Behind the Scenes of the Tennessee Williams Festival: Celebrating 10 Years of Drama and Delight!

Arnold00:00:00

Many of Tennessee Williams. Tennessee Williams has a St. Louis connection and that connection also extends to a festival called the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis.And back in 2014, with a grant, the guest we're going to talk to today had a festival presentation and there was so much acclaim and so much excitement. That festival has continued where they are celebrating their 10th anniversary today.And literally thousands and thousands of people attend the activities, the panel discussions, the concerts, the exhibitions, the productions and playwright contests that make up the annual event. And it is one of the premier Tennessee Williams festivals in the United states. More on St. Louis in Tune.Welcome to St. Louis in Tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Mark who has been on assignment. Mark, welcome back.

Mark00:01:12

It's good to be back. It really is. It's nice to be back in the saddle again.

Arnold00:01:15

Back in the saddle. The studio is nice and cool on a very hot and humid day here in St. Louis.

Mark00:01:20

Not kidding, folks.

Arnold00:01:21

We're glad that you joined us today. We want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, for their support of the show.You can listen to previous show stlintune.com, please help us continue to grow by leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcast or your preferred podcast platform. We're going to move right directly to our guest because she's very, very busy. This is the onset, folks, of the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis.They've had, I believe, one activity and I'll let her talk about that past activity. But Carrie Houk, who's founder and executive artistic director, the Tennessee Williams Festivals on the line.Carrie, welcome back to St. Louis in Tune.

Carrie00:01:57

Thank you for having me, Arnold. I'm really happy to be here.

Arnold00:02:00

Now you've just got done with the pool party, I guess a couple.

Carrie00:02:07

We'Ve ticked off a couple of events already this summer. Yeah, the pool party has become rather iconic, maybe notorious. Always fun and it was really a marvelous, successful event.We have it at a mansion, usually somewhere lovely in our beautiful city of St. Louis.And you know, it's when a lot of our strong supporters show up and show out to help us raise some extra money to bring you all the best possible productions we can.

Arnold00:02:40

Now I want to let our listeners know, twstl.org, twstl.org that's the website you've got coming up, the Missouri History Museum Thursday night event. And that's A collaborative thing where Tom Mitchell, Tom's been on the show before talking. He's the festival scholar.He's going to be talking about your premier performance, Streetcar Named Desire.

Carrie00:03:03

Yes.The evening at the Missouri History Museum is based on Streetcar and we're collaborating with Opera Theater of St. Louis on that because you may not know this yet, but it has been announced finally that Opera Theatre will be doing the Andre Previn version of A Streetcar Named Desire next June as part of their festival, their season. I love Opera Theatre of St. Louis. I think it's one of the anchors of our cultural landscape.It's been really fun collaborating with them on this Streetcar celebration. They're also going to be co oping with us on our tribute performance of Tennessee Williams during the festival.

Arnold00:03:46

Now I wanted to mention. Yeah, yeah, Carrie, tell us about. You've got the. The actual performance.The production is August 7th through 17th, Thursday to Saturday at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3 3pm Talk a little bit about getting that show together. I know previously in the history of the festival you wanted to get that, but now you're able to. You did it once before, but you're doing it.

Carrie00:04:09

We did it once before, but. Exactly.We weren't even allowed to do it the first couple of years of the festival, which when you talked about 2014, wasn't the Tennessee Williams Festival.That was a standalone production that I produced, Stairs to the Roof with that grant from the Regional Arts Commission which I was so grateful for and I continue to be grateful to them, that was such a success that the festival was born out of that event.So initially in 2016, when we did our first festival, because we were rather unproven, I couldn't get the headline titles that I wanted right off the bat. So did Marvelous One Acts and some of the lesser known Williams plays.But by year three, I did get the licensing for A Streetcar Named Desire and that was in 2018 and it was really probably our most successful production to date. That one was directed by Tim Osell, who's a repeat director at our festival. It was a beautiful production. We won a slew of awards for it.But I thought, I don't. I'm not ready to start repeating titles.But because this is a celebratory year and this is the production, Williams fans request that we reproduce it, but not reproduce it. It is going to be seen through an entirely different lens. New director, new cast.We do have a couple of repeat cast members, Isaiah DiLorenzo and David Wasilek, who played their roles previously, but it's really a new direction for the way we look at this play, which is William's most beautiful.

Arnold00:05:54

I think some of the things that you have set up anchored around the production. I'm just going to read a couple of these things and then I'd like for you to comment on them.I think one of my favorites is the Stella shouting contest.

