tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55380598169040539112024-03-19T01:48:23.897-07:00A Boat Against the CurrentA cultural "omniblog" covering matters literary as well as theatrical, musical, historical, cinematic(al), etc.MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.comBlogger8819125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-89897788370879784442024-03-18T06:55:00.000-07:002024-03-18T06:55:54.131-07:00This Day in Film History (Douglas Fairbanks in Career Triumph at ‘Thief of Bagdad’ Premiere)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVTMMCGIwb-zJwPIVXj60xXB5dUhsYwhqssqCbEphjlMBpIWJrraboMT3xgu9lsU3o9EFATW39MHGhXYCAsYiXtJEL2J-jxkQkfcrFmtSC9bBbdtKy0C4MghEJR_c7dDR2zW3AAFuGQMMsjdAOefd1A-N3T0VvtPLNdquyOry1rkhPS5XsR688B68UpQ/s2500/ThiefOfBagdadPoster-1924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1743" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVTMMCGIwb-zJwPIVXj60xXB5dUhsYwhqssqCbEphjlMBpIWJrraboMT3xgu9lsU3o9EFATW39MHGhXYCAsYiXtJEL2J-jxkQkfcrFmtSC9bBbdtKy0C4MghEJR_c7dDR2zW3AAFuGQMMsjdAOefd1A-N3T0VvtPLNdquyOry1rkhPS5XsR688B68UpQ/w139-h200/ThiefOfBagdadPoster-1924.jpg" width="139" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Mar. 18, 1924— At the premiere of his latest film, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015400/">The Thief of Bagdad</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001196/?ref_=tt_ov_wr">Douglas Fairbanks</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> gave everything his fans
could want: carrying wife Mary Pickford on his shoulders past the crowd of 5,000
waiting outside their limousine; having New York’s Liberty Theater transformed
into a scene from </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Arabian Nights </i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">that had inspired his latest spectacle</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">; leaping onto the stage at the
conclusion of the movie; and, in between, packing the 138-minute silent with splendid
pageantry and special effects to go along with his usual athleticism.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Last year, I was fortunate enough to see this classic—not
in one of those cheaply made versions in the public domain, but restored with
beautiful original color tinting, and put on the big screen by the <a href="https://www.barrymorefilmcenter.com/">Barrymore Film Center</a> in Fort Lee, NJ. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Film technology has advanced markedly in the last
century, but Fairbanks’ good looks, charm and charisma remained timeless for
those of us in the packed auditorium that night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All these qualities helped Fairbanks virtually create
the template for the cinematic swashbuckling hero. Yes, sword fights and period
costumes are required for the genre, but above all, you need a devil-may-care
protagonist who is good at heart, and open to love by a woman. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That was the formula already fashioned by Fairbanks
from the start of the Roaring Twenties, in <i>The Mark of Zorro</i>, <i>The
Three Musketeers</i>, and <i>Robin Hood</i>, and it would continue to be
through the end of the decade. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Matinee idols of the studio system in the sound
era—Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, Burt Lancaster, and Stewart Granger—owed much of
their early success to vehicles patterned after his. But what they accomplished
in those movies don’t measure up to the standards set by Fairbanks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why? It doesn’t necessarily have to do with skill.
(Lancaster, of course, eventually won an Oscar, and Flynn and Power were also
recognized as quite capable late in their careers.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rather, it’s because Fairbanks as an independent
producer (and as part of the group that formed United Artists in 1919, with
wife Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith) generated his own films
and image—engaging the financing, writing the stories (in this case, with a nom
de plume derived from his middle names, “Elton Thomas”), and explaining to
collaborators what he wanted through his elaborate charts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In short, Fairbanks had become what later film
scholars would term an “auteur”: a filmmaker whose artistic control over the
product is so great that he is, practically speaking, its “author.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Director<b> </b><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0909825/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Raoul Walsh</a>, in one of his greatest
silent films, gave ample evidence of the energy and panache of his Warner
Brothers movies of the sound era. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But it was a professional he had worked with on the
East Coast, in a Fort Lee film studio, art director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0580017/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">William Cameron Menzies</a>
(later to direct <i>Things to Come</i> and to design <i>Gone With the Wind</i>),
along with special effects mavens Hampton Del Ruth and Coy Watson and the star's own brother Robert, serving as technical director, whom
Fairbanks called on for most of the movie’s most prodigious feats of cinematic
magic, including:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">* a fire-breathing dragon (a crocodile shot with the
actor using double-exposure);<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*a giant spider;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*a flying horse, featuring a real horse running on a
treadmill against a screen;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*the underworld mermaid kingdom, shot through a curtain
of thin gauze as if the Thief were swimming underwater, then tinted blue in
post-production;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*an invisibility cloak;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">* the famous flying “magic carpet,” which Walsh
claimed to have conceived while watching a steelworker hoisted aloft on a
crane—but which still required a 3/4 inch piece of steel, along with 16 piano
wires fastened to the carpet’s corners and anchored to the top of a 100-ft.
