It was also William Shakespeare's birthday. Shake, as those of us close to him called him ("Hey, what's shakin', Shake?") entered the world at Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564. You may recall that he said "all the world's a stage," and he made his exit, with his usual dramatic flair, exactly fifty-two years later, also on April 23. (Duke Ellington once said "God has blessed my timing," and Shakespeare could have said the same. And possibly did.)
Appropriate celebrations: a keg of mead and DVDs of several worthy films: Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V," Olivier's "Richard III," Roman Polanski's "Macbeth," and (and especially) the recent Ethan Hawke take on "Hamlet." There have been other Shakespearean films, but too often, as in the Leslie Howard-Norma Shearer version of "Romeo and Juliet," the players are twenty-five years older than the characters they are pretending to be (although it is fun to see Basil Rathbone and John Barrymore duel as Tybalt and Mercutio).
Or, passing all those, you might find a DVD of "Kiss Me, Kate," Cole Porter's riff on "The Taming of the Shrew," and flip thru to Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore performing "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." Sample lyric: "If you quote a few lines from Othella, she'll think you're a hell of a fella."
Face it, pal--Shake always had better lines.
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