Carrie00:06:09

We haven't done that in a while.

Mark00:06:11

What is that?

Arnold00:06:12

Are they comparing that with the Marlon Brand shout?

Carrie00:06:15

Yeah, but just more the character of Stanley Kowalski because there is the iconic scene where he's shouting up to his his wife Stella to please return home after an incident following a poker game. And it is the iconic scene of the play.And it's a fun event that we're doing the first Friday of the festival at 5:30pm Outside of our venue, the Grandel Theater in the courtyard there. There is a sign up@TWSTL.org or you can show up at 5 and literally sign up on the spot. Both men and women are allowed to participate.We're going to have Estella there. We're going to have a Stanley there. It's always fun. And their prizes and it's just a nice sort of kickoff for our first weekend.

Arnold00:07:05

Are you looking for the intensity, not necessarily volume, but the fervor in which the name is called?

Carrie00:07:13

Exactly.

Arnold00:07:14

Another favorite thing you have. You're having Austin Pendleton in Austin is coming in.

Carrie00:07:20

Yes, we're doing a conversation with Austin Pendleton based on his life in the theater. But for those of you who are familiar with Austin, he's had a very stel film career as well, which will be addressed.He's an acclaimed actor, director and is just such an important human being in the world of theater in the United States of America. And we're just so honored that Dennis Brown will be doing a one on one with him interview on our first Saturday, August 9th at 2pm and then.

Arnold00:07:57

That next day at the Grandell. Yeah. At the Grand Dell. Then the next day you're headed with Tom to do a central West End walking tour and that starts at the Link Auditorium.That's fun too.

Carrie00:08:08

Oh, this is our most popular of the tours that we've done. We've done the citywide tour, we've done a Grand center tour, the West End tour. We are doing a second time. There will be additions to it.And I love this tour because there is so much history in the Central West End with the Williams in Tennessee and the Williams family. It's where they moved initially when they came to St. Louis to the corner of Westminster and Walton Rowell.And for those of you who remember 20, I'm trying to remember my years here. I think it was 20, 21 that we produced the outdoor version of the Glass Menagerie off the back of that very historic Tennessee Williams building.And we used the original fire escapes as part of our stage and build a stage off of the back of the building. We weren't allowed to perform indoors yet because of the pandemic.So we made the best of it and really created maybe one of my favorite things that we have accomplished during the 10 years.

Arnold00:09:13

It was great. Mark and I were there for Realistic. Yeah, it was wonderful. Carrie.

Carrie00:09:16

Almost surrealistic, really.

Mark00:09:19

I don't remember it being during the pandemic.

Carrie00:09:21

I thought, oh, yeah, we had to space the chairs like three feet apart. I don't think you would forget, Arnold, that we made the audience in this blistering. He put masks on. It was part of the deal with Actors Equity.And the actors were cocooned for their lodging. A few of them were from out of town in the building where the Williams, which are now luxury, wonderful Airbnb apartments.And I'm going to give a shout out to Hu Mei Yong, who owns the building because I boldly asked her if we could use it as our venue that year. And I never thought she'd say yes. And she did. She is now on our board. We now always lodge our actors there when they come to town.In fact, three of them are there as we speak in their swanky apartments where the Williams lives.And then at the Link Auditorium, we we've converted their second floor, which is a beautiful space, into our rehearsal hall, which we've done twice prior. And we just love being in the neighborhood with all of the Tennessee Williams history. The Link is where his.The first theater company he was involved with, the Mummers, produced plays. And it's where they produced his first full length play, Candles to the Sun.Yeah, the walking tour is great and Tom does such a fantastic job producing pieces from some of the plays as we go and just, you know, he knows so much intricate history and detail. But it's all highly entertaining. As we walk through the West End. And we do it early enough in the morning. It's at 9am so it's not too hot.We bear that in mind.

Arnold00:11:04

I passed through a scholars panel that is August 9th. You and Tom are involved with that and there's some of that. Scholars panel three, panel nine, 10 and 11. Right. Yeah.

Carrie00:11:15

It's really become almost the Scholars Conference. And every year we get More and more fans for it. It's a fabulous morning. It really is.And most of the people who come to the first panel stay for all three. And we do have a package price. If you do come to all three, it's a little bit more economical than just dropping in and out of one.So they're always interesting. Our scholars who are coming in this year are the best in the country and both locally and nationally. And yeah, it's honestly a really important.

