Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Arthur Rubinstein plays Chopin’s A Flat Polonaise, Op. 53, on Producers’ Showcase: Festival of Music. He is introduced by Charles Laughton. The director was Kirk Browning. This performance was originally telecast by NBC on January 30, 1956:
(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
“In the days before machinery men and women who wanted to amuse themselves were compelled, in their humble way, to be artists. Now they sit still and permit professionals to entertain them by the aid of machinery. It is difficult to believe that general artistic culture can flourish in this atmosphere of passivity.”
Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception