Who should play Tarbell?

[Rob Wick]

Steven Spielberg bought the movie rights to Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit. Although it seems unlikely it will ever hit the silver screen, if it does, I wonder who should play Ida Tarbell?

My initial thought is Meryl Streep. She would be slightly older than Tarbell was at the time the book is set, but not so old as to be ridiculous. Another possibility would be Judi Dench or maybe Helen Mirren, even though both are much older than Tarbell was.

Recognizing the absurdity of the question, who should play Tarbell?

Best
Rob

[Gene C]

Julia Roberts

[RJNorton]

Jessica Lange

(Hope we do better with our predictions than this page. Not only did they not include Sally Field in the list of possibilities, but they have a picture of Harriet Lane, not Mary Lincoln.)

[brtmchl]

Cate Blanchett?

[Joe Di Cola]

(11-10-2013 09:38 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Steven Spielberg bought the movie rights to Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit. Although it seems unlikely it will ever hit the silver screen, if it does, I wonder who should play Ida Tarbell?

My initial thought is Meryl Streep. She would be slightly older than Tarbell was at the time the book is set, but not so old as to be ridiculous. Another possibility would be Judi Dench or maybe Helen Mirren, even though both are much older than Tarbell was.

Recognizing the absurdity of the question, who should play Tarbell?

Best
Rob

Rob,

I like the new avatar, and to think I was there when you bought the Lincoln bust!

Who should play Ida Tarbell? I am thoroughly engrossed in the book and am loving it, but don't see it making it to the big or even the little screen. There are no car chases, post-apocalyptic junk, zombies (unless you're thinking about today's Congress), vampires (already done with Lincoln), or blowing things up!

A young Marjorie Main would have born a striking resemblance to Ida Tarbell.

Joe

Joe

[Gene C]

(11-11-2013 10:00 AM)Joe Di Cola Wrote:  Rob,

I like the new avatar, and to think I was there when you bought the Lincoln bust!

Joe

I was there too. It was exciting to be an eye witness to history.

[Rob Wick]

Joe and Gene,

You are correct. The bust on the left was the one I bought at Prairie Archives. The bust on the right is the one my mother gave me shortly after my father died. It is the bust which sparked my interest in Lincoln.

Joe, as for your choice, you may be on to something.

Marjorie Main


Ida Tarbell


Not sure about Julia Roberts or Cate Blanchett, but Jessica Lange would also be a good choice. And Roger, as much as I love Meryl Streep, I could never see her as MTL.

Best
Rob

[tootlemonde]

I was watching a show on PBS a while back ~ Antiques Roadshow, I think ~ that made reference to Ida Tarbell. The commentator pronounced her name tar-BELL'. I've noticed they seem to have that emphasis-on-the-last-syllable affectation; they pronounce Steuben glass as stew-BEN', for example. Must be a "PBS English" thing akin to BBC English.

That pronunciation would surprise the Tarbell relations I went to school with in PA. They've been saying it wrong for years!

[Rob Wick]

Her biographer, Kathleen Brady, appeared in the first episode of the PBS documentary series "The Prize" and pronounced it with the emphasis on Tar-BELL. That was the first time I ever heard it pronounced that way, but they also pronounced the name of the man who helped her on the Rockefeller stories as John Siddall (rhymes with little) while I would think it should be pronounced Sidd-ALL.

I don't think I've read how Tarbell pronounced her name. There are radio broadcasts with her, but I've not found any on the web as of yet.

By the way, welcome to the site tootlemonde.

Best
Rob

[My Name Is Kate]

Based on the above photo and on her 12-page letter on women's suffrage, I think Ida may have missed her calling. She might have made a good nun.