DANIEL JOHN KELLEY

Through the magic of facebook, I found out that there was an article in the NY Times this past Thursday about one of my high school theatre teachers, Mr. Robert Ellman.

It’s an article talking about how he introduced the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” to kids in high school, and how the movie- in reality- is far removed from its “feel good” reputation and actually presents a very bleak picture of humanity. Read the whole article here.

My only qualm with the article is that at the end, it sort of gives a bum rap to the “student directed and written one act festivals” that replaced the screenings- as though it was these festivals and not the advent of home video that cause these kinds of screenings to end. While it may be a shame the screenings ended, it was those festivals at Murrow where maniacs like me- and many others- were given opportunities to create and produce original work. If students at Murrow did not have- and did not continue to have- those opportunities, that would truly be a shame.