It is April 14th, 1936.
It is chilly enough to wear an overcoat. Gathering at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem is an excited crowd wearing fedoras, and some people are in fancy dress. There is also a vehicle pulled up with a motion picture camera on top, taking footage as if it's the launch of an aircraft carrier. There are mounted police present. The crowd is excited and all looking at each other, looking at the opening of the doors.
This is the premiere of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. It says so on the marquee. The Lafayette Theater has been here since 1913 and has been the scene of many gatherings of excited theatergoers, but nothing like this. What is most striking to see in the photographs today, is that it's a black and white crowd together. And this is 1936, and that in itself is an achievement.
I welcome the author of a book that explains that scene and so much more. The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War by Professor James Shapiro. He is the Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
He's going to take us into that moment, and then we'll roll back a little bit and where it starts, and we'll roll forward a little bit and say how it's with us today. What do we see when we look at that moment in history?
Watch the full interview above, or listen to an audio version below:
LINKS:
The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War by James Shapiro
CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor on YouTube
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Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War with James Shapiro