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Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
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Session:         Page of 763

(TO BE SEALED --see below -- BE)

Q:

(Note to transcriber: please put this on a new sheet of paper, mark TO BE SEALED at the top of it.)

Clark:

All right. He read it, and this guy, whom I first met as an example of somebody who scared me by his self-assurance, his confidence, his -- well, I meant it when I said that Milt Katz and I were afraid that this person who was so sure of himself had so much power -- he read it, and he was human. His eyes watered as he went from page to page. When he got through, he put it in his pocket, and he said, “Kenneth, aside from my mother, you are the only other person who has ever reacted this way, to my knowledge, or who's said this to me..”

I said, “OK. Let's forget it.” And that was the last.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that tears were in his eyes-- anyway, in mine, In a way -- because what was happening there, I guess, was, two human beings doing one of the most difficult things for human beings to do with each other: expressing to each other the common sharing in a sense of humanity, I mean, identification -- in this case, across color lines, across class lines, in spite of the fact that we were in the Century, across all lines other than just sheer common humanity.

Now, that's about as sentimental as one can get, except you know, we're always afraid to -- at least, I am generally afraid to -- it's so damn easy to be smart alecky about someone else, you know. To look at the other person as if the other person has all the frailties, and you, the critic, have all the virtues.





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