Arnold00:11:49

Part of our festival, I guess, kind of a link with opera theater. You're doing a special tribute performance of streetcar on Sunday, August 10th at 7pm at the Grand L. Yes.

Carrie00:12:02

And it's not. It's a tribute to the play, but it's not. The play is. It's Thomas Keith who so fabulously curates these tributes.He does this in New Orleans every year as well at their festival. He selects pieces from William's body of work that will address the play, salute the play. It might be a letter he wrote about the play.It might be an essay on the play, it might be a cutting from a previous version of the play.So in fact, we're including at our Missouri history event two of our actors from Streetcar, Beth Bartley and Issa Benary will be reading a scene from the early version of Streetcar called Interior Panic, which is really fascinating. Really fascinating. And they're both fabulous actors. And you'll get a little sneak preview of who they are. And that's just a week from today.Yeah, Thursday the 31st. It's all happening so fast.

Arnold00:13:05

I want to give you some kudos because when you look back after 10 years, I can imagine that you never thought you would be in the place that you're in today. But honestly, this is. There are several other Tennessee Williams festivals and you can name them off much more readily than I can.I know one's down in New Orleans, I believe, but just the effort and the quality and the just veracity of the things that you have done. And this year is just stunning with all of the activities that you have planned. And you see how people love this just by.It expands every year and it has become. It's become a staple of what happens in the summertime here in St. Louis. Carrie. So congratulations to you.

Carrie00:13:51

Thank you, Arnold. I appreciate it. We're only a two person staff and it looks like something much bigger than you would think we would be capable of.And it's funny, in my program notes refer to the fact. Has this all been an illusion. It's almost like pulling a Rabbit out of a hat. But we do it. We soldier on.And we have an amazing support team who we hire for the season. And I'm just so lucky that we have such talented people, support people here in St. Louis, theater artists who really care about excellence.And I really have strived for quality. We're not doing it just to say we're doing it. We really want to bring the audience something special that will always be remembered.

Arnold00:14:37

I think what you've done with the festival has been. I don't want to say this. It's not in a bad way. It is meant in the best way I could make it.It is the culmination of your professional life as an actor and as a casting director and producer and a teacher. Because it is like all of those things now that you have done it is what you do.And you're able to find the people that can do the things that they need to do that they do well. And you are actually just directing this whole thing. It's amazing, Carol, because a two person staff is crazy. That's crazy.

Carrie00:15:09

Yeah.

Mark00:15:09

I can't believe it.

Carrie00:15:10

I know.

Mark00:15:11

I realize that that's amazing.

Carrie00:15:13

Gosh, this compliment really is going to go a long way. Arnold, thank you so much.When I was a kid, before I knew I wanted to be in the theater, because this really predates my first experience, experience with theater, which was at the Muny at a pretty young age, 7. But prior to that, I was fascinated with classical music.And because of my dad's influence there, that's the only music we really were allowed to play in the house. I was exposed to it quite young, and I studied piano at the St. Louis Institute of Music, which is no longer.But it was quite a marvelous place to be introduced to classical music. But my point is, I wanted to be not a famous pianist or composer. I wanted to be a conductor.You are, in a way, I feel like I'm the head of an orchestra right now.

Arnold00:16:01

You are. That's a great analogy. It's a very accurate analogy.

Carrie00:16:04

I should have put that in my program notes because really, I look back and that was my first aspiration in life.

Arnold00:16:12

Conductor, you have done a marvelous job and congratulations on 10 years and looking forward to 10 and the continued rich, great performances that The Tennessee Williams St. Louis Festival produces each year.And I know that your time's valuable and I know you have a rehearsal to go to again, Carrie, thank you very much for taking time to talk with us and we're going to post all this on the podcast.

Carrie00:16:36

Yeah, okay. Good. I just want to wrap this up by saying how grateful I am to people like you and just the amount of support we've gotten.We did a fabulous event at the new library headquarters on Lindbergh with the St. Louis County Library, and that kicked off the season that was last week. And just our board and our donors and our funding organizations, the Regional Arts Commission, the Missouri Arts Council, Whitaker Trio.It's just we could not do this without the team again. It's a lot of heavy lifting, but there's a lot of joy involved as well, and we hope to bring that to all of you two weeks from today.

Arnold00:17:17

Yeah, we look forward to seeing that.

Mark00:17:19

Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:17:20

Carrie, thanks for coming on the show today.

Carrie00:17:22

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

Arnold00:17:25

Take care.

Carrie00:17:26

Have a great day. Stay cool, man.