construction crane.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The intricate sets also reflected its star’s precise
calculations for his stunts, according to <a href="https://moviediva.com/reviewpages/mdthiefofbagdad/">Laura Boyes’ July 2023 post on her “Moviediva” blog</a>: “Props were designed to make whatever feat he was attempting
look easy: a wall was the right height to leap, a table proportioned to make a
dive over it appear effortless.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The 41-year-old actor was in magnificent shape, wrote <a href="https://silentfilm.org/the-magic-of-the-magic-carpet/">Margarita Landazuri in a winter 2013 article</a>, courtesy of daily exercise in a gym on
the lot. But the kind of prop Ms. Boyes had in mind included trampolines placed
in large jars that Fairbanks’ title character would jump in and out of to elude
frustrated pursuers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Contemporary audiences would also be enthralled by the
film’s exotic apparel, even for the 3,000 extras a day engaged for the production
(all requiring different clothes, according to costume designer <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0500552/">Mitchell Leisen</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For a long time, estimates of the movie’s expenses
ranged from $2 million to $2.5 million. Perhaps these numbers were a Hollywood
publicist’s attempt to hype the movie’s production values. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But in 2008, Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance
disclosed that the budget was only half that previously supposed:
$1,135,654.65. What this meant was that the actor and his creative team had
used extra ingenuity to create what looked like a far more opulent spectacle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">The Thief of Bagdad</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">
would be remade six more times in the past century, with a Technicolor 1940
version winning Oscars for Best Cinematography, Special Effects, and Art
Direction. But Fairbanks got it right the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Quite simply, the original, according to critic <a href="https://www.americanheritage.com/doug-fairbanks">Richard
Schickel’s December 1971 <i>American Heritage</i> article</a>, “was full of
wonders that, if often imitated since (and in some cases technically improved),
have never been surpassed in their ability to delight.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To get to this point, Fairbanks had been a shrewd
judge of his career, using his acrobatic skills and sunny optimism to bound
from Broadway to vaudeville to cinematic adventure hero to his current niche as
the embodiment of swashbuckling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But with the coming of sound, the Great Depression,
and his own aging, the actor could no longer nimbly negotiate these
transitions. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When he died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 56 in 1939, a
new generation of movie fans, upon hearing the name “Douglas Fairbanks,” was
more likely to associate it son Douglas Fairbanks Jr., then in the middle of
his own thriving career.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-75068969557155618392024-03-18T03:52:00.000-07:002024-03-18T03:59:46.864-07:00Quote of the Day (Flannery O'Connor, on ‘Nice Young Men’)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDKUOxCC8bpTRmdZCaiSCaH3o6pQKPokzVVuGurjJIw7KtJQGGrwsNZcwuKVRWijpo9mIVqJg0J64wnN-NSw8KwmSIXMPsVLS7qdVgzz5qIJzIVQ3pggcdeiis79gUBby2dJ8jHXrKzouKSBOA4LlnRAmWJqr5m2P40JilTP29MOkd_tUQHrFeqC7QzI/s512/FlanneryOConnor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="290" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsDKUOxCC8bpTRmdZCaiSCaH3o6pQKPokzVVuGurjJIw7KtJQGGrwsNZcwuKVRWijpo9mIVqJg0J64wnN-NSw8KwmSIXMPsVLS7qdVgzz5qIJzIVQ3pggcdeiis79gUBby2dJ8jHXrKzouKSBOA4LlnRAmWJqr5m2P40JilTP29MOkd_tUQHrFeqC7QzI/w113-h200/FlanneryOConnor.jpg" width="113" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“She looked at nice young
men as if she could smell their stupidity.” — Southern novelist and short-story
writer Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964), “Good Country People,” in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Good-Hard-Find-Other-Stories/dp/0151365040/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr="><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i>A Good
Man Is Hard to Find</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i>and Other Stories</i></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> (1955)</span> </span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-18453450608838237332024-03-17T16:28:00.000-07:002024-03-17T16:36:50.269-07:00Quote of the Day (Barbara Kingsolver, on Living Inside a Hope)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1WXyiyxk1sZV8XTuzjRpzd5dSsjioeWfJ9X7RT3WD1xJmIdrl56juJFlPai7rP5mENmCplO4-rLgCtSOgJPWTxYgRAa43EZXPXrMaeyibxny35FerVNzFxlBYiz19Zr4y5t4i1_UAppKpRrFFWdGOIX6Ibpm0TzFf74ui27toqnkLU8xh0RO5GCqTe8/s2403/BarbaraKingsolver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2403" data-original-width="2204" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1WXyiyxk1sZV8XTuzjRpzd5dSsjioeWfJ9X7RT3WD1xJmIdrl56juJFlPai7rP5mENmCplO4-rLgCtSOgJPWTxYgRAa43EZXPXrMaeyibxny35FerVNzFxlBYiz19Zr4y5t4i1_UAppKpRrFFWdGOIX6Ibpm0TzFf74ui27toqnkLU8xh0RO5GCqTe8/w183-h200/BarbaraKingsolver.jpg" width="183" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“The very least you can do in your life is figure out
what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. What I
want is almost so simple I can't say it: elementary kindness. Enough to eat,
enough to go around. The possibility that kids might one day grow up to be
neither the destroyers nor the destroyed.” — <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">American novelist,
essayist and poet</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Barbara Kingsolver, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Dreams-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0062278509">Animal Dreams</a></i>
(1990)</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-11621991268478910542024-03-17T04:46:00.000-07:002024-03-17T05:03:19.473-07:00Spiritual Quote of the Day (Kurt Vonnegut Jr., on Where You Meet Saints)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBceJN1a-4cs-EJUnUxC2bA9G4eOKkGuTRxLOTGwzWY3LPMfu1TGMkYGdfalMWTRcG4yUv52uzzRZtBXDStyGCFWn18rL7QkgBErw6vnuUKxE6p7kk4EbU_frCwPkMgHOdiL9yZIfAVguvm3AvKp9qw3KLNEpUMchHCYMXZLro50YkndZG7EM8FhlDTk/s599/KurtVonnegut_1972-WC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="404" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaBceJN1a-4cs-EJUnUxC2bA9G4eOKkGuTRxLOTGwzWY3LPMfu1TGMkYGdfalMWTRcG4yUv52uzzRZtBXDStyGCFWn18rL7QkgBErw6vnuUKxE6p7kk4EbU_frCwPkMgHOdiL9yZIfAVguvm3AvKp9qw3KLNEpUMchHCYMXZLro50YkndZG7EM8FhlDTk/w135-h200/KurtVonnegut_1972-WC.jpg" width="135" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“You meet saints
everywhere. They can be anywhere. They are people behaving decently in an
indecent society.”—American novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), quoted by Harvey
