美国国家公共电台 NPR Retired Stars Find Assisted Living At The Lillian Booth Home

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Imagine a home whose residents include retired¹ opera singers, jazz musicians and movie and Broadway stars. This is the Lillian Booth Home just outside of New York City. John Kalish visited The Lillian Booth Home and caught up with some of its current residents.

JOHN KALISH, BYLINE²: Eileen Pepper (ph) is a 71-year-old retired music teacher who moved into The Lillian Booth Home two years ago.

EILEEN PEPPER: My husband loves it here. He loves it here so much he moved in.

KALISH: Her husband is Alan Pepper who co-owned the storied Greenwich Village club The Bottom Line, but his wife has multiple sclerosis and he couldn't take care of her at home. So she lives here in the nursing facility, and he lives upstairs in the assisted living section. Eileen Pepper shares her room with an opera singer, and not far away from her bed is a music stand and her guitar.

E. PEPPER: Living here, I live music. I breathe music. We have rehearsals³ and then we sing songs, and we perform for each other. And if you think you can sing, sing. People here feel comfortable doing that. Nobody's judging them.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) There's no business like show business.

KALISH: Informal performances take place in one of several activity rooms, and pianos are scattered⁴ throughout the home.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

JOSEPH JARMAN: All the instruments are available for me - saxophone, flute⁵, clarinet, bassoon, oboe. I play only on my birthday.

KALISH: Joseph Jarman does occasionally sit in with visiting jazz groups. In the 1970s, he was one of the lions of new jazz as a member of the groundbreaking Art Ensemble⁶ of Chicago.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KALISH: Jarman is 73 and has retired, but some residents still travel occasionally from the home in Englewood, N.J., into New York City to work. In order to be admitted to the home, you need to have been employed for 20 years in some capacity in the entertainment industry or be the partner of someone who was. Lillian Booth accepts residence regardless of their ability to pay. The Actors Fund, which runs the home, covers what Medicare and Medicaid don't.

ALLAN RICH: What's your name?

KALISH: John.

RICH: I forgot it (vocalizing).

KALISH: Ninety-year-old Allan Rich moved in just a few months ago. He made his Broadway debut⁷ when he was 17.

RICH: When I got the part, I took my books to the principal's office and I said I'm making more money than you are, and I slammed my books on his desk and I left.

KALISH: Rich acted on Broadway and in repertory before being blacklisted in the 1950s for his civil rights activities. After a stint⁸ on Wall Street and as an art gallery owner, he returned to acting⁹ and won roles in "Serpico" and other movies. On the TV series "Curb¹⁰ Your Enthusiasm," Rich played a Holocaust¹¹ survivor¹² who clashed with a cast member of the reality TV show "Survivor."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM")

RICH: (As Solly) I was in a concentration camp. You never even suffered one minute in your life compared to what I went through.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Have you even seen the show?

RICH: (As Solly) Did you ever see our show?

KALISH: Allan Rich says he's done with performing and doesn't need the applause anymore, but he has been reading one-act plays with a drama therapist.

LUCY VANCE SELIGSON: We have two drama therapists on our recreation staff who were both in the industry both as stage managers.

KALISH: In fact, a lot of the home's staff used to work in the industry. Lucy Vance Seligson is a former actress who now serves as the home's social services director.

SELIGSON: I did not set out to work with seniors, and I did not set out to work in health care. I love it so much. I had no idea that I was just by accident kind of stepping into something that I feel is what I was made to do.

KALISH: With 124 residents, The Lillian Booth Home is filled to capacity and there's a waiting list to get in. But the home is expanding to take care of more of the talented people who gave so much to their audiences. For NPR News, I'm John Kalish.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) Nowhere could you get that happy feeling when you are stealing that extra bow. There's no people like show people like (unintelligible) when they are low.

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

6 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

7 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

8 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

11 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

12 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。