He knows so much about them and their kids, and has such a charming manner, that everyone believes him implicitly. Paul gains entry to their parents' homes by appearing at their doors with a stab wound and claiming to have been mugged in Central Park he says that he came to them for help because he knew their kids at prep school.
The script is like a Shakespearean play in that the characters recite long monologues about weighty subjects, and the protagonist, Paul-a young and handsome black street hustler who cons, or bewitches, everyone he meets-enchants his marks with a long, and surprisingly incisive critique of Catcher in the Rye, which was on everyone's must-read list at the time.Īrmed with all this information, and dressed in a preppy outfit, Paul sets out to con three marks: an art dealer, a foundation manager, and a doctor-all parents of Trent's friends.
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION MONOLOGUE MOVIE
In 1993, Guare morphed his play into that rarest of all things: a movie for unabashed intellectuals-for people who love words and ideas, who talk about books and visit art museums, who know both Shakespeare and Catcher in the Rye, or at least know about them. In 1990, American playwright John Guare wrote a play to explore the connections between humans which he called Six Degrees of Separation. It was enormously popular on Broadway, having a run of 485 performances, and it was nominated for both a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play. Karinthy illustrated his theory in a short story in 1929.
Whether or not this theory can be proven literally, it was an early declaration that all human beings are connected, all part of a network, and that idea has become ever more popular in both science and literature. So, somehow, you are connected with Donald Trump, and Barack Obama, and a poor woman in Africa who has never slept in a bed, and a person in Rio undergoing chemo.
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION MONOLOGUE PLUS
If you add all the people they know (fourth degree), plus all the people they know (fifth degree), plus all the people they know, you come to the sixth degree of separation, where theoretically the network includes everyone on the planet. Hence, my One Degree Of Separation from Barbra Streisand, Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier and Walter Pidgeon, who appeared in both "Funny Girl" and Forbidden Planet.For instance, you are connected to your father (first degree) consider everyone he knows (second degree), and everyone they know (third degree). In the same cafe in the same setting under the same circumstances I had a similar lunch with Anne Francis, who, when she left Edmonton to return to California insisted that I take all her kitchen supplies to my apartment.Īnne Francis was a co-star in "Funny Girl," "Blackboard Jungle" and "Forbidden Planet." So there's my One Degree of Separation from Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. She was warm and charming and funny and we talked about that famous scene, among many other things. So.I had a long and delightful lunch in, of all places, Edmonton, with Carroll Baker some years ago when she was finishing a run of a play at the Stage West Dinner Theatre and I had just arrived for rehearsals for our 4-month run of "Tribute." Her scene with James Dean in the empty restaurant is still considered an actor's workshop and there are many famous stories about what went on behind the cameras. Starring as Luz Benedict II was Carroll Baker. How's that for a list of actors and movies in one year?
Now, because of my years in broadcasting, I have already met some very interesting folk:Īnd 1001 MP's, MLA's, social workers, mothers, doctors, lawyers and Indian Chiefs Drug addicts, murderers, scoundrels and saints. This is the mindless, time-wasting and way fun game of thinking how close you've come to serious celebrity. Of late, I've been playing a lot of Six Degrees of Separation. I've read my customary quota of newspapers.
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