Editorials
533 results
Page 44
The coal baron who wouldn't sell out
Requiem for a coal baron
Most coal barons sell out after a generation or so and retire to Fifth Avenue or Palm Beach, where they'll never have to think about coal again. Ted Leisenring, who died this month, refused to quit. Instead he spent half a century manning the front lines of a titanic human struggle to extract coal from the ground and deliver it to a relentlessly capricious and ungrateful market.
Editorials
7 minute read
The theatergoer who reviewed a "preview'
Crime and punishment
Marshall Ledger was a great editor for many years. But this month he pushed the envelope too far— forcing Philadelphia's no-nonsense theater community to take prompt and decisive action.
Editorials
4 minute read
Meyer Levin's Anne Frank obsession
Who owns Anne Frank?
Meyer Levin's long struggle to stage his own idiosyncratic vision of The Diary of Anne Frank is often portrayed as a fanatical obsession. But to my mind the aggrieved party is not merely Levin but anyone who's curious to sample his take on the Holocaust heroine.
Editorials
8 minute read
Optimists of the world, unite!
The West's debt to the Arabs
At the very least, the events of the past month in the Middle East remind us of a lesson we too often forget: that the past need not dictate the future.
Editorials
4 minute read
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Tina Brown, pro and con
Tina Brown and the limits of hype
Tina Brown, who recently took charge of the moribund Newsweek magazine, has been acclaimed as one of the world's most successful magazine editors. But that depends on how you define success.
Editorials
3 minute read
Why "The King's Speech' worked for me
Commoners, kings and the moment of truth
Anne Fabbri argues that The King's Speech glorifies boring and useless hereditary aristocrats who don't really matter. Oh, but they did, at a critical moment. And it's the sort of moment that could have happened to any of us, commoner or king.
Editorials
5 minute read
The 'Inquirer' contemplates Rendell's TV tantrum
Calling all simpletons, or: The Inquirer discovers Rendell's temper
What would old-timers who remember Mayor Dick Dilworth— both of us— make of the Inquirer's coverage of Ed Rendell's TV temper tantrum? And who at the Inquirer remembers the greatest moment in Philadelphia sports history?
Editorials
4 minute read
Broad Street Review 5th Birthday Party
The arrival of 2011 marks the fifth birthday of Broad Street Review. So it's high time we celebrated. Come to think of it, after five years of virtual relationships, it's high time BSR's readers, writers and editors finally met each other in the flesh.
Editorials
1 minute read
WikiLeaks, secrets and a distant memory
WikiLeaks and the end of privacy: A lesson from a small town in Indiana
To Hilary Clinton, the recent WikiLeaks release of confidential diplomatic cables constituted “an attack on the international community.” But if, like me, you've ever practiced journalism or government in a small town, you're likely to shrug and ask, “What else is new?”
Editorials
5 minute read
Penn Museum's '40 Winks With the Sphinx'
Let's spend the night together… with a mummy
Just when you thought museums had lost their mojo, marketing geniuses have come up with an inspired idea: a real-life “Night at the Museum.” For a six-year-old to have the run of a huge and famous museum for hours on end is a truly unique and memorable experience, even if you don't get much sleep.
Editorials
4 minute read