While we’re taking a (probably needed) break from the Complete Jane Austen, a few interesting pieces of news crossed our desk.

According to a column by the president and CPO of Twin Cities Public Television, despite all the Janeite complaints, the ratings for the films have been quite good.

And suggesting that “Masterpiece Theater” has “settled” for an all-Jane Austen format is simply incorrect — “The Complete Jane Austen” drew the highest audiences for the program in more than a decade.

Yep, they might stink, but we watched them like the big Janeite saps we are, and that’s all that matters. Sad but true.

For those of you outside the U.S. and UK, many of you are going to have the chance to see some of the new films, if you haven’t already. The BBC has sold rights to S&S07 and Miss Austen Regrets around the world.

Meanwhile, acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies’ adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility” sold to 11 markets, including Japan, Sweden, Poland, Canada and Korea, and Jane Austen biopic “Miss Austen Regrets” also enjoyed solid sales.

Naturally, if we hear anything we’ll let our Gentle Readers know!

There’s even a tidbit of Becoming Jane news of sorts: a profile of Laurence Fox, whom many of us adored as Mr. Wisley, reveals that he originally was offered another role in the film, but turned it down.

“…With Becoming Jane they wanted me to be another part who was a bit jokey and buff but I didn’t have any interest in it. I quite liked the concept of going, ‘Maybe there is an alternative for everybody. Here is this shy guy who’d like to be able to express himself but can’t.’ Which is probably more like me anyway.”

Soooooo, who was it? Jokey and buff? Henry Austen, perhaps? Or–dare we say–Tom Lefroy himself? Because who else COULD it be?

Crudely tattooed on his left wrist is “Mrs Fox 31-12-07”, a memento of their honeymoon in Mexico. “Drunken moment in Playa del Carmen. And she’s got ‘Mr Fox’. But don’t tell the agent.”

Just how Fanny and Edmund would have spent their honeymoon, eh?

Lastly, a lot of viewers seemed to really like the music video that PBS put together for the Complete Jane Austen set to the music of Coldplay’s “Fix You.” It’s on YouTube now, so you can rewind to your heart’s content. (And a PBS representative told us about it, so the self-appointed Jane Austen Copyright Police can go have a cup of tea or something.)

We hear the call of our Gentle Readers for the Janeite Awards (and Laurel Ann actually suggested the same thing several months ago). We were too busy at the time to consider it, but since everyone is so enthusiastic, let’s figure out how to do it. We want this to be something reader-directed and not so much forced upon you by your Editrix. Use this as an open thread–post your ideas!

With the hiatus of The Complete Jane Austen for three weeks while PBS raises money, we’ve found lots of local Jane Austen events to fill the time, so let’s get to it!

Camden (New Jersey) County College will host a series of lectures on Jane Austen to celebrate Women’s History Month in March. The first lecture will be tomorrow, Thursday, February 28, at 7 p.m. in Madison Hall 210 on the Blackwood Campus. Elizabeth Steele, Regional Coordinator of JASNA’s Eastern Pennsylvania Region, will speak on “Becoming Janeites.” The full lecture schedule is at the link (they all are on Thursday nights at the same time through April 3), and we’ll post a reminder each week.

PEERS (Period Events & Entertainments Re-Creation Society) will hold a Pride and Prejudice Ball on March 1, 2008, at the Masonic Lodge of San Mateo, California. From Emily, one of the organizers, who sent us a note about the event:

Everyone in the San Francisco Bay Area is welcome to attend. Come and see Mr. Bingley falling in love with Jane, and Mr. Darcy trying not to fall in love with Lizzy, and the rest of the Bennet clan being very silly as only they know how to do. Costumes are admired, not required, and be prepared to be asked to dance!

According to the website, they also support attending in character! What fun!

A Jane Austen Study Group meets every Wednesday at the Temecula, California Library. Thanks to Alert Baja Janeite for the link.

Also in California, the Imperial Public Library will have a series of free screenings of Jane Austen adaptations on every Saturday afternoon in March. The series starts off with Pride and Prejudice and ends with Becoming Jane.

Baja Janeite also let us know that Historic Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota, will sponsor a Jane Austen-themed children’s party for your kids!

