Anthology Of Love

Series
Cast
Tim Jerome, Beth Dixon, Arthur Miller
Format
Improv Actors, Singing, 56 minutes
Purchase or  Stream

"We talk about love so much of the time, and yet we don't know what it means."

Anthology Of Love is Anthology Of Love (Part 1) followed by Anthology Of Love (Part 2)

Synopsis

Ukulele strumming 'When you're smiling', man scat-singing, 'la-la-la...' (Arthur Miller)

0:20: Jean Paul (Tim Jerome) talks about what love really is.

0:40: He recalls being in love with Doreen (Beth Dixon).

1:00: He recalls attending the Paupers' Day Parade with her downtown, the giant balloons: beggar, starving man, bag lady..., the poor people. To give him a better view, she insists that he stand on top of her. She's distraught that she gets injured, that it spoils the parade for him. He's angry that she has fallen down on him.

11:00: Man sings 'When you're smiling' to his ukulele accompaniment.

12:00: Jean Paul recalls hiking in the woods with Doreen. She lies across a stream so he can cross without getting his new boots (which he bought to make Doreen happy) wet. She gets injured again.

18:30: Jean Paul avers that he has always striven to identify with his lovers as closely as possible.

19:10: Jean Paul and Doreen move a concert grand piano up the stairs. She's at the bottom. He loses his grip. The piano crushes her. He's concerned with damage to the piano.

22:10: Jean Paul says that you know love is real when it's tested.

22:50: Jean Paul and Doreen are lost at sea in a ship. Doreen invites him to eat her. He accepts.

26:40: Jean Paul tells us how great love is. He hopes his stories of love have inspired us.

27:40: Man (Arthur Miller) sings 'Moonglow' to his ukulele accompaniment.

28:00: Man recalls encountering, a few years ago, people dressed as cookies dancing and doing acrobatics on the cars stopped in traffic. He's fascinated with the woman dressed as a peanut butter cookie. He meets her again at the flower show. The troupe prevails upon him to join them as a sticky bun, coated in brown sugar, honey, and Karo syrup, then rolled in nuts and baked. This soured him on the relationship.

31:00: Jean Paul interrogates man about what he may have gained from the relationship. Man says he learned about love and gained 40 pounds.

32:40: Jean Paul recalls running guns to rebels in Bolivia. It was dangerous but paid well. He and Pilar, one of the rebels, argue about what's really important: she's for better lives for all; he's for money.

35:40: 'Moonglow', on ukulele with humming.

36:00: Jean Paul recalls being in a sanatorium the Alps for his tuberculosis 5 years ago. He made love with Madame Saskia, which caused them to cough blood. She had a coffin, insisted that Jean Paul make love to him in it. The coffin rolled over, shutting it. Nurses and attendants freed them.

38:40: Jean Paul recalls when he conducted an orchestra in Brussels 'many, many years ago'. He was in love with a cellist, Magda, fantasized making love to her while conducting. She didn't return his feeling. She fell off her chair, played while rolling around on the floor.

42:00: Jean Paul recalls parachuting behind enemy lines into a convent. To protect him they dress him up as a nun. The mother superior asks him if he believes in god; when he doesn't she wants him to leave. Then she wants to make love to him. He refuses. She leaves the convent forever that night.

47:00: Jean Paul recalls working on a fishing boat. He makes love to the woman who cuts bait in the galley. He describes the complex position they have to take to fit in the cramped space. He found it exquisite but failed to recreate it elsewhere but failed.

49:30: Man (Arthur Miller) talks about how arousal makes genitals feel enlarged, then other parts of the body.

51:30: Man (Arthur Miller) talks about the sex act, how it isn't a true union of love. He describes people who have tried to make their unions stronger with steel girders, solder, molecular welds, jumping into a large blender. He tells the Afghan legend of 2 lovers who eat each other until 'nothing is left but a few bones and some shreds of skin and clothing.'

54:10: Man (Arthur Miller) sings 'Moonglow' to his ukulele accompaniment.

Music

• "When You're Smiling" - ukulele
• "Moonglow" - ukulele
• "5" - Leslie Winer (from Witch, 1993) | YouTube