this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

Lovers of all things literature will flock to Brooklyn this weekend for tenth annual Brooklyn Book Festival

Children’s Day: Saturday, September 19, MetroTech Commons, free, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Brooklyn Book Festival: Sunday, September 20, Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, free, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.brooklynbookfestival.org

The Brooklyn Book Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary with a full slate of special events this weekend, beginning on Saturday as Children’s Day takes over MetroTech Commons with more than forty authors participating, followed on Sunday with more than 250 writers around Borough Hall. There will be plenty of booths and signings, with lots of books for sale. In addition, there will be such bookend and satellite programs as “Kevin Geeks Out About the Apocalypse” on Thursday at Nitehawk Cinema, “Granta Presents . . .” on Friday at BookCourt with Tracy O’Neill, Greg Jackson, Jesse Ball, Peter Gizzi, A. M. Homes, and moderator Sigrid Rausing, “Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure with Author Nadja Spiegelman” on Saturday at the New York Transit Museum, “Strings and Slams” on Sunday in Brooklyn Bridge Park with poets Liza Jessie Peterson and Tongo Eisen-Martin performing to live music by violinists Jennifer Choi and Cornelius Dufallo, and “Net Lit Unlimited” on Monday at the Goethe-Institut with Geoff Mack, Eric Becker, and Katy Derbyshire. Below are only some of the many events honoring the rich literary tradition of the greatest borough in the world.

Saturday, September 19
What Are You Waiting For? Kevin Henkes in Conversation with Jon Scieszka, followed by a Q&A and book signing, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering Auditorium, 10:00 am

Where We Belong, with R. J. Palacio, Kat Yeh, and Corey Ann Haydu, moderated by Andrew Harwell, Young Readers Stage, 11:00 am

What a Character!, with Abby Hanlon, Lenore Look, and Jon Scieszka, moderated by Anica Rissi, Young Readers Stage, 12 noon

Readers Theatre of Mystery and Magic, with Chris Grabenstein, Tracey Baptiste, Emily Jenkins, and Sarah Mlynowski, moderated by Adam Gidwitz, Young Readers Stage, 1:00

Do You Dig Worms?!, with Kevin McCloskey, Workshop Spot, fourth floor, NYU MetroTech Center, 2:00

Illustrators in Action, live-action drawing competition with Kevin Sherry, Kazu Kibuishi, George O’Connor, Aimee Sicuro, Frank Morrison, and Raúl Colón, moderated by Ayun Halliday, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering Auditorium, 3:00

Sunday, September 20
Pen American Center Presents: The Words Your Children Cannot Read, with Matt de La Peña, Libba Bray, Robie Harris, and Christopher Myers, Main Stage, Columbus Park, 10:00 am

The Writer’s Life, with Joyce Carol Oates, Ben Greenman, and Pico Iyer, moderated by Elissa Schappell, St. Francis College Auditorium, 11:00 am

Concrete Jungle — Where Dreams Are Made, with John Leguizamo and Jonathan Lethem, moderated by Steph Opitz, St. Francis College Auditorium, 12 noon

Modern Families, with Kate Bolick, Augusten Burroughs, and Robert Christgau, moderated by Lisa Lucas, North Stage, Cadman Plaza East, 1:00

Redrawing Boundaries, with Eduardo Halfon, Geoff Dyer, and Francine Prose, moderated by Ryan Chapman, St. Francis College Auditorium, 2:00

Retribution, with Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, and Nina Revoyr, moderated by Clay Smith, St. Francis College Auditorium, 3:00

David Simon and Nelson George in Conversation, moderated by Farai Chideya, Main Stage, Columbus Park, 4:00

Brooklyn Places and Spaces, with Arabella Bowen and Oriana Leckert, moderated by Carlo Scissura, Main Stage, Columbus Park, 5:00

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

Stephen (Keir Dullea) tries to comfort his sister, Ann (Carol Lynley), in BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (Otto Preminger, 1965)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Sunday, September 20, $7, 5:30
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

“I had heard all the rumors about Preminger, but I felt he wouldn’t do that to me. I was wrong, oh so wrong,” Keir Dullea told Foster Hirsch in the 2007 biography Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King, referring to the making of the 1965 psychological noir thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing and Otto Preminger’s notorious treatment of actors. “I was playing a crazy character and the director was driving me crazy. . . . About halfway through the shoot, I began to wonder, Who do you have to f&ck to get off this picture?” On September 20, Dullea and Hirsch will be at Film Forum for a one-time-only screening of the fiftieth anniversary 4K digital restoration of Bunny Lake, which will be introduced by Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey, David and Lisa) and followed by a Q&A with the actor, moderated by Hirsch. In the intensely creepy film, loosely based on the novel by Merriam Modell (under the pseudonym Evelyn Piper), Carol Lynley stars as Ann Lake, a young woman who has just moved to London from New York. She drops off her daughter, Bunny, for her first day of school, but when she returns later to pick her up, there is no evidence that the girl was ever there. When Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) and his right-hand man, Sergeant Andrews (Clive Revill), begin investigating the case, they are soon wondering whether Bunny really exists, more than hinting that she might be a figment of Ann’s imagination.

Television veteran Lynley, who seemed on the verge of stardom after appearing in such films as Return to Peyton Place, Bunny Lake Is Missing, Shock Treatment, and The Poseidon Adventure but never quite reached that next level, gives one of her best performances as Ann, a tortured woman who is determined to stop her world from unraveling around her. Dullea is a model of efficiency as the cold, direct Stephen, a character invented by Preminger and screenwriters John and Penelope Mortimer. Shot in black-and-white by Denys N. Coop on location in London, the film also features cameos by longtime English actors Martita Hunt, Anna Massey, and Finlay Currie as well as the rock group the Zombies and Noël Coward, who plays Ann’s very kooky landlord, Horatio Wilson. Saul Bass’s titles, in which a hand tears paper as if the story is being ripped from the headlines, set the tense mood right from the start. The ending offers some neat twists but is far too abrupt. “No actor ever peaked with him. How could you?” Dullea added to Hirsch about Preminger (Laura, Stalag 17). “The subtlety that I felt I was able to give to my work in 2001, because Stanley Kubrick created a safe atmosphere where actors were not afraid to be foolish or wrong, was missing on Otto’s set. I don’t hate him; it’s too long ago. But the experience was the most unpleasant I ever had.” It should be quite fascinating to hear more from Dullea and Hirsch at Film Forum on September 20.

AUTUMN MOON FESTIVAL AND MORE

A CELEBRATION OF ASIAN CULTURE
Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island
Saturday, September 19, $8-$10, 12 noon – 4:00 pm
718-425-3504
snug-harbor.org

On September 19, Staten Island’s beautiful Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden will be hosting its sixteenth annual Autumn Moon Festival, an afternoon of special programs celebrating the Asian harvest. Taking place in the Chinese Scholar’s Garden, the festival will include an arts and crafts family workshop, a performance of Rabbit Days and Dumplings by Elena Moon Park and Friends, traditional music and dance, Asian-inspired food, martial arts and Tai Chi demonstrations, calligraphy lessons, and more. In addition, on Saturday and Sunday, Snug Harbor is holding a party for the grand opening of the Staten Island Museum, with games, live music, crafts, science, food, and more; admission for that is free. And finally, on Saturday at 2:00 and 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00, the Harbor Lights Theater Company will be presenting Rent in the Music Hall ($35-$45); the production continues through October 4.

BARBARA FELDON: ALWAYS IN CONTROL! 50 YEARS OF GET SMART

Barbara Feldon will be at Theatre St. Marks on September 16 to help celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of GET SMART

Theatre 80 St. Marks
80 St. Marks Pl. between First & Second Aves.
Wednesday, September 16, $25-$50, 7:00
212-388-0388
theatre80.wordpress.com
www.wouldyoubelieve.com

Would you believe that Get Smart is turning fifty years old? On September 18, 1965, NBC premiered a new television series starring comedian Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, an ingenious combination of James Bond and Inspector Clouseau, and Barbara Feldon as his partner, the lovely and patient Agent 99. Together they formed a kind of alternate version of John Steed and Emma Peel from the hit British show The Avengers. On September 16, 2015, Feldon, who earned two Emmy nominations for her role, will be at Theatre 80 St. Marks to celebrate the golden anniversary of Get Smart, sharing inside stories in a benefit for the HoFoPro (Howard Otway and Florence Otway Opportunity) Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to “the promotion and development of theater by making grants to artists and artistic companies needing funds to complete their projects and providing a venue for the performance of their works.” Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the Cold War spy spoof, which pitted the good guys of CONTROL against the nasty villains of KAOS, also featured Edward Platt as the put-upon Chief, Bernie Kopell as evil mastermind Siegfried, Robert Karvelas as the hapless Larabee, Victor French as Agent 44, Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot, and an endless stream of guest stars and up-and-comers, from Jack Gilford, James Caan, Ernest Borgnine, Don Rickles, Alice Ghostley, Billy Barty, Ted Knight, and Leonard Nimoy to Carol Burnett, Farley Granger, Larry Storch, Tom Bosley, Cesar Romero, Maury Wills, Julie Newmar, Broderick Crawford, Wally Cox, Milton Berle, Phyllis Diller, and Hugh Hefner. The show, which inspired the cartoon series Inspector Gadget, spawned such catchphrases as “Would you believe,” “Sorry about that, Chief,” and “Missed it by that much,” and introduced the world to the shoe phone and the Cone of Silence, ran for five seasons (four on NBC, the last on CBS) and won seven Emmy Awards, including twice for Outstanding Comedy Series. Feldon, whose character never revealed her real name (in one episode it is given as Susan Hilton, but it’s a ruse), will be joined by Joseph Sirola, who appeared in the episodes “Bronzefinger” and “Satan Place,” Get Smart experts Carl Birkmeyer and Nathan Sears, film journalist Lee Pfeiffer, and cinema historian Paul Scrabo. “A lot of women have said 99 was a role model for them. Because she was smart and always got the right answer,” Feldon says in The Get Smart Handbook. “And that was one of the first roles on television that showed women that way.” It should be quite a special treat to see Feldon talk about this all-time classic; unfortunately, Adams is no longer with us, having passed away in 2005 at the age of eighty-two.

THE WARRIORS CONEY ISLAND REUNION

You can come out and play with the Warriors as many of the actors return to Coney Island for a special reunion on September 13

THE WARRIORS (Walter Hill, 1979)
Surf Pavilion
3029 Stillwell Ave., Coney Island
Sunday, September 13, $20-$25, 10:00 am
surfpavilion.com
www.warriorsmovie.co.uk

In the classic cult film The Warriors, a Coney Island gang has to return home after a disastrous gathering in the Bronx. On September 13, many of the actors from the film will be returning to Coney as well for a special reunion screening taking place at Surf Pavilion on Stillwell Ave., including Michael Beck (Swan), Dorsey Wright (Cleon), David Harris (Cochise), Bryan Tyler (Snow), Thomas G. Waites (Fox), Terry Michos (Vermin), Deborah Van Valkenburgh (Mercy), Jery Hewitt (Furies leader Muson), Apache Ramos (of the Orphans), and others. The film opens at a huge gang meeting in the Bronx (actually shot in Riverside Park), where the Warriors are wrongly accused of having killed Cyrus (Roger Hill), an outspoken leader trying to band all the warring factions together to form one huge force that can take over New York City borough by borough. The Warriors then must make it back to their home turf, Coney Island, with every gang in New York lying in wait for them to pass through their territory. This iconic New York City gang movie is based on Sol Yurick’s novel, which in turn is loosely based on Xenophon’s Anabasis, which told of the ancient Greeks’ retreat from Persia. Beck stars as Swan, who becomes the de-facto leader of the Warriors after Cleon gets taken down early. Battling Swan for control is Ajax (James Remar) and tough-talking Mercy. Serving as a Greek chorus is Lynne (Law & Order) Thigpen as a radio DJ, and, yes, that young woman out too late in Central Park is eventual Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl.

Among the cartoony gangs of New York who try to stop the Warriors are the roller-skating Punks, the pathetic Orphans, the militaristic Gramercy Riffs, the all-girl Lizzies, the ragtag Rogues, and the inimitable Baseball Furies. Another main character is New York City itself, especially the subway system. Presented by the LSRR Tour and the Village Voice, the special conclave will include autograph signings, meet-and-greets, a cosplay contest, and live performances by the Gotham City Mashers and Sick of It All. If you can’t come out and play-ee-ay on September 13, The Warriors is also having its annual Coney Island Film Festival screening on September 19 at Sideshows by the Seashore ($10, 10:30 pm).

RIZZOLI BOOKSTORE INAUGURAL EVENT: A SPECIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN MANOLO BLAHNIK AND ANDRÉ LEON TALLEY

Inaugural event at brand-new Rizzoli Bookstore will feature Manolo Blahnik and André Leon Talley (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Manolo Blahnik and André Leon Talley
What: Book signing and talk
Where: Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway at 26th St., 212-759-2424
When: Friday, September 11, free, 5:30
Why: When we stopped by the beautiful, brand-new Rizzoli Bookstore on Broadway this past weekend — the company was forced out of its majestic Fifth-Seventh St. digs last spring after nearly thirty years — there was still a lot of construction going on in the back room, where they will be holding their events. So they have their work cut out for them to get it ready for the inaugural book signing and talk in the new space, taking place this Friday with legendary shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. The Canary Islands native will be discussing his life and career, as depicted in the massive book Manolo Blahnik‬: Fleeting Gestures and Obsessions (Rizzoli, September 8, $150), which includes contributions from Pedro Almodóvar, Mary Beard, Sofia Coppola, Michael Roberts, and André Leon Talley; Talley will host the conversation with Blahnik.

NEW YORK OYSTER WEEK: OYSTER SHELLEBRATION AND MORE

Tasty bivalve mollusks will be on special menus and at special events all over the city during New York Oyster Week

Multiple venues
September 10-27
www.oysterweek.com

Oysters have been an important part of New York City culture practically from the beginning, and not just because of how delicious and extravagant they are. “There used to be enough oysters in New York Harbor to process all the water there, which is one of the reasons environmentalists want them back,” Mark Kurlansky wrote in his celebrated 2006 book The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. “And perhaps this is also why oysters taste like eating the sea.” You can swallow the slimy bivalve mollusks while learning more about them at the Oyster Shellebration, taking place September 12 ($100, 5:00 – 8:00) in the newest section of Brooklyn Bridge Park at Adams and John Sts. Sponsored by the park conservancy and One John Street, the event will feature tastings of East Coast oysters, clam chowder, shrimp rolls, canapés, beer, Champagne, wine, and more, with Oyster Concierge Julie Qiu, Master Mermmelier Kevin Joseph, and Chef Rob McCue as well as experts from the Billion Oyster Project and the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries. Be prepared to discover that oysters aren’t just good, they’re good for all of us, for many reasons. Oyster Shellebration is part of New York Oyster Week, in which more than a dozen participating eateries will be preparing special menus highlighting oysters; the festivities kick off with the second annual Brooklyn Oyster Riot, being held September 10 at the Brooklyn Brewery ($95-$125) and featuring East and West Coast oysters served by oyster farmers, who will also share stories and answer questions. Also on the festival menu are the Shuckeasy on September 17, the Big Gay Oyster Brunch on September 20, and Oystoberfest and the Stone Street Oyster Festival on September 26.