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Letter from President Jimmy Carter

For other pages about Harold Clurman visit the following links:
| Who is Harold Clurman? | Chronology | Harold Clurman's reflections | Plays Directed | What Harold Clurman Means to Us Today | Letter from President Jimmy Carter |

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

September 18, 1980

To family and friends of Harold Clurman,

Because the theatre must unite so many talents, of all the arts it demands a special spark to give it life.

The French theatre, where Harold Clurman studied as a young man, has a famous phrase for someone who does absolutely everything in the theatre so well he seems to embody its very soul. They call him a 'Man of the Theatre.'

But the American theatre has an even more special phrase for such a universal theatrical spirit. We call him Harold Clurman.

When the State Department sent him to direct in Japan, I understand his actors called him 'Uncle Fireball.'

He opened up the American stage to wonderful feelings, and he helped millions of Americans to share them. He brought us a world of new knowledge -- from the Group Theatre to Broadway; from the Comedie Francaise to Stanislavsky; from the Yiddish theatre of the lower east side to Carson McCullers of Columbus, Georgia.

I am pleased to join you in honoring the actor, director, critic, teacher, and living spirit of the American theatre -- Harold Clurman.

Jimmy Carter

For other pages about Harold Clurman visit the following links:
| Who is Harold Clurman? | Chronology | Harold Clurman's reflections | Plays Directed | What Harold Clurman Means to Us Today | Letter from President Jimmy Carter |