Quick Takes - March 13, 2012

Obama to ‘Speak Up’

President Obama will deliver an opening message before the debut of “Speak Up,” a Cartoon Network documentary about bullied youth across America and those who have helped them.

The half-hour film, part of the network’s “Stop Bullying: Speak Up” initiative, will be aired at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, with an encore at 8 p.m.

The documentary features appearances by star athletes Venus Williams, Chris Webber, Lisa Leslie and Hope Solo, BMX bike rider Matt Wilhelm and NASCAR drivers Trevor Bayne, Jeff Burton and Joey Logano.

The film will also post on

https://www.stopbullying

speakup.com

and be available through other outlets including Facebook, iTunes and YouTube after the premiere.

—Associated Press

Iran cancels ‘Separation’ fete

Iranian authorities canceled a ceremony Monday in honor of the country’s Oscar-winning director even though the government had hailed his win as a triumph over a competitor from Israel.

The event for Asghar Farhadi, whose movie “A Separation” won the Oscar for foreign film last month, was abruptly scrapped after authorities denied permission, according to the semiofficial Ilna news agency.

There were no details as to why a permit was denied, but some Iranian conservatives had been upset with the film’s themes: domestic turmoil, gender inequality and the desire by many to leave the country.

Ilna said two cinema groups, the Center for Directors of Iranian Cinema and the High Council of Producers of Iranian Cinema, issued a statement decrying the cancellation. All public events in Iran need government approval.

There was no immediate reaction from Farhadi.

—Associated Press

On the trail of

a lost Leonardo?

Could a long-lost Leonardo da Vinci fresco be hiding in a wall at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy?

Researchers from UC San Diego said Monday that they have found evidence that suggests that “The Battle of Anghiari,” a fresco by the Renaissance master, exists beneath another fresco, Giorgio Vasari’s “The Battle of Marciano,” in the Florentine palace.

The researchers said they have found a type of black pigment used in the “Mona Lisa” as well as other colorings suggesting the presence of a fresco, according to the BBC News. Researchers drilled holes into the Vasari fresco to obtain the pigment samples.

Monday’s announcement was far from definitive, with researchers emphasizing that more chemical analysis needs to be carried out.

—David Ng

‘Wind’ gets set for a new stage

Stage versions of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” seem to be as cursed as the 1939 movie (with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable) was successful. Will the third time be a charm?

A new stage version of “Gone With the Wind” is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Center in Canada in 2013. Adapted by actress and playwright Niki Landau, the drama follows the life of Scarlett O’Hara, a vain and manipulative Southern belle who must learn to fend for herself through the devastation of the Civil War.

In 2008, a musical adaptation of the novel directed by Trevor Nunn opened and closed quickly in London. Another stage version, called “Scarlett,” debuted in the early ‘70s and had a run in Los Angeles. But it received negative reviews and closed before making it to New York.

—David Ng

Oprah scores hit with interview

OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network has not had much to brag about in its first year of programming, with a stream of management upheavals and lackluster ratings.

But the network scored a victory Sunday, attracting its largest audience ever with Winfrey’s interview of the late Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and her family on “Oprah’s Next Chapter.”

The program was watched by 3.5 million people.

—Greg Braxton

Kerouac’s play

is in the works

Jack Kerouac’s only full-length play will be staged for the first time this fall.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre and the University of Massachusetts Lowell said Monday — on what would have been Kerouac’s 90th birthday — that they will produce the three-act play called “Beat Generation” in the novelist’s hometown of Lowell, Mass.

The premiere of the play — a staged reading for eight performances only — will be the centerpiece of the 2012 Jack Kerouac Literary Festival, which will be held Oct. 10 through 14.

Kerouac wrote “Beat Generation” — which draws on his life and those of other Beat writers — in 1957, the same year his classic book “On the Road” was released. He failed to generate interest in it and set the manuscript aside. Kerouac died in 1969. The manuscript was found in a warehouse in 2005.

—Associated Press