The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0454  Wednesday, 17 May 2006

[1] 	From: 	Peter Kanelos <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
	Date: 	Thursday, 11 May 2006 11:29:42 -0700
	Subj: 	RE: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

[2] 	From: 	Arthur Lindley <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
	Date: 	Friday, 12 May 2006 02:51:38 +0800
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

[3] 	From: 	John-Paul Spiro <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
	Date: 	Friday, 12 May 2006 15:11:20 -0400
	Subj: 	RE: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

[4] 	From: 	Al Magary <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
	Date: 	Friday, 12 May 2006 14:27:24 -0700
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Peter Kanelos <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Thursday, 11 May 2006 11:29:42 -0700
Subject: 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare
Comment: 	RE: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

The Glass Menagerie comes to mind.  Jim O'Connor teasingly calls Tom 
Wingfield "Shakespeare" at work, aware of Tom's literary aspirations. 
While not exactly a term of derogation, the undertone is 
similar--"regular guys" are meant to show disdain for the pretension of 
writers.

Peter Kanelos
Assistant Professor of English
University of San Diego

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Arthur Lindley <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Friday, 12 May 2006 02:51:38 +0800
Subject: 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare
Comment: 	Re: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

Unintentional derogation: 'Shakespeare' is what the Gentleman Caller in 
The Glass Menagerie calls the protagonist because that's the only name 
of a writer that he's aware of.

Arthur

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		John-Paul Spiro <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Friday, 12 May 2006 15:11:20 -0400
Subject: 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare
Comment: 	RE: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

E Pearlman asks, "Are there other instances in which the epithet 
'Shakespeare' has been employed as a term of derogation?

I reply: "Shakespeare" can simply mean "writer."  I can think of two 
examples from the movies: In "Grease 2" (1982), the rowdy T-Birds, led 
by the curiously-too-old-for-high-school Adrian Zmed, repeatedly refer 
to the hero of the film, Michael Carrington, as "Shakespeare." 
Carrington is English, but more importantly, he writes essays for the 
T-Birds in exchange for money; they only call him "Shakespeare" in this 
capacity.  Another example is related to the remake of "Ocean's 11" 
(2001), though not in the film itself.  The film's producer, the 
legendary Jerry Weintraub (who also appears in the film in a bit part), 
apparently insisted on referring to the screenwriter, Ted Griffin, as 
"Shakespeare" throughout production, often asking, "Hey Shakespeare, 
where's my scene?"

"Shakespeare" can also be a term of derision, with the connotation, "Oh, 
so you think you're some kinda writer?!"  I think Pete Rose was using it 
in this sense.  In the 1980s, "Nice play, Shakespeare" became a popular 
saying, meaning, "Nice try" or "You really screwed up."  (See 
http://www.inthe80s.com/glossary.shtml.)  The phrase "Nice play" can 
also have baseball connotations, of course.  See "Hey Shakespeare, Kiss 
My Ass!" from the blog "Yankee Pot Roast" 
(http://www.yankeepotroast.org/daily/030624.html) which ends with "Nice 
play, Shakespeare."

John-Paul Spiro

[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Al Magary <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: 		Friday, 12 May 2006 14:27:24 -0700
Subject: 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare
Comment: 	Re: SHK 17.0433 Baseball/Shakespeare

Elihu Pearlman quoted baseball player/memoirist Jim Bouton and wondered, 
"Are there other instances in which the epithet 'Shakespeare' has been 
employed as a term of derogation?"

Internet Movie Database (http://imdb.com/Lookup) has dozens of movie 
quotes using "Shakespeare" in a derogatory manner, and most are as 
intellectual as, say, the Three Stooges.  Gems:

--Gangs of New York (2002):
     Walter 'Monk' McGinn: "Well that was bloody Shakespearian. Do you 
know who Shakespeare is? He wrote the King James bible."

--Blackadder II (1986):
     Blackadder: "Shut up, Balders. You'd laugh at a Shakespeare comedy."

--My Parents Are Aliens (1999):
     Brian Johnson [reading the book's spine]:  "Shakespeare, by Romeo 
and Juliet."

--Play for Today (1970) {Abigail's Party (#8.3)}:
     Laurence [putting the Shakespeare play back on the bookshelf]: 
"Our nation's culture. Not something you can actually read of course."

--Third Watch (1999):
     Yokas: "What, are you quoting Shakespeare now?"

--Just Shoot Me! (1997):
     Dennis: "Intellectual and stimulating? Hmmm... I could read 
Shakespeare while you spank me."

--10 Things I Hate About You (1999):
     Mr. Morgan [after reading Shakespearean sonnet]:  "Now. I know 
Shakespeare's a dead white guy, but he knows his shit, so we can 
overlook that. I want you all to write your own version of this sonnet."

--Get Over It (2001):
     Dr. Desmond Forest Oates: "Bill Shakespeare was a wonderful poet. 
But Burt Bacharach he ain't."

--Bullets Over Broadway (1994):
     Sheldon Flender: "Let's say there was a burning building and you 
could rush in and you could save only one thing: either the last known 
copy of Shakespeare's plays or some anonymous human being. What would 
you do?"

--
Anyone know what the answer to that last question was?

Cheers,
Al Magary

PS. A quote for an epilogue:
--Farscape (1999):
     John Crichton: "I hate it when villains quote Shakespeare."

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