Where St Trinian's meets Katherine Hepburn thanks to Heathcliff

Gordon Brown's contribution to the Brontë intertextuality in the British media is truly remarkable. Being the madwoman in the attic, Rochester, St John Rivers or Heathcliff was not enough. Now The Independent describes the recent events at Number 10 like this:

Poor Mr Brown, and his life has now become even harder. Two of his principal advisers, Peter Mandelson and Shaun Woodward, have taken to hissing at each other like a pair of alley cats. What a subject for a West End farce. Is it "St Trinian's comes to Wuthering Heights"? Or should it be "Goneril and Regan fall out over Lear"? There is also Kingsley Amis's black comedy, "Ending Up": appropriate for Mr Brown's final decomposing months. It is a theme which could enthral a college of comedians. It is no way to run a government. (Bruce Robinson)

Playbill presents Katharine Hepburn: In Her Own Files, an exhibition of memorabilia at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (June 10-October 10, 2009). It includes a couple of items related to her tour performance of Jane Eyre in 1936-37:

Hepburn's association with the Theatre Guild, co-founded by Lawrence Langner, Theresa Helburn and Armina Marshall, began in the late '20s. In 1936-37, she toured in the Guild production of Jane Eyre, represented in the exhibition by two striking Vandamm Studio images. One of the banners hanging from the ceiling shows Hepburn in costume as the title character and the other pictures the star decidedly out of costume, sitting cross-legged on the floor of the stage set with the play's crew — in her usual trousers, cigarette in hand. The play had a successful tour but Hepburn didn't think it was the right vehicle for her return to the New York stage. (Judy Samelson)

A very complete set of pictures of the production can be found here.
Picture source: Katharine Hepburn in the title role in Jane Eyre (1937). Photograph by Vandamm Studio. Billy Rose Theatre Division.

The San Francisco Decider recommends today's screening of Wuthering Heights 1939 at the Castro Theatre (see sidebar):

Journeyman Hollywood director William Wyler tried his hand at just about every genre during his lengthy career, including the kind of literary adaptation that played into his 1939 film Wuthering Heights. The story draws on the novel by Emily Brontë, and the definitive film version of the book also proves notable for its hauntingly expressive cinematography by Gregg Toland, who also shot Citizen Kane but took home his only Oscar for his work here. Wuthering Heights screens alongside Sam Wood's Goodbye, Mr. Chips as part of the Castro's 1939: The Golden Year Of Cinema series.

The Examiner talks about Katie Wennick, author of the short story that won a $30,000 scholarship from romance writer Nora Roberts's Foundation:

Asked through her publicist about Wennick's story, Roberts wrote in an e-mail:
"Katie's strong and creative use of language really made her story stand out. She brought the narrator and the narrator's thoughts and feelings into sharp relief by her specific and deliberate word choices.
"She used words to paint a vivid picture that drove the story forward, gave it emotion and brought it to life. I found her voice and style remarkably mature and engaging."
As a reader, Wennick said she likes many types of books, including classics such as "Jane Eyre" and "Oliver Twist." (Andrew Schotz)

Bookslut publishes an article about the Twilight phenomenon. The compulsory Wuthering Heights mention is quite trivial in this case:

She complains about the weather and hates snow, and has apparently already read every book ever. She consigns to read Wuthering Heights again because it's "okay," she guesses. (Jessica Ferri)

Hello, my name is Alice interviews the author Karen E. Olson:

What are your 10 favourite books (fiction and non-fiction), and why?
2. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (who can resist Catherine and Heathcliff? Twilight’s got nothing on this)

Los libros de Teresa posts about Wuthering Heights (in Spanish), FilmFanatic reviews Wuthering Heights 1970 and the Brussels Brontë Group informs of a recent meeting of its Dutch branch in Leiden.

Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights