Book Club

[Oznell]

2:30 p.m. Eastern--   Poet Robert Frost is filmed by experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke ("The Cool World") discussing his work.  How priceless to have his candid comments captured on film!

[smoky22]

Thanks @Oznell.  This seems like sort of a departure from the usual TCM fare.  I'll be interested to see it. 

[IMW]

Thanks for heads up. As always you are a wealth of valuable information.

[Oznell]

I only caught part of it, but was very interested.

When he gave a reading, the rapt attention that his audience gave him was noteworthy.  People responded to every little thing, and when he made even a tiny joke, they laughed uproariously, like it was the greatest bon mot they had ever heard! 

It was somehow very cute to see how much his audience/readership adored his work.

Gosh it would be lovely if present day audiences could be that worked up about a truly gifted poet like R. Frost now-- (and not a schlockmeister-- but someone whose work has stood the test of time.)

Other impressions-- A little boy in an elementary school was asked what he thought of Frost's poetry, and responded, earnestly, with big eyes--  "I like it very well!"  ( I immediately fell in love...)

He told a story about Edgar Allan Poe's attitude about poetry.  He said, something to the effect that writing poetry was a sacred act-- never undertake it lightly.  He said "Never write a poem to pay a bill".    And Robert Frost added that if you did, you probably wouldn't pay the bill!   

It was charming.

[lovescats]

I missed parts of it and hope I get to watch it again.

It was interesting to see him in his home (I'm not sure where it was or if it was his winter home) and how simply he lived.   

Today if someone like him spoke there would be a mass of selfies.    

[Oznell]

True on both counts, @lovescats!

[Honeybit]

When I was in high school, a group of us drove to Agnes Scott College to a Robert Frost reading.  The auditorium overflowed, so we were among the group that was stuffed into an upstairs room where we could only hear him over a sound system.

About halfway through the evening he made his way upstairs to our room, saying something like "I thought at least you ought to get a glimpse of me for your trouble."

I'll have to check TCM to see if the program you mentioned will be reshown.  Thanks for bringing back a happy memory.

[lovescats]

@Honeybit

if you have comcast check TCM network on demand it was showing on demand today