Word: sirs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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DIED. Elizabeth Smith Friedman, 88, cryptographer and co-author of the 1957 book The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined, in which she and her husband William used modern statistical methods of linguistic analysis to dispute the theory that Sir Francis Bacon was the secret author of Shakespeare's plays; of arteriosclerosis; in Plainfield, N.J. Learning code-breaking during World War I at the U.S. Government's Riverbank Laboratories in Geneva, Ill., Friedman served as an expert witness in such trials as the so-called Doll Woman Case of 1944, in which an antique doll dealer in New York City...
...Foreign. The word "foreign" was a bit patronizing; of the 118 contributors listed in that four-volume edition, 102 were British. This reflected the insular judgment of the founding editor, a nonmusician named George Grove, one of those versatile achievers of whom the Victorian Age was justly proud. Sir George, a civil engineer, built lighthouses in Jamaica and Bermuda and worked on the British railway system. He was a self-taught Bible and music scholar who in 1852 became secretary of the Crystal Palace, a concert and exhibition hall. He wrote program notes and served as a founder and director...
...some obscure "rocky place," Sir--the embodiment of England's insensitive aristocracy--and his servant Cocky--the embodiment of England's righteous lower class--imagine their own metaphysical stage and act out society's cruelties in The Game. As Sir arbitrarily changes the rules, forcing Cocky to grovel for a loaf of bread, Greasepaint seems like a Romper Room production of some absurdist play. For the entire first act, The Game follows its repetitive course with Sir betraying poor, dim-witted Cocky's confidence again and again...
Kitty Kean, with powerful voice and striking presence, brings enormous energy to Sir. Her flamboyant gestures and comic intuition give freshness to a classic cardboard character. For most of Greasepaint, the pretentious Sir preaches honesty and fairplay to Cocky as he cheats him blind, tells Cocky he envies him but says behind his back "I wouldn't wish Cocky's existence on my worst enemy." After a couple of nasty quips and cruel tricks, Sir's character is set, leaving no surprises for the audience. But Kean never grows tired or tiresome, always finding a new inflection or expression just...
...Hobo makes Cocky realize that he's missing out on life's beauty and that to win freedom he must beat Sir at his own game. Suddenly, he becomes as fierce and determined as Sir and, once he wins over his master's protege (Alison Carey in a wonderfully impish performance) and proclaims his independence, Sir is left flab-bergasted with nothing but his empty rhetoric on manners and tradition. Though proud, the revitalized Cocky is not heartless. He dreams of "a new beginning, a new game of new hope, fellowship and understanding." O, Noble Proletariat...