Join the party and learn the manners, etiquette, and dance of the early 1800’s during this one-hour program. Participants will make a fashionable hat to wear for the party (and take home), learn a period dance, and receive a lesson on manners from a costumed guide.

* Cost: $125 for up to 12 participants, $5/each additional person

Not a bad deal for a kids’ party these days.

The Washington Post has a 33-mile “In Step With Jane Austen: A Novel Tour” for the Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia area. Some of the stops are a bit of a stretch, but check it out if you’re in the area.

And finally, the University of the Pacific will offer a weekend course on “Jane Austen and the Silver Screen” on April 5 and 6. The course is open to students and the public and costs $150.

Alert Janeite Mari Carmen let us know that Spanish-language commentaries on Pride and Prejudice are available on Radio Programas del Perú (scroll down to “Orgullo Y Prejudicio”).

Mari Carmen also let us know that an abridged version of the novel was broadcast over the weekend, but we missed it and will be more alert next time. *blush*

Payson High School will present Pride and Prejudice on February 28 and 29 and March 1 at 7:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are $3-5.

We don’t think they are responsible for the “Austin” and the “merry olde Victorian-era England.”

Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for the link!

The last part of P&P95 aired tonight on Masterpiece Whateveritisthisweek, and we have to admit that even your tar-hearted Tilney-lovin’ Editrix’s toes curled a bit at “dearest, loveliest Elizabeth.” And then we’ve been bombarded by overstimulated Alert Janeites letting us know that there’s a very special treat available for auction at eBay for Firthaholics–a Pride and Prejudice Anniversary Edition DVD set signed by His Darcyness himself, AND a personal note from Mr. F. (tee-hee) to the winning bidder! There also are some other auctions featuring Colin’s other work, so do a search and see what’s out there. It all benefits Oxfam, so open your wallets and bid. You know you want him. Thanks to Alert Janeites Karen, Lisa, and another who sent a message through eBay and didn’t leave his or her name.

In other P&P news, the 15,000 members of Australian bookseller Dymocks’ booklover program have chosen Pride and Prejudice as their favorite novel. Several Jane Austen novels ended up in the Top 100: Persuasion at No. 57, Emma at No. 69, and Sense and Sensibility at No. 72. Thanks to Alert Janeites Lisa, Maria, and Lucy for the info!

In other news related to the Complete Jane Austen, Alert Janeite Liz let us know that the Behind the Scenes show from ITV, featuring the making of MP07, NA07, and P07, are available at YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5. Liz said, “Some questions are answered but don’t expect to find any explanation about Billie Piper’s hair.” Darn!

And lastly, Alert Janeite Marybeth wrote to tell us something interesting about P07:

It seems the PBS broadcast includes two very small scenes - totaling 20 seconds -that did not air on ITV and is not on the Region 1 DVD.

In the American broadcast, during the scenes at Lyme, after Anne and Captain Harville’s conversation about Captain Benwick’s ability to get over his recent loss, the sequence introducing us to Mr Elliot for the first time is edited out and instead the scene switches to a shot of crashing waves and then a shot of Anne standing on the Cobb looking out at the sea and then into the camera. (Neither of those shots were a part of the original British broadcast.) The PBS version then picks up with the British version showing Anne in front of the mirror at the inn.

Like I said, the whole thing takes about 20 seconds and replaces a sequence that lasts for 1 minute and 20 seconds. My guess is it was done to help match up the musical cues. But still, I just find it rather ironic that after all the scenes that were taken out, they decided to add something in for us.

The same thing happened with the second Hornblower series–the American cut was different from the British cut, and then the DVDs had less stuff than was shown on the television broadcast, and other stuff that wasn’t shown on the television broadcast. It was very weird.

Marybeth also sent a link to Ask Andrew Davies a question via PBS. Hope he has a bouncer handy.

Several articles on Jane Austen popped up in the past week or so, and we’re just getting around to posting them. (Yes, suffering from blogging malaise again. Might be the weather.)

The New York Times had an article on Literary Darwinists that invoked Pride and Prejudice right up front. We didn’t get much past the first page; if someone would be so kind as to tell us what it’s about, we would be most grateful.

