In anticipation of his friend Paul Gauguin’s arrival, Vincent van Gogh decorated the guest room with his freshly painted canvases depicting sunflowers. This is among the fun facts dispensed by author Susan Goldman Rubin in “The Yellow House” (2001), an engaging account of the two months these legendary artists lived together in the south of France. The book is designed for young readers, with the text richly brought to life with illustrations. “Any kid can relate to getting a room ready for a guest,” says Rubin, a longtime Malibu resident. “They also know the emotion of being desperately lonely and needing to have friends.” Such is the sensitive narrative skill of Rubin, an author who specializes in books about art and Jewish history for young people ages 10 to 14. Her books are never a simple recounting of an artist’s life or world events-libraries are already well-stocked with these publications-but are instead absorbing stories with a distinct theme. Her angle for “The Yellow House” became clear during a meeting with curators at The Art Institute of Chicago, the museum that published the book in association with Harry N. Abrams. “Van Gogh and Gauguin were the original odd couple,” says Rubin, whose sparkling eyes tell of her relish in crafting novel approaches. Rubin’s “Yellow House” not only illuminates the differing artistic ways of the two painters-Van Gogh favored painting what he saw, Gauguin preferred working from memory-but also takes a playful look at their disparate personalities: Van Gogh was messy and talkative, Gauguin neat and quiet. Ultimately what Rubin hopes to get across to young readers is that there’s no one right way when it comes to making art. “Art is about originality, seeing the world in a new way,” says Rubin, herself an artist who first came to the publishing world as an illustrator and writer of picture books. “I thought art history contained so many words about a process that thrives on wordlessness,” Rubin recalls, remembering her days as an art student at Oberlin College. “I’m determined to get across the joy and experience of art.” Early in her career, an editor recognized Rubin’s lively, straightforward writing style, one particularly well-suited for young audiences, and recommended she focus her work in that direction. “It’s so important to find ways to amuse and awake interest without going off on a scholarly tangent,” says the author, whose keen, forthright take on art and history attracts readers of all ages. Rubin’s far-ranging enthusiasm for the creative spirit has resulted in books about Frank Lloyd Wright and photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, and even the only authorized biography of Steven Spielberg. Her cleverly titled “There Goes the Neighborhood” (Holiday House, 2001) introduces young readers to such once controversial architectural projects as the Eiffel Tower, Philip Johnson’s Glass House and the Pompidou Center. “Degas and the Dance: The Painter and the Petits Rats Perfecting Their Art” (Abrams, 2002) provocatively uses in its title the nickname given to young ballerinas, most of whom were poor, working-class girls, in 19th-century France. Rubin’s original narrative looks at Degas’ artistic process-one involving incessant drawing of dancers, a favorite subject throughout his career-as analogous to the training of ballerinas, who practice positions over and over again. “Both disciplines require the same kind of dedication and patience,” says Rubin, who could also be describing her own diligence as a storyteller. The author prides herself in being 100 percent accurate, while also making her stories both gripping and absorbing. Quotes are always real, never fictionalized, and first-person accounts are hotly pursued: she snagged an interview with architect Philip Johnson when he was 90. “She has a fantastic knack for research,” says fellow writer and friend Sonia Levitin. “She’ll go anywhere to get every nuance. And she’s so personable, she ends up being friends with everyone she interviews.” Among these friendships is one with Ela Steinov????-Weissberger, a survivor of Terezin, the Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, whom Rubin met while doing research for her award-winning book “Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin.” Steinov????-Weissberger was among the hundreds of children who studied art with Dicker-Brandeis while living in the appalling conditions of the camp. The book, filled with reproductions of the artwork created by Terezin children, most of whom later perished, serves as both a record of a remarkable teacher who provided a refuge for children in an unimaginably horrific situation as well as a message about the power of art and the resilience of human spirit. “Rubin reaches the hearts and souls of her audiences,” says friend and colleague Adaire Klein, director of library and archival services at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance, who admires Rubin’s ability to convey difficult historical subject matter in a way that’s meaningful to young people. “It’s important to tell the truth and teach lessons of tolerance,” says Rubin, adding, “it’s important to be honest without being horrific.” Rubin strikes just such a balance with the recently published “Searching for Anne Frank: Letters from Amsterdam to Iowa” (Abrams) that chronicles the little-known pen-pal relationship Frank had in 1939 with a 10-year-old girl in Danville, Iowa. Anne’s fate was never known to her pen-pal until the 1955 production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” on Broadway. When Rubin traveled to Amsterdam to gather information, she was able to talk to one of Frank’s close childhood friends, a woman who had never before agreed to be interviewed. “I reassured her it would be a way of looking at history through the simple act of friendship,” says Rubin. “I used ‘The Yellow House’ book as my calling card to show how serious I am.” Among new titles in the works are “Art Against All Odds: From Slave Quilts to Prison Paintings,” “The Flag with 56 Stars: The Story of the Liberation of Manthausen Concentration Camp” and a still-to-be-titled book on the history of Jews in America. “She has a wonderful eye for what is possible,” says George Nicholson, her longtime New York agent. “It’s important to produce books accessible to kids,” he continues, “especially when everything about art appreciation in the schools has gone by the boards.” The passion for art Rubin hopes to ignite in children is best expressed by her own excitement. “When I leave a museum, I start to see the whole world like a photographer or artist I’ve been looking at,” she says. “That’s the magic of art.”

Andrew von Oeyen, frequent guest performer at St. Matthew’s, will present a solo recital as part of the “Music at St. Matthew’s” series on Friday, January 23, 8 p.m. Von Oeyen, who made his solo orchestral debut at 10 and has performed at St. Matthew’s, both in recital and with the Chamber Orchestra, since age 12, is now 23 and has already established himself as one of the most captivating young pianists of his generation. Von Oeyen has performed with the Seattle and Singapore symphonies as well as the Slovak State Philharmonic and was heard at last year’s Spoleto Festival and more recently at the festival “Piano en Vallois” in Angoulýme, France. He made his debut with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1998. His Pacific Palisades recital will include two of the “Petrarch Sonnets” of Liszt, Bartok’s suite “Out of Doors,” and music of Ravel and Mozart. When planning his programs, Von Oeyen begins the process with a large selection of composers and from there hones the program. “I usually don’t play any one piece that are longer than 70 minutes, but the real decisions come in the final stages of planning and depend on making the right connections with the works.” Von Oeyen, home-based in Manhattan, is concentrating on concertizing and has of late been playing Debussy, Ravel, Liszt and Chopin. He also enjoys modern composers such as Ligeti and Massenet and last season played a world premiere. Although one day he would like to compose, his current enthusiasm is conducting, and he will debut at the Spoleto Festival with Mozart’s Piano Concerto K 491 and Ravel’s “Le Tomba de Couperin”. Von Oeyen grew up in Malibu and graduated from Crossroads School. His father is an architect and his mother is a voice teacher and member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. After graduating from Juilliard in Manhattan, Von Oeyen embarked on his professional career which finds him playing concerts around the world. He enjoys the experience, he says and has his favorite halls, including Powell Hall in St. Louis. While he has been in the audience while the L.A. Philharmonic played at Disney Hall-which fulfilled his high expectations-he has so far not been a performer. He is looking forward to debuting at Wigmore Hall in London this year. Happy and stimulated by life in New York, Von Oeyen nevertheless carves out time for visits west and even had time for some skiing while home for the holidays. Despite having won some prestigious competitions, including the Irving Gilmore International Keyboard Competition, Von Oeyen has cut down on his participation in such contests. “Competitions have lost some of their meaning because there are so many now,” he says. “Truly the most important career enabling factors are the maestros and the managers. If you can catch their attention, you are more likely to get concerts and to have a flourishing career.” The concert takes place at St. Matthew’s Church, 1031 Bienveneda Ave. Admission is $20. Tickets will be available at the door the night of the concert (no advance sales or reservations). For further information or a free 2003-2004 season brochure, contact 573-7787, ext. 2.

Internationally acclaimed guitarist Scott Tennant will join three members of the original Angeles String Quartet, violinist Roger Wilkie, violist Brian Dembow and cellist Steven Erdody in concert on Tuesday, January 20 at 8 p.m. in the sanctuary at St. Matthew’s, 1031 Bienveneda. In addition the world premiere of a work by Los Angeles-based composer Jane Brockman commissioned by Chamber Music Palisades (CMP) will debut. The program includes the Concerto for Guitar and Strings by Vivaldi, the Sonatina op. 205 for Flute and Guitar by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, op. 81 in addition to the new Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano by Brockman. Scott Tennant is one of the world’s most recognized American guitarists. His performances both as a soloist and with the L.A. Guitar Quartet, which he is a founding member, have taken him around the world. He is the author of the best-selling book and video “Pumping Nylon” on guitar technique and is in the process of recording the complete solo guitar works of Joaquin Rodrigo for the Belgian label GHA, including the concertos with Leo Brouwer conducting. Violinist Roger Wilkie’s playing has been described by the Los Angeles Times as having “surpassing virtuosity, a thrilling legato tone and a sense of full emotional engagement.” Concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony, he has also served in that capacity with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera Orchestra and the Real Philharmonia de Galicia (Spain) under Helmuth Rilling. As a member of the first New York String Quartet, violist Brian Dembow then joined the Sequoia Quartet followed by 12 years with the Angeles String Quartet. At age 11 he was admitted to The Juilliard School and later won the Eduard Dethier Award and was twice awarded the Michael Rabin Award. Stephen Erdody has served as principal cellist for the Pacific Symphony, the Joffrey Ballet, the American Ballet Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem and Opera Pacific and he was cellist with the New York String Quartet. He has formed a new ensemble, Chamber Music Los Angeles, to perform benefit concerts supporting non-profits that enrich children’s lives through the performing arts, particularly disadvantaged children. Composer Jane Brockman has served on the boards of directors of New York’s Composers Concordance, Women in Film, the Society of Composers and Lyricists and also served three years on review panels for the NEA. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in music composition at the University of Michigan. She studied with Max Deutsch in Paris and worked in Ireland and Vienna. She has won honors and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Fulbright-Hays/Alliance-Francaise, Rackham School, the State of Connecticut, Meet the Composer, The Composers Conference and the Sigvald Thompson Prize for orchestral composition. Completing the player roster for the evening will be violinist Sarah Thornblade and CMP co-artistic directors and co-founders flutist Susan Greenberg and pianist Delores Stevens. Now in its seventh consecutive season, Chamber Music Palisades includes local school concerts in each season’s programming and has commissioned five new works since the inception of the series in 1997. Tickets will be available at the door at 1031 Bienveneda Avenue in Pacific Palisades at $20 for single admission. Students with ID will be admitted free of charge.

