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>>> In this edition of "Artbeat
Nation," an in-depth look at the
complex characters of Downton
Abbey.
>> We can see the shades in gray
in all of them.
>> An actor discovers the
challenge of being a Chaplin.
>> It's playing, you are playing
one of the most funny mans of
all-time, it should be hard so
it is.
>> A painter whose message is
front and center.
>> If I just made beautiful
paintings, what I'm trying to
get at within the work would be
lost.
>> And students use classroom
skills for global good.
>> We use it as a design to help
these organizations make a
positive impact.
>> It's all ahead on "Artbeat
Nation".
>> Funding for "Artbeat Nation"
is made possible by
contributions to eight from
viewers like you.
Thank you.
Fans of the hit series Downton
Abbey might think that they know
all of the characters as if they
were real.
But in her new official
companion book to the series,
author Jessica Fellowes takes
readers even further into the
story.
Highlighting the characters and
the behind the scenes drama.
>> The chronicles of Downton
Abbey is the official tie-in
companion book for this series,
downtown abbey, and it's the
second book, and this one, each
chapter is headed up by one or
two characters, and we took a
look at the show itself, the
series as if it was alive and a
present thing which is how it
feels when it comes into the
TVs on Sunday night, and we,
we look at now, how the
Production kind of brought all
of that together, so the actors,
and what they think about their
own stories, and the art
department and the props and all
of the rest of it, and then the
third layer is the social
history, the context in which
everything is set.
Which demonstrates the
authenticity of the show.
What I think is interesting,
there is a different atmosphere
on the set so Highclere castle,
which is the setting for the
house, and all the above stars
scenes, and the -- as real
working house.
It has been sitting like that
for the last 400, 500 years, and
there is a sense of its presence
as you arrive, and I think it
makes the actors feel like
sitting up straighter just
talking about it.
You have to have that presence
in the room, and you talk in a
different kind of a way, and you
have to have respect for the
house.
It's a lot of valuables there.
The art department didn't put
much in there, apart from few
potted palms.
I mean, all those things that
costumes, they really help.
That's partly why it's so
important that everything is
authentic in the way that it is.
Not just that it looks like,
looks right for us, but it helps
the actors to sit properly.
I'm, the starched collars for
the men, I gather, pretty
horrible, rubbing their next
quite raw.
The women, obviously, have the
corsets, have begun to get
easier for the third season.
They're not as constricting and
they have this s bend shape
almost in the first season.
Now, it's more about flattening
the figure out.
Nevertheless, they all have to
wear them.
And sort of live with that.
But it does make them fit in the
right way and walk in the right
way.
And I think, also, they picked
it up.
I think.
Rob Collier, who plays Thomas,
he doesn't really like watching
scenes from the first season
because he thinks that he was
walking the wrong way.
Because they learn, you are not
supposed to put your hands in
your pockets, and having to sit
up and sit down and stand up.
You know, they had to reshoot a
scene when the historical
advisor was away that day, and
Matthew Crawley didn't stand up
when the dowager countess came
into the room.
He said there is no way that
that could happen.
You could not air it like that
so they had to redo it.
And Julian says he begins with
the belief that everybody is
good, they start good and
something may take them off that
path along the way.
And I think that that's what is
interesting about the
characters.
They are not black or white.
They are not goodies or baddies.
We can see shades of gray in all
of them.
Even O'Bryan, who is probably,
you know, the most evil schemer
of all, and even Julian would
admit that.
There are times when you see
her, and you think, oh, you
know, there is some soft spot in
their heart.
Now we would call her damage and
had send they are to therapy,
but she would have to live her
way through it.
I always get asked what's my
favorite character?
And it's slightly like selecting
your children out.
Because, I have got to know them
all so well now.
I feel like I have seen them
develop over three seasons and
talk to the actors and talk to
the Production and, you know,
all these details about them.
I kind of lot of them all in
their own special way.
>> Next, the name Charlie
Chaplin conjures images of a
bowler hat in a Caterpillar
mustache, but the actor's career
was much bigger than his
oversized trousers.
Steve adubato talks to Rob
McClure who plays the mustached
man in the Broadway musical
"chaplin."
>> That guy is got a, he's Rob
McClure.
