Method Acting and the Cold War

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-68
Author(s):  
Bruce McConachie
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Theatre ◽  
Method Acting ◽  
Acting Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Group Theatre ◽  
Moscow Art Theatre

Triumphalist accounts of the spread of “the Method” in post-World War II America generally explain its success as the victory of natural truths over benighted illusions about acting. In Method Actors: Three Generations of An American Acting Style, for instance, Steve Vineberg follows his summary of the primary attributes of “method” acting with the comment: “These concerns weren't invented by Stanislavski or his American successors; they emerged naturally out of the two thousand-year history of Western acting.” Hence, the final triumph of “the Method” was natural, even inevitable. Vineberg's statement, however, raises more questions than it answers. Why did it take two thousand years for actors and theorists of acting to get it right? Or, to localize the explanation to the United States, why did more American actors, directors, and playwrights not jump on the Stanislavski bandwagon and reform the American theatre after the appearance of the Moscow Art Theatre in New York in 1923 and the subsequent lectures and classes from Boleslavski and others? The Group Theatre demonstrated the power of Stanislavski-derived acting techniques in the 1930s, but their substantial successes barely dented the conventional wisdom about acting theory and technique in the professional theatre. Yet, in the late 1940s and early fifties, “method” acting, substantially unchanged from its years in the American Laboratory and Group theatres, took Broadway and Hollywood by storm.

Louis Menand: The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. 2001. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 546 pp.

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-204
Author(s):  
Lance Kenney
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cold War ◽  
William James ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Cultural Impact ◽  
Oliver Wendell Holmes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Charles Peirce ◽  
The Cold War

Louis Menand’s The Metaphysical Club, daunting in its choice of subject matter, closely aligns itself with the ancient sense of the word ‘history’ as a fluid, almost epic narrative. The Metaphysical Club of the title was a conversation group that met in Cambridge for a few months in 1872. Its membership roster listed some of the greatest intellectuals of the day: Charles Peirce, William James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chauncey Wright, amongst others. There is no record of the Club’s discussions or debates—in fact, the only direct reference to the Club is made by Peirce in a letter written thirty-five years later. Menand utilizes the Club as a jumping-off point for a sweeping analysis of the beliefs of the day. The subtitle of the book belies its true mission: ‘a story of ideas in America.’ Menand discusses the intellectual and social conditions that helped shape these men by the time they were members of the Club. He then shows the philosophical, political, and cultural impact that these men went on to have. In doing so, Menand traces a history of ideas in the United States from immediately prior to the Civil War to the beginning of the Cold War.

scholarly journals Politicizing Religion

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-99
Author(s):  
Uta A. Balbier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter defines Graham’s crusades in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom in the 1950s as powerful cultural orchestrations of Cold War culture. It explores the reasons of leading political figures to support Graham, the media discourses that constructed Graham’s image as a cold warrior, and the religious and political worldviews of the religious organizers of the crusades in London, Washington, New York, and Berlin. In doing so, the chapter shows how hopes for genuine re-Christianization, in response to looming secularization, anticommunist fears, and post–World War II national anxieties, as well as spiritual legitimizations for the Cold War conflict, blended in Graham’s campaign work. These anxieties, hopes, and worldviews crisscrossed the Atlantic, allowing Graham and his campaign teams to make a significant contribution to creating an imagined transnational “spiritual Free World.”

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Spanish ◽  
Education Act

This epilogue briefly identifies some of the major changes in Spanish language politics since World War II. These include community shifts in activism. For example, the Chicano Movementreclaimed the language and advocated for culturally affirming bilingual education programs. The epilogue also turns to federal support for Spanish instruction with the 1968 Bilingual Education Act and with the 1975 extension to the Voting Rights Act that provides federal protection for ballots in languages other than English. Spanish is no longer a language of just the Southwest and there are major populations of Spanish speakers in cities like Chicago, New York, and Miami today. In 2013, tens of millions of U.S. residents spoke Spanish in their homes. Spanish language perseverance in the United States is due to a long history of Latin American migration to the country. It began as a language of settlement and power in the nineteenth century and has transformed into a language often deemed as foreign or un-American. Spanish is an American language historically and this book has recovered that history.

Such a State of Uncertainty, Caution, and Fear, 1946–1961

Pauli Murray ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 145-205
Author(s):  
Troy R. Saxby
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Cornell University ◽  
Women Lawyers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter examines Pauli Murray’s life during the Cold War era. Preferential treatment for returned servicemen and McCarthyism further disadvantaged Murray’s employment opportunities in the post-World War II period. Most notably, Cornell University denied her employment because of her “past associations.” Murray responded by writing Proud Shoes, a history of her maternal grandparents. Physical and mental health concerns continued to plague Murray, and as one of only a few independent black women lawyers in New York City, Murray struggled to make a living. In the late 1950s she became a corporate lawyer, wrote poetry, and then went to Ghana to teach law and explore her own racial identity.