Wasserman, “<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/may-peace-be-with-you-kur_b_45834">May Peace Be with You, Kurt Vonnegut</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">," </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Huffington
Post</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, Apr. 13, 2007</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-31744070523370857872024-03-16T11:22:00.000-07:002024-03-17T05:02:20.874-07:00Quote of the Day (Enda Walsh, on Why ‘The Irish Play Tradition is Not Sociological Drama’)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rxlbwMTqe8Ipc26tnUM2hyphenhyphen3DzBnrKHyvulgXJk1ej17N0G8Ni5dkIae69eC6zKmyc7QEq9Aqx6VJtfXoDBIhvgn7r5i9bCMh1cJQriejaiR-nVvk9_PRCraHFejV-wvZpJkxvISERBdYsDC8AEU2lgrIcMPlhyphenhyphen-_L6zv7Er8-hr03hokCBteavBk5_k/s767/EndaWalsh-2024-WC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4rxlbwMTqe8Ipc26tnUM2hyphenhyphen3DzBnrKHyvulgXJk1ej17N0G8Ni5dkIae69eC6zKmyc7QEq9Aqx6VJtfXoDBIhvgn7r5i9bCMh1cJQriejaiR-nVvk9_PRCraHFejV-wvZpJkxvISERBdYsDC8AEU2lgrIcMPlhyphenhyphen-_L6zv7Er8-hr03hokCBteavBk5_k/w167-h200/EndaWalsh-2024-WC.jpg" width="167" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“I come from the Irish tradition and the Irish play
tradition is not sociological drama. In Britain there are wonderful writers who
write about politics, about where we're at. Whereas as an Irish playwright — I
guess our background is poetry. So we see theatre in terms of dream and in
terms of form. [The plays] are based in the real world but the real world is
not as we know it and see it….The inner workings of a person permeate whatever
play I'm writing.” —Irish playwright Enda Walsh quoted in Sarah Hemming, “Love
and Biscuits,” <i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Financial Times</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, July 31-Aug. 1, 2021</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The image accompanying this post, of Enda Walsh at
Berlinale 2024, was taken Jan. 15, 2024.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-62774133985704194312024-03-15T20:55:00.000-07:002024-03-16T10:03:29.599-07:00This Day in Environmental History (Birth of Harold L. Ickes, Combative New Deal Interior Secretary)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX-noZRUtjInRavFe_K7en2-xq5aWYBffiJLQr4Pxtx9XTqYFV2rD0NiS-GaAUDjfisn7G-fDSDGIuXi314fS_D4EeV8IPKOp0rXa55O6mbOnrRz3w7wDU7vk5jDS483Z2MUVOUzvnhCUVJJdusIiMSQlxv9YSutWhn5Dr2Yk6Z1NkhkOdALVlZco4_ho/s4140/HaroldLIckes.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4140" data-original-width="2998" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX-noZRUtjInRavFe_K7en2-xq5aWYBffiJLQr4Pxtx9XTqYFV2rD0NiS-GaAUDjfisn7G-fDSDGIuXi314fS_D4EeV8IPKOp0rXa55O6mbOnrRz3w7wDU7vk5jDS483Z2MUVOUzvnhCUVJJdusIiMSQlxv9YSutWhn5Dr2Yk6Z1NkhkOdALVlZco4_ho/w145-h200/HaroldLIckes.jpg" width="145" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Mar. 15, 1874— Harold L. Ickes, a pugnacious former
Republican Progressive for Theodore Roosevelt who became a stalwart Democratic New Dealer as Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior, was
born in rural Hollidaysburg, Penn.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Assuming control of a department rife with corruption
in the past, Ickes kept it remarkably free of graft and mismanagement even as he expanded its reach and influence
through countless bureaucratic battles. Under his direction, the Interior Department:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">* oversaw the construction of quite nearly 20,000
projects in a six-year period, including hospitals, bridges, the Key West
Highway, the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, and Hoover Dam in in the newly formed Public
Work Administration;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*supervised the creation of the innovative Tennessee
Valley Authority, a federally owned electric utility corporation that provided low-cost
electricity in seven southeastern states, as well as flood control, navigation,
and land management; <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*expanded the number and size of units in the National
Park Service; <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">* was one of four department heads involved with the Civilian
Conservation Corps.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Glorying in his reputation for abrasiveness, Ickes
even titled his 1943 memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Curmudgeon-Harold-Ickes/dp/0313249881"><i>The</i> <i>Autobiography of a Curmudgeon</i></a>. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">When he wasn’t expressing irritation to subordinates, fellow Cabinet members,
and even FDR (who regularly refused his periodic offers of resignation), he
unleashed biting public comments about administration opponents. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">When GOP
Presidential nominee Wendell Willkie, for instance, spoke of his rise from poverty to success,
Ickes mocked him as a “simple, barefoot Wall Street lawyer."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Though he belittled Willkie’s Horatio Alger tale, his
own was similar. A miserable childhood (grinding poverty, a philandering,
alcoholic father, and a strict Presbyterian mother) spurred his ambition to
escape—which finally came to pass when he became a journalist, then a lawyer
with a thriving practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">An advantageous marriage to the wealthy Anna Wilmarth
lifted his status further, but at the price of deep unhappiness. He felt little
compunction, then, even when he joined the Roosevelt administration, about
spending countless hours at the office and pursuing extramarital affairs with
younger women that could have caused scandal if exposed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">A 1916 tour of Glacier National Park on horseback
intensified Ickes’ love of nature. Subsequently he found one of the few balms
for his suspicious, self-righteous nature and chronic insomnia in the gardens
of his Winnetka, Ill., home.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">It surprised me to learn that it wasn’t Ickes’ passion
for conservation but his advocacy for Native American rights that led him to seek
a job with FDR in 1933. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Lamenting that several others had an inside track with
the new administration for the post of commissioner of Indian affairs, Ickes
was alerted by a longtime Progressive Republican ally, Senator Hiram Johnson,
that an even bigger prize was available: Secretary of the Interior.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">A few potential candidates had already turned down
FDR’s offer of the post. The incoming President had never even <i>met </i>Ickes
before their interview. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">But Roosevelt could sound a bipartisan note by
selecting this onetime Bull Mooser, and someone with knowledge of the West appealed to him. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Moreover, if FDR had any private reservations about
Ickes’ bluntness, they were soothed over by the notion that, after all, this
was a relatively minor Cabinet post compared with Justice, State, War, or the
Treasury departments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">The new appointee was determined to make his
