Talk:Elżbieta Czyżewska

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In May 2005 Elzbieta Czyzewska was honored with the Cultural Award of Merit by the Consul General of the New York Polish Consulate. This is the highest award for a Polish American to recieve. The ceremony began the first American retrospective of her work at the first New York Polish Film Festival, directed by Hanna Hartowicz.

Some sources cite May 14, 1938 as her date of birth. But Find a Grave and her obituary in the New York Times indicate April 14, 1938. Which is correct? [email protected] (talk) 23:08, 24 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I can’t just be imagining it, because I saw the play in New York in the mid- or late-1980s: an off-Broadway production of an original play, by a very clever new playright (whose name I cannot now recall), written and performed in English, called (I’m almost certain, but I doubt even my own memory Of late) “Killing Cockroaches”. The gist of this comedy, set in New York but very much written in a Cold War context, a world of East-West cultural exiles, was this: a very grand Polish actress, a specialist in Shakespeare, is living in a small apartment with her American husband/partner—and finding it very difficult to find rôles in America commensurate to her talent (or for thst matter, any rôles at all) due to her comically-thick Polish accent. The play opens on her performing (home, alone, for no audience but herself) the famous “Out, Damn Spot!” scene from Macbeth, with such gravity and seriousness, offset by the ridiculous unintended meanings conveyed by her mispronunciation, that the audience is immediately won over to a brilliant comic conceit... soon after this scene, a friend comes over unexpectedly to the apartment, and as they are too poor to afford drink, notwitstanding that her hospitality instincts are culturally hard-wired, the Polish actress offers the guest a sleeping pill... He subsequently passes out on their couch, and several scenes are conducted while he is unconscious.

Does any of this ring a bell? For anyone?!?

Only many years later, in the course of research on the poet James Merrill and the teleplay he made with partner Peter Hooten of The Changing Light at Sandover, did I become familiar with Elżbieta Czyżewska’s life story (though I knew several of her Polish movies, notably The Saragossa Manuscript, a masterpiece of he ear) and realized, in hindsight, this play was almost certainly inspired by Elżbieta. But I’ve been unable to verify that, and can’t even find a record of “Killing Cockroaches” productions online, the original production, wjich I saw, being a creature of the pre-Internet era and apparently never revived, although it is well worthy of that I’m confident in saying. (And Peter Hooten, a one-time phone-friend of mine who kept up with EC until her death, had no knowledge whatsoever of this tribute play and—sadly—did not have the opportunity to ask EC before her death, as she was already ailing... which also begs the question, did Elżbieta even know, during her lifetime, her life had inspired an American play? Who would even know that now, after... after so many years?)

Anyone who might have knowledge about “Killing Cockroaches”, which is etched in my memory for all sorts of reasons, feel free to reply here or on my Talk page. “KC” is definitely one of those works for rhe revivsl dramaturges to consider... as I said, I can’t just bw imagining it, I saw it.... Vesuvius Dogg (talk) 20:50, 12 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I know it’s frowned upon to link to YouTube within a Wikipedia article—though not on a Talk page—but if it’s any help to those researching this “KC” question, the play I saw had an allusion to this linked scene as well... Elżbieta could sing and dance as well, and was once a Bardot-like sensation in her native land, in addition to being an extraordinary talent in so-called “serious” rôles. Shame that Hollywood and the West had little use for any of that. Vesuvius Dogg (talk) 21:04, 12 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]