The Happy Prince

[Steve Paradis]

I couldn't find a link to this elsewhere on the site--apologies if it's well-known. This is the 1946 Decca recording, DA-420
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otlt2_0 ... smusic1000

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happy ... lles_album)

[NoFake]

Thanks, Steve. Always a welcome reminder of that small gem. (I clicked on the link to the Wiki entry and it took me to an incomplete page. This one may work better.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Happy_Prince_(Bing_Crosby_and_Orson_Welles_album)

[NoFake]

Among the things that strikes me about the story is its final words, spoken by God: "And in this city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me." Which runs counter to everything the Prince believed, lived, valued -- and died for. Haven't checked out the lit crit for the story, but this seems like just one more cruel, selfish use of the poor prince -- and one that (arguably) implicitly makes a mockery of his quiet heroism. Only in this case, he had no say in it.

Of course, it could also be seen as the Prince's reward for his selfless generosity, kindness, and compassion. Which I'm inclined to think the Prince would have greeted with a rueful shake of the head. Not only at being rewarded with what he'd had, and -- valuing it so little compared with what it could do to help others -- given away in life; but at seeing that reward as only a means to further confirm the Almighty's apparently overweening ego. Not to mention the figurative knife in the heart, thinking of how all that gold (Amahl?) and power could have gone to ease the lives of the innocent, suffering on Earth.

Just something that's always struck me.

[Wich2]

Dear NF -

Among the things that strikes me about the story is its final words, spoken by God: "And in this city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me." Which runs counter to everything the Prince believed, lived, valued -- and died for. Haven't checked out the lit crit for the story

A second's Googling brings up the Wilde text:

“You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.

this seems like just one more cruel, selfish use of the poor prince -- and one that (arguably) implicitly makes a mockery of his quiet heroism.

That may make some sensibilities squirm; but it stands squarely in Judeo-Christian theology (as did Wilde himself.) There, such is not seen as groveling, but simply as the proper relationship of Creature to Creator.

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." - Isaiah

Take good care and be well,
- Craig

[NoFake]

Hi, wich2 (Craig). Responding to your post:

That may make some sensibilities squirm; but it stands squarely in Judeo-Christian theology (as did Wilde himself.) There, such is not seen as groveling, but simply as the proper relationship of Creature to Creator.

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." - Isaiah

Indeed it does. But I don't see it as their squirming -- after all, the Happy Prince was already dead, and beyond pain -- but as fury at what's depicted here as God's seeming to look upon this poor creature -- who had done his bidding on Earth, and in return, had arguably been steadily and relentlessly abandoned by his Creator while going through it -- as a hapless servant. For me, admittedly not a religious person but one raised with the concept, if not even, in the more secular sense, implicit commandment, that our purpose here on Earth is "tikkun olam," to heal the world -- it was a matter of responding to apparent (and for me, clear) injustice within the context of this Biblical injunction, also from Isaiah (which, I admit, I Googled, but whose import I recalled from other discussions):

"Isaiah lived in a time when Judah was struggling under the weight of injustice: 'Justice is driven back, / and righteousness stands at a distance; / truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. / Truth is nowhere to be found, / and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. / The LORD looked and was displeased / that there was no justice' (Isaiah 59:14–15). God’s message for them was simple: 'Learn to do right; seek justice. / Defend the oppressed. / Take up the cause of the fatherless; / plead the case of the widow' (Isaiah 1:17). Later, God tells them to 'loose the chains of injustice' (Isaiah 58:6; cf. Psalm 82:3), indicating that injustice is a form of bondage and oppression."

For me, God's arguable failure here not only to follow his own teachings, by abandoning the poor (once) Happy Prince who had served him so faithfully, but to egotistically crow that now, he will have the Prince to praise him "forevermore" -- despite his having turned a blind eye, over a period of months, to the Prince's torments -- has always seemed like a Wildean commentary, conscious or unconscious, on the hopeless cruelties and injustices of the world. (And, as I think of it, as an almost present-day parable as well.)

Thank you for your kind wishes, which I hereby return.

[Wich2]

For me, God's arguable failure here not only to follow his own teachings, by abandoning the poor (once) Happy Prince who had served him so faithfully, but to egotistically crow that now, he will have the Prince to praise him "forevermore" -- despite his having turned a blind eye, over a period of months, to the Prince's torments -- has always seemed like a Wildean commentary, conscious or unconscious, on the hopeless cruelties and injustices of the world. (And, as I think of it, as an almost present-day parable as well.)

NF -

With respect:

If Hell is the eternal absence of contact with the Creator - how is being happy (as the implication is that both Prince and bird will be) in the eternal presence of the Creator, "abandonment"?

And I have to say, I have never seen the strain of cynicism that you describe in this piece (for that, I turn to works like A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, in which I was once "Lord Illingworth.") To me, it reads, and plays, quite the opposite, touchingly genuine. The Prince does suffer in this world, as we all do - but he receives the ultimate reward, in the next.

"(Christianity allows mankind to) grasp at the skirts of the Infinite. Since Christ the dead world has woke up from sleep. Since him we have lived." - Oscar Wilde

Best,
- Craig

[NoFake]

I understand where you're coming from, Craig -- and it seems, from the quote you've posted, Wilde as well. I saw something different, more layered. Something, it turns out, that wasn't there.

It's still a beautiful, moving tale, told to great effect by Welles, with a particularly great assist from whoever played the swallow. Do you know who it was?

All best,
NF

[Steve Paradis]

I understand where you're coming from, Craig -- and it seems, from the quote you've posted, Wilde as well. I saw something different, more layered. Something, it turns out, that wasn't there.

It's still a beautiful, moving tale, told to great effect by Welles, with a particularly great assist from whoever played the swallow. Do you know who it was?

All best,
NF

Lurene Tuttle.
She was a Witch and a Gentlewoman in Macbeth.

[NoFake]

Thank you! Never would have guessed. A familiar name from my childhood sitcom-watching. Fascinating bridge.

Well, as Forster urged us: Only connect . . .

[Wich2]

Great discussion, folks.

NF, Tuttle was one of THE stalwarts of L.A. classic radio:

https://radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu/Ho ... in_Records

Very talented (though in later interviews, she sometimes comes across as thinking such talent belonged to only her!)

Here's Orson's first PRINCE:

https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/s ... 637%2C3207

Best,
- Craig

[Steve Paradis]

Here's Orson's first PRINCE:

https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/s ... 637%2C3207

Best,
- Craig

Sounds like Bernard Herrman's score in both.