sesame street

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the US children's show Sesame Street, whose name's origins are definitively situated in the Nights lore.

From their website: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/inside/pressroom/season40/40things

"Why the name Sesame Street? After a long search for a catchy name, one of the show’s writers suggested “Sesame Street.” The word “sesame,” an allusion to the fabled command from The Arabian Nights, “Open, Sesame!,” suggested excitement and adventure. Since the show was set in an urban street scene, “Sesame Street” seemed an ideal combination. "

The Arabian Nights Murder

This is an old 1936 detective novel featuring the character Dr. Fell. Not sure of the connection to the Nights in particular but it's got a nice looking cover. I haven't read it but here's the plot summary from wikipedia:

"When Scotland Yard detective John Carruthers attends the Wade Museum of Oriental Art, and begins to investigate the interior of one of a series of carriages on exhibit, he is sarcastically told by the night watchman "Watch out when you touch it! There's a dead man inside!" Of course, a dead man tumbles out. The corpse has been stabbed with an elaborate Persian dagger, is wearing an obvious set of false whiskers, and is clutching a cookbook. Gideon Fell must investigate the death and explain all the bizarre circumstances of what was a very busy night at the museum."

And more about the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickson_Carr

And some other covers of the same book:

grub street

JC passes on some scans of his "Grub St" collection (the first English edition of the Nights). He suspects they are first editions but isn't sure if 1707 was the first year these particular volumes were published (or if they were also published in 1706 like volumes 1-4). If anyone knows when these particular volumes (5 & 6) came out (they are later additions to the Grub St collection) please comment below.

Pasolini's Inspiration

Pasolini's film version of the Nights is one of the few versions, filmic or otherwise, of the story collection dealing explicitly with the sexual nature of the stories and also includes some relatively unknown stories from the Nights (no Ali Baba, Aladdin or Sinbad!) which I suspect comes at the prompting of Burton.

In his "Terminal Essay" Burton writes:

"The pederasty of The Nights may briefly be distributed into three categories. The first is the funny form, as the unseemly practical joke of masterful Queen Budur (vol. iii. 300-306) and the not less hardi jest of the slave-princess Zumurrud (vol. iv. 226). The second is in the grimmest and most earnest phase of the perversion, for instance where Abu Nowas [70] debauches the three youths (vol. v. 64-69); whilst in the third form it is wisely and learnedly discussed, to be severely blamed, by the Shaykhah or Reverend Woman (vol. v. 154)."

Pasolini uses stories from both "Zumurrud" and "Abu Nowas" and incorporates and makes much use of the blurry lines between what constitutes homosexual and heterosexual sexuality.

I doubt that Pasolini read the entirety of Burton and picked those stories at random, it seems more likely that Burton's essay prompted Pasolini to take a closer look at those particular stories instead.

Aladin in Bollywood

The latest incarnation of Aladdin comes from India and is a Bollywood musical revisionistic retelling of the unlikely hero and his quest for love and power.

Aladin releases India-wide in theaters on October 30 and stars Bollywood megastars Sanjay Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan and is said to combine the Aladdin story with a more complex subtext involving the hazards of power and the blurred lines between right and wrong, with some dancing and singing of course.

The trailer looks pretty slick with heavy emphasis on the film's special effects, I can't embed it from its official youtube page but you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm56IEZ7clo.

from a review here: http://www.ibosnetwork.com/newsmanager/templates/template1.aspx?a=21863&z=4 comes some more info:

"Aladin showcases Ritesh Deshmukh as the college going youngster 'Aladin' and pageant winner Jasmin Fernandez as Jasmine. It is being directed by Sujoy Ghosh who had debuted with the hit Jhankaar Beats several years back. Along with the Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan starrer London Dreams, Aladin releases all over India on October 30th."

There are a ton of songs and videos from the film on youtube, one notable one is the Genie's rap here, when "drop it shorty" meets the 1001 Nights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjufFwloYV8

Here's the whole Genie song, dance remix?, music only (for the film clip see above link):

additional children's books on wax

JC passes on a couple of books on record (that come with books to read along with) from his collection:

Little Golden books. They produced a series of books that included a 45 rpm record. Ali Baba was part of the series. Narrated by Dave Teig.

A 1970 record of Sinbad the Sailor. Story by Jimmy Johnson.

Taha Hussein - An Egyptian Childhood

Here is an excerpt from Taha Hussein's An Egyptian Childhood with reference to the Nights (one of many references by the author throughout his works, most notably with the 1943 Dreams of Scheherezade).

"So it was in the heart of our friend. He would be a Sufi and practise magic, all the while believing that he was pleasing God and getting our of life the best of its pleasures.

Among the stories brought by the book-pedlars, which were often in the hands of the lads, was one which was an excerpt from The Arabian Nights, and known as the story of Hassan of Basra. This story contained an account of the adventures of a Magician who turned brass into gold, and also an account of that castle which stood behind the mountain on lofty pillars in the air, where-in resided the seven daughters of the Jinn, and whither Hassan of Basra repaired. Then again came the adventures of this man Hassan, telling how he made a long and difficult journey to the abodes of the Jinn. Now among these adventures there was something that filled the lad with admiration, and that was the account of the rod given to this Hassan on one of his journeys, one of the special properties of which was that, if you struck the ground with it, the earth split open and there came forth nine persons to carry out the behests of the possessor of the rod. They were of course Jinn, all-powerful and ethereal, who flew, ran, carried heavy burdens, removed mountains and worked wonders without limit.

The lad was fascinated by this wand, and so greatly desired to get possession of it that he was sleepless at night and perturbed by day. So he began to read books on magic and Sufism and sought among magicians and Sufis for a means of getting hold of it."

(p 51)