When Bayard Winthrop founded American Giant, he set up manufacturing in San Francisco. The sweatshirt company focuses on the details and skips over the distributors. Winthrop tells host Guy Raz how making the clothing in America actually helps his bottom line.
In one of the greatest movies of all time, a World War I-era Englishman and his Arab guide stop at a well in the desert. But as they drink, they hear a warning shot, look into the distance, and see a lone figure in black, galloping toward them on a camel. The Arab man recognizes him and draws a gun. The lone figure brings him down with a single musket shot — now that's an entrance. The men in the scene were of course Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali and Peter O' Toole as the title character in Lawrence of Arabia.
The David Lean film hit screens 50 years ago this month, and a new, boxed Blu-ray edition, complete with a book that's big enough to be a holiday cheese tray, is out this season.
Lawrence of Arabia confirmed Lean as one of the great directors, and starred a whole company of British actors, including Alec Guiness as King Faisal and Jack Hawkins as a haughty British officer. It also introduced O' Toole and Sharif to world audiences. The actor joins NPR's Scott Simon to talk about his first hit film
Interview Highlights
On what made David Lean such a good director
"He was a brilliant person. He didn't think of anything except films. He did not think of theater. He did not think of anything else in his life. He didn't like actors; he hated actors, but he loved me. I don't know why, because I didn't know myself what I was going to do, and the first shot I had to make, I spent the whole night to practice it for the next day — my first shot in the film. And he knew about this, and he loved me for it."
Stuart Wilson/Getty Images
Omar Sharif received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Lawrence of Arabia.
Voting for a new president and parliament in Ghana has been extended into a second day, because of glitches with the new electronic voter verification system.
Ghana has gained an enviable reputation, in its often turbulent West African neighborhood, as being something of an oasis of stability – despite tensions in the build-up to the vote.
The unofficial 2012 election campaign theme in Ghana was peace. Musicians from the local labor union composed special songs and the politicians seeking election or re-election publicly committed to peace.
"Ghana has been peaceful anytime we have elections, but violence has cropped up," says Bice Osei Koffour, who heads Ghana's musicians' union. "So, you need to work on it constantly; keep reminding people about the need for peace, the need for tolerance."
Ghana has had five elections, and two peaceful transfers of power, under its belt since the end of military rule in 1992. President Obama has praised Ghana as a "model of democracy" in Africa because, despite heightened tension, it stepped back from the brink in a very close presidential race in 2008.
Enlarge Gabriela Barnuevo/AP
Lines were long at many polling stations in Ghana. Here a woman votes in the capital Accra.
It wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen to the country.
If President Obama and Congress can't come to agreement on new tax and spending policies by the end of year, the U.S. could slip into recession, defense and domestic programs will see damaging cuts, and the American people may become convinced that Washington can't govern the nation.
On the other hand, the lack of a deal would do a lot to help erase the federal deficit.
Getty Creative Images
If President Obama and Congress fail to reach a deal on tax and spending changes, the nation would feel a lot of fiscal pain. But it also may benefit from the long-term fiscal restraint that would come from keeping tax hikes and spending cuts in place.