department anything <i>but</i> minor. Given the interest that drew him to
government service in the first place, it was natural that he would reverse the
policies of prior administrations by employing more Native Americans in the
Bureau of Indian Affairs and encouraging tribal religion and culture.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">But he also set about on the accomplishments I listed
at the start of this post—and, more controversially, clashing with other
Cabinet members about their prerogatives,
including, most prominently:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">*<i><a href="https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2655/henry-wallace">Henry Wallace</a></i>, another former Republican
termed Democratic liberal, who successfully fought off Ickes’ attempt to move
the Forestry Service from the Department of Agriculture to Interior;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">*<i><a href="https://constitutionallawreporter.com/great-american-biographies/harry-hopkins/">Harry Hopkins</a></i>, a Roosevelt intimate who
tangled repeatedly with Ickes over federal allocations for his own programs
(the Civil Works Administration and Works Progress Administration) in the
Commerce Department versus Ickes’ PWA; and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">*<i><a href="https://francesperkinscenter.org/learn/her-life/">Frances Perkins</a></i>, Secretary of Labor, whose
longtime friendship with and easy access to FDR provoked a sexist private
observation of Ickes (“There is something to the old adage, ‘a woman, a dog, a
walnut tree, the more you beat them, the better they’ll be'”).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">No fair judgment of Ickes’ career and character can be
made without noting his commitment to civil rights and liberties for all. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Heading the Chicago branch of the NAACP in the 1920s, he would, a decade later,
offer Marian Anderson the use of the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of
the American Revolution barred the acclaimed African-American contralto from
singing in their auditorium. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Then, during WWII, when the Work Relocation Authority
(WRA) was transferred to the Interior Department, Ickes, a staunch opponent of
Japanese-American internment, endured hate mail and threats when he moved to roll
back the agency’s discriminatory policy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Along with Perkins, Ickes was the only Cabinet member
to serve throughout FDR’s 12 years in office. But he did not survive long under
Harry Truman. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">After disagreeing with Roosevelt’s successor over an appointment
in the Navy Department, Ickes submitted another of his letters of resignation—except
that this time, his boss accepted it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Each day, Ickes dictated first drafts of diary entries
based on hastily scrawled notes in meetings. Within two years of his death in
1952, his second wife and widow, Jane Dahlman, had published three volumes she
had edited up to the start of FDR’s third term in 1941. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Diary-Harold-Thousand-1933-1936/dp/B000GSC9FK">The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes</a></span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">
represents an as-it-happened insider’s account of policymaking through the
first two terms of a President who delighted in keeping advisers guessing about
his intentions. This dyspeptic American Pepys who recorded his impressions gave
future biographers a chronicle that, these days, seems ever less likely to be
repeated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">(The Whitewater scandal left Clinton administration
officials, for instance, hesitant about putting to paper their impressions,
particularly after the young Treasury Department aide Josh Steiner gulped and
disavowed in congressional testimony diary entries on pressure from the White
House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Investigations making use of contemporaneous notes
also briefly involved—are you ready for this?—Ickes’ son, Harold <i>McEwen</i>
Ickes, a close adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, whose handwritten memo on
large donors led him to testify on Capitol Hill on financing for the 1996
Presidential campaign, according to <a href="https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/opinion/1997/07/11/committing-history-to-memory/50608486007/">this July 1997 article for the (Mass.) <i>Standard-Times</i></a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Like another New Dealer, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/justices/william_o_douglas">William O. Douglas</a> (elevated from
chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court), Ickes presents historians with a conundrum: how to assess a
public official’s accomplishments and idealism with prickly personalities that
may limited their effectiveness and fulfillment of their highest ambitions. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">(Both men, at different times, seethed over failing to be selected as FDR’s
Vice-Presidential running mate.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Moreover, historians also must keep these same private
failings as they assess these New Deal chroniclers for their biases and even
basic reliability.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-9831357355591393552024-03-15T04:16:00.000-07:002024-03-17T05:01:51.561-07:00TV Quote of the Day (‘The Carol Burnett Show,’ As a Visiting Friend Disrupts Mama’s Family)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjrNSVJ1ughfYYMWqsyZ0jvIYAcm4KEKBAt0g_-zpm9prlPVvNy4WFDCgGLfo5PRMxPVVqEPUpNdx_FdBgB1v2a0DniU_taV3_5kebm6xkcDrCKj-lAFZ7UO8eKT1Vf-yNn7foXJ6YBVFn_Y00OWZT-gNrkoTNFr60aSPfx1biKUO61NyoxeQ6urzwMI/s300/CarolBurnettShow-Burnett-Woodward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="300" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjrNSVJ1ughfYYMWqsyZ0jvIYAcm4KEKBAt0g_-zpm9prlPVvNy4WFDCgGLfo5PRMxPVVqEPUpNdx_FdBgB1v2a0DniU_taV3_5kebm6xkcDrCKj-lAFZ7UO8eKT1Vf-yNn7foXJ6YBVFn_Y00OWZT-gNrkoTNFr60aSPfx1biKUO61NyoxeQ6urzwMI/w200-h150/CarolBurnettShow-Burnett-Woodward.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Thelma "Mama" Harper</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">
[<i>played by Vicki Lawrence</i>]: “It is people like her that are causing the
downfall of this whole country. If I was your mother...”</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Midge Gibson</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">
[<i>played by Joanne Woodward, pictured right</i>]: [<i>interrupting</i>] “Well,
you are not my mother, Mrs. Harper, so I have no emotional objection to
punching you right in the nose!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Mama</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Are you going
to let her talk to me like that, Eunice?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Eunice Higgins</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">
[<i>played by Carol Burnett, left</i>]: “Go, go, go.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Midge</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Now I have made