Arnold00:17:33

Mark, can you think of any other group like that, two people working in the office to pull off these spectacular kinds of things that happen with this.

Mark00:17:43

Festival in that dedication, pure dedication to.

Arnold00:17:46

What you're doing and focus and knowing strengths and weaknesses and finding those people that can. That have those. The real professional high end kind of abilities to do the. Some of the things they do.

Mark00:17:59

Now. I disagree with her on one thing.

Arnold00:18:01

What's that?

Mark00:18:02

I wish she would redo some of these again because as much as I appreciate what she says, she wants to keep it fresh and new all the time. But there's a couple of plays that I'd like to see again in 10 years. She could start doing them again. I don't mean to be sound critical at all.I just wish she would consider that. I think she's starting about. She's talking about maybe doing it soon. Like Streetcar. The Streetcar by Design. That would be a great one.And when we went to that in 2021.

Arnold00:18:33

Our glass menagerie. Yeah.

Mark00:18:35

Was it? Yeah. That was amazing.

Arnold00:18:37

Yeah, it was. And on the side of the building. It was such a unbelievable kind of setting.

Mark00:18:43

Do that again. There's a lot of people in St. Louis that would love to see it that hadn't seen it.

Arnold00:18:47

Yes, you could.

Mark00:18:48

You certainly get.

Arnold00:18:49

And that was the place and I'd.

Mark00:18:50

Like to see it again. Oh, it was. It was really something. She. She is doing some great things.

Arnold00:18:55

There she is.I want to repeat kind of the schedule and folks will post this on the podcast page stlintune.com the It's Thursday, July 31st at the Missouri History Museum. It's the Thursday night event and then the performances of streetcar Name Desire, August 7th through the 17th at the Grandel Theater.That's Thursday to Saturday at 7:30pm Sunday at 3pm The Stella Shouting Contest Friday, August 8th. That's 5:30. The Scholars Panel is Saturday, August 9th. That's at 9, 10 and 11am Also August 9th at 2pm Austin Pendleton A Life in the Theater.August 10th. A Central West End walking tour led by Tom Mitchell.That's Sunday, August 10th at 9:00pm Then also Sunday, August 10th at 7:00pm is the Tennessee Williams tribute performance Streetcar and Beyond.If you need more information, please go to twstl.org twstl.org Carrie Hawk's just a full wonderful addition to the and she's, she always has been but what she's been doing with the festival has been a real mission to the Arts in St. Louis. She mentioned Opera Theater. St. Louis, which just celebrated marked their 50th anniversary. And now we have the Tennessee Williams Festival. St. Louis.Ten years. Just some great kinds of things happening in the arts in St. Louis that you need to take advantage of and.

Mark00:20:21

Go these, these productions and put together by two people.

Arnold00:20:26

Crazy. That's two. Unbelievable.

Mark00:20:28

Oh yeah.

Arnold00:20:28

Unbelievable.

Mark00:20:29

Hope nobody gets sick. Two I can't come into work today. That's gonna mess it all up.

Arnold00:20:35

We'll have to postpone the festival.

Mark00:20:36

I know. Wow. I know. I mean, yeah. I mean, yeah. It's a, it's amazing. With their contributions to the arts is crazy. It's wonderful.

Arnold00:20:44

Yes. And the fact that this festival is now is a premier festival in the United States.

Mark00:20:49

Yeah.

Arnold00:20:50

For Tennessee Williams.

Mark00:20:51

Yeah.

Arnold00:20:52

People come from all over. They were on the front page. I think it was the front page of the New York Times.

Mark00:20:56

Unbelievable.

Arnold00:20:57

That's crazy.

Mark00:20:58

It is. It is good for them.

Arnold00:21:00

All right.

Mark00:21:00

So proud of them.

