Post by karina on Oct 5, 2005 13:21:11 GMT -5
This is obviously not news as such, but for those of you who haven't read them before, here are a couple of extracts from interviews Kate gave at Bryn Mawr in 1973 & 1985
March 20, 1973 conversation with Bryn Mawr seniors.
'My attention was divided'
"The studies and the individual professors had an enormous effect on me, because the professors were kind and interested in kids' finding their way. There was Professor James Leuba, who was the head of the psychology department when I was going to major in psychology, and he had a daughter who was interested in dancing, so he was in as bad a spot as my father. He suggested the courses that I take. At that time, I wanted to study medicine but I was really absolutely absent in the head in chemistry; I didn't understand what it was all about because I didn't concentrate. ... Ihad something [acting] I was awfully anxious to do, so my attention was divided.
"Samuel Arthur King taught speech and Greek. He was a hangover from the days of M. Carey Thomas who cared desperately how people sounded, and I think she was right. It is a very sad thing, especially in this country, for people who want to go into the acting field but don't speak English decently. Most of them make an unattractive noise when they open their mouths. I learned here to speak out loud with a certain amount of confidence. Of the plays that I did here, Samuel King supervised certain ones and was an enormous help to me.
"Acting is a funny kind of a career to go into. There's a point at which, if you don't have any luck, you are stuck. ... You are constantly worried about it because you are selling yourself. You are presuming to say: 'I am a fascinating thing.' I think that by necessity it is an unhealthy profession.
"My advice for a kid today about going into the theater? I wouldn't listen to somebody my age or even 20 years younger. When I went into the theater, I would have thought, 'Oh, you poor old thing, you don't know what the hell you are talking about.' Times have changed, and the styles change enormously. It's something you have to feel for yourselves.
"... I had parents who gave me a tremendous amount of confidence and a sort of freedom from fear. They had a great zest and zing for life, some new ideas on things, and a belief in and enthusiasm for what I was doing. ... I was very, very lucky there. But if you don't have that confidence, if you have parents who think you are unattractive and a dithering idiot, and they are sorry they ever had you, you still have to live with yourself. Now in my era, if you did something stupid or wrong, you had to blame yourself. Today you say, "You poor thing, look at your upbringing," and then you blame mama, papa, grandma, it doesn't matter whom you blame. There's one person to blame for whatever you do. Don't look for a scapegoat, go right to yourself-I'm giving you my brilliant philosophy of life-because if you blame yourself, you can change yourself, and you cannot change anybody else unless they love you tremendously."
1985 Bryn Mawr College Centennial Convocation address
'Bryn Mawr was my springboard into adult life'
Whenever I come to Bryn Mawr, I feel rather solemn. I feel that I should express my gratitude to President M. Carey Thomas, who decided that women were worth educating. She was an extraordinary and distinguished woman. She had It and she gave It to this institution. We've all benefited. She was still living in the Deanery when I came here as a student, and she was actually the President of the College when my mother was here at the turn of the century.
Mother's mother died at 34. On her deathbed she said, "Get an education, get the best. Go to Bryn Mawr." Mother did. She was a brilliant student and had a wonderful time. But she also enjoyed smoking. She and some friends used to go to the little cemetery down there on the corner to have a smoke. M. Carey Thomas sent for her-"You know, Miss Houghton-I don't blame you at all for want-ing to smoke, but we are trying to convince people that educating women is going to improve them as women-not make them run wild." Mother was fascinated by M. Carey. The "You can do it" philosophy became her battle cry-she taught it to me.
... I graduated from Bryn Mawr-by the skin of my teeth-as a matter of record. ... My studies-well, how can I describe my state of mind. I was simply flying through the air-life-opportunity-excitement-rattled through my brain and through my frame. The concentration for studying was totally lacking.
At the beginning of my sophomore year, I missed 10 days because of an appendix operation. My marks sank. Dean Helen Taft Manning wrote Dad and suggested that I might do better elsewhere. Dad, a surgeon, wrote back that if he had a patient in the hospital and didn't know what dto o for her, he would not send her home. She agreed to keep me. I stayed and I studied-I pulled myself up by my bootstraps-got on the road and kept going! I finally graduated-the result of real labor-I learned to force myself to keep at it-It was an act of total desperation. Bryn Mawr was my springboard into adult life.
... You can't have it all-you have to make choices-win here, lose there. This is where a woman has a much more difficult life than a man-she has motherhood. What are you going to do about that?
I was brought up and am a product of a gloriously secure and happy home, with my distinguished mother at home. She was doing a lot of work on suffrage and birth control, and liberal causes. She was not being paid, but she was living in an era of plentiful and cheap help. She had a happy life. So did we six kids. So did Dad. She sat on the right of the fireplace. Dad sat on the left. It was home. It was-is the most honorable job. It is the future.