many mistakes in my life, but I have never been deliberately malicious and
cruel and if you're an example of decency, sister, thank God I'm indecent and
you…”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[<i>referring to and pointing at Ed, Eunice's husband</i>]<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Midge</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “... you weren't
so high and mighty in high school when you…you were in the back seat of that
convertible with me on that double date with Gigi and—and—and you practically
tore off my best sweater!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Eunice</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Oh, Ed!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Midge</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Yeah! I finally
got away and after that, he ran after Gigi! Jim had to throw him out of the
car! Oh, Eunice, I'm sorry.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Eunice</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Oh, shoot. Who
cares? I'm just surprised he ever had that much energy.”—</span> <i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">The
Carol Burnett Show</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0536682/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt">Season 9, Episode 21</a>, “The
Family” sketch, original air date Feb. 14, 1976, directed by Dave Powers</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-21149775089001740272024-03-14T04:44:00.000-07:002024-03-14T09:43:11.635-07:00Quote of the Day (Christopher Nolan, on the Power of ‘What is Not Shown’ on Film)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENzg3RKRXbmKkdvLrlfeUKGi3SZjJ9mkt3kB5eLFItG0J6DKAN1M5iwu_9sEuvttS0DUGRDnvG7SUXWisDd4r-egXl3DNPKuHYlGNTjzjynVX7Ejw09aDZHZBe0AibhXOAg65Rl-eLffIzBT7M6SMa2Wk6NfXgL-_NHcDx5OUpvp1gbnT65O_c7nzqww/s1536/Oppenheimer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1536" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgENzg3RKRXbmKkdvLrlfeUKGi3SZjJ9mkt3kB5eLFItG0J6DKAN1M5iwu_9sEuvttS0DUGRDnvG7SUXWisDd4r-egXl3DNPKuHYlGNTjzjynVX7Ejw09aDZHZBe0AibhXOAg65Rl-eLffIzBT7M6SMa2Wk6NfXgL-_NHcDx5OUpvp1gbnT65O_c7nzqww/w200-h113/Oppenheimer.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“What’s most powerful in
cinema is often what is not shown. You’re asking the audience to use their
imaginations. It’s something that people who make horror movies completely
understand, that less can be more.”—Oscar-winning British-American film
director Christopher Nolan quoted by Robert Ito, “The Secret Weapon in
‘Oppenheimer,’” <i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The New York Times</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, Feb. 11, 2024</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-10713151389896845682024-03-13T05:39:00.000-07:002024-03-14T04:13:24.571-07:00Quote of the Day (Mstylslav Chernov, on Ukraine’s Anguish, History, and the Responsibility of Filmmakers)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNy4EPI3W6X-y7zULmZMFNFIbxdLY2aKOvfMSO-lmWvxnVdVqLmWifSEYUZjGpR46thaumAQdJjpHJusZYocduTKXqcdWVyJ67xwYTNh2qaqtKXEF5x-k7ZAyZQloXV2Ai3n7cYXGMdy-SEeXR9FEIgE3dqK1HudebfPouMMc-rM-RCy5wh7oNNS_7w4/s1360/20DaysInMariupol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="1360" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNy4EPI3W6X-y7zULmZMFNFIbxdLY2aKOvfMSO-lmWvxnVdVqLmWifSEYUZjGpR46thaumAQdJjpHJusZYocduTKXqcdWVyJ67xwYTNh2qaqtKXEF5x-k7ZAyZQloXV2Ai3n7cYXGMdy-SEeXR9FEIgE3dqK1HudebfPouMMc-rM-RCy5wh7oNNS_7w4/w200-h113/20DaysInMariupol.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“I cannot change the history. I cannot change the
past. But we, all together, you—some of the most talented people in the world—we
can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will
prevail and the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will
never be forgotten.”— <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Ukrainian</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">filmmaker</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Mstylslav
Chernov, accepting a Best Documentary Feature Oscar for <i>20 Days in Mariupol</i>,
quoted by Dan Heching, “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/entertainment/zone-of-interest-oscars/index.html">Winners, Stars Tout Peace Over Politics at ThisYear’s Academy Awards</a>,” </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">www.cnn.com</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">,
Mar. 11, 2024</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-57505135247952633872024-03-12T18:42:00.000-07:002024-03-14T04:12:24.454-07:00Quote of the Day (Kate King, on the Transformation of a Landmark Mall)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMR9-eINyCOfnP2cbVChYv628XaVA1Ao-De1vT-ReqUnnF09w22pdo6Wywut2mrb2E039WRWdclInLCg05rmQNqpvyEBlrUb_NgZYQXlWogxk5dWBQJly_dxjR3FPrYKNZWvW7NuEgFyEnwGT1A6Nd8VVXvIRteLSfsUGa8VwHFgzGMf2XczSXAq3KWCQ/s546/Southdale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="546" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMR9-eINyCOfnP2cbVChYv628XaVA1Ao-De1vT-ReqUnnF09w22pdo6Wywut2mrb2E039WRWdclInLCg05rmQNqpvyEBlrUb_NgZYQXlWogxk5dWBQJly_dxjR3FPrYKNZWvW7NuEgFyEnwGT1A6Nd8VVXvIRteLSfsUGa8VwHFgzGMf2XczSXAq3KWCQ/w200-h118/Southdale.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">"[M]all giant Simon Property Group is spearheading a
$400 million spending spree to make Southdale Center in suburban Minneapolis
much more than just shopping….The Southdale overhaul reflects big shifts in how
Americans are going to the mall—once an iconic place to hang out for hours and
buy everything from soap to suits.”—Kate King, “A $400 Million Bet Says This Is
the Mall of the Future,” <i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Wall Street Journal</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, Mar. 9-10, 2024</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In a former job that required me to research and
monitor the shopping center industry, I used to groan whenever I read <i>Wall
Street Journal</i> articles about malls. So myopic was this coverage that I often
doubted whether the newspaper deserved its onetime self-proclaimed image as “the
daily diary of the American dream.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As the <i>Journal</i> was at the top of the journalism
“food chain,” influencing what stories would get covered elsewhere, an unseemly
delight appeared to take hold in many instances at other metro dailies about
the “death of the mall” and “the retail apocalypse.” </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I also doubt that many reporters
asked if the death of malls exceeded, for instance, the death of newspapers—let
alone how these publications’ advertising departments would replace the pages formerly
paid for by department stores that might have vacated malls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Certainly, large, enclosed centers were undergoing a
transition that could be jarring at times. But my beef with the <i>Journal</i>
was that, more often than not, its diagnosis of malls’ problems was simplistic.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Somehow, it usually boiled down to one factor, constantly
overshadowing anything else: <i>malls were getting clobbered by the Internet</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, when COVID-19 came along, the refrain changed: <i>Nobody