Should unpublished work be published after an author’s death? A good question, but why drag Northanger Abbey into it? The author of the piece admits that Jane Austen sought publication of the novel during her lifetime, and had she lived long enough, probably would have tried again; Sanditon or The Watsons might be a better choice to question; though we’re glad to have had the opportunity to read both of these. (Though in a way, reading Sanditon is a tease, because you just know that would have been an incredible novel had it been finished.) Besides, the money from the posthumous publication of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey went to Cassandra Austen (mostly) and Henry Austen, both of whom were in need of the cash, and we sincerely doubt that Jane would have begrudged either of them the money. Now, some of the recent films, on the other hand…

This is a fairly interesting article on Jane Austen and America. The author notes military service of various Austen relatives in British-American conflicts (the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812).

Alert Janeites Kirsten and Lisa sent us a link to a cute review of Book-It Repertory’s production of Persuasion, in letter form.

My dear Jane:

You have left this Earth, good friend, long ago, in 1817. But I must write to let you know that the novels you left us are thriving!

Jane, your elegantly perceptive stories are again the talk of the neighborhood, and of tout America. Yes, post-hip-hop America loves it some Austen!

Everywhere, she is.

Though, yes, this is a story about people who do take a great many walks. (Pity they don’t have many dress-up balls — which I know you adored, Jane, and we have no such events to get vicarious thrills from.)

Yes, but she liked taking walks, too!

We hope to have a report from the West Coast Bureau about this play soon!

We heard from Janet Lee, who has a question for our Gentle Readers.

I am an English Leader and Literacy Consultant from Canada. I am happy that I found your Blog. You see, I have the responsibility of leading the English department Leader meetings at my school board. At the last meeting, we were debating the validity of the Internet vs. the Library. One of the leaders said, “The library is best because…I mean…you can’t find Jane Austen on the Internet!” This comment has bothered me so much because I knew that Jane had a following that would be valid in the classroom. Today I typed in Jane Austen and Blog into Google and found your amazing Austenblog site!! I have looked at the P&P Barbie, browsed announcements about Jane Austen singing tours, seen photos of people dressed like Jane and learned the term Janeites all in the past 5 minutes!

Your Blog is a wonderful way to bring Jane alive again for students! Could you post my comment for others to see and comment on. I would like to have a collection of comments to present at the next English department leaders’ meeting on Monday, February 25th. Thank you for your enormous efforts and love of Jane! GO JANEITES!!!

Thank you!
Janet Lee

We also would like to humbly point out AustenBlog’s associate site, Molland’s, particularly the e-texts, not only of Jane Austen’s novels but of public domain books and articles about Jane Austen and her work (and we will be adding more very, very soon–watch this space!).

We also would like to point out another useful site for students who are studying Jane Austen’s work, or just discovering her work and wanting to learn more. The Jane Austen Society of North America’s website at jasna.org not only has a short biography of Jane Austen but a comprehensive section about the films based on her novels and the real treasure trove of the site: the publications! Reviews of books related to Jane Austen and her work as well as the journals, Persuasions On-Line, which, as implied by its title, is an online publication of essays about Jane Austen and her work, and JASNA also has been digitizing back issues of its print journal, Persuasions. (Issue No. 10 is the latest to be added–when we get around to Friday Bookblogging this week, we planned to include it, but we’ll mention it here first). And let’s not forget the annual Essay Contest–specifically targeted to high school and university students.

We mention all these because we know we have a lot of new readers, as well as for Janet’s colleagues. So, Gentle Readers, let’s hear about your experiences with Jane Austen on the Internet! Fellowship is obvious, but what have you learned about Jane Austen on the ‘tubes?

P.S. It is an often-voiced aphorism at AustenBlog World Headquarters: Librarians Rock! As do libraries! We use ours as shamelessly as Willoughby used Eliza Williams.

Alert Janeite Laurel Ann pointed this out to us. She seemed a bit alarmed, but we love our Barbie dolls and gasped in amazement at this beautiful one of a kind doll.

First we must bring your attention to an event coming up in just a few days for Janeites in the Erie, PA area. Alert Baja Janeite let us know that soprano Julianne Baird will be performing songs from Jane Austen’s own songbooks at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania this Friday, February 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5-10 (a bargain!) and available online. We have heard Dr. Baird perform these songs and it is not to be missed.

