Robert Kaplow | |
---|---|
Born | Robert Kaplow |
Occupation | Novelist, teacher |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Rutgers University |
Genre | Coming of age novel |
Notable works | Me and Orson Welles |
Website | |
robertkaplow |
Robert Kaplow (born c. 1954) is an American novelist and teacher [1] whose coming-of-age novel was made into a film titled Me and Orson Welles . [2] The story is about "youthful creative ambition" and has received positive reviews from The New York Times which described it as "nimble, likable and smart." [2] Kaplow has written nine books and used to teach English language and film studies at Summit High School in New Jersey. [3]
Kaplow graduated in 1972 from Westfield High School in Westfield, where he wrote his first satirical sketches as a student. [4] [5]
One of Kaplow's later novels is sprinkled with references to Westfield. “Westfield remains for me the geography of my youth. I'm still very drawn to the place, though I don't live there,” Kaplow said in 2009. [6]
He graduated from Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey.
Kaplow conceived the idea for the book while being a student at Rutgers University. He saw a photo in the periodical Theatre Arts Monthly from 1937 with Orson Welles with a young man. [7] Kaplow wondered what the young man might have been thinking. He wrote the story, but it took about nine years to find a publisher. [7] It was made into a film by director Richard Linklater which was released in 2009. [2] The Guardian critic Sophie Martelli described the film as a "schmaltzy yet charming coming-of-age story." [8] Me and Orson Welles was a New York Times bestseller[ citation needed ] and the film in 2008 starred Zac Efron and Claire Danes. The movie was filmed in the Gaiety Theatre on the Isle of Man. Kaplow's most recent novel is a satire of writers, critics, and publishers. For National Public Radio's Morning Edition , Mr. Kaplow created "Moe Moskowitz and the Punsters," a series of musical and satirical pop-culture parodies. [9] These musical parodies were released on two CDs: Steven Spielberg, Give Me Some of Your Money and Cancel My Subscription: The Worst of NPR.
He has been a resident of Metuchen, New Jersey. [3]
The 2022 Netflix show The Watcher , based on a real-life incident that occurred in Kaplow's hometown of Westfield, features a character loosely based on Kaplow named Roger Kaplan, portrayed by Michael Nouri, who is presented as a suspect of being the author of the mysterious letters. [10]
Kaplow became associated with the case after he admitted to having written admiring letters to a Victorian house on the north side of Westfield, around the time "The Watcher" was sending letters obsessed with another house in the same town. Kaplow's students recalled, “He had this idea to start writing letters to the house — not the occupants but to the house.” He eventually befriended the family who lived there; they even let him housesit once.
No actual connection between Kaplow and the real-life "The Watcher" has been proven. [11]
George Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.
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The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar), often abbreviated as Julius Caesar, is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare first performed in 1599.
Westfield is a town in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 31,032, an increase of 716 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census count of 30,316, which in turn reflected an increase of 672 (+2.3%) from the 29,644 counted in the 2000 census.
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Westfield Senior High School is a comprehensive public high school located in Westfield, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Westfield Public Schools. It was established in the early 1900s at its original location on Elm Street until 1951 when it was moved to its current location on Dorian Road. The new wing designated for biology, chemistry, physics, and other sciences, along with English as a Second Language (ESL) was completed in 2002. Westfield High School is overseen by the New Jersey Department of Education. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1928.
Summit High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Summit, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Summit Public Schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1934.
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Me and Orson Welles is a 2008 period drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Zac Efron, Christian McKay, and Claire Danes. Based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name, the story, set in 1937 New York, tells of a teenager hired to perform in Orson Welles's groundbreaking stage adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar who becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.
This is a bibliography of books by or about the director and actor Orson Welles.
The Comedy Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 110 West 41st Street in Manhattan that opened in 1909. It presented the first Broadway appearances of Katharine Cornell and Ruth Draper, as well as Eugene O'Neill's first Broadway play. Shuttered in the wake of the Depression, it reopened in 1937 as the Mercury Theatre — the venue for Orson Welles's groundbreaking adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and other productions for the Mercury Theatre repertory company. In 1939 it began presenting classic Yiddish theatre. The building was demolished in 1942.
Caesar is the title of Orson Welles's innovative 1937 adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, a modern-dress bare-stage production that evoked comparison to contemporary Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Considered Welles's highest achievement in the theatre, it premiered November 11, 1937, as the first production of the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented an acclaimed series of productions on Broadway through 1941.
Robert Kaplow teaches 12th grade Advanced Placement English, creative writing and film studies at Summit High School. ...
"Me and Orson Welles," directed by Richard Linklater, with a screenplay (from Robert Kaplow's novel) ...
...I remember 10 years ago ... looking through a copy of Theatre Arts Monthly from 1937, ... Next to him was a young man ... What does this moment feel like from the kid's point of view...
A schmaltzy yet charming coming-of-age story, it is dominated by its portrait of Orson "I am the Mercury Theatre" Welles: the artist and rising star; the charismatic tyrant.