The annual Dickens on the Strand event is another casualty of 2020.
Photo courtesy of Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau
Another beloved local holiday tradition is a victim of 2020. Galveston’s Dickens on The Strand events have been canceled this year, according to a statement from the Galveston Historical Foundation. The Dickens on The Squares events were scheduled for December 4 and 5.
The cherished holiday event has celebrated all things Dickens and Victorian for more than 46 years in downtown Galveston, showcasing ornate costumes, lively music, and period architecture. However, the foundation’s board of directors voted to cancel the 2020 event, citing the increase in local, regional, and state numbers relating to COVID-19, per a press release.
Looking forward, the festival is expected to return to its normal layout and schedule December 3-5, 2021. Ticket holders will be contacted with refund information.
“The decision of the board and staff simply skips a year in our long history of producing this world-renowned festival,” said Dwayne Jones, Galveston Historical Foundation’s executive director, in a statement. “Each December, Dickens celebrates our Victorian heritage on the island and salutes one the great Christmas stories of the English language. We promise to be back next year with a fresh perspective on our holiday tradition and a healthy event for all.”
This comes after two major holiday events in Galveston were canceled due to the pandemic this week. The Knights of Momus Grand Night Parade, Coronation and Ball nixed their event for 2021. Following suit, Tilman Fertitta called off his over-the-top Salute to San Luis soiree due to coronavirus concerns.
Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice.
Before he was elected president, Donald Trump was a New York businessman who transitioned into a reality TV show host that played upon his bombastic personality. His effect on American politics over the past eight years would not have been possible without his early experiences, some of which are explored in the new film whose title cheekily references that reality show, The Apprentice.
It introduces viewers who may not know the entire history of Trump (Sebastian Stan) to his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who was known for using all sorts of sleazy tactics to win cases. The film shows Trump meeting Cohn in the early 1970s, right when the Trump Corporation, then led by Donald's father Fred Trump (Martin Donovan), was being sued for violating the Fair Housing Act for not renting to Black people.
Cohn’s success at limiting the damage in that case leads Trump to fall in love with the way Cohn approaches life, and he proceeds to call upon him for advice and help in many aspects of his own life. These include trying to strong-arm New York City officials into giving Trump a big tax break on his first hotel, setting up an odious prenuptial agreement with Trump’s soon-to-be bride, Ivana (Maria Bakalova), and more.
Directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, the film is both crystal clear in how it wants Trump to be portrayed and yet somewhat subtle in the way it goes about it. Opening with Richard Nixon’s infamous “I am not a crook” speech, the parallels between that fallen president and one who would go on to be indicted for many crimes while president aren’t at all difficult to parse. And yet, the filmmakers do a good job of methodically building their case for how Trump became the person he is today.
This includes showing the young(er) Trump as somewhat awkward and out of his depth, literally going door-to-door to collect rent at Trump Village apartments and still having family dinner with the whole Trump clan. Learning at the heels of Cohn builds his confidence, especially after Cohn reveals three rules that he lives by: 1) Attack, attack, attack, 2) Admit nothing, deny everything, and 3) Claim victory, and never admit defeat.
Because it’s a two-hour film, the truth of what it’s depicting likely falls somewhere on the spectrum of another thing Cohn tells Trump: “There is no truth.” Still, there are factual bases for much of what the film dramatizes, and even the sequences that might be made up completely fall right in line with the type of man who still refuses to admit that he lost the 2020 election. When Trump and Cohn essentially switch roles as the bully and the wimp when the film moves from the ‘70s to the ‘80s, it comes as no surprise.
Stan, in his second starring role in two weeks, does a fantastic job of evolving the character of Trump. He eases into the verbal and physical traits for which Trump is now known, and the slow build helps him tremendously. Cohn is easy to hate as a real person, but love as a movie character, and Strong bursts off the screen with his performance. He is an early favorite for Best Supporting Actor, utterly transforming into a despicable person from which you want to hear every horrible syllable.
Because of Trump’s overwhelming recent influence on American society, The Apprentice is next-to-impossible to view in an unbiased manner. And the filmmakers likely don’t want you to, as they are obviously trying to demonstrate how Trump has long been this way, and it took him becoming president for the whole world to see it.