Arnold00:21:01

Go see it folks. Twstl.org twstl.org we're going to take a brief break and we'll be right back. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis to tune.Don't go away. As strange as it may sound, at Better Rate Mortgage. We love talking to people about mortgages. Everyone in St. Louis promises a better mortgage rate.But what you really need to turn that perfect house into your dream home is a better mortgage. At Better rate mortgage we open the door to so much more. So where are you in the home buying process?Researching, maybe wondering how much you can afford or house hunting? Get a pre approval from Better Rate Mortgage Ready to buy. Our team is ready to make your mortgage process fast and easy.Whether you're purchasing your first home or taking cash out to make your dream home even dreamier. Our door is open. Come on in and get started. Today we'll show you how.Call Sean directly at 314-375-3293 or online@betterratemortgage.com Remember, at Better Rate Mortgage, a better rate is just the beginning.Betterratemortgage.com and MLS ID2400 355 in equal housing lender this is Arnold Stricker of St. Louis in tune on behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation. In 1857, the Dred Scott decision was a major legal event and catalyst that contributed to the Civil War.The decision declared that Dred Scott could not be free because he was not a citizen.The 14th Amendment, also called the Dred Scott Amendment, granted citizenship to all born or naturalized here in our country and was intended to overturn the Union supreme court decision on July 9, 1868.The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dred ScottLives.org and click on the Dred Scott petition drive on the right side of the page.On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Strichter of St. Louis Intune. Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston. We just had a great conversation with Carrie Hauck.She is the founder and executive artistic director of the Tennessee Williams Festival, St. Louis. Mark, some interesting information.Twstl.org wstl.org you probably know this and I think people who live in St. Louis know this, that Tennessee Williams is actually buried in St. Louis. Yes, he is buried in, I believe it's Calvary Cemetery.

Mark00:23:54

Is it Calvary?

Arnold00:23:55

I'm looking at it right here. Where are we at?

Mark00:23:58

Yes, it is Calvary.

Arnold00:23:59

Calvary.

Mark00:23:59

Yes, it is Calvary.

Arnold00:24:00

And something. This is what I wanted to talk about because this goes along with coming to the festival things. It's interesting what people put on their tombstones.

Mark00:24:11

Better here than in Philadelphia. Is that what BC Fields has on us?

Arnold00:24:14

Is that what he has on this?

Mark00:24:15

I think, yeah.

Arnold00:24:16

Oh yeah.

Mark00:24:16

Interesting always comes to mind.

Arnold00:24:17

Yeah. I worked in a cemetery one summer and did you? Trimmed around headstones.

Mark00:24:21

Oh my.

Arnold00:24:22

Oh, it did the math. How old was this person? And wow, look at that. Let's see what the reading is there.So anyway, Williams quotes from one of his plays and he write this is what's on his tombstone. The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks. The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks. And it's from the play Camino Real.And what's interesting about this play is what I'm going to tell you now. And I'm reading this folks from Wikipedia. Okay.

Mark00:24:55

Okay.

Arnold00:24:55

It's always a good place to start. Yeah, but don't rely on anything that you read on the Internet. But it's interesting.I would do further research on it, but the play takes place in one location.

Mark00:25:06

Okay.

Arnold00:25:07

It's the plaza at the end of a road. Okay, okay. All right. The end of the road. All right. The other thing is what I'm going to tell you now.Taking place in the main plaza, the play goes through a series of confusing and almost logic defying events. A main theme that the play deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant.Oh, and then this portion that I'm going to read.

Mark00:25:37

Kids, are you listening?

Arnold00:25:38

Yeah.

Mark00:25:39

Because that's going to happen to all of them.

Arnold00:25:40

The title suggests some sort of road, but the setting, as I mentioned, is a dead end play, emphasis on dead end. A Spanish speaking town surrounded by a desert with only sporadic transportation to the outside world. Here's the part.It's described by Williams as, quote, nothing more nor less than my conception of the time and the world I live in, unquote. William.

Carrie00:26:02

Wow.

Arnold00:26:03

Hey, here I am. I'm at the dead end road. This is where I'm living. And I don't want. And I may become irrelevant.You know, I put that all together like that because why did. Why would he have that put? Or did he decide to put that? Because I don't think he was deciding that he was going to die at the time when he died.Did somebody, you know did that?

Mark00:26:20

Yeah.

Arnold00:26:20

Yeah. Who did that?

Mark00:26:21

I wanted. I don't think he decided that.

Arnold00:26:24

Who decided for?

Mark00:26:25

I don't know.

Arnold00:26:26

Inquiring minds want to know.

Mark00:26:28

That's a. Yeah.

Arnold00:26:29

Maybe some of our listeners could come up with the reason for that.

Mark00:26:32

Somebody might know. I think somebody might know.

Arnold00:26:35

But he's in section 15, a memorial ID 1111. They do great tours up there in Calvary.

Mark00:26:42

It's a fan. It's a fascinating cemetery. My family is buried at Calvary.

Arnold00:26:47

Oh, wow. Okay.

Mark00:26:49

I've spent too many times there you're.

Arnold00:26:51

Among some pretty good folks up there.