Good Stock in “Other People’s Money”

A night at the theater does not always translate to an entertaining escape from present-day realities. Sometimes a play or production evokes, or brings to light, current controversies plaguing our society. This is okay, as long as satire is the main ingredient and the characters are finely portrayed. Thankfully, Theatre Palisades’ production of Jerry Sterner’s “Other People’s Money” covers the necessary bases to make this “black comedy” worth seeing. Directed by Michael Macready and produced by Nikita Bezrukiy and Cindy Dellinger, the show runs through February 8 at Pierson Playhouse. You don’t have to understand stock talk, or the corporate world for that matter, to recognize a bad egg when you see one. In “Other People’s Money,” he comes all suited up, in the arrogant, vulgar form of Lawrence Garfinkle (Steve Larkin), a Wall Street shark whose ego isn’t the only thing that’s bloated. Between donuts, Garfinkle settles on his prey-a Rhode Island company called New England Wire and Cable, run on the traditional values and pride of Andrew Jorgenson (Lance Johnson). Helping Jorgenson manage the company is William Coles (Liam Tuohy), who also acts as the play’s narrator, and Jorgenson’s secretary/companion, Bea Sullivan (Pamela Murphy). Garfinkle, aka “Larry the Liquidator,” intends to buy the company right out from under them, and starts by buying a few shares. When the shareholders become concerned, they bring in Kate Sullivan (Tina Arning)-the sleek and sexy New York attorney who also happens to be Bea’s daughter. Will she be the one who gets Garfinkle to drop his donut…and his interest in the company? “Lawyers are like taxicab drivers stuck in traffic-they don’t do anything and their meters are always ticking,” says Jorgenson, whose shaky relationship with Kate arouses pent-up family conflict. Some of the best scenes are played out between Kate and Garfinkle, who heat up Garfinkle’s swanky New York office with their sexual banter/power trip dynamic. Larkin portrays the ultimate womanizing swindler with unrestrained vulgarity, while Arning captures her character’s sassy, femme fatale attitude to a T-these two have serious chemistry in their roles. The smart, detailed set design-Jorgenson’s office and Garfinkle’s pad each allotted one half of the stage-allows the audience to view the dichotomy between the big shot and the small-town businessman with perception and ease. Garfinkle’s black-and-white-tiled, retro-style office looks out on the city, in perfect opposition to Jorgenson’s wood-paneled, park-ranger-style headquarters, which Garfinkle compares to the Bronx. From the shiny trophies on the file cabinet to the glass jar of gumballs and the painted black and silver walls, the set (by Sherman Wayne) is really a piece of work. More impressive is the interplay between the two offices during scene transitions. For example, after Coles visits Garfinkle regarding the inheritance of New England Wire and Cable, Garfinkle pushes him across the stage and he stumbles into Jorgenson’s office-and literally into the next scene. At another point, Kate tells Jorgy not to go away, and she marches across the stage into Garfinkle’s office. This creative direction-the dismissal of using the door as the only way in and out-enhances the dramatic experience for the audience. Furthermore, the way the characters-particularly Garfinkle-offer commentary during scenes in which they are absent is humorous and engaging. They also speak directly to the audience on several occassions. “All of you, you’re destroying the capitalist system,” Garfinkle tells the audience, after being grilled by Kate. “The first thing the Commies will do is kill all the lawyers.” Matching the sharp delivery of lines is the costume design (by Sherry Coon), especially the way certain colors appear-and stand out-simultaneously in several characters’ outfits. For instance, Garfinkle wears a shiny magenta-colored tie with his black-striped suit while Kate sports a light, lime-green skirt suit with a light pink scarf. Simultaneously, Bea appears in a dull pink sweater. The coordinated costumes thus present an aesthetically pleasing dimension to the interaction between characters and their movement across the stage. With the production staff’s exemplary work, the five actors pull off an entertaining and thought-provoking drama. The show opens with Cabaret’s “Money, Money, Money!” which speaks volumes about the values that too often win out when the lights go down. “Other People’s Money” runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. and Sundays 2 p.m. Tickets are $13 for general admission and $15 on Saturdays; discounts for seniors and students. For reservations, call 454-1970.