An Interview with Harris Gaylord Warren: From the Borderlands to Paraguay

1989 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-460
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
United States Army ◽  
North American ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
History Of

Harris Gaylord Warren was, by common consent, the father of Paraguayan studies in the United States. His broad-ranging activities —from diplomatic undertakings in South America to military service in Italy to administrative and scholarly work at various North American universities—marked him as an historian of rare depth and insight. Not commonly known is that Dr. Warren began his career as a historian in the 1930s as a borderlands specialist. The Sword was their Passport: A History of American Filibustering in the Mexican Revolution (Baton Rouge, 1943) is yet recognized as the definitive work on North American adventurers in that turbulent era. As an officer in the United States Army in World War II he was selected for various military history projects. After the war Dr. Warren returned to teaching and then administration. At that time his publications ranged from texts to Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, (New York, 1959).

Reviving Religion

2021 ◽  
pp. 15-43
Author(s):  
Uta A. Balbier
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Revival ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Altar Call ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Cold War

This book uses Graham’s crusades in London, Berlin, and New York as a prism through which to explore the powerful dynamics of the transatlantic revival of the 1950s. It was a movement that affected political discourses, theological debates, and ordinary faith, and witnessed a tremendous exchange of ideas and issues, hopes and fears, people and practices. It produced intense national debates about the future of faith under the threat of secularization. It was shaped by transnational ideological frameworks such as the Cold War and consumerism, and it strengthened the international awareness of German, British, and American Christians within and beyond the evangelical community. These were the dynamics, changes, and processes that came together during Graham’s altar call in Europe. This first chapter embeds Billy Graham’s revival meetings in the religious landscapes of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany in the 1950s, a time characterized by secularization fears and hopes for a religious revival. It introduces the planning process behind Graham’s revival meetings, which was marked by lively transnational exchanges between American, British, and German organizers. In the wake of World War II, the so-called crusades provided a focus for contemporary debates among church officials, theologians, and ordinary Christians about faith, politics and society, and a possible modernization of religious life. The chapter shows how the endorsement and criticism developing around Graham split congregations and denominations, meanwhile allowing an ecumenical community of Graham supporters to emerge. Graham’s revival style challenged the evangelical communities in particular to embrace a more worldly faith.

Automated Warfare

The Drone Age ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 27-54
Author(s):  
Michael J. Boyle
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Persian Gulf ◽  
The United States ◽  
Persian Gulf War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Gradual Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Persian Gulf ◽  
The Cold War

Chapter 2 provides an overview of the history of the development of drones. It shows that drone prototypes were in existence at the turn of the twentieth century and that their gradual development and use—either as missiles, target practice, or later, modern surveillance drones—proceeded in fits and starts. In the United States, this creation of drones was possible due to sustained investment by military and intelligence agencies, who took a risk on supporting unmanned platforms when the funds could have been devoted to manned aircraft or satellites. It reviews the history of the use of drones in World War II, the Cold War, and Vietnam, and shows how drones became used in combat in the Persian Gulf War and the Balkans. Finally, it discusses the birth of the armed Predator drone, which could play a central role in the counterterrorism campaigns of the post 9/11 era.

America’s Legacies in Southeast Asia

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-61
Author(s):  
David Shambaugh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
North Vietnam

This chapter traces the history of American presence in Southeast Asia. The American legacy in the region began with traders and missionaries during the first half of the nineteenth century, then progressed to diplomats and official relations during the second half, and then to the arrival of American armed forces at the turn of the twentieth century. Meanwhile, America’s commercial interests and footprint continually broadened and deepened; educational and religious ties also blossomed. Except in the Philippines, America was largely seen as a benevolent partner—but not yet a power. That would change in the wake of World War II and the Cold War. With the advent of communist regimes in China, North Vietnam, and North Korea, and the ensuing Korean War, Southeast Asia took on a completely different cast in Washington. It became one of two major global theaters of conflict against communism. Thus began America’s long and draining involvement in Vietnam and Indochina (1958–1975). But with the end of the long and exhausting Indochina conflict, which tore the United States itself apart, American attention naturally began to wane and dissipate. Yet, the United States continued to engage and build its relations with the region from the Carter through the Bush 43 administrations.

Americanists in Unexpected Places

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Blaustein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
American Studies ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
International Diffusion ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter is a centrifugal history of American Studies in the United States and abroad. There have been many crises within American Studies, including calls to rename it, internationalize it, or abandon it altogether. But what was American Studies? What were the original preoccupations of this unusual field, and what were the historical conditions that enabled its establishment and international diffusion? American Studies operated in the knotty terrain of military occupation, reconstruction, and democratization after World War II, but the Americanist century has many points of origin, and it transcends the binaries of the Cold War. This chapter brings together the histories of American Studies in the United States with the less familiar histories of American Studies in Europe and Japan, stretching from the early twentieth century to the Cold War. It also offers a more cosmopolitan history of “American exceptionalism.”

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