Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis .
Maria Callas
AND
Aristotle Onassis
Maria Callas, the operadiva who died in 1977, was one of the greatest artists of thetwentieth century. More than any other prima donnaor actress, shebrought to modern audiences the power and electricity ofAncient Greek drama. Opera-goers spoke of being frightened or confusedwhen they first saw her perform.
Callas, also oneof the most beautiful and well-dressed women of the 20th century, wasnot wise or lucky in love. One of her most foolish mistakes was her affairwith Aristotle Onassis, the wealthy playboy and future husband of JackieKennedy. In this latest installment of my ongoing series on famous couples, I consider the myths and rumorsthat still surround their affair.
“Song is the noblest,the highest, manifestation of poetry,” Callas said. Among the many facetsof Callas’s genius was her penetrating insight into her craft, which wasso much more than simply song. “Art is the ability to express the life ofemotion,” she said. And, “the art of music is so enormous that it can envelopyou and keep you in a state of almost perpetual anxiety and torture. But it isnot all in vain. It is an honour and great happiness to serve music withhumility and love.”
Callas envelopedaudiences, particularly in her roles as Norma in Bellini’s opera by the samename, Anna Boleyn in Donizetti’s AnnaBolena, Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata and as the title character ofPuccini’s Tosca. Callas’voice alone was not perfect, lacking the evenness or powerful high notesof others. The way she used it as an expressive tool was unparallelled.
“It is not enough to have a beautiful voice,”Callas said. “What does it mean? When you interpret a role you have to havea thousand colors to portray happiness, joy, sorrow, anger, fear. How cnyou do this with only a beautiful voice? Even if you sing harshlysometimes, as I have done, it is a necessity of expression. You have to do iteven if people will not understand.But in the long run they will, because youmust persuade them of what you are doing.”
Here is Callas on Medea,the legendary character of Ancient Greece
I saw her as fiery,apparently calm but very intense…. Medea is the one non-Greek personage in theopera. She is a barbarian Colchian Princess – the civilized Greeks would notaccept her on equal terms. A Greek Medea invalidates the opera. The killing ofthe children is not merely an act of vengeance but more signifcantly a means ofescape from a world that is foreign to her and in which she can no longer live.For Medea and her race, death is not the end but the beginning of a newlife. Jason inherits a chaotic world in place of riches and power.”
The Callas story isthe subject of a pile of biographies. It fascinates opera lovers, but alsocelebrity watchers, admirers of feminine beauty and even women who havestruggled with their weight (the beautiful Callas was once fat.) The pileis likely to grow because it’s an interesting life story, especiallywith Callas’s humble beginnings. Callas was born Maria Anna SophieCecilia Kalogeropoulos, the daughter of immigrants from Athens, in 1923 in New York New York
Her mother was ambitiousfor her two daughters and took them to Athens
There were many years of struggle, especiallyduring the occupation ofGreece Athens
In 1947, as her careerwas gradually progressing, she married Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a fairlydull Italian industrialist and opera lover. He was thirty years her senior andwas intent on devoting himself to her career. Callas, judging from lettersbetween them, appeared to genuinely love him. One has to question her judgment,however, and wonder if she was not also seeking a father figure who couldprovide the comfort and security she needed to pursue her immensetalent. Any woman in her mid-twenties who marries a man thirty yearsolder is either carried away with love or calculation.
There were many years of struggle, especiallyduring the occupation of
In 1947, as her careerwas gradually progressing, she married Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a fairlydull Italian industrialist and opera lover. He was thirty years her senior andwas intent on devoting himself to her career. Callas, judging from lettersbetween them, appeared to genuinely love him. One has to question her judgment,however, and wonder if she was not also seeking a father figure who couldprovide the comfort and security she needed to pursue her immensetalent. Any woman in her mid-twenties who marries a man thirty yearsolder is either carried away with love or calculation.
Meneghinieventually became her full-time manager. They were happy together for a numberof years, it seems, but he lacked competence and honesty when it cameto her business affairs. She ultimately exploded in rage at hismisdealings. But, of course, Callas exploded in rage at quite a few people. Sheonce punched an opera manager in the stomach with her knee.
Again, a man thirty yearsolder is not much of a lifelong companion for a young woman. All finallyunraveled between Meneghini and Callas when they went on a cruise onOnassis’s yacht in 1959. Among the other guests were Winston Churchill and hiswife, Clementine, as well as Onassis’s wife at the time, Tina, the mother ofhis two children. Onassis, a shipping magnate who was one of the richestmen in the world at the time, swept Callas off her feet and, according to someaccounts, they were lovers by the end of the voyage.
Callas’ s life wouldnever be the same. She became less focused on her career in the years thatfollowed and her voice precipitously deteriorated, events that may or may nothave been affected by her new romantic entanglement. Onassis’ wife, whowas a philanderer herself, filed for divorce and Callas left Meneghini andalso attempted to nullify the marriage in the U.S. ;divorce was not permissible in Italy
Callas and Onassis, wholived the life of high society regulars in Paris, werebesieged by the paparazzi during the seven years they were obviously involved,and speculation of a marriage was rampant. The world was stunned, and some sayso was Callas, when Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy decided to marry in 1968.This was from all appearances a marriage of convenience for both parties.
Here are the myths aboutthe Callas/Onassis affair that then spread and continue to be spread today bybiographers:
- Callas had gotten pregnant by Onassis and had an abortion.
- Callas had gotten pregnant by Onassis and secretly gave birth to a baby, who immediately died.
- Onassis’ marriage to Kennedy was responsible for Callas’ early death at age 54.
