P.S. Leonard Bernstein's Daily Planner

"Casting (til 5)"

Those of you who read Monday’s post will know that I spent the week at the Library of Congress—it is one of the loveliest places to do research. While there, I was able to see Leonard Bernstein’s daily planners. (I also got to see Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s calendars…but that’s a story for another post.)

Daily planners, I’ve come to learn, reflect our personalities. And Bernstein’s daily planners are wildly energetic. He filled them with blue and red shapes that remind me of modern art. These shapes—blobs and squares—move across the page, making me wonder if they represent the music that went through Bernstein’s head.

So join me on a tour of Bernstein’s daily planner from the years he was conceiving of and working on West Side Story!

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