Talk:Zero Mostel

message: The claim Mostel did not want to do the part of Pseudolus at first is questionable.  It is a story his wife told, and may be self-serving.  According to those who wrote the show, he was thrilled when he got the part, a grabbed it when it was offered.  This makes sense, since it was a chance to make big money for the first time in years.  He was not regularly offered major roles with large salaries until after he played this part.
:Of course he was thrilled about the money, especially coming out of his blacklist years, but his wife’s account is consistent with Mostel’s behavior during that time – having done plays like Ulysses In Nighttown and being compared to Olivier, and having been offered roles in classic theatrical productions, he felt that light comedy was beneath him and ranted about it to his friends and family. The same happened with The Producers. Of course, it is possible that his protestation was no more than lip-tax to ease his conscience and appease his friends, who saw him as a wasted talent; it’s hard to say.  During the 70’s things have changed, and he did begin to take any role that carried with it a good pay. This almost ruined his career. 
Ron g 16:41, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum

message: his biography at IMDB says Mostel referred to fox as 19th century fox. But this article says 18th. Which one is correct?~ Feureau E.S.P. 00:01, 29 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: He said 18th. The committee objected to his "mocking a great American institution", at which point Mostel (probably anticipating this) said they should compromise on 19th. Ron g 12:44, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Eighteenth Century Fox?

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thread_title: Fair use rationale for File:Mostel producers.jpg

message: :File:Mostel producers.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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thread_title: Fair use rationale for File:Mostel producers.jpg

message: What is the source of the statement that Mostel attempted "serious operatic acting" when he appeared in The Beggar's Opera? The article on The Beggar's Opera characterizes it as "a satiric play using some of the conventions of opera, but without the recitative." My understanding is that contemporary productions are presented more in the style of a musical theatre, requiring neither an operatic singing style nor the rather formalized acting style usually seen in opera. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 07:12, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Beggar's Opera

message: The article says that Mostel appeared in a "series" called The World of Sholem Aleichem on PBS in 1959. The PBS article says that it's operations began in 1969. IMDB.com says that The World of Sholem Aleichem was a single episode of The Play of the Week that ran in 1959 and doesn't mention the network it appeared on. I changed the sentence. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 07:39, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: PBS in 1959?

message: Under College and early comic routines is says that he and his first wife, Clara Sverd "separated in 1941 and divorced in 1945."  However, under Rise it states that he married Kate Harkin on July 2, 1944, the year before it says he was divorced. -- Kokopelli Jones
: Good catch! They divorced in 1944 so that Mostel could marry Kate. Clara was reluctant and only agreed to the divorce in return to a percentage of Mostel's earnings for the rest of his life. Ron g (talk) 12:33, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Inconsistency in dates of marriages and divorce

message: If anyone's life merits the incorporation of anecdotes, Zero is the man. Please do not remove anecdotage. Larvatus (talk) 19:09, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Anecdotade

message: I think the problem is the how "blacklist" is defined. There seems to be different ways, according who had the power to effect someone's career:
:According to Arthur Sainer, "MGM blacklisted Zero Mostel way before the days of the blacklist. Again Zero is ahead of his time." (p. 77) Philip Loeb, according to Sainer (p. 88) was "driven to suicide in 1948 by the blacklist." And Sainer writes on p. 103, ". . . there was to be no movement against Louis B. Mayer's edict until Elia Kazan hires Zero for Panic in the Streets, a movie that was shot in 1949 . . . Kazan is credited with first breaking the blacklist against the Comrade . . ." 
I think we should restore the material, however a definition of "blacklist" can be added to clarify. For at least real world practical purposes, Mostel was clearly on a "blacklist." --Wikiwatcher1 (talk) 21:11, 1 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Defining "blacklist" period

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thread_title: File:Zero-mostel.jpg Nominated for Deletion

message: I edited the statement that Mostel had appeared "on stage AND ON SCREEN in 'Fiddler on the Roof.'" As the article makes very clear, he was passed over for the screen version of Fiddler in favor of Chaim Topol. PurpleChez (talk) 20:23, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Intro paragraph 

message: I've been editing the article to remove factually dubious and incorrect material, using as my source the Mostel biography by Jared Brown, which is well documented and I think pretty definitive. In particular I removed a lengthy section purporting to describe Mostel's testimony before HUAC. That account was not only contradicted by Jared Brown's biography but by the transcript of the testimony itself, which I happen to have. I didn't cite it, as it is a primary source, but I can if anyone wants. Figureofnine (talk • contribs)  21:48, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Factually dubious material

message: It's absurd to link the 1961 film to an article about the play. Even though I've often rocognized, that the average wikipedia user can't tell a film from a text. --141.15.33.1 (talk) 13:25, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I fixed it. You can too, if you want to be constructive instead of snarky. Figureofnine (talk • contribs)  22:38, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Waiting for Godot 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: We have two origins, possibly three, for the name "Zero":his mother, the proprietor of the Café Society, and the café's press agent. The last two descriptions may be consistent and both true, and that's how I've merged them in § "Early comic routines". It's even possible that the agent and/or the proprietor knew of the childhood nickname, but there's no indication pro or con here. So the article now gives two origins: mother in § "Early life", and the Café people in § "Early comic routines" (the first subsection of Career). -- Thnidu (talk) 21:13, 31 December 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  the name Zero 

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thread_title:  External links modified