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Waiting For Lefty

When I was in high school, Mike Nichols directed a celebrated version of Samuel Beckett’s play, “Waiting for Godot.” It featured Steve Martin, Robin Williams, F. Murray Abraham and Bill Irwin. It ran for a short time at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater and tickets were not sold to the public. A lottery was held for Lincoln Center subscribers and my former French teacher scored a pair. I applied the full-court press and she took me on the condition that read the original version of the play (Beckett was Irish but wrote Godot in French first).

I didn’t read it, and it wasn’t until a few years later, when I took a class on Beckett at Hunter college, that the play’s meaning made sense to me. Literally translated from French, the title is “While Waiting for Godot,” and to me that is what the play is all about–what we do while we wait.

This week, we haven’t talked much about food, movies, music or life in the city. We’ll be back at it come Monday. In the meantime, while we wait on Clifton Lee, here are a few links for your face:

Marky Mark’s new boxing movie could be worth the price of admission.

This Led Zep book sounds like fun, too.

Peep Savuer’s banquet of cook books.

Dig this blog about George Steinbrenner as a young man.

And how about this dude who just sold his first book, a baseball novel, for $650,000? Man, I’m sure looking forward to reading it.

(Yeah, and that’s Elia Kazan in Odet’s original version of “Waiting for Lefty” in the photograph above.)

9 comments

1 Jon DeRosa   ~  Dec 10, 2010 2:53 pm

Al, I probably missed it, but have you talked about Decoded yet? I read the review in the New Yorker the other week and thought it would make for some banter...

2 Alex Belth   ~  Dec 10, 2010 3:06 pm

I made fun of the Times' book reviewer who gushed over it but I haven't seen it yet. Got to check it out.

3 omarcoming   ~  Dec 10, 2010 4:21 pm

I'm sure it's better than any book ever written by George Will.

4 RagingTartabull   ~  Dec 10, 2010 5:56 pm

Jay-Z was on Charlie Rose the other night...no comment.

5 thelarmis   ~  Dec 10, 2010 7:01 pm

actually, his name isn't Clifford. it's...

Clifton Phifer Lee

how 'bout that!

oh, and the halos scored Scott Downs. 3 yrs/$15 mil.

6 Raf   ~  Dec 10, 2010 7:01 pm

Waiting for Lefty? Is Steve Carlton coming out of retirement for one last payday? With the money being thrown around, I guess I couldn't blame him :D

7 thelarmis   ~  Dec 10, 2010 7:02 pm

and i'm still waiting for the other lefty. you know, the Golden God...

c'mon back Andrew Eugene!!!

8 Chyll Will   ~  Dec 10, 2010 8:17 pm

[5] The man has two cities waiting for him in NJ: Clifton and Ft. Lee! What more does he need? (besides for them to be in NY instead...)

If he comes here, I wanna call him Phife Dog...

9 Chyll Will   ~  Dec 10, 2010 8:21 pm

[6] I'm all for signing the ghost of Leon Trotsky as the second lefty out the pen...

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver