Links to the past, with relevance today:
CNN: That long-lost Judy Garland Dorothy Gale outfit that was found in a shoebox on the premises of a college is going up for auction — and is expected to fetch $800K-$1.2M. (A previous example went for $1.5M, so I would think this one, which has her white blouse, will achieve at least that.) The Wizard of Oz dress was given as a gift to the school's dean by actress Mercedes McCambridge (1916-2004) — I wonder if she knew, before her death, that she had given away a very valuable piece of history?
FACEBOOK: Oh, God, this story by Janis Ian of why she stopped her show to talk to three loud patrons is ... so, so satisfying. Here is what she said:
"If you have no respect for me, and you have no respect for the songs, at least have respect for the theater. This is not television. This is not the movies. This is live, and live is different. I consider the theater sacred ground. It exists to enlighten, to ennoble, to hold us up when times are hard. One of the awful things about Covid, for performers, was that we couldn't do what we have always done — go out into the community and make YOU feel better. That's our JOB. And you are interrupting that job, now that we can finally start doing it again. There is an invisible thread that goes from the performer to the audience and back. You are half the show. You're a vital part of the show. Without you, there is no show. We depend on you, and we are all three immensely grateful to you for being here, and allowing us to do this. But within that, we also realize that our legacy as performers goes back to the first person who told a story. Ever. We stand on the bones of thousands of artists who went before us. My history goes back 10,000 years. It's older than my religion. It's older than my nationality. I respect the bones I stand on, I respect the theater, and I ask you to show it the same respect. Because this is what we live for, and this is why we're here."
JUST JARED: Jim Hartz, NBC newsman and onetime Today show co-anchor, dies at 82.
EXTRATV: Downtown NYC photographer Marcus Leatherdale dies unexpectedly at 69. He shot everyone from Madonna to Divine, Debbie Harry and more.
INSTAGRAM: Barbra Streisand turns 80 years old today, April 24!
