Wednesday, May 21, 2008

American Studies


When I heard that stage and film director Elia Kazan, the man who mounted A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, was called "Gadg" by most of the people who knew him, I assumed this was some sort of ethnic family nickname. After all, he was born Elia Kazanjoglou in the suburbs of Istanbul, and "Gadg" sounds sort of Mediterranean, doesn't it?

But David Thomson informs me that "Gadg" was simply short for "Gadget." How pedestrian.

6 comments:

Pike said...

Kazan used to live next to my sister and tried to peep in every chance he got.

Tom Nawrocki said...

Did she call him "Gadg"?

Pike said...

She eventually called the police.

(Retardedly, she told me about all this and mentioned his name. I said, "Kazan?" And she said, "Yes! Do you know him?")

Tom Nawrocki said...

I am strongly in favor of any comments that use the word "retardedly."

Pike said...

I started right off with it! Never bury "retardedly."

Tom Nawrocki said...

You put it in a parenthetical! It's time for "retardedly" to stand out in the light on its own.