Mark00:26:53

Yeah, there's quite a few up there. Quite a few. And even Bell Fountain neighbors, I guess is next to it. Yes, that's got quite a few.

Arnold00:27:00

Yes. Another big one with all. A lot of St. Louis famous people up there.

Mark00:27:04

Yep. It's interesting, I guess, because Calvary's Catholic, I guess. And.

Arnold00:27:08

Yeah, I'm trying to. I think Dred Scott's in Bell Fountain.

Mark00:27:10

Yes.

Arnold00:27:11

Or as they would say, Belle Fountain.

Mark00:27:14

No. Is he? I don't know. I thought he was in Calvary.

Arnold00:27:16

Let me look here.

Mark00:27:17

I think Dred Scott is in Calvary and they just put a new tombstone up.

Arnold00:27:23

Yes, they did.

Mark00:27:24

Not too long ago. We visited it, actually.

Arnold00:27:27

He's in Calvary. Yes.

Mark00:27:29

That's what I thought.

Arnold00:27:29

Sorry about that. Not too far from his wife. Harriet's not buried there. She's buried in a. A. An all black cemetery, I'm gonna say. Kind of over by Jennings.

Mark00:27:38

I'll be darn.

Arnold00:27:39

Yeah.

Mark00:27:40

Wonder why they don't put them together.

Arnold00:27:42

I don't know. So we had carry on at the first part of the show and we. Because we wanted. She had to go to a rehearsal. We postponed our thought to ponder.And here's our thought to ponder. Mark.

Mark00:27:54

Oh, let's ponder.

Arnold00:27:55

And you will never guess who this is from.

Mark00:27:57

Let us ponder.

Arnold00:27:58

Okay. It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out. It's the pebble in your shoe.

Mark00:28:04

Yeah, I think I agree with that. Yeah. Yes. Good.

Arnold00:28:09

I'll read it again. It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out. It's the pebble in your shoe.

Mark00:28:14

That's right.

Arnold00:28:15

This thought of the day quote by Muhammad Ali.

Mark00:28:18

Hey.

Arnold00:28:18

Outlines that the hardest part is not the climb uphill, but the motivation to keep going. We often get demotivated by certain situations, habits and people in our lives.It's important for us to understand that they are mere pebbles in our shoes and we have the power to remove them and continue on our journey.

Mark00:28:37

That's. I like that. Yeah. Good advice from Mohammed. Dancing like a butterfly or whatever. A sting like a bubble. I can't remember what he said.

Arnold00:28:50

My favorite story about Muhammad Ali.

Mark00:28:52

Okay.

Arnold00:28:52

He's on a plane and he's just sitting there. They're getting ready to take off and the stewardess comes by. Or now it's the flight attendant says, sir, you need to put your seatbelt on.He goes, superman don't need no seatbelt. She said, superman don't need no airplane.

Mark00:29:10

Gosh, there it Is. That's great. Wow.

Arnold00:29:20

So the thought for the day, thought to ponder, is our new. One of our new segments of the show.

Mark00:29:25

Oh. Oh, that's right.

Arnold00:29:26

It's replacing the Return to Civil because we don't want to be civil anymore. No, I know. We ran out of. We ran out of civility.

Mark00:29:32

We tried, and it just didn't work.

Arnold00:29:33

Yeah, you need to freshen things up a little bit.

Mark00:29:36

Like that guy that ran the stop sign today.

Arnold00:29:38

Oh.

Mark00:29:40

It's just.

Arnold00:29:40

Isn't that every day?

Mark00:29:41

It's terrible. All right, I'm sorry. I don't mean I regret it. It's gotten bad. And they were interviewing some lady on television from.I think she was from Dallas or something. And the first thing that she said was, the worst drivers in the world.

Arnold00:30:00

Missouri. I thought they were Illinois at first.

Mark00:30:03

I agree with you there. Georgia's not very much. Not much better either. Georgia in Illinois. But we'll. We'll get cards and letters, I'm sure.

Arnold00:30:13

Yes. Just don't put any postage on them.

Mark00:30:16

I do it. But it's true.

Arnold00:30:18

Return send. Okay, here's our next new segment.

Mark00:30:22

There is another new segment, Mental Floss. Oh, let's hear it for Mental Floss.

Arnold00:30:27

Mental Floss. These are some good ones here.

Mark00:30:29

All right. That goes between the ears. The floss.

Arnold00:30:32

Yeah. If you studied a foreign language, sometimes words translate fairly easily.

