{"id":68203,"date":"2014-03-18T17:58:22","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T21:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=68203"},"modified":"2014-03-19T11:01:29","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T15:01:29","slug":"baby-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/18\/baby-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Screen<\/a>

A still from War Babies<\/i>, 1932.<\/p><\/div>\n

Since I wish to spare you the disappointment I myself experienced Sunday morning, I\u2019m going to give it to you straight. Despite what the New York Times<\/em> headline\u2014\u201cA Star Was (Recently) Born: A Play Boldly Casts Babies\u201d\u2014may imply, the current production of A Doll\u2019s House<\/em> at the Brooklyn Academy of Music does not feature an all-baby ensemble. The baby in question plays Nora\u2019s youngest child, and merely makes a brief cameo, apparently sporting a sheepskin vest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t understand the risks inherent in having a real baby onstage, or the novelty of going for verisimilitude in a role customarily played by a doll. But having had five seconds of imagining baby Ibsen, it was hard to go back. Those five seconds were some of the most glorious of my life. <\/p>\n

Of course, there is something of a precedent for baby acting. (And I don\u2019t mean the fact that I came of age in a time when boys in my elementary school still enjoyed quoting zingers from Look Who\u2019s Talking!<\/em> or Full House<\/em>.) While the bulk of child actors are not preverbal, a notable exception is the Baby Burlesks of the 1930s, perhaps best known for casting a three-year-old Shirley Temple. The eight one-reelers were a sort of low-rent Our Gang<\/em>, created by producer Jack Hays. In the words of Wikipedia\u2019s anonymous scribe,<\/p>\n

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The eight films are satires on major motion pictures, film stars, celebrities, and current events,and are sometimes racist and sexist. Cast members are preschoolers clad in adult costumes on the top and diapers fastened with large safety pins on the bottom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here is one, 1932\u2019s \u201cWar Babies\u201d:<\/p>\n