Shakespeare in FoxTrot's Deliciously FoxTrot

Amend, Bill. Deliciously FoxTrot. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 2021.

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I hardly need to admit that I've occasionally needed to stretch things quite a bit, to make dubiously-warranted assumptions, and to fill in gaps that might not have needed filling in an attempt to find tangential or downright hidden Shakespeare references in FoxTrot books for FoxTrot Fridays. 

I don't need to admit it because you've noticed.

But I trust that the humor of FoxTrot's Bill Amend has entertained even the most skeptical of Bardfilm's readers.

But today, we have Deliciously FoxTrot, a collection that comes through with two very strong Shakespeare-related comics.

In the first, we see how Jason has gathered school supplies suitable for each of his subjects—including his English class: 

In the second, we have Paige subliminally taking on the characteristics of Lady Macbeth:

That second one is made all the better by the title (the collections of Sunday comics have that extra place for an extra joke).

As always, I'm eager to see what our next FoxTrot Friday will have.  But this time, I'm saddened by the knowledge that we're getting close to the end of the published books.

Please keep producing such masterful work, Bill Amend!  And don't forget the Shakespeare angle.

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Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

Shakespeare on Fantasy Island

“The Tallowed Image / Room and Bard.” By Alan Brennert. Perf. Ricardo Montalban, Hervé Villechaize, Lloyd Bochner, Audrey Landers, and Robert Reed. Dir. Carl Kugel. Fantasy Island. Season 6, episode 12. NETWORK. 29 January 1983. 

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I've known for a good while that there was an episode of Fantasy Island that featured (at least in part) William Shakespeare. For a little while, I have known that Shakespeare was played by Robert Reed of Brady Bunch fame. But, for some reason, DVD releases of Fantasy Island have been few and far between—only the first three seasons have been released, and Shakespeare doesn't show up until Season 6! That's one reason I had to fantasize about a Fantasy Island / Tempest crossover (for which, q.v.). 

But I knew that it wouldn't be long before it came my way (how it came my way is another matter), and I've enjoyed the Shakespeare half of the episode (for anyone who wants to know, the other story is about wax museums and Victorian London—with a horror flavor).

In the plot, famed actress Angela Markham arrives on Fantasy Island wanting to meet Shakespeare—but not to commit random acts of bardolotry or to learn what life was like in Shakespeare's day. She simply wants to act for him and to receive affirmation that she is a good actress.

Due to some fantastical mishap, Shakespeare ends up on Fantasy Island instead of Angela Markham showing up in Elizabethan England (the show doesn't trouble too much with the details, so neither shall I). Angela persuades Shakespeare to write a scene for her to act so that she can show her acting chops. Unfortunately, Shakespeare is suffering from writer's block. And he's being pursued by a man from his own time who thinks that Shakespeare is after his wife (which he sort of has been but also sort of hasn't). And the man has the support of Queen Elizabeth, who will not shed many tears if Shakespeare is killed.

But we soon come to realize precisely where Shakespeare is in his career: This is early Shakespeare, with many of his best plays yet to be written (we can suspend our disbelief when we're told that Angela is going to be at the Globe theatre, which means that he's already written everything up to 1599 at least, including Much Ado About Nothing, which is a phrase that this Shakespeare has either never heard before or never considered). If Shakespeare dies on Fantasy Island (or, I suppose, anywhere else) at the hand of the jealous husband, we'll never get Hamlet (among others).

Here's a brief edit of the episode for your entertainment, amusement, and edification:

I'm impressed at how well Tattoo knows his Shakespeare—including recognizing a Congreve quote (or paraphrase) as non-Shakespearean.

Among the other interesting things are the insights into Shakespeare's writing process and the strange temporal shift that enables a speech from a yet-unwritten (from Shakespeare's point of view) play to be delivered and then made the foundation of The Pedlar of Venice.

I'm always looking for rare Shakespeare-related things (including these items in "The Holy Grail of Shakespeare and Film" post and its comments)—so let me know if you've been able to track down anything!

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Links: The Episode at IMDB.

Click below to purchase season one of the show from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

Book Note: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent

Dench, Judith, and Brendan O'Hea. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2024.

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The key to enjoying Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent to its fullest is to align your expectations with the book. You won't find an autobiography of Judi Dench here. You also won't find uniformly deep Shakespearean analysis. And don't expect a straightforward memoir.

Do approach the book recognizing that it's a somewhat rambling collection of hundreds of anecdotes, thoughts, memories, commentary, and other bits, most of them quite fascinating. Imagine that you've been invited to tea with Brendan O'Hea and Dame Judi (but you've been cautioned not to interrupt)—you'll have a grand old time listening to the wide-ranging conversation.

I highly recommend that you read this book—or, possibly better yet, listen to the audiobook version. The reader who provides the Judi Dench sections isn't exactly doing an impression, but she certainly performs her sections in the style of Dame Judi. 

