We always come back, because the good nights at the Delacorte have a rare, peculiar magic. Wind stirs the trees, the skies darken, the stage fills with a blending of real and artificial moonlight; then one of our country’s greatest actors, working for sub-minimum, steps forward to speak the best and most beautiful words ever written, revealing aspects of ourselves we never expected to encounter in Central Park. Boundaries dissolve, between actor and audience, self and park, art and nature.

We discover anew how porous boundaries always are. This summer, for the price of a little urban strategy, Sitzfleisch, and faith, we’ll walk into the woods of Central Park to enter… the woods, either Shakespeare’s or Sondheim and Lapine’s, their ersatz forests onstage not a twig more unnatural than the park the stage is nestled in. Gloriously self-invented and self-deceiving, Lily Rabe’s Rosalind will speak, and Donna Murphy’s witch will sing, and our knowledge of what it is to be human will deepen. In this theatrical heart of this communal dream of paradise that’s the heart of the ceaselessly inventing, deluding, magical city surrounding us, our hearts will skip a beat, or momentarily stop, or swell to bursting – and then begin beating anew, pumping through our veins and arteries revivified and richer blood.

Yesterday, Meryl Streep applauded Viola Davis as she handed her a top prize at the 2012 Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards. The Help star was honored with the Crystal Award for Excellence In Film at the Los Angeles ceremony. She called Davis “a lion-hearted woman;” a gifted and determined actress who studied at Juilliard, won Tony Awards and captivated Hollywood with her eight-minute performance in “Doubt.” “She was a newcomer at 45,” Streep joked. Davis returned the love as she accepted the award. “I have a confession,” she said, sharing how touched she was when Streep sent her a card after the film wrapped. Davis also kept a photo of the two of them together on set. “OK Meryl, I framed the card,” Davis said. “So you can never come over to the house.” Pictures from the event can be found in the image library. Edit: Some 100 more pictures have been added. Click the second row of previews to launch all last added images.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the storied Paramount Pictures, the only studio to still call Hollywood (the L.A. neighborhood, not the state of mind) its home. Founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company, it more than lived up to its billing, claiming silent greats such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, and Rudolph Valentino, not to mention Cecil B. DeMille, who made all his biblical epics for the studio. To celebrate its 100th birthday, Paramount Pictures assembled 116 of the greatest talents ever to work at the studio—including Meryl Streep, Kirk Douglas, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, and many, many more. An interactive version of the picture can be found on the Vanity Fair website and in the image library.

Additional pictures from the AFI Life Achievement Award Honoring Shirley MacLaine have been added to the image library. Click the previews below to launch all last added pictures.

Yesterday, Meryl has been in California to attend the AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Shirley MacLaine. Streep presented the award to MacLaine, saying the actress cut a path for other women in Hollywood by doing much of her best work in middle age, when good female roles typically dry up. “Some performers are just indelible. We fall early and we fall hard for them, and we follow them for the rest of our lives,” Streep said. “That’s our Shirl. That’s you, babe.” Accepting the award from Streep, also a past winner of the AFI prize, MacLaine paid respect to the Jacks in her life, including Nicholson, Black and “The Apartment” co-star Jack Lemmon. MacLaine thanked the women who shared her dinner table for the evening, among them Streep and “Steel Magnolias” co-star Field, saying they had been her “other half of the sky, my sustaining belief that women who speak the truth will make the world a better place.” Videos from the event will be published when the ceremony has aired on television, June 24. For now, hundreds of pictures from the ceremony have been added to the image library.

Four new production stills from the upcoming “Hope Springs” have been added to the image library. Edit: Another still has been added, with thanks to Joan for the heads-up.

Mr. De Niro and Ms. Streep, who appeared together in the 1984 movie “Falling in Love,” kidded each other in their remarks, primarily about acting honors. “I’m proud I have the same number of these as Meryl,” Mr. De Niro said in accepting his award, adding, with a deft pause, “For now.” “By this time next year, she’ll have seven,” he added. “Last October, she beat me out for Italian-American Man of the Year.” At least, Mr. De Niro said, “I got mine first.” Ms. Streep, who received her award after Mr. De Niro, gave as good as she got. “I can’t believe you gave this to Bob De Niro before me,” she said, then paused to note that “Supporting Actor always precedes” the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Another change has been made to Simply Streep that I had in mind for quite some time now – subsections for international articles. The aim is to provide foreign language articles as well. And to keep a better overview, each country receives its own subcategory. If you have collected non-english articles and would like to share them with the visitors of Simply Streep, please drop me a line. For now, subcategories for Germany, Italy and France have been created – you can already find some (translated) articles, which were kindly contributed by Simona and Soukup. You can find the subcategories on the left in the magazine archive, simply click the flags. Also added to the image library are two French articles from 1983 and 1986, sent in by Alvaro. Enjoy!

Yesterday, Meryl has attended the opening night of “An Early History of Fire”, the world-premiere of David Rabe’s new play. Pictures have been added to the image library with many thanks to Joan for the heads-up!

A couple of new magazine scans have been added, featuring articles from the USA, the UK, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Especially interesting is Entertainment Weekly’s Summer Preview with a first in-depth article on “Hope Springs”. Many thanks to Alvaro and Jitka for contributing the scans. Enjoy reading!

Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Empire Magazine (United Kingdom, June 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Total Film Magazine (United Kingdom, May 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Entertainment Weekly (USA, April 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Marie Claire (Czech Republic, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Weekend Magazin (Austria, March 2012)
Image Library – Magazine Scans – 2012 – Die ganze Woche (Germany, February 2012)