None of these rumours hasbeen proven. Each is unbelievable. The writer Nicholas Gage goes so far asto produce a photograph of an infant supposedly delivered by Callas anda birth certificate. Conveniently, there are no names of the parents as isstandard on Italian birth certificates. No one noticed Callas as ever beingpregnant and the idea, put forth by Gage, that she made a doctor do an earlyCaesarean so that no one would know she was pregnant, ispreposterous. Neither Callas or Onassis, given their desire forchildren and their loose conformity to traditional Greek Orthodoxmorality, were likely to consent to an abortion. Also, Callas hadvisited a doctor for her fertility problems with Meneghini.
Callas told Galatopoulosthat she had already ruled out marriage with Onassis by the time Jackie camealong and that they maintained a deep friendship afterward.
They had, she said,a “passionate friendship.” Too bad it hadn’t stayed that way from thebeginning. One wonders if she would have been so drawn to Onassis if shehad married a man closer to her in age. One thing appears certain, Callas’saffair was insensitive to Onassis’s young children and caused them considerableunhappiness. It was an act of selfishness. It also brought her little happinessin the long run. She openly spoke to Galatopoulos of this, calling it amistake and failure. Onassis was an incorrigible womanizer and she could neveradjust to this. Their friendship, however, she insisted was meant to be. Thetwo were deeply drawn to each other. Onassis ironically was not a great operafan, but was a man of considerable intelligence and charisma.
Callas, in voice and her legendaryroles, was larger than life. In her affair with Onassis, she was as small asreal life. It was ultimately low and sordid. Interestingly .
Monday, February 21, 2011
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe[1][2] (pronounced /mɒnˈroʊ/ or /mənˈroʊ/; June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), bornNorma Jeane Mortenson, but baptized Norma Jeane Baker, was an American actress, singer and model.[3] After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946. Her early film appearances were minor, but her performances in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve (both 1950) were well received. By 1953, Monroe had progressed to leading roles. Her "dumb blonde" persona was used to comedic effect in such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire(1953) and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Limited by typecasting, Monroe studied at the Actors Studio to broaden her range, and her dramatic performance in Bus Stop (1956) was hailed by critics, and she received a Golden Globe nomination. Her production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, released The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination and won a David di Donatello award. She received a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Some Like It Hot (1959).
The final years of Monroe's life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for being unreliable and difficult to work with. The circumstances of her death, from an overdose ofbarbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture. Though officially classified as a "probablesuicide", the possibility of an accidental overdose, as well as the possibility of homicide, have not been ruled out. In 1999, Monroe was ranked as the sixth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute. In the years and decades following her death, Monroe has often been cited as a pop and cultural icon as well as an eminent American sex symbol .
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychoanalyst Ralph S. Greenson after he was called by Monroe's housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as "probable suicide". Many individuals, including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police Department officer to arrive at the death scene,[1] believe that she was murdered. No murder charges were ever filed. The death of Marilyn Monroe has since become one of the most debated conspiracy theories.
The funeral
The funeral arrangements for Monroe were made by her second husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.
Marilyn Monroe was buried in what was known at that time as the "Cadillac of caskets" — a hermetically sealing antique-silver-finished 48-ounce (heavy gauge) solid bronze "masterpiece" casket lined with champagne-colored satin-silk; the casket had been manufactured by the Belmont casket company in Columbus, Ohio. Before the service, the outer lid and the upper half of the divided inner lid of her casket were opened so that the mourners could get a last glimpse of Monroe. Whitey Snyder had prepared her face, a promise he had made her if she were to die before him.
The service was the second one held at the newly built chapel at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in West Los Angeles,[6] and only 25 people were given permission to attend. Monroe's acting coach, Lee Strasberg, delivered her eulogy. An organist played "Over the Rainbow" at the end of the service.
Monroe is interred in a pink marble crypt at Corridor of Memories, #24. Hugh Hefner owns the rights to the crypt next to it. Monroe had visited the cemetery more than once as a struggling actress because Ana Lower, the adult to whom she had been closest during her juvenile years, had been buried there in 1948. Lower was related to Grace Goddard, Monroe's official guardian during much of her childhood. When Goddard committed suicide in 1953,[7] Monroe, by then wealthy, arranged for her burial at Westwood.
DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for the next 20 years and never remarried.
Drosoulites, the ghosts of Frangokastello
Every year in late May, the “Drosoulites” or “dew men” appear at dawn with the morning dew inFrangokastello. They are the ghosts of Hadzi Michalis Dalianis’ dead warriors, who defended the Castle of Frangokastello against the Turks .
 What do the Drosoulites look like? Until we find out, let’s use our imagination... |
Six hundred brave warriors against 8,000 Turks. They lasted for over a week, but in the end 335 of them lay dead along with their leader. The Turks lost 800 soldiers.
Legend has it that the bodies of Dalianis’ warriors remained unburied, until a strong wind brought sand from the dunes of “Orthi Ammos” beach and covered them.
On damp and windless mornings at the end of May and the beginning of June, shadows in human shape appear walking in single file for about 10 minutes after sunrise. They move slowly towards the castle and disappear into the sea.
Many people say that they have seen the Drosoulites. One theory is that it is a mirage due to the refraction of the sun’s rays in the morning mist. The inhabitants of Frangokastello have noticed that the “ghosts” only appear very early in the morning with the dew, which is why they call them “Drosoulites”. The Drosoulites are harmless ghosts who have never hurt anyone.
Appearance of Drosoulites
It is said that, in 1890, Turkish soldiers at Frangokastello ran away in panic when they saw the Drosoulites. Many years later, when the Germans occupied Crete, a military detachment saw the ghosts and, mistaking them for resistance fighters, opened fire on them. Of course nothing was hurt except the German soldiers’ pride.
The Drosoulites shades do not appear every year in Frangokastello; many years may pass without a sign of them. They have never been photographed or recorded on video.
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