Mark00:30:37

Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:30:38

And sometimes they don't translate very easily.And if you use some of the translation apps, like Google's got a translator and there's some other translation apps that you can hold out there, the person speaking, and it tells you what it is in your language. Here are some of these word for word translations. They're literal and direct translations. In other words, they're not like, they really mean this.So here are some of these literal translations that you have to be careful of if you're going to another country. If you're going to Italy and you use the word strozipreti. Strozipreti. It's an elongated type of cavatelli pasta. Oh, okay.

Mark00:31:23

Yum.

Arnold00:31:24

And the literal translation means priest strangler.

Mark00:31:28

Whoa. In Italy, right?

Arnold00:31:30

In Italy, yeah. From Italian to English, the literal translation means pre strangler.So the legend of how this noodle got its name is just as twisted as the pasta itself. It allegedly stems from greedy priests who, upon receiving the dish from locals, scarfed it down so quickly that they choked.

Mark00:31:50

That's it.

Arnold00:31:52

That's it. Now, if you're going to the Middle east and you're going to An Arabic speaking country. Now I may. May be wrong on my Arabic, so forgive me about that.Saratan albar. It means lobster. But the literal translation is cancer of the sea.

Mark00:32:10

Ay.

Arnold00:32:12

It seems like a harsh moniker.

Mark00:32:14

Yeah.

Arnold00:32:14

But it stems from a root word meaning to grab or to swallow, which is interesting because cancer the crab. It's the lobster looking. Here's another one. If you're going to the Netherlands.

Mark00:32:26

Yeah.

Arnold00:32:26

All right. Dutch speaking.

Mark00:32:28

Okay.

Arnold00:32:30

These.

Mark00:32:30

The speaking to Deutsch.

Arnold00:32:33

Toilet. Brill.

Mark00:32:34

Toilet. Brill.

Arnold00:32:35

Toilet. Brill. It means toilet seat. Okay. In the translation. But the literal translation means toilet glasses.So you think that the glasses you wear when you're half asleep at 3am you stumble through the bathroom. So here's a note. Here's other ones that I really didn't get into, but there's ones that are. Dust sucker. You can imagine what that's a vacuum.

Mark00:32:58

I was just gonna say a vacuum.

Arnold00:32:59

Yeah, A larynx, loincloth tie. Oh, yeah.

Mark00:33:04

Okay.

Arnold00:33:06

Then there's phone girl. And I forget what that is. Here's another one. You go to Japan. Japan, Jacuchi. It's a water faucet.But the literal translation is snake mouth because the faucet looks like a snake with a mouth.

Mark00:33:27

Oh, yeah. Okay, okay. That kind of makes a little bit of sense.

Arnold00:33:32

Yeah, yeah. So I thought for some mental flaws to.If you're going to another country, be careful what your translation app says because you could be telling somebody, where's the snake mouth? Or gee, I'd like some more of that Priest strangler.

Mark00:33:50

Yeah, come on.

Arnold00:33:53

Or put the toilet glasses down after you're done.

Mark00:33:56

Oh my goodness. None of this is good. I know. This is all terrible stuff. Stuff. Oh, that's good. Who knew? Who knew? Who knew? Who knew?

Arnold00:34:09

I know you have some days of the day, Mark.

Mark00:34:12

There's a couple. Amelia Earhart day is today. Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:34:17

How about that?

Mark00:34:18

She was. She flew the plane, right?

Arnold00:34:20

Yes.

Mark00:34:20

That they never. I thought they were talking about they might know where it is.

Arnold00:34:23

I read recently that they did. And maybe she and Fred, whatever his name were, who is the navigator, were they were on this island and they died.And I also heard that the Japanese captured them and killed them.

Mark00:34:34

And there's a lot of things about.

Arnold00:34:36

Amelia Earhart that she may be still flying around in another.

Mark00:34:40

You never know, another dimension. Do you have any cousins?

Arnold00:34:44

Why?

Mark00:34:45

Yeah.

Arnold00:34:45

Yes.

Mark00:34:46

National Cousin Day.

Arnold00:34:47

Oh, National Cousin Day.

Mark00:34:48

Yeah.

Arnold00:34:48

Okay.

Mark00:34:49

So if your parents were like a single child.

Arnold00:34:51

It's tough.

Mark00:34:52

Yeah, it's tough. You're just out of luck. National Tequila Day. We're going to celebrate that after the show. International Self Care Day. Take care of yourself.

Arnold00:35:04

Should be every day.

