http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usteic_kwms

Thom Steinbeck, son of beloved American author John Steinbeck, discusses his father’s decreasing ability to endure all the criticism, his basic love for writing, as well as why his Nobel Peace Prize win contributed to his retirement: “He thought basically that the Nobel Prize technically ended his career ’cause he got it for a body of work, which basically means we’re retiring you. We’re kicking you upstairs. You’re a classic now. We don’t have to pay any more attention to you.”

The post John Steinbeck
Steinbeck’s Son on Why His Dad Was Criticized appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SKEODtaQUU

American author John Steinbeck delivers his speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony after winning the award for his writings in 1962.

The post John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech appeared first on Witnify.

March 1954

To John Steinbeck

I looked thru a lot of kids before settling on this Jimmy Dean. He hasn’t Brando’s stature, but he’s a good deal younger and is very interesting, has balls and eccentricity and a “real problem” somewhere in his guts, I don’t know what or where. He’s a little bit of a bum, but he’s a real good actor and I think he’s the best of a poor field. Most kids who become actors at nineteen or twenty or twenty-one are very callow and strictly from N.Y. Professional school. Dean has got a real mean streak and a real sweet streak.

I had an awful time with the girl. Terrible. The young girls are worse than the young boys. My god, they are nothing. Nothing has happened to them or else they’re bums. Abra is a great part. I hope you don’t die now. I want to use Julie Harris. Do you think I’m nuts? The screen play depends so on her last scene with Adam and on her strength, that I have to have a real, real actress. I couldn’t find one aged twenty. They’re nothing. Proms, dresses, beaus and all that, but nothing for my last scene. Finally I made a photographic test of Julie and she looks twenty when her face is in movement, I think. I’ll just have to keep her face in movement. She’s a marvelous actress. She is not Abra the way we saw her, but jeezuz I was stuck.

One pro thing. She and Jimmy Dean look fine together. They look like People, not actors. I’m real pleased with that part of it. Two people. Dean has the advantage of never having been seen on the screen.

Excerpted from THE SELECTED LETTERS OF ELIA KAZAN, edited by Albert J. Devlin with Marlene J. Devlin. Copyright © 2014 by FrancesKazan. Published by Arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubled Ay publishing group, a division of Random House LLC.

The post Elia Kazan
[Text] Director Elia Kazan on Casting an Unknown James Dean in ‘East of Eden’ appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sJZpeBw6YE

Author John Steinbeck discusses the differences he recently saw in the people of the Dust Bowl compared to his first visit during the Great Depression and explains how his book, “The Grapes of Wrath” represents real life. He also comments on how people reacted to the terrible situation and describes the government programs that came out of the Great Depression.

The post Great Depression
Steinbeck on Life During and After the Great Depression appeared first on Witnify.