In the Boston area, the Governor Gore Museum will be offering a Jane Austen tour this weekend (Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday throughout the day).

Executive Director Susan Robertson said after rereading Austen’s six novels she knew there were many parallels between the Gore mansion and the manor homes described in Austen’s works.

This was because the Gores and Austens lived during the same period. The Gores even lived in England. Robertson felt a themed tour would give “a person interested in Jane Austen’s works a chance to go into a home (of the era) and understand how it feels and looks and sounds.”

We are amused by the name of the website (”Wicked Local”–that’s Bostonese for “Extremely Local”–or as Lady Catherine might say, “I’m wicked put out”) but cringe at the mention of JASNA as the “Jane Austen Fan Club.”

We also have reports of a few recent gatherings that have been shared on the Internet. (more…)

We heard from JASNA’s Puget Sound Region, which is co-sponsoring with KCTS Channel 9 Public Television an essay contest for high school students. The essay should be written on the subject, “What Does Jane Austen’s Writing Mean to Me?” Information and entry forms are available on the Puget Sound Region’s website.

Two high school productions of Pride and Prejudice are coming up in the next couple of weeks on opposite sides of the U.S.

Mt. Pleasant Area High School (near Pittsburgh)’s production will take place starting tonight and running through Saturday.

Senior Holly Bittel will portray Mrs. Bennet.

“This has been a challenge for me because I’m not used to being so uptight,” Bittel said. “And I think that it’s funny how my character snaps at Lizzy for saying things that were considered then to be so outrageous and that aren’t really anything today.”

Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, CA will have their production next weekend.

So what’s the attraction of “Pride and Prejudice” for a 21st century teenager?

“I think people can relate to the story of a headstrong girl sticking up for what she believes in,” Yan said. “And, of course, everyone falls in love with Mr. Darcy.”

Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for the links.

Don’t pay any attention to Cranky McJerkpants and the Superior Sisters there. Chat away.

Oh! and we forgot to link to the latest post on the PBS Remotely Connected blog. Seth Cassel discusses Lady Catherine de Bourgh:

While Lady Catherine does have a role in the plot of Pride and Prejudice, her primary function is to give us a better understanding of other characters in the novel. Lady Catherine’s bout with Elizabeth over her relationship with Mr. Darcy is used to reinforce Elizabeth’s character as strong and impertinent. Austen sees Elizabeth’s nature in a positive light and sets her apart from the other women in the novel as a type of heroine, standing up to Lady Catherine by saying “I am only resolved to act in a manner which will… constitute my happiness, without reference to you” (298). Another fascinating use of Lady Catherine is how she is used to spotlight the personality change of Mr. Darcy. Lady Catherine and Mr. Darcy have similar amounts of wealth, which puts them fairly close in terms of rank. However, while Lady Catherine disapproves of Elizabeth’s “obstinate, headstrong” nature (296), Mr. Darcy relishes Elizabeth’s character, which the reader observes in her confrontation with Lady Catherine. Mr. Darcy’s differing opinion from Lady Catherine, despite their common rank, helps establish his divergence from the social norm. The juxtaposition of the two characters highlights Mr. Darcy’s change from prideful and conceited, which characterizes Lady Catherine, to not being “selfish and overbearing” (308). A minor use of Lady Catherine is to help establish the character of Mrs. Gardiner as compassionate and understanding, as they are both aunts. Lady Catherine’s interaction with her nephew, Mr. Darcy, can be clearly identified in her antiquated insistence upon an arranged marriage between Mr. Darcy and Miss De Bourgh. This relationship is contrasted with that between Mrs. Gardiner and her niece, Elizabeth. Mrs. Gardiner simply offers suggestions to Elizabeth, such as recommending the “understanding and opinions” of Mr. Darcy (271). The difference in the way the two aunts offer opinions to their relatives makes the caring and nurturing nature of Mrs. Gardiner apparent to the reader.

