Sunday, March 15, 2009

Leave it to "ye French of old" to discriminate against thespians.

"The Actor of Stratford-upon-Avon" (Emil Kazaz, 1953 - present).

Throughout history, actors (like myself) have been callously labeled as immoral, amoral, lascivious, self-serving, self-indulgent, irresponsible, bawdy, vain, bacchant, lewd, excessive, permissive, promiscuous and any other "ism", "ite", "ive" or "ious" you can think of.

Now - ahh..."lascivious" I have never been. But that's neither here nor there. Actors will be actors, but the 17th century French crossed the line. Under French law, the French would not allow actors to be buried in the sacred ground of a cemetery. Just ask French playwright/actor, Molière, who was buried in the portion of the cemetery reserved for unbaptized infants.

Can you believe the gall (oddly enough, the "Gauls" later settled in France)? Molière's remains were later moved by the 18th century French and finally brought to rest in a proper cemetary by the 19th century French.

"Farce Actors Dancing" (Pieter Jansz, 1597-1665)

Look at those silly actors - dancing and playing flutes, all dressed in their frilly, dandy, actor garb, acting all....lascivious (remember, I don't do lascivious). Haha! Look at the wench actress! "I'll see you in the Green Room, milady." Damn those actors! Burn them! And don't bury them in the church cemetary! Why?! WHY?! Because we are French!

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