“If you really want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, dahling. Be an audience.”
Tallulah Bankhead (1902–1968) American actress
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
As quoted in "WHAT HENDRIX NEVER SAID : They Don't Want to Know What He Really Said and Demand a Slacker Fantasy Instead" (22 March 2010) by Michael Fairchild, at rockprophecy.com; the author does not provide any sourcing for this statement, beyond his assertion that his authority and expertise should be trusted because: "I was assigned to compile all known quotes of Jimi Hendrix and edit this text into the "autobiography" of Jimi, in his own words. That book has been censored/suppressed by all world publishers for two decades now, but it's where I became familiar with Jimi's unique syntax, vernacular, and habits of thought."
Disputed
Context: There's so many tight-lipped ideas and laws around, and people put themselves in uniforms so tightly, that it's almost impossible to break out of that. Subconsciously, what these people are doing, they're killin' off all these little flashes they have, cutting off the idea of wanting to understand. They forgot, didn't believe, or just snuffed the feelings or thoughts off to continue with their crazy soul. They don't have the patience to really check out what's happenin' through music, theater and science. It’s like a spaceship. If a spaceship came down and you know nothin’ about it, the first thing you’re going to think about is shooting it. In other words, you get negative in the first place, which is not really the natural way of thinking. It’s like shooting at a flying saucer as it tries to land without giving the occupants a chance to identify themselves.
“If you really want to help the American theater, don't be an actress, dahling. Be an audience.”
Tallulah Bankhead (1902–1968) American actress
Tallulah: My Autobiography (1952)
“Don't read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.”
Ben Okri (1959) Nigerian writer
Howard Stern (1954) American radio personality
Howard Stern on Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN (January 18, 2011)
“What people really want in the theater is fantasy involvement and not reality involvement.”
Edward Albee (1928–2016) American playwright
Quote (4 June 1967)
“Life? or Theater?' - A Play with Music - C. S.”
Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943) German painter
Charlotte's 1st introduction page, related to image JHM no. 4155-1 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charlotte_Salomon_-_JHM_4155.jpg: 'Life? or Theater..', p. 41<br>written in brush - her title is indicating the close relation for her between drama, music, text and painting <br class="br">Charlotte Salomon - Life? or Theater?
Arthur C. Clarke book The Light of Other Days
Source: 2000s and posthumous publications, The Light of Other Days (2000), Ch. 6
Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer
1970s, BOBBY FISCHER SPEAKS OUT! (1977)
“He writes the kind of music you whistle on the way into the theater.”
Oscar Levant (1906–1972) American comedian, composer, pianist and actor
On Sigmund Romberg, as quoted in Dancing in the Dark (1974) by Howard Dietz, p. 61
Arvo Pärt (1935) Estonian composer
Read from his musical diaries while speaking at St. Vladimir’s Seminary https://vimeo.com/221011528/
“I have many questions, but no patience to think them through.”
Maira Kalman (1949) Israeli American artist and creator of children's books
Source: The Principles of Uncertainty