Dear Mr. Boylan:
It would not be accurate to characterize Mount Vernon, Monticello, or
Louisiana plantation homes as merely an historical "experience."  I
understand what you mean by that, however, these are actual homes with
genuine artifacts in them.  They are part of real history.  By visiting one
of these places, you will definitely get a feel of what it was like to live
in the featured time period of the property, and a better appreciation of
history and historical contexts.  Mere "experiences" (something more fun
focused than anything else in my opinion) include Disneyland, the
Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii, and the like.

----------
From:   Boylan P[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Saturday, August 09, 1997 3:43 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: W.H. Auden/thanks + NEW TOPIC? MUSEUMS & FICTION

Only to add that Corin Redgrave's 70 seconds speaking Auden's verse at
in the "funeral" episode of "4 W & a F" totally transformed overnight
the (declining) market fortunes of Auden (or more accurately his
literary executors and his publishers), and pushed him back into the
poetry best seller list (at least in the UK) for the first time since his
"obituary boom".

Perhaps there's a museum lesson here?  Certainly in Britain at least a
number of museums have over the years exploited very successfully in
their marketing the use of their building or site as film or TX drama
locations (going back to the Exeter Maritime Museum and the 19th century
"marine soap" "The Onedin Line".  There have even been UK attempts to
build completely new real or fake tourism and museum "experiences" on
popular novels or TV drama series (e.g. the "Cadfael" medieval
monk/detective at Hereford, "Catherine Cookson Country" and "James Herriot
Country" in north-east England), though Peterhouse, Cambridge, still seems
a bit sniffy about suggestions that it should develop a "Porterhouse Blues
Experience" - perhaps that's a bit too close to real life in a Cambridge
College!!

Is this just a British experience? (I am not talking about exploiting
genuine historic people, events or "experiences" like Mount Vernon,
Montebello etc. or even e.g. the Plantaition Houses on Louisiana.)

Patrick Boylan

===============================================

On Fri, 8 Aug 1997 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> Okay, I was close... It's "Four Weddings and a Funeral," not three, and
it's
> Auden, not Eliot. Well, it's the thought that counts...
>
> The prize goes to Richard Gerrard, who sent the reference ( W.H. Auden,
Funeral Blues, From Four Cabaret Songs for Miss Hedli Anderson), the poem
itself, and the web site URL.

> Who can ask for more? Thanks to one and all.
>
> -------------------------------------
> amalyah keshet
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> date: 08/08/97
> -------------------------------------
>