Word: madding
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...fact, Julian and Myra Breckinridge suggest Vidal's startling range as a literary mime. He can pull off convincing impersonations of both an ascetic, driven emperor and a movie-mad transsexual-and impress history buffs with his faithful reproduction of Aaron Burr. He exhibits this talent in private as well. The distinctive, stentorian voice can shift eerily into that of J.F.K. or Richard Nixon. When telling an anecdote, Vidal regularly falls into the tones and mannerisms of its subject. He can do a wry impression of Tennessee Williams, explaining what happened to Blanche DuBois...
...moments after speed-skating contests ended, and hockey games followed each other at a furious clip. Traffic jams congealed around the competition sites, and some fans retreated to their hotels to watch the Games on TV. At night, hotel bars became the scene of pick-up Olympics. "This is mad," said one American girl at the Holiday Inn. "I might as well have stayed at a singles bar in New York...
Fassi calmly reassures his skaters that they are good even when they are depressed. "To make a champion," he says in his slightly fractured English, "I have to be patient. With Dorothy, it is not always easy. She gets mad at herself." Curry also benefited from Fassi's encouragement: "Months before a major competition he starts telling everyone how good you are. Pretty soon you think so yourself...
...extraordinary vocal cords. In 1929 at the Opera House in Mulhouse, Alsace, she debuted in Lakmé, a role in which she later daringly appeared, navel exposed, in costume sans midriff. One of her most famous performances was at the Metropolitan Opera in 1931: she sang the difficult "Mad Scene" in Lucia di Lammermoor in the key of F, an entire tone higher than the original score. Married to Conductor André Kostelanetz from 1938 until their divorce in 1958, Pons moved to Dallas in 1961 and remained active in local opera...
...stop to the Hitler baby boom. Author Levin's job is harder. He must convince his readers that The Boys from Brazil is more than just a sick joke. He cannot. Levin's primitive literary skills aside, the turning of Josef Mengele into a mad scientist from the pages of a 1940s comic book requires more than a suspension of disbelief. It also requires a suspension of taste. Exploiting such a monster for entertainment and profit is enough to give evil a bad name...