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Dr. Maya Cantu

@mayamcantu.bsky.social
1K followers 384 following 844 posts

Greasepaint Puritan: Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes, University of Michigan Press ‘24; Drama, Bennington College. mayacantu.com/the-world-of-bradford…

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J.A.Tallon @tallon.bsky.social · 14h
Angela Lansbury in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (based on the Oscar Wilde novel of the same name. Wilde was also BOTD) - BOTD
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Avery Trufelman and I recently recorded a pod on Voltaire's 1736 poem "Man of the World," where he spiritedly defends cosmopolitanism against the conservatives of his day. Hard to do this without sound like a chauvinist, but his wit makes it delightful. articlesofinterest.substack.com/podcast
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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
E. E. Cummings Self-portrait, 1939 "His verse is distinguished by fluidity and weight; he is equipped to range lustily and long among the major passions." - Mark Van Doren
Painting of the poet in a hat, smoking a pipe. He carries a pencil & notepad.
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Tallan74 @timothyjamescat.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Always liked this one. All you aspiring and wannabe wantons, take notes.
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Gremliny Nussboo @emilynussbaum.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
They need to design a brand new emotion to describe my feelings about the Girls reboot. Apprehencitement?
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The Film Stage @thefilmstage.com · 12/10/2026
The poster for Quentin Tarantino’s first play, opening this February in London.
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Also stunning: two of the performance gowns and robes Millay wore on her college reading tours.
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The monogrammed clasp on her suede purse—EStVM—is a flex and a mood.
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Memories from today’s visit to Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Steepletop home in Austerlitz, NY.
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Professor Edward Birack @nicosan1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, the full documentary is now streaming on @pbs.org YouTube Page.
youtube.com
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez | Full Documentary | American Masters | PBS
YouTube video by American Masters PBS
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Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 09/10/2026
‘Strange Adventures in The Fall and Rise of Humpty Dumpty’, 1899. www.loc.gov/item/2014636...
a woman in a cape commands a group of  figures under bright rays of bursting light.
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Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 09/10/2026
Times Square at Dusk Samuel H. Gottscho, 1932
 Times Square, New York City (looking down Broadway/Seventh Avenue towards the Times Building).
 The glowing signs advertise the films Hell Divers and Arrowsmith 
Wet, rainy pavement reflecting the neon lights during the early evening
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This play is excellent!
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Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
My favorite Eva Marie Saint films are On The Waterfront, North By Northwest, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, and, maybe less well known, Loving. One of the greats. Rest In Peace. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/m...
nytimes.com
Eva Marie Saint, Oscar Winner for ‘On the Waterfront,’ Is Dead at 102
A luminous beauty with dramatic depth, she brought a layered intensity to harrowing roles and seduced Cary Grant in the romantic thriller “North by Northwest.”
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Now we’re in 10-20 year cycles of nostalgia; but so true.
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Larry Karaszewski @larrythek.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It’s amazing that the film that has the most to say about 2026 takes place in 1634 and was made in 1971. See it in theaters next week.
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Remedios Varo @remediosvaro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Juggler (The Magician) botfrens.com/collections/69/content…
Gift of Joan H. Tisch (by exchange)
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Ruby Keeler enjoyed seeing herself, and her musicals with Berkeley, parodied in ‘Dames at Sea!’ From her ‘Foreword’ to the book.
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Laura Collins-Hughes @collinshughes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Nothing got me even vaguely interested in “Digger” until the theater-adjacent spoiler in this smart piece by Sian Cain. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oc...
theguardian.com
Tom Cruise’s Digger has flopped spectacularly – but I think it is a misunderstood masterpiece
This article contains spoilers for Digger: Alejandro G Iñárritu’s film may be about to become one of the biggest bombs Hollywood has ever seen – but it is destined to be re-evaluated with time
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Toulouse-Lautrec @toulouselautrec.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Extra in the Folies Bergere Revue
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's "Extra in the Folies Bergère Revue" captures the lively atmosphere and flamboyant spirit of the Parisian cabaret scene with expressive brushwork and vivid color. The sketch-like quality emphasizes movement and character, typical of Lautrec's fascination with the performers and nightlife of late 19th-century Montmartre.
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Dr. Maya Cantu @mayamcantu.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
What arrived in my mailbox today! Published in 1973.
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Oct. 5, 1926: A production of George Bernard Shaw's play "Man and Superman" in Berlin, starring Eugen Klöpfer and Carola Neher.
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Justin Chang @justincchang.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
DIGGER: kinda dug it? www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Tom Cruise Is a Scream—and a Gas—in “Digger”
In Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s conceptually elaborate apocalyptic farce, hectoring satire and visual sublimity fight to a draw.
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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I love this story by Robert Wilson. “Even all of the girlfriends & boyfriends left!” the-talks.com/interview/ro...
It’s strange. I once did a work in Judson Church many years ago where only one person came to the theater. He was an old man, and about halfway through he left. (Laughs)

