Fun
Knit to This: Benjamin Franklin
Dear Ann,
Many evenings, you can find me loitering on my local PBS station because I’m too lazy to figure out something to watch on a streaming service. I just click on Channel 13 and see what they have going, and I watch that thing, knit a little, and calm myself down for the night. Antiques Roadshow: bring it on! Nothing good tonight? There’s always a re-watch of a few episodes of Last Tango in Halifax or Unforgotten.
I recently found myself drawn like a cask of tea to Boston Harbor to Ken Burns’s new 2-part, 4-hour documentary on the life of Benjamin Franklin.
I thought I knew Benjamin Franklin’s life pretty well, but I learned a lot, and saw the great man in a new light, more human (read: wrong about big things) and admirable for being willing, even in old age, to think new thoughts and to try sincerely to correct his errata. There was also a whole family drama that I had completely missed out on before. (We don’t talk about William.) The historian commentators were mostly fresh faces to me, uniformly excellent and insightful.
Franklin was also very funny, so we had a few belly laughs courtesy of the 18th century. No spoilers, but that thing he said to the King of France?—no he did not! Seriously though, how do you get a monarch who is worried about revolution in his country to nearly bankrupt himself to bankroll a revolution in your country? Franklin did that, and it was amazing.
Love,
Kay
Ken Burns did it again, didn’t he? I was engrossed from the beginning, but fell asleep near the end only to wake and find William in the dog house and not know why. I think this should be Required Watching from the 8th grade up. Maybe actually in the classroom in short installments.
I thought the background art (woodcuts – episode 1, paintings – episode 2) were truely remarkable. It made the story come alive!
They were brilliant. There were also many portraits that I’d not seen, giving me quite a different mental image of the man.
Another triumph for Ken Burns! We attended (via Zoom) the “Benjamin Franklin” panel discussion with Ken Burns, Chris Brown, Jane Kamensky, and Bina Venkataraman. We enjoyed and learned so much from that discussion that we were anxiously waiting for the documentary; and it did not disappoint. We saw a side of Ben Franklin that we never knew along with stunning artwork and Jay Unger and his violin providing the backdrop.
I’m watching it and I agree. It’s nice to fill in the gaps of this man.
I watch EVERYTHING Ken burns creates. The man is a genius. The unknown facts, history, storytelling, artwork, narrating by Peter Coyote……all of it is just fascinating and stunning!!!
It was watching and rewatching. There was a lot new to me, and my respect for this man grew enormously. He was dedicated to improving himself and curious about everything.
I too enjoyed the music and the woodcuts used to animate this documentary. Ken Burns’s work is essentially static, but it seems LIVELY. That’s quite a feat.
Wasn’t it eye-opening? I too was especially impressed with his ability to change his thinking throughout his life. I also did realize how much of his life that he spent out of the US.
We visited his London house a few years ago. Very interesting tour.
Watched it and loved it. I had never heard anything about the family drama. I wish Peter Coyote would follow me around and read aloud everything I encountered!
lol…my life narrated by Peter Coyote! You made my day. My bucket list has a new entry.
I also enjoyed it. I learned more about the man than I did in school. You can count on Ken Burns to be interesting and accurate, which is not an easy combination to pull off.
I did knit to this! Well done, interesting documentary.
Ben Franklin was the only founding father who interested me as a kid. Thanks for the heads up on the new doc!
ALL of the above A N D Mandy Patinkin as Franklin?!?!? FABULOUS!
Stephen Colbert had the 2 of them on last week. Good interview!
Such a brilliant casting choice. And of course Mandy P was up for it!
I saw part 1. Wow–allthe stuff they didn’t tell you in school! Quite the inventor and quite generous in letting others use his work. Flawed, as all of us are. Part two this weekend.
No knitting for me during this documentary. I was too enthralled by the visuals and the storytelling. The enormity of it left me thinking about it for days. So many moving parts, so humanizing.
Haven’t watched this yet, but now I will. That poor wife of his!
Decades ago, when Burns had done his Civil War series, I was working at a museum and someone came in to see if we had any Civil War movies. I tired to explain that the motion picture hadn’t been invented in the 1860s, and he continued to argue with me before leaving in disgust–insisting that he had seen them in the Burns documentary and not believing that they were video pans of the photos of the time.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Franklin was fascinating and brilliant. Without his convincing the French to help us, our history would have been quite different.
I have never seen a Ken Burns movie I did not love and learn/relearn something! Can’t wait for the next one!
I’ve been confused by his common law marriage to Deborah. She was a member of the Anglican church but didn’t have a church wedding. That’s as much as anyone ever gives you; however, it turns out he was really a good guy, because she was previously married (?!), deserted, MAYBE a widow but no way to verify that; so if she was “legally” married to Ben and her first husband showed up she would be a bigamist and would be whipped 39 lashes in public and maybe hanged as well. Not so bad after all, but we will not go into their long-term relationship on his side. Too bad there wasn’t a bit more on her contributions to his wealth.
In Penna you were considered legally married if both exchanged words . This was rescinded as of Jan1, 2005.
That’s usually a part Ken Burns neglects.
We also watched this very good program. My husband was ready for the 3rd night having fallen asleep before the end of night 2, (he gets up at 4:15 a.m.) and not realizing it was over. I learned a lot about Franklin that I hadn’t heard before. Had never heard of William. And it was a Ken Burns so very well done.
It’s available on demand, which means you can fast forward to where he fell asleep. im watching it on demand now, but it doesn’t stay There for long.
Thanks to this post I watched part one as I swatched away. I learned a ton in a very pleasant way. Thank you, Kay.
Thanks for the recommendation. After you suggested After Life (which I loved thank you very much) I trust you completely!
Right on re Benjamin! Wish I’d been around (temporarily, of course), to know him; just as well, I’d have been blown out of the water intellectually. Amazing man.