He's starring in Chaplin playing
at the Ethel Barrymore theater.
He's an actor and good to see
you.
>> Thanks for having me.
>> What is it like to see your
starring in Chaplin like that?
>> It's wild, it's wild.
It's profoundly moving every
night.
People come to this show with
expectations.
They know that silhouette.
They know the hat, the cane and
the mustaches, and fans are not
you owe it to that man to get
that right.
And it's really an honor to take
a stab at it.
Eight shows a week.
>> I want to you share with us
-- by the way, you are born and
raised in New Jersey.
>> Just over the bridge.
>> Proud to have you as someone
who has been raised here.
We see someone make it on
Broadway.
Anywhere.
>> Right, the, I started at the
paper mill.
>> The playhouse.
>> In Millburn.
>> I can't imagine what it's
like to be performing, going
from Millburn in northern jersey
to Broadway but I have got to
ask you, you were telling me
before we got on the air, the
research you did to understand
Chaplin.
By the way, Chaplin boot camp.
>> Yes.
>> Because it's so physical.
You had to learn to roller
skate, play the violin.
>> And tight rope walking.
>> Get out of here.
>> Yes, it's wild.
I didn't know how to do any of
that, and believe it or not
playing the violin is, is
ultimately harder than the tight
rope.
That, it's san instrument you
cannot hide behind.
You are dealing with horsehair.
Any nerve, they can hear, but,
you know, if you are playing one
of the most famous, funny mans
of all time, it should be hard,
so it is.
>> Chaplin grows up in a very
poor section of south London.
And you say, 1913 he comes to,
to Hollywood.
>> Yeah, seven years later, he's
the most famous man in the
world.
>> And you said before we got on
the air that you really wanted
to understand that journey, and
understand so much about when he
was.
>> Right.
>> Which impact the way that he
performed.
Give us -- tell folks some of
the things that you were telling
me that had to do with his
physical persona.
>> Yeah.
>> It's much deeper than what we
might have thought.
>> The little character, I
desperately want to know what it
was about that character that
was so transcendent that allowed
him to become so famous so
quickly, and they were silent
pictures, so, they had a
universal appeal that is unlike
any, my medium today.
We get people from eastern
Europe, and from Japan and from
all over the world who tell us
that you don't realize how much
he means to us because as
children growing up, those were
the only American movies that we
could watch because there was no
language barrier, and I thought,
oh, of course.
So, truly it exploded in the
universal way, that had not been
seen before in that medium.
What was it about that
character?
That was, that made people care
so much?
And I think that it was what was
underneath the comedy.
>> So the big pants.
>> Right.
>> Ill-fitting clothes.
>> They did not fit because they
are not his clothes, he's a
homeless nobody living on the
street, picked those out of
trash cans.
That's why they don't fit.
A lot of what goes on underneath
that character is from a sweet
melancholy every Monday trying
to make it.
>> And he used to tip his hat at
people.
Whether it be the front or back
of the heat and we associate
that with a comedy and the quirk
of that character.
But really the more I watch, the
more I realize he was trying to
be taken seriously by people.
So, if he could fool them into
thinking that he was a dignitary
or a wealthy person or someone
would take him seriously.
And what's so heart-breaking is
he was fooling no one but
himself.
So you would watch this sweet
nobody of a man frying to, to
pull, put one over on people.
And into taking him seriously,
and I think that's what really
drew people to him.
>> Talk about drawing people to
performers, people are drawn to
you.
Have not seen it, but everything
I have heard in Paul, and Paula
is in my ear right now saying,
ask Rob about his abandon when
he's performing, and that's what
I keep hearing.
You just go for it.
What does that really mean?
>> I think it's, there's a sense
of play when, that comes with
theater, and a sense of make
believe.
Well, what I think we're doing
is playing make believe in the
same way that we did when we
were four or five.
You just get good enough at it
that people want to pay to watch
you.
They believe you are who you are
pretending to be.
>> Are you?
>> I think for those 2.5 hours I
would like to think that I am.
And what's great is that in
those moments in the show when
the magic starts to happen and
the mustache goes on and the hat
and the cane goes on, I feel the
audience lean in, and give me
permission to be Charlie Chaplin
for those two hours, you know
what I mean, and it's a huge
gift, and I get all of that
affection that they have for
that man and that character put
on me, which is a great honor.
>> And it was not easy getting
this gig.
You had six callbacks.
You fought for this role.
Why?
>> I did.
>> I loved t I loved the man and
his story.
He had a wildly complicate life
of ups and downs, and the
process was intent, I remember
for the final callback, 5:00 on
a Monday, and they said come
back and have two minutes of, of
a two-minute thing ready.
>> A Chapliny thing?
>> I don't know what that means.
>> So I ran home and I was
trying to come up with
something, and it was 2:30 in
the morning, my wife rolled over
and said, why don't you bring
music so you are not completely
lung out to try with the silence
of the room.
And I thought, that's good.
So, I started looking through
the phone and in my classical
movie play list I had flight of
the bumble bee.
>> And I thought, I'm going to
bring that and a fly swatter and
I will fight an invisible fly
and lose, and that's it.
I fell asleep.
I got on the AMTRAK train from
Boston, and I had my headphones
and a fly swatter, and I am sure
everyone thought that I was out
of my mind trying to come up
with this, and the first time
that I did it, my feet was in
the room for the team, and it
went well, I guess.
>> When you were doing it, and
they had to make a decision, how
nervous?
>> Oh, I am always very, very
nervous.
Always, and you know, it doesn't
get easier, when I did that for
three years, I was thrilled, and
they said, you made it.
Whenever that job ends you have
got to make it again, you know
what I mean.
You have got to do it again.
So, there is that sense, every
audition you, you have got to go
in and give it.
>> It's no different here, like
we're making it here at Lincoln
center doing this show, and I
hope this show keeps going.
Whatever it is you are doing.
>> That's the way it goes, and
that's also one of the thrilling
things about this business, is
that every show that I do there
is a new bag of tricks, and this
one, especially, you keep adding
things to your special skills
section of the resume and
learning to do puppetry or
playing the violin and it allows
you to flex muscles.
>> Like I said, I cannot imagine
what it's like to, me, growing
up and loving the Yankees, it
seems like playing at Yankee
Stadium.
>> It's wild.
>> I am happy for you and wish
you nothing but the best.
>> Thanks so much, Steve.
>> Gregory Euclide is not an
average landscape painter.
In a stunning show of flying
pencil and is scraping spatulas
he brings his paintings to life,
and his intuitive attack on the
canvas is almost as
breath-taking as the finished
piece.
>> Let the paint act as paint
and not appear so
representational am I also like
the way that it kind of stumbles
along the surface.
he was born into a strange
world
I don't know where we come
from
I don't know where we go
>> So there is land here, and in
the center of this scene I'm
going to create some type of
industry that moves in and kind
of starts -- is built upon that
land.
The stuff that's around this is
going to be more deliberate and
organized because it's a city,
so city planning is different
than, than, you know, a natural
prairie or a forest.
>> I think of it as an
experience in memory, when I go
out into a forest I walk through
it, and I am experiencing these,
the vignettes moment by moment,
and by that, there is maybe you
walk down a hill and you
remember that moment of walking
down the hill, or you come
across a pond and then you
remember seeing that or spending
the time there.
And then you move onto a new
place.
And you start to think about
the, the eco-system.
In general.
It's just overwhelming.
It's impossible for one person
to understand what's even going
on in one foot of space in the
forest.
And that complexity and that
density has been a part of my
work.
>> It's like you think that
that's just a city.
Well, no, it's -- there used to
be oak Savannah there, and
before the oak Savannah it, used
to be hunted by, you know,
Dakota and Sioux and before
that, it's like, the history of
space, we often forget about.
>> This is nature like
detonator.
And then, culture, so you have
got coffee cups.
Styrofoam.
It's like this is the perfect
blending pot right here.
This is like reality of what
exists.
I have got this framework
established here, and the water
works great because I can go in
and erase things, so, like this
area right here, if I spray that
up close, you could see that
like any paint that was still
wet will start to fall away.
And you get this pattern of
decay, and having that actually
happen on the surface of the
painting, always seemed
interesting.
>> In order to hold them, they
need to dry like that.
I think about what's
represented, two dimensionally,
and sometimes try to create a
compliment to it, three
dimensionally.
>> This all started by, I made
some paintings that had two or
three sheets of paper on it, and
I would go through and rip
through them, and I would start
painting the next scene onto
that.
As though it's like a moment in
time, and then you pass through
the threshold of that moment
into the next stage.
>> The paint that, that drips
down, would pool up inside of
these like relief areas.
I thought ok, that relief area
becomes a lake, and what's going
to happen around a lake?
You are going to get -- there is
water there, so you are going to
have growth up around a lake so
it seemed like a rich place to
kind of start putting the relief
elements in just having them,
you know, stand there like that
because they can.
>> Because the paper comes out
in relief, and then the objects
can use that as a foot hold to
start, it's like on the side of
a cliff, and any rock that comes
out, there is going to be
something that's growing on
there, whereas on the cliff's
face it's more rare.
>> When I bring sculptural
elements in or pieces from the
land, I have a tendency to think
about, about modes of
representation.
You have an illusionistic space
where people can go in with
their mind.
You have a space that comes out
that people can move around with
their body, and you have these
like fake kind of model type of
materials that are produced on
there.
Trees that I make from seed or
the architectural things.
>> So I started fooling around
with various plastic bags.
The idea that you can take and
make a, a form that looks like
something natural out of
something that's, you know,
petroleum-based and completely
destructive, and have that in
this landscape, that's kind of
important because the landscape
itself seems very picturesque,
but, you know, these are the
things that we use on a daily
basis that are the antithesis to
this kind of idea.
>> All of these different modes
of representation get introduced
into this sculptural mix, and
it's kind of left to the viewer
to negotiate what knows -- how
those things blend together.
>> If I just made beautiful
paintings, what I'm trying to
get at within the work would be
lost.
You know.
So, if I can introduce as much
garbage as possible from the
land into the work, that kind of
reflects on the state of land
today, as well as making the
painting a bit more realistic to
me.
I want it to feel like I'm
present in the land in general,
you know, and it contains all of
the thoughts that I have.
I think that's how I want to
just keep making it more and
more realistic in that sense.
When I look at a landscape
painting I think, well, that's
112th of the story.
>> Gregory Euclide recently
wrapped up shows in Minneapolis,
Miami, and New York.
His art is also featured on the
covers of several bon iver
albums.
To find out more visit
gregoryeuclide.com.
Pratt institute in Brooklyn, New
York is one of the world's most
prestigious colleges of art,
design, and architecture.
Its alumni and faculty have
collectively produced works of
art, design, and architecture
that have changed the world.
>> The design incubator is
really focusing on transitioning
designers into design
entrepreneurs, and these
creative, talented people
starting enterprises, being
entrepreneurs, and this is a
place where they can come in and
they can figure out how to do
this.
We want to do things that are
better socially, and better, and
so, it's those values that
connect us all.
>> When we started, we did not
know a lot about had you to
start a business, and the
incubator, and its resources has
allowed for us to, to gain that
education in a safe environment.
>> We're looking at one of our
first prototypes of solar ivy.
It is a system of solar panels
or photovoltaics that interact
with our environment such that
they can be tuned to be
optimized for capturing energy
and producing electricity, and
while looking like ivy on the
side of a building.
>> Designing hope is an
interdisciplinary design firm
that works with nonprofits and
social ventures and we use
design as a tool to help these
organizations make a positive
impact.
We've been working with a
nonprofit artisan group based
out of India and we've been
working with the designers in a
collaborative way.
And to help bring a level of
sophistication which gives them
market access in north American.
>> The design incubator, we are
really quite practical.
And I think that that was one of
Charles Pratt's ideas was this
idea of being able to train
people to do things in a
practical way.
>> Now, celebrating its 125th
year, Pratt institute is helping
its design students make a
meaningful impacted throughout
the world, teaching students to
use their skills to create
sustainable products and
socially responsible companies.
For more arts and culture, visit
azpbs.org/artbeat where you will
find featured videos and
information on the Arizona arts
scene.
Funding for "Artbeat Nation" was
made possible by contributions
to eight from viewers like you.
Thank you.