Did you stop playing or did you finish?

No, I finished! I also did The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin in Copenhagen. It was a 12-hour play, it went from seven in the evening to seven in the morning, and we were supposed to do ten performances. And on the third performance, at two in the morning someone came backstage and said, “There’s no one in the audience! They’ve all gone!” We had 128 people performing and even all of their girlfriends and boyfriends left! They asked, “What do we do?” I said, “Well, we keep performing! We have 128 people performing!”
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Gaijin "Jiangshi" Rando @gaijinrando.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) Directed by Charles Lamont
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Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 30/09/2026
Watching 42nd Street last night, I suddenly realized what "habit" lyricist Al Dubin was referring to in "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me." "I used to think your love was something that I could take or leave alone But now I couldn't do without my supply"
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tnyfrontrow.bsky.social @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
With the Greek classics back in fashion, worth seeing what their very expensive cheapenings and bowdlerizations miss: Pasolini's ecstatic, terrifying, fanatically detailed Medea is at @metrographnyc.bsky.social at 3:45pm: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich...
newyorker.com
Movie of the Week: “Medea”
Opera singers rarely make successful transitions to movie acting, but Maria Callas did—in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Medea,” from 1969.
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Sept. 28, 1926: "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," a play adapted by Anita Loos and her husband John Emerson from her bestselling novel, premieres on Broadway. The sharp social satire centers on not-so-dumb blonde Lorelei Lee (June Walker) and her success at manipulating the wealthy male elite.
The first edition of the novelWalker (second from left) and Frank Morgan (second from right) in the 1926 productionThe New Yorker caricatures Walker as Lorelei
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Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Watched that Backrooms motion picture last night. Very good. Obsession was also excellent. If this is the kind of cinema the crazy kids today with their hula hoops and fax machines are giving us, I’m not going to yell at them to get off my lawn, I will instead welcome them with lemonade and cookies.
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Sept. 26, 1926: Julie London, a husky-voiced torch singer of the 1950s and ’60s whose hits included the first recording of “Cry Me a River,” is born (as Peck) in Santa Rosa, Calif. She was also an actress who played Nurse Dixie McCall in the TV drama “Emergency!”
In the 1960sIn “Emergency!” (died 2000)
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pauline kael bot @paulinekaelbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
[POPEYE] Shelley Duvall takes the funny-page drawing of Olive Oyl and breathes her own spirit into it. Possibly she can do this so simply because she accepts herself as a cartoon to start with, and working from that, goes way past it. (1980)
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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Remembering George Gershwin on his birthday 🎂 📷 Edward Steichen, 1931 "I like New York in June, how about you? I like a Gershwin tune, how about you?" - a great tribute from Arthur Freed & Burton Lane, 1941 youtube.com/watch?v=jgoG...
Gershwin wearing a tuxedo, seated at a grand piano,
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Tom & Lorenzo @tomandlorenzo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I honestly think Sabrina Carpenter as Ginger Rogers is genius
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sept. 25, 1926: Anny Ahlers appearing in the operetta "Lady Hamilton" by Eduard Künneke, premiering in Breslau, Germany.
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Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 25/09/2026
Fred Allen and Guy Kibbee (a story from Fred Allen's Letters). In 1953, two young writers, Ed Simmons and Norman Lear (yes, that one) wrote asking to form a Fred Allen Fan Club. It was meant as a joke and Allen understood it as such. His reply is classic: 1/5