will ever go to malls again! Everybody’s going to sit home and order everything
on their computers or smartphones</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Few if any of these articles acknowledged other reasons
why malls were undergoing a sea change, such as a far more competitive physical
retail environment that often featured freestanding big-box stores like
Wal-Mart; the middle class that had once sustained mall department store
anchors now withering, especially after the 2007-09 global financial crisis; and
a long-term shift in consumer spending from goods to services.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In this regard, I read Kate King’s article on
Southdale Center this weekend with measured satisfaction. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">None of the trends I
mentioned were cited to explain why the “new amenities” included in Southdale (luxury
apartments, an extended-stay hotel, restaurant space, fitness centers) were
expected to boost the performance of this historically important mall
(generally regarded as the first enclosed, climate-controlled, department-store
anchored center in the country).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(BTW, this “new amenities” “trend” is not <i>that </i>new;
malls have been experimenting with them for a decade, maybe more.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But at least this time, a <i>Wall Street Journal</i>
reporter managed to get through an entire article about malls without using the
words “Internet” or “online sales.” There was no consideration of how correct
doomsayers were about the return of people to malls, but at least there
did seem to be an implicit admission that this was happening.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At some point, Ms. King or another <i>Journal</i>
writer might ask to what extent “omnichannel retailing” (i.e., engaging
consumers in multiple physical and digital touchpoints) is changing the
function of malls in the post-pandemic environment; how successful other malls
have been in changing their properties to a more mixed-use environment with some
combination of office, hotel, apartment, and other spaces to complement retail;
and why, while some malls are indeed declining or even dying, others continue
to flourish.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But thankfully, readers can now better sense that
malls aren’t “dead” but are changing into a type of marketplace originally envisioned
by Southdale’s influential architect, Victor Gruen: a communal gathering place
much like those he knew from his youth in Europe.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-41422568884115290752024-03-12T05:43:00.000-07:002024-03-12T05:51:43.219-07:00Movie Quote of the Day (‘The Verdict,’ on Doubt and Faith in Institutions and the Law)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8r4h2Drou88-KBF4cX_owXkCs-QTp7fgLEuvMr-0VmuBIuGkMuVqODvRL77Yxf_BFyvznQPFGOgbsTR7fkBDmT3_IMqVJz0KgwPs8zEnPtjsPJ8HBX1vQwGCr36pmIRrEXaRfqj2XIBz_1TqrJTSCoRG22Qq_GilUxKKOyeBtvUq4pY-CRHclUkUQCc/s1600/PaulNewman-TheVerdict.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8r4h2Drou88-KBF4cX_owXkCs-QTp7fgLEuvMr-0VmuBIuGkMuVqODvRL77Yxf_BFyvznQPFGOgbsTR7fkBDmT3_IMqVJz0KgwPs8zEnPtjsPJ8HBX1vQwGCr36pmIRrEXaRfqj2XIBz_1TqrJTSCoRG22Qq_GilUxKKOyeBtvUq4pY-CRHclUkUQCc/w200-h113/PaulNewman-TheVerdict.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">[<i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Frank is giving his summation to the jury</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">]</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Frank Galvin</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
[<i>played by Paul Newman</i>]: “You know, so much of the time we're just lost.
We say, ‘Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true.’ And there
is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing
people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of
ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We
doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt
the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the
lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See,
those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact,
a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, ‘Act as
if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you.’ IF... if we are to have
faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice.
See, I believe there is justice in our hearts.” <i>[He sits down</i>]—<i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084855/?ref_=ttqu_ov">The Verdict</a></i> (1972), screenplay by David Mamet and Jay Presson Allen
(uncredited), adapted from the novel by Barry Reed, directed by Sidney Lumet</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-16154252434724871582024-03-11T20:44:00.000-07:002024-03-11T20:44:51.526-07:00The Past Decade’s GOP ‘Violets’: Making Peace With the Inevitable<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDObFJq3Isb7ZVCe7EDASBpGbyAsrLC77Tkqk2NsTiVsD-JSEhtc0a0MSBlWk7bzWEuNPVo_WeMb3RVQ6BY2Ihy9tMVnVB1tqYP9oFh3XS0t5AH4En3i-fve27BO60Evm2n-9PUTvcA955_HpQ-BW2kDZU11s0F_m5Hk16xHQiA5fLkkA5Hih9jVoo-8/s4000/DSCN6656.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDObFJq3Isb7ZVCe7EDASBpGbyAsrLC77Tkqk2NsTiVsD-JSEhtc0a0MSBlWk7bzWEuNPVo_WeMb3RVQ6BY2Ihy9tMVnVB1tqYP9oFh3XS0t5AH4En3i-fve27BO60Evm2n-9PUTvcA955_HpQ-BW2kDZU11s0F_m5Hk16xHQiA5fLkkA5Hih9jVoo-8/w200-h150/DSCN6656.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Recently, the late Philip Kerr’s historical detective
novel <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/March-Violets-Bernie-Gunther-Novel/dp/0142004146">March Violets</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> has profoundly disturbed me. Its title refers
to German opportunists who only turned Nazi after newly installed Chancellor Adolf
Hitler used the Reichstag fire as an excuse to push through an “Enabling Act” that
gave him unchallenged authority in March 1933.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Or, as Kerr’s detective hero, Bernie Gunther,
mordantly observes, “Everyone in Germany was somebody different before March
1933.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The term can be easily adapted to the current
situation in the Republican Party, as another would-be nationalist strongman,
after failing in one attempt to overthrow the government, angles toward seizing
power in a more meaningful way than he ever thought possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I took the image accompanying this post as darkness
descended on Capitol Hill in November 2015. Five months before, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/donald-j-trump/">Donald Trump</a>
had announced his candidacy for Presidency. Almost no member of the Senate or
House of Representatives could imagine then how their lives were about to
change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Just as the Nazis were a minority party even up to
March 1933, the MAGA faction did not constitute a majority of the GOP through
much of the spring of 2016. But, just like the splintered anti-Nazi groups did
not form a united front against Hitler, Trump opponents could not consolidate
