Miss Macintosh, My Darling: John Ford Noonan, Chapter 61: Mr. Spitzer Meets the Old Frog Musician

John Ford Noonan reads Chapter 61, Mr. Spitzer Meets the Old Frog Musician, Part 1, from the novel Miss MacIntosh,
My Darling by Marguerite Young. A native to New York, Noonan is a prolific playwright, screenwriter and actor. He has written over 30 plays, including; Lazarus was a Lady (1970), Concerning the Effects of Trimethylchoride (1971), A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking (1979), and A Critic and His Wife (1985). As an actor, he has appeared in God Has a Rap Sheet (2003), Flirting With Disaster (1996), and
Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976).

Often compared to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, Young's novel resonates with unique and poignant observations of American culture, in an epic and surrealist poetic prose. It took the under-recognized, enigmatic and iconoclastic author eighteen years of work to complete this dense, two volume novel.

In 1976-77, Charles Ruas produced a series of WBAI radio programs focused on literature and radio performance, called The Reading Experiment. As part of this series, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling was read over a year-long period by Marguerite Young’s contemporaries from the New York City literature, music, and theater communities. All readings are underscored with soundscapes and music by artist Rob Wynne.

This program has been restored by The Clocktower Radio; with the assistance of Charles Ruas; and by agreement with The Yale Beinecke Library, home to the Marguerite Young Papers. Special thanks to Dr. Contance Eichenlaub for her passion and generosity.

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