Either way, the book is great for dipping into and gleaning some wisdom or insight into plays and characters that you may or may not have thought about before. Whether you know the characters and plays or not, you'll find rewarding nuggets.

I can't give you the entirety of the book, but I can give you a sample of Dame Judi's thoughts on one of her earliest roles: that of Ophelia. The parts in italics are Brendan O'Hea's; those in roman type are Judi Dench's.

It goes on from there and includes her thoughts on Gertrude. As you can see, it's not altogether focused, but it doesn't suffer at all if you're not expecting it to be.

As a final sample, I thought we would all benefit from "Dame Judi's Advice to the Players":

Grab a copy today and start gleaning!

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Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

Shakespeare in FoxTrot's Mother is Coming

Amend, Bill. Mother is Coming. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 2018.

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For this week's FoxTrot Friday, I admittedly had to do a bit of stretching in one way or another . . . but you'll see that the payoff in the final comic here is worth it.

When we're looking for Shakespeare in FoxTrot, we often find it in the older kids' coursework. And where we're not told absolutely specifically that there's Shakespeare there, we can make a fair (at least to the brain of the Shakespeare aficionado) assumption.

That's the case here. Surely there's some Shakespeare included in the "tons of homework" Mrs. Fox mentions in the first panel: 

Although Shakespeare isn't usually part of Jason's curriculum, it is part of his world. Here's something of a Gravedigger Scene from Hamlet:

I don't know about you, but it only takes the first syllable of Shakespeare's name for me to start thinking about the Bard. Stir in a little Taylor Swift, and it's hard not to have a very subtle Shakespeare allusion:

In the next comic, there's a little backstory for all of the Shakespeare assignments in Peter's courses:

Finally, we have a clear and direct Shakespeare reference. Because he did not do well on a Hamlet exam last year, Peter has a plan for this time around:

One of the wondering things about FoxTrot is that even the ones that have to be stretched to detect even a modicum of Shakespeare are immensely enjoyable.

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Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

More Shakespearean Deep Cuts from The Office

"The Girl Next Door." By Kelly Hannon, Jonathan Hughes, and Mary Wall. Perf. Ellie Kemper, Mindy Kaling, and B.J. Novak. Dir. Mindy Kaling. The Office. Season 8. Webisode. DVD. Universal Studios, 2009.

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Once again, it's time to dive deeply into the Shakespeare-related material in The Office—deeper than the broadcast episodes or even the deleted scenes.

This time, we're heading to the Season 8 webisodes. 

In "The Girl Next Door," we're presented with a music video that Ryan and Kelly and Erin have made. Not far into it, we get another of several references to Romeo and Juliet in The Office . . . together with a more-unexpected use of Antony and Cleopatra:

Romeo and Juliet are used—as they often are—as shorthand for the most desirable romantic relationship imaginable. Then Antony and Cleopatra are brought in for the same purpose.  And then we get the pay off. Here are the relevant lyrics of the clip above:

Kelly's Role: 

I'm just the girl next door,
But that's how it goes:
You only see me
As one of your bros.

Erin's Role:

I'm rich and I'm skinny
And I have high self esteem.
People say that I could be
A pageant queen.

 

Kelly's Role:

We could be just like Juliet and Romeo—
Cleopatra and Mark Antony

Both Together:

Or Marc Anthony and Jay Lo!

Once ShakespeareGeek explained to me that the last line was about the 2004 to 2014 marriage of Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, I saw the humor in that. To my credit, though, I had already picked up on the Shakespeare by that point.

It's in Kelley's character to understand Shakespearean romantic couples by means of a contemporary and (to her) more relevant pairing.

But the overall message is clear: Keep searching for Shakespeare! He may turn up in the most unexpected places.

[As a side note, the song itself is reminiscent of some mid-twenty-oughts Taylor Swift.]

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Links: The Episode at IMDB.

Click below to purchase the season from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).

Book Note: The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet

Bloedel, Peter. The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet. In Random Acts of Comedy: Fifteen Hit One-Act Plays for Student Actors, edited by Jason Pizzarello. Playscripts, Inc., 2011.

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By circuitous routes that I can't quite remember at present, I chanced up The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet.

It's a madcap comic romp through the world of Shakespeare's tragedy performed in the style of Dr. Seuss (while loudly denying that that's what it's doing).

I'd like to see a performance, but I'm hesitant to recommend it. I've read a fair number of things in the style of Dr. Seuss, and the most successful ones rigorously adhere to the Dr. Seuss rhythm.  It's very difficult to do at all, and it's even harder to do well—yet it can be done. When it isn't, we're basically left with rhymed couplets that fall flat rather than flying glibly and energetically above a world of words.

This one doesn't do that. To make the rhythm work, you must stress unstressed (and often unstressable) syllables, and it all bogs down.

Here's a quick sample that includes their version of the play's infamous prologue:

I don't mind the zaniness of the plot, and I like the way they keep the ending from being tragic—but it has to start with perfection in the rhythm of Seuss.

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Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).