What to Say to Wonderful, Worrisome Woody
What to Say to Wonderful, Worrisome Woody by Roxanne McDonald
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The intellectual comic of renown braves the public, but how do we brave meeting him? |
Woody Allen is world renown. No shit. In some parts of the globe he is most fondly recognized for his musical talents, taking as he does his New Orleans Jazz Band to regular Monday night sets at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan and to concerts around the world (such as to the Vienne Jazz Festival)—to sold-out venues.
In other, or most, parts, Woody is known for his hyper-comedies (Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex…), his satires (Deconstructing Harry), his mocumentaries (Sweet and Lowdown), and his dramas deep and compelling (Interiors).
He is also, of course, known for his scandalous marriage to adopted daughter Sun Yi.
But for a select pocket of the universe, Woody Allen is respected and appreciated for his intellectual prowess. In a number of his comic dramas and straight-up comedies, the running existential concepts, thoughts, dialogues, and running voiceover commentaries make for unparalleled entertainment.
In the late seventies, my friend and fellow philosophy classmate was to attend a party where Woody Allen would be a guest. As she and I were Sartre- and Kierkegaard-obsessed at the time, it was her intention to ask Woody a relevant existential question. The trick for her was, she fretted, not to ask an inane Hollywood/ stalker fan question, not to impose upon the great man a groupie query, not to say anything the sour the genius who was already burdened by the trappings and tethers of celebrity.
If you didn’t want to end up being caricaturized in his next film, as the idiots in the movie line in Stardust Memories or as the pesky followers who add to his frustrations with existence in Wild Man Blues or didn’t want to end up with a pic with Woody and yourself where clearly Woody is anything but comfortable posing with fans [or, in the case of this picture, a collector of celebrity photos], what would you ask?
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