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46
SEPTEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
CHARLES ESHELMAN/FILMMAGIC (DANZA)
TONY DANZA IS NOT
BEING FUNNY.
Even if
you’re of the opinion that he was never that funny to begin
with, you’d have to say he’s being especially not funny right
now. “The media,” he says passionately, “are telling kids that
education is not important.”
In fairness, the occasion doesn’t call for hilarity. This
month sees the publication of the actor’s
I’d Like to Apologize
to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast
High
, a memoir chronicling his stint teaching 10th-grade English at a Philadelphia
public school (which was also the subject of a short-lived reality show on A&E).
Danza hit on the idea of becoming a teacher in the throes of a midlife crisis:
He’d separated from his wife, and his
daytime talk show had been canceled.
“Plus, I could smell 60,” he writes,
adding, “My dad only lived to be 62.” He
says he was gripped by the urge to do
something good with his life. “I really
did have high hopes for it.”
While some have suggested
that Danza became a teacher to
kick-start a stalled acting career, he
insists that wasn’t the case. “From
the first moment I tried to do this, I
was worried about just one thing,”
he says. “This was their only shot at
10th grade, and they weren’t going to
get another if I messed it up. I was
scared that I’d bi en off more
than I could chew.”
So how does Danza think
he measured up in the end? A
mixed bag, as it happens. “The
kids who were real smart and
came in with high grades did a
li le worse,” he says. “The kids
with low grades did a li le be er.”
sept. 11
THEATER
Chaplin
(as in, Charlie) gets the musical treatment on Broadway
MOVIES
House at the End of the Street
: slashy
thrills and fancy cinematography, with Jennifer Lawrence (
The Hunger Games
)
//
Trouble With the Curve
, starring Clint
Eastwood as an aging baseball scout
BOOKS
Interventions: A Life in War and Peace
, in which U.N. go-to guy Kofi Annan
ponders human conflict
//
The Other Woman
, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (“You can choose your sin, but you cannot choose
your consequences”)
TV
“Homeland,” featuring more CIA antics from Claire Danes
//
“Dexter”—a beloved serial killer
returns
MUSIC
The electro-pop legends Pet Shop Boys try for the L.A. sound with their 11th studio album,
Elysium
Making the Grade
How Tony Danza performed
in his book
• Creativity:
“I wrote my own creation-myth
rap: ‘In the beginning before there even was
time / the world was so quiet without even
a rhyme ... ’”
B
• Authority:
“[On the first day of class] I look
down and realize I’ve sweated through the
front, back and both sides of my pressed
light blue dress shirt.”
C
• Inspiration:
“I stop walking back and forth
and implore them, ‘Do your best!’”
A
• Discipline:
“If some of the tough
kids act up, I can always call
my camera crew for
backup.”
D
• Heart:
“The sobs come
in great choking
waves, the tears worse
than ever. How can
I not return to these
kids next year?What’s
wrong
with me?”
A+
A
L
S
O
O
U
T
T
H
I
S
M
O
N
T
H
Class
Action
Tony Danza makes
the switch from
sitcoms to high
school Shakespeare
SCHOOL DAZE
Former boxer Danza says
that standing in front of
a class was scarier than
stepping into the ring
culture
||
THEMONTHAHEAD