Mark00:35:05

National Day of Motoring. National Drive Thru Day. Do you ever do drive through food anymore? I guess that could be a drive through bank too.

Arnold00:35:14

Yes. No, not really.

Mark00:35:16

Okay, neither do I. National Marine Week. National Refreshment Day.

Arnold00:35:21

Is that the marine like in the sea or marine as in.

Mark00:35:24

No, that's marine. This marine in the sea.

Arnold00:35:26

Okay.

Mark00:35:27

Yes. Samaritan's Awareness Day. Gonna be a good Samaritan.

Arnold00:35:31

Be a good Samaritan.

Mark00:35:32

Oh, this is one of your favorites. I'm waiting for you to tell. I guess I should just wrap this up on this.

Arnold00:35:36

No, you're fine.

Mark00:35:37

Tell an old joke day. Oh, I knew that would get you going. Tell an old joke day.

Arnold00:35:44

Okay.

Mark00:35:45

Dare we ask if you have an old joke?

Arnold00:35:47

I have some here. Yes.

Mark00:35:50

I thought that'd be the place.

Arnold00:35:51

New times when you're on the computer and you know. And sometimes I forget my passwords.

Mark00:35:56

Oh, I've got a. Nevermind.

Arnold00:35:58

Or they. You put it in and it's like it says, sorry, but your password, you know, you're pushed or you're putting. You're starting a password. Sorry.Your password must contain at least eight characters, upper and lowercase letter, a similar number, a hieroglyphic, a haiku musical note, the feather of a hawk and a drop of the unicorn blood. Ain't that the truth?

Mark00:36:19

Yeah, a little bit too truthful.

Arnold00:36:24

Let's see here. This is an English lesson. And English teachers out there would love this. And folks, sometimes if you didn't do so well in ela, English Language Arts.

Mark00:36:33

Oh, okay.

Arnold00:36:34

But notes. And our language is very tough. Tsunami. The T is silent. Yeah, Honest. H is silent. Psychology. P is silent. Knife. K is silent. Wife. Husband is silent.

Mark00:36:50

That's right. That's true. Yes.

Arnold00:36:56

Okay, son, this is actually serious.

Mark00:36:58

No, don't get serious.

Arnold00:37:00

The only person coming to save you is the version of yourself that's tired of your current situation.

Mark00:37:07

True, man. That's good advice. You get good advice on this show.

Arnold00:37:12

Yes, you do. I told you that was a serious one. Okay, so then there was this. Dad was writing his son. He's writing him a letter.He says, dear Vincent, I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato. Or this is his grandson. Excuse me. Because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year.I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden. Plot. I know if you were here, my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, just as you used to in the old days.Love, Granddad. Few days later, he received a letter from the grandson. Dear Granddad, don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried. Love, Vinnie.

Mark00:37:53

Vinny.

Arnold00:37:54

At 4am the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area. Without finding any bodies?

Mark00:38:00

No.

Arnold00:38:01

They apologized to the old man and left. That same day, the old man received another letter from his grandson. Dear Granddad, go ahead and plant the tomatoes now.That's the best I could do under the circumstances.

Mark00:38:11

I love it. Smart kid. What a smart grandkid. I love that. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. No, that's just good.

Arnold00:38:26

It's good to have a guest like Carrie on the show.I should have told Carrie she needs to get the golden St. Louis in Tune jacket, because I think she's been one of three guests that have been on like six plus times.

Mark00:38:37

Oh, my.

Arnold00:38:38

Carrie and I and St. Louis and Tune and you. We go way back.

Mark00:38:41

Yeah.

Arnold00:38:41

And I think back to the first or second season.

Mark00:38:44

Holy smokes. That was even before me.

Arnold00:38:46

Yeah, that's.

Mark00:38:47

Yeah.

Arnold00:38:47

Wow. So congratulations to Kerry Hauck and the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis and all the great things that they're doing.Folks, don't Forget, check out twstl.org let's go support some of these great things going on.

Mark00:39:01

The stuff they're doing, it's just great. I just amazed. And the actors act that. It's just amazing.

Arnold00:39:07

It's a great time.

Mark00:39:08

Go see it.

Arnold00:39:09

So that's all for this hour?

Mark00:39:11

No.

Arnold00:39:12

Yes. We thank you for listening.If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stluntune.com consider leaving a review on our website, Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or your podcast preferred podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners and continue to grow.We want to thank Bob Berthisel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our guest, Kerry Hauck and co host, Mark Langston. And folks, we thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds.St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network. Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Strickland.