Part the First, Part the Second

Day 13: Miss M. came to dinner. Father drunk as usual, nearly gave away the game with his comments on the “elasticity” of her walk. Eleanor and I on tenterhooks waiting for him to reveal too much to Miss M. Afraid was not the wittiest.

Day 14: Frederick came to Rooms with us tonight. Pulled me out of set to ask if I knew that my girlfriend’s brother was engaged to a succubus. Said he would “take care of her.” Typical Freddy, swanning off with the pretty succubus with that “Tilney…Frederick Tilney” His-Majesty’s-Secret-Service rubbish while the rest of us are actually battling the demon hordes. Must admit it always works, but bloody annoying.

Day 15: Met with Sir W— E—. Had to wait while he fixed his hair in at least three looking-glasses before he dismissed the servant and could get down to business. Trifle weary of his act. Percy Blakeney left his card, wants his schtick back, blah de blah. Sir W— troubled to hear about werewolf and succubus, suggested take Miss M. into country, said N. Abbey perfect place for training ground. Does he think I’m going to marry her or something?

Day 16: Freddy came back from Pump Room, said Miss M. was arguing with succubus for switching her attention from Mr. M. to Freddy. Full of himself now. Wager he just wants to get into the succubus’ petticoats. Literally. Eleanor has invited Miss M. to N. Abbey next week. Must prepare training regimen. Horseback riding, toss apples at her to sharpen reflexes, the usual. Curious that we have apples on trees in April. Must have something to do with Abbey being Hellmouth. We do get rather mild winters.

Day 17: Danced with Miss M. at Rooms tonight. She is still concerned about Freddy and succubus. Think I smoothed things over. Freddy better come up to scratch before succubus consumes Miss M.’s brother, or I’ll… I’ll what? Really, it’s not like I’m going to marry Miss M. or anything. Really.

Day 18: Drove to N. Abbey. Father put Miss M. in curricle with me. Eleanor had to fight off demons that had hidden in chaise at Petty France. Fortunately Freddy left her some of his special “toys.” Gave opportunity to break news to Miss M. about vampyres at Abbey. Afraid she thought it a joke. Still the wittiest, but sometimes backfires.

Just when you think Jane has been everywhere she could possibly be, she turns up somewhere unexpected.

Has John Mayer been reading Jane Austen? In a new interview, the dreamboat-y crooner, 30, appears to prove that whole universally acknowledged truth about how a man in possession of a good fortune (and, in his case, good hair) must be in want of a wife.

What he’s apparently not in want of is Paris Hilton, at least according to the New York Post, which claims he rebuffed her attempts to show him whether her too-often-seen body really is a wonderland.

A snitch tattles to the paper that the big screen-bombing starlet (”The Hottie & the Nottie” made a mortifying $27,000 in its opening weekend), put in an appearance at a post-Grammy bash and “aggressively tried to hook up” with Mayer by “following him around and dancing, trying to get him to look at her.”

Hilton’s enticement efforts reportedly climaxed with her plopping down at a table and motioning him to plant himself in an empty seat next to her.

“John politely sat for less than a second before ignoring her and moving to chat with a group of friends,” relates the source.

So does that mean Paris Hilton is Caroline Bingley?

“When I find the person I can relate to on that level and who is also a pinup and who also says, ‘Can I please take pictures of your ass?’ then I am going to get married to her. That I can promise you.”

Mr. Darcy could tell you that you might get a slightly different answer than you expect to such a very obliging proposal, sir.

“In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should be felt, and if I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you. But I cannot.”

Thanks to Alert Janeite Sofia for the link!

Hey, kids, let’s put on a show! Alert Janeite Lisa spotted a school production of P&P in the Portland area from February 28-March 1. The kids’ takes on the story are great:

Aaron Hughlett, 16, a sophomore at Barlow High School, is playing Mr. Darcy, whom he describes as “kind of a nice guy,” at least on the inside, but one who’s been hurt in the past and has learned to wear conservative armor.

“I kind of point out to people their faults and stuff and make them realize it,” Aaron says of his character.

Elizabeth Johnson, 18, a Corbett High senior, plays Elizabeth Bennet.

“I think I can read everybody else’s feelings and keep mine hidden and in the end, though, everything winds up coming out,” she says of her character.