Now here I am-I opted for myself-without children. I didn't feel I could do a great job on the kids if I worked. Right? Wrong? Who can say? But I do know, you just can't have it all. So I chose for myself, and I think I chose correctly.
March 20, 1973 conversation with Bryn Mawr seniors.
'My attention was divided'
"The studies and the individual professors had an enormous effect on me, because the professors were kind and interested in kids' finding their way. There was Professor James Leuba, who was the head of the psychology department when I was going to major in psychology, and he had a daughter who was interested in dancing, so he was in as bad a spot as my father. He suggested the courses that I take. At that time, I wanted to study medicine but I was really absolutely absent in the head in chemistry; I didn't understand what it was all about because I didn't concentrate. ... Ihad something [acting] I was awfully anxious to do, so my attention was divided.
"Samuel Arthur King taught speech and Greek. He was a hangover from the days of M. Carey Thomas who cared desperately how people sounded, and I think she was right. It is a very sad thing, especially in this country, for people who want to go into the acting field but don't speak English decently. Most of them make an unattractive noise when they open their mouths. I learned here to speak out loud with a certain amount of confidence. Of the plays that I did here, Samuel King supervised certain ones and was an enormous help to me.
"Acting is a funny kind of a career to go into. There's a point at which, if you don't have any luck, you are stuck. ... You are constantly worried about it because you are selling yourself. You are presuming to say: 'I am a fascinating thing.' I think that by necessity it is an unhealthy profession.
"My advice for a kid today about going into the theater? I wouldn't listen to somebody my age or even 20 years younger. When I went into the theater, I would have thought, 'Oh, you poor old thing, you don't know what the hell you are talking about.' Times have changed, and the styles change enormously. It's something you have to feel for yourselves.
"... I had parents who gave me a tremendous amount of confidence and a sort of freedom from fear. They had a great zest and zing for life, some new ideas on things, and a belief in and enthusiasm for what I was doing. ... I was very, very lucky there. But if you don't have that confidence, if you have parents who think you are unattractive and a dithering idiot, and they are sorry they ever had you, you still have to live with yourself. Now in my era, if you did something stupid or wrong, you had to blame yourself. Today you say, "You poor thing, look at your upbringing," and then you blame mama, papa, grandma, it doesn't matter whom you blame. There's one person to blame for whatever you do. Don't look for a scapegoat, go right to yourself-I'm giving you my brilliant philosophy of life-because if you blame yourself, you can change yourself, and you cannot change anybody else unless they love you tremendously."
1985 Bryn Mawr College Centennial Convocation address
'Bryn Mawr was my springboard into adult life'
Whenever I come to Bryn Mawr, I feel rather solemn. I feel that I should express my gratitude to President M. Carey Thomas, who decided that women were worth educating. She was an extraordinary and distinguished woman. She had It and she gave It to this institution. We've all benefited. She was still living in the Deanery when I came here as a student, and she was actually the President of the College when my mother was here at the turn of the century.
Mother's mother died at 34. On her deathbed she said, "Get an education, get the best. Go to Bryn Mawr." Mother did. She was a brilliant student and had a wonderful time. But she also enjoyed smoking. She and some friends used to go to the little cemetery down there on the corner to have a smoke. M. Carey Thomas sent for her-"You know, Miss Houghton-I don't blame you at all for want-ing to smoke, but we are trying to convince people that educating women is going to improve them as women-not make them run wild." Mother was fascinated by M. Carey. The "You can do it" philosophy became her battle cry-she taught it to me.
... I graduated from Bryn Mawr-by the skin of my teeth-as a matter of record. ... My studies-well, how can I describe my state of mind. I was simply flying through the air-life-opportunity-excitement-rattled through my brain and through my frame. The concentration for studying was totally lacking.
At the beginning of my sophomore year, I missed 10 days because of an appendix operation. My marks sank. Dean Helen Taft Manning wrote Dad and suggested that I might do better elsewhere. Dad, a surgeon, wrote back that if he had a patient in the hospital and didn't know what dto o for her, he would not send her home. She agreed to keep me. I stayed and I studied-I pulled myself up by my bootstraps-got on the road and kept going! I finally graduated-the result of real labor-I learned to force myself to keep at it-It was an act of total desperation. Bryn Mawr was my springboard into adult life.
... You can't have it all-you have to make choices-win here, lose there. This is where a woman has a much more difficult life than a man-she has motherhood. What are you going to do about that?
I was brought up and am a product of a gloriously secure and happy home, with my distinguished mother at home. She was doing a lot of work on suffrage and birth control, and liberal causes. She was not being paid, but she was living in an era of plentiful and cheap help. She had a happy life. So did we six kids. So did Dad. She sat on the right of the fireplace. Dad sat on the left. It was home. It was-is the most honorable job. It is the future.
Now here I am-I opted for myself-without children. I didn't feel I could do a great job on the kids if I worked. Right? Wrong? Who can say? But I do know, you just can't have it all. So I chose for myself, and I think I chose correctly.