Word: foppish
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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G.B.S. made British General John Burgoyne an Act Ill-only character, but the moviemakers have wisely fattened up the part to the measure of Sir Laurence Olivier. As fox-sly "Gentleman Johnny," Olivier struts, smirks, sneers and, from under a preposterously foppish plume, spouts the withering witticisms that kept the original play stylish even while it was out of balance. Sample: "Martyrdom, sir, is the only way in which a man can be come famous without ability." And when Douglas pleads for death by firing squad rather than by hanging, Burgoyne asks: "Have you any idea of the average marks...
...homosexual affairs of Proust that Author Painter chronicles were with Reynaldo Hahn. a talented pianist and composer, and Lucien Daudet. foppish son of the famed novelist Alphonse. From each, Proust tried to extract the unconditional love his mother had given him as a child; in each he was disillusioned. But it was the Dreyfus affair that deglamorized high society for Proust. Jewish on his mother's side, he courageously declared himself a Dreyfusard and helped to circulate the first petition for Dreyfus' release. Ironically, when Dreyfus was finally released, Proust found him as unappealing an ex-martyr...
...with the hate that she must feel almost against her will. She captures little of the depth of soul or wisdom from suffering--"We want to hear the things that will hurt us"--that the script would seem to grant her. Richard Galvin as the Bridegroom seems slightly foppish in the part and his stage presence is at times lacking. John Heffernan is perhaps the best actor on the stage in the extremely difficult part as the lover of the Bride. As his wife, Roz Faber likewise shows superb comprehension of her role. Gloria DePiero plays a comely Bride...
...conquests, Pamela Brown performs with a consummate knowingness, an ineffable arrogance; where Julie is all gurgle and prance, Pamela is all polish and sneer. The two actresses play rings around Laurence Harvey's over-mannered and frilly Horner. Indeed, the whole production is too much in a foppish would-be (but probably never-was) Restoration style. Dancing pumps may suit The Country Wife better than clogs, but neither is ideal. The play needs vitality as well as style, not least where time has lamed it. Even so, the evening all in all is enjoyable, but it creates no feeling...
...Britain's Prime Minister. The government left by the ailing Anthony Eden was in disarray, and almost everybody seemed to have reservations about the ability of the 63-year-old publisher with the too-elegant Edwardian manners. He was decried as "a gay amateur," "a political dilettante," "a foppish phrasemaker," or, if praised, praised with fingers crossed. The Tories, seeing their popularity drop in poll after poll, in by-election after by-election, were close to demoralization...