Jenny Layton, 15, a sophomore at Corbett, plays Elizabeth’s mother, eager to find her daughter a match. Her character is well-meaning but a little self-serving, Jenny says.

“She thinks she’s a great mother and a great person and fun to be around and witty, but she’s really annoying.”

Out of the mouths of babes!

Tickets are $7-9 (a bargain!) and available online. If you go, we’d love to hear about it!

Alert Janeite Eileen wrote to tell us that Jane Austen is one of only four women listed in the top 100 of the WorldCat Identities project. Eileen commented,

And the four represent an interesting cross section of our gender!

Jane Austen
Agatha Christie
Mary, Blessed Virgin
Virginia Woolf

That’s an interesting combination of women, all right!

We asked Eileen for more information about the project, and she told us:

This is a project that is experimenting with ways to improve how library catalogs work. It uses the OCLC WorldCat database, which is the largest database of library holdings in the world. You can search on an author, composer or even a fictional character and the results returned are organized in a more intuitive manner than most library catalogs. . .It’s still experimental and clearly has some work to do (it classes The Jane Austen Book Club as a work about Jane Austen). But let’s say you’re just getting into Jane. Clicking on her identity leads you to a list of books she wrote, as well as books about her, cross references and related subjects. All in one place.

Eileen also sent a link to the aggregate data for Jane Austen so far on the project. This is an amazing project, and will be incredibly useful (and obsession-generating) to those of us who can never get enough information on our favorite subjects. Eileen also sent a link about the project that explains it pretty succinctly:

The idea of WorldCat Identities is simple: create a summary page for every name in WorldCat.

One of our favorite aphorisms is: Librarians Rock! Because you do.

The Guardian reports that the BBC Costume Shop, which has provided costumes and wigs for many productions, including P&P95 and probably other JA adaptations, has ceased trading after a buyout bid fell through.

Last autumn the corporation announced that BBC Costumes and Wigs would be sold off as part of a wider disposal of assets, including BBC Resources.

But it is being sold separately from the rest of BBC Resources, the corporation’s commercial subsidiary responsible for studios, post-production and outside broadcasts.

A BBC spokeswoman said she could not comment on who had been planning to buy BBC Costumes and Wigs.

“BBC Resources had intended to sell the collection as quickly as possible and to make it available over the transfer period in order to cause as little disruption to its customers as possible,” she said.

“However, the arrangements [the corporation] was pursuing have not worked out and BBC Resources is currently inviting interested parties to consider making an offer to purchase.

“BBC Resources is hopeful that the collection will remain available to the BBC and other customers following its disposal. BBC Costume and Wigs will cease trading on Thursday, February 14.

“The department is unable to take any new bookings for hires. However, all outstanding commitments will be honoured up to and beyond the closure.”

Dorothy has plundered the sofa cushions at AustenBlog World Headquarters and will be passing the collection basket. Dig deep, Janeites!

Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for the heads up!

Alert Janeite Aad, who keeps us up to date on Dutch DVD releases, let us know that House of Knowledge has released a 3-DVD set called “Klassieke Boekverfilmingen,” which includes MP07, NA07, and E96 (Beckinsale). (The cover shows a photoshop of Fanny Price, Emma Woodhouse, and John Thorpe. We’d like to be a fly on the wall at THAT tea party.) Aad commented,

Personally I find this release a bit of a letdown, several productions cramped together in a hideous ‘faux’ classic book-design box. Uncertain about the possible release of decent ’single’ dvd’s, this could be the only way Dutch fans could get these Austen adaptations, so I would recommend getting the original English dvd’s.

Aad also let us know that on April 11, Just Entertainment will release a 6-disc set, collecting their previous releases of Northanger Abbey 1986, Persuasion 2007, Pride and Prejudice 1980, and S&S71, and Becoming Jane will be released by A-Film on May 8.

Also, Alert Janeite Lucy discovered that a three-DVD set including E96, NA07, and MP07 will be released in Australia (Region 4) on March 3. Lucy suspects that means NA and MP at least will be shown on Sunday, March 2, as they usually release DVDs immediately after television broadcasts, but the ABC television guide does not at present go past March 1. So keep your fingers crossed down under–you might be seeing these soon in some form or other.