against him in time to slow his march to the party nomination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In both cases, opponents bided their time, sure that
the bumptious interloper would make a fatal mistake. It didn’t happen. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not in November 2016, when Trump, contrary to
pre-election polls, pulled out an Electoral College victory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not in February 2020, when, despite clear evidence
that he had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to announce an
investigation of his likely Democratic rival Joe Biden, all but one Senate
Republican voted to acquit him on impeachment charges. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not in November and December 2020, when, having lost
the popular and Electoral College counts, he refused to accept the results. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And not after January 6, 2021, when—despite fearing
for their lives in a Capitol Hill riot instigated by the President—only six
more Senate Republicans joined Mitt Romney in voting to convict Trump of
inciting the insurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The first Senate failure to convict Trump merely
encouraged him to act even more drastically. The second failure was more
consequential: The “violets” who privately (and, in some surprising cases,
publicly) scorned and loathed him lost their chance to bar him from office
again, move their party and nation in a new direction, and enjoy peace of mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those Who Know Better<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now, with Trump running the table in the Republican
primaries (defeated only in DC and Vermont), the ranks of party dissenters are
even thinner than previously. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Falling by the wayside, accepting the inevitable by
endorsing the presumptive nominee, are New Hampshire governor <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/08/politics/chris-sununu-supports-trump-for-president/index.html">Chris Sununu</a>
(who had once called the former President “f****** crazy”) and Senate Minority
Leader <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-mitch-mcconnell-trump-endorsement_n_65eb1d57e4b0c77c74165fb9">Mitch McConnell</a> (who called Trump “morally responsible” for
inciting the January 6 riot). It may well be only a matter of time before the
former President’s last rival for the nomination, Nikki Haley, ends up
endorsing him, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The support of the MAGA faction for Trump is
understandable; after all, they are true believers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Trump “violets,” however, are a different case.
They have every reason, ideologically and personally, to refuse to endorse him.
Yet instead, they try to exceed MAGA supporters with a shameless backing of
everything he says or does, as seen in the cases of:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Ted Cruz</i>, who, despite calling Trump a
“sniveling coward” for, among other reasons, suggesting that Cruz’s wife was
unattractive and falsely implying that Cruz’s father was involved with the JFK
assassination, ended up championing in the Senate Trump’s bid not to certify
results in the 2020 election.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Lindsey Graham</i>, who, after calling Trump a “race-baiting,
xenophobic religious bigot” in 2016 and even threatened the White House with
removing him from the Presidency if he didn’t denounce the Jan. 6 rioters,
engaged in a public reconciliation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Kevin McCarthy</i>, who, after saying Trump “bears
responsibility” for the riot, flew down to Mar-a-Lago three weeks after the
insurrection, and tried vainly to gain more significant support as Speaker of
the House from the former President.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">J.D. Vance: A Hideous Case<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yet the evolution of <a href="https://www.vance.senate.gov/">J.D. Vance</a>—from acclaimed <i>Hillbilly
Elegy</i> author and advocate for “flyover country” to one of Trump’s
staunchest Senate defenders—has been especially hideous. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Ohio Senator’s call a month ago for Trump to
ignore any adverse Supreme Court rulings epitomizes the GOP violets at
their most shameless—turning on a dime from implacable opposition to topping
the MAGA crowd in overheated rhetoric and extreme positions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Back in 2016, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/23/jd-vance-ohio-senate-trump-comments-516865#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI'm%20a%20Never%20Trump,he%20wrote%2C%20referring%20to%20Trump">Vance told talk-show host Charlie Rose</a>, “I’m a Never Trump guy; I never liked him,” and tweeted, “What an
idiot.” </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But <a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a46648209/jd-vance-defends-trump-civil-criminal-cases/">his February interview with George Stephanopolous</a> on ABC’s
“This Week” set a marker for threats that no mainstream politician had
supported in decades. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once Trump embarks on a second term, Vance said, he
should “fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the
administrative state, [and] replace them with our people.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the court ruled against Trump, the
ex-President would be justified in taking the same position that Andrew Jackson
had so memorably expressed it in the 1830s: the Chief Justice “has made his
decision; now let him enforce it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Many <i>Hillbilly Elegy</i> reviewers praised Vance’s
rise from poverty to Yale Law School graduate as a victory of will and
determination over circumstance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But evidently, Vance must have missed in his education
any mention of the Jacksonian Era, because “Old Hickory’s” response to the
Supreme Court ruling on Cherokee land rights that the Senator alluded to has
become one of the darkest stains on that President’s record, as it removed an
entire indigenous population.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Surely, Vance’s statement that unlike Mike Pence, he
would have permitted competing slates of electors when the 2020 vote counts
were presented to Congress, has put him on <a href="https://davidfeldman.substack.com/p/senator-jd-vances-fascist-flirtation">Trump’s list of 2024 Veep hopefuls</a><b>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Why the New ‘Violets’ Fear Their Party
Leader</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At no other time in its history has the Republican
Party been so overshadowed by a single man. Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight
Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan never caused so much fear of their displeasure
among officeholders. Once has to ask, “Why are so many so worried?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Let me enumerate the fears that may beset the Trump
