"We had done a piece about Andy Kaufman, and one of his stunts was to take out The Great Gatsby and just read it," Collins says. At the suggestion of another ERS director, Steve Bodow '89, the company began to discuss making a piece about Gatsby.That's linked, by the way, on ERS' own site. (Other obscure sources have noted the similarity.)
Jan 5, 2011
A Swing, A Miss
The ever-delightful Thomas Garvey tries to score a point against the Elevator Repair Service's Gatz (which he graciously reviewed after seeing half of it) by implying that they stole the idea from Andy Kaufman. In this case, Garvey's trollery has inadvertently done us a service, for with the elementary use of teh Google, we discover that ERS director John Collins has acknowledged the debt:
I've noticed this tactic of his. He identifies an influence or narrative echo--which may be entirely intentional on the part of the artist--and uses that to discredit the work under review. Very odd and naive. As if utter, vacuum-like originality should be the goal. I guess West Side Story is nothing but derivative hackwork. And Shakespeare should have forwarded his royalties to Holinshed's estate.
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