wanted to get away from it all, to save myself. ... And I went there and Louis B. Maier said to me, I understand you're going to leave us. And I said, Yes, Mr. Mayor, my souls is dried out. So he looked at me, and said, What do you need a source for? Don't you have a director? ... And then he said You know we made you and we are going to kill you. And I stared at him, and I said, Mr Meir, God meet me. And I walked out.
The keepsakes
The book
Isaiah Berlin
Well, I first thought of the encyclopedia, as most people probably have, but I thought, why should I clutter my little mind with reader's digest statistics? No. I decided on Isaiah Berlin's. The proper study of mankind.
The luxury
Presenter asks
11:58Why was your father so horrified by [you leaving home at sixteen to go on the stage]?
He felt an actress was something to be seen from afar, but not within the family.
Presenter asks
12:29What did you live on [when you left home]?
They gave me a tiny salary, and I felt absolutely wonderful. I lived on that. And then also I went to nearby Grefeld, where my grandfather had a very Freudal, enormous house. And I would take the apples there. And then at the end of the garden was a mews then and the chauffeur would live there and he had some chickens. And so I would go to him and get some eggs and I would practically live on apples and eggs for a long time.
Presenter asks
20:56What was Einstein like?
Well, to me he talked about very simple things. You didn't talk about the theory of relativity. ... He didn't play so very wonderful, but he played violin
“I didn't feel that I was a beauty or anything like that. I didn't care about the money I made. It didn't matter to me. And all those standards, which were standards of Hollywood, were not my standards. And somehow I felt I didn't fit in.”
“My so called career had gone up, up, up, up and my private life had gone down, down, down. And I was too young to handle that. It was very difficult. And I had to flee, and I did.”
“I am alone, but I'm not lonely.”