Culture Watch

Actress Donna Murphy, who plays family matriarch Jane Green in Mercy Street: "I have played characters in this particular period before, so that was helpful. I've been in the corset and the hoop before. I know both what that feels like and what the etiquette and the sort of protocol of the time was in regard to many of the exterior elements. But I have never in over 30 years in the business been given that kind of customized material, particularly in a television film project." more »

Rose Madeine Mula writes: If the hullabaloo continues to escalate, the next generation of toddlers will be wearing hearing aids to pre-school where they will learn sign language. Talking will become obsolete since we won't be able to hear what anyone says, music will just be something people will read about in history books, and silent movies will make a big comeback. There will be no need to buy costly quadraphonic sound systems, and cars will be less expensive because they won't have radios or horns. more »

The ordinary wooden toy achieved new recognition as an agent in the training and educating of children, as an emblem of Swedish handicraft, and finally as a symbol of Sweden itself. Swedish Wooden Toys shows that from the handmade objects of the rural farmstead to the mass-produced products of major firms, Swedish toys not only reflect but also inform the changing social and cultural values of their time. more »

Where it might go: Downton might go the way of so many of the era's grand houses: sold whole or piecemeal, requisitioned, or simply diminished into bleak oblivion. Or, in Lady Mary's capable hands, it might endure, survive, and remain one of England's great seats of heritage, aristocracy, and — of course — drama. After five seasons of secrets and scandals, love and heartbreak, witticisms and will-they-won't-theys, Downton Abbey: The Final Season is about to begin. more »