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Henri Matisse @henrimatisse.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Creole Dancer (1950) emerged after Katherine Dunham gave a performance in Matisse's studio. He built the cut-out in a single day, reimagining her Afro-Caribbean movement as leaping shapes of pure colour. He gifted the work to the Musée Matisse in Nice.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 24/09/2026
Never been to the opera before? Now’s your chance. We’re giving away 70,000 free tickets to the @metopera at the iconic Lincoln Center. Go to on.nyc.gov/opera to enter the lottery. There’s not a bad seat in the house.
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Alisha Grauso (She/Her) @alishagrauso.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Hwæt? As an Olde English nerd who once took an entire Beowulf class in the original language, this is dope. As a Shakespeare nerd, I also have to explain to people that Shakespeare is Early Modern English.
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Max Ernst @max-m-ernst.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Set Design for Alfred Jarry, Ubu Enchaîné www.artic.edu/artworks/117397
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Sept. 21, 1926: “Mme. Toa Teje as she appears in the principal part in ‘Our Betters’ by Mr. Somerset Maugham, now the play of the hour in Stockholm.”
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La Femme Merveilleuse Invisible @larwoolf.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Agnès Varda, Portugal, 1956.
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 20/09/2026
ICYMI: The forever funny Julie Klausner (@julieklausner.bsky.social) shared a can't-miss movie pitch with us this week. buff.ly/PSniJtx
buff.ly
Backrooms, but for Introverts
Logline: “A guy not particularly fond of fresh air or crowds enters a nightmare universe full of the kind of outdoor spaces that give introverts panic attacks.”
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tnyfrontrow.bsky.social @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Have been meaning to write for a while about Lena Dunham's remarkable memoir Famesick, which is a treasure trove of keen insights and candid observations—and a grim vision of an independent filmmaker's encounter with big-time TV: www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
newyorker.com
Lena Dunham’s “Famesick” Is a Cautionary Tale of Filmmakers Doing TV
In chronicling the making of “Girls,” Lena Dunham’s memoir reveals the cost of moving from the freedom of independent filmmaking to the corporate demands of television.
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jondmaas.bsky.social @jondmaas.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is fun. In honor of Burt Shevelove's birthday, this is from the 1941 production of Aristophanes’s "Frogs" staged by then-drama student Burt Shevelove in a gym swimming pool at Yale. In 1974 he got Steve Sondheim to write songs for it when he staged it there again with Larry Blyden.
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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
For Greta Garbo's birthday, "The Mysterious Lady" by Ruth Harriet Louise, 1928 🎂 "She is so young, & so sad; she has so many moods, & even when she smiles I always sense a great sadness." - RHL Garbo & Louise were both only 22 years old in 1928
Garbo in fur; she looks to the camera on the side.
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100 years ago news @100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Sept. 16, 1926: A Broadway play titled "Broadway" premieres, propelling the career of co-writer and co-director George Abbott (with Philip Dunning). The comic drama, crisp with wisecracking dialogue and bold in its portrayal of the raffish nightlife demimonde, wows audiences and critics alike.
Lee Tracy questioning Sylvia Field in a scene from "Broadway"The published playAbbott and Dunning
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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
For his birthday, a picture of Jean Renoir with (for some reason) Jean Cocteau & Cab Calloway 🎂 One day I'll put all my "(for some reason)" posts into a visual #NonSequitur thread 🧵
The three, all dressed in suits & ties, pose together
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scaaron 👻 @imaaronrobert.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
rip bob mackie 😭🤍✨
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Howard Sherman @hesherman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Farewell to costume designer Bob Mackie, a designer of spectacular gowns for great divas, but also the creator of perhaps the greatest costume sight gag in history.
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