“violets”:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Being “primaried</i>”: In 1950, Maryland Senator
Millard Tydings, a 24-year incumbent and conservative Democrat, lost his seat
when colleague Joseph McCarthy, criticized by the Marylander for perpetuating a
“fraud” and a “hoax” with his charges of widespread Communist infiltration of
the State Department, aided the campaign of his Republican challenger. These
days, challenges come even before Election Day, when an incumbent might be
forced to take less compromising positions lest he face an opponent from his
own party’s fringes. Liz Cheney’s loss of her once-safe House seat, after she
had voted for his impeachment for inciting the Capitol riot, served notice that
Trump could rile up the MAGA base against them. Of the nine House members who joined
Cheney in voting against Trump, three lost primaries when they sought
reelection, and four others chose to retire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Blackmail: </i>The Presidency President gave Trump
access to all kinds of secrets about domestic and foreign figures. But, as <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/why-trump-hoarded-documents-information">Andrea Bernstein’s September 2022 ProPublica piece</a> notes, his immersion in the
world of New York tabloid journalism had already taught him how to trade gossip
for maximum advantage. The one politician who has gone on record to describe
his methods is former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman, made
vulnerable when her teenaged son went on a drunken spree that landed him in the
hospital. Annoyed a few years later that a tunnel project nearing final state
approval would run from the Atlantic City Expressway almost to a casino run by
then-rival Steve Wynn, Trump called Whitman to let her know it would be “too
bad” if the press found out about the youth’s escapade. Nearly 20 years later,
when Whitman refused to endorse his Presidential bid, Trump sent her a letter
repeating the same veiled threat. Whitman rebuffed him each time. How many
politicians have followed her lead? (At least one Southern senator, widely
rumored to be gay, presents an especially tantalizing possibility for such
treatment.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Doxxing: </i>The digital age has made it possible
to find out and disseminate information on public figures that had previously
been closely held. Trump used such cyberbullying by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/07/21/donald-trump-just-doxed-lindsey-graham-on-live-tv/">revealing the cellphone number of Lindsey Graham</a>, who briefly ran against him in the 2016 Republican primaries. The South Carolina shortly found himself
barraged with crank calls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Harassment: </i>Being accosted at restaurants,
airports, and other public places has become far more of a hazard for
officeholders in the Age of Trump. After Graham briefly broke with Trump after the
January 6 riot, Trump supporters harassed him at Reagan National Airport with
shouts of “Traitor!” and “You’re a liar!” (That same week, Democratic
congressional members received similar treatment.) Even when they don’t defy
Trump himself but one of his minions, they may be harassed, as when <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-voted-jordan-speaker-threatened-harassed/story?id=104140363">allies of Jim Jordan conducted a pressure campaign on his behalf</a> for Speaker of
the House that resulted in threats against them, their offices, or spouses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Lost TV commentary gigs: </i>A Trump opponent
might not only lose his office but also standing in the party that could
jeopardize potential income from appearing on TV. Contributors to Fox
News—those who have moved beyond being mere “guests”—are paid even as they
build their corporate brands. Displeasure from Trump or his base can lead to
the loss of brands and bucks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Lost lobbying fees: </i>Despite sporadic reform
attempts over the years, government officials can often expect cushy paydays
after their tenures conclude by joining lobbying firms. These, too, can wither
on the vine if Trump is on one of his vendettas. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/01/trump-camp-warns-gop-lobbyists-were-watching-what-you-do-in-the-dc-primary-00144532"><i>Politico’s</i> Alex
Isenstadt</a> reported last week that they have been warned if they didn’t vote in the DC primary,
they shouldn’t expect access if Trump returns to the White House.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Threats to themselves: </i>Bodyguards, bulletproof
vests, and assassination fears have become more of a way of life for Capitol
Hill members—indeed, any government or electoral functionary. Don’t think that
House and Senate members didn’t shudder at the thought of cowering from another
mob as they voted to let Trump off the hook in the second impeachment trial—and
even to join him by voting against refusing to certify Biden as the 2020
winner. Romney, Cheney, and Rep. John Katko spent heavily on personal security
after voting to impeach Trump in 2021, according to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/02/16/congress-spending-personal-security">this 2022 <i>Axios</i>
article</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">*<i>Threats to family members: </i>The attack on Nancy
Pelosi’s husband Paul surely resonated with the then-Speaker’s colleagues on
the GOP side of the aisle. <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/11/01/politics/donald-trump-paul-pelosi-reaction/index.html">Trump’s subsequent embrace of swiftly rebunked conspiracy theories</a> about the attack could in no way have reassured the GOP
Violets that he would come to their aid if another fanatic tried to perpetrate
violence on their loved ones as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I considered the impact of a Trump denunciation on members
of the party he took over, I was reminded of the final, terrifying image of the
1978 remake of the sci-fi classic <i>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</i>. So was
the remake’s director, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/invasion-body-snatchers-ending-still-haunts-director-1170220/">Philip Kaufman, who told <i>The Hollywood Reporter’s</i>
David Weiner six years ago</a>, “[Donald Sutherland’s pod shriek] at the end of
the film could be a very Trumpian scream. The way Trump points to the press in
the back of the auditorium and everybody turns, you get that scary ‘poddy’
feeling. There’s a kind of contagion that’s going on here.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-21734064476458798782024-03-11T04:21:00.000-07:002024-03-11T04:26:51.882-07:00TV Quote of the Day (‘The Larry Sanders Show,’ As the Talk-Show Host Becomes Involved in Staffers’ Personal Lives)<p><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5yK8dxAFXZu64zLTKWKx_4vHW2gAdlAUcD4VJr4GMRnrYx7JVTP-of3jKHqhY890nQALdKrKsNcpxY-AQJgRJiGZKc9wux2AFzM_tu-v-k8NhY4G-pEBwhcN9NVaJkWeq_MPuSE0YWToXaYpwbd816JlP53v98uoGfJj0jyqshcflDVT_kK0a3Xcqu4/s1224/LarrySandersShow-JerryAndLarry.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1224" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5yK8dxAFXZu64zLTKWKx_4vHW2gAdlAUcD4VJr4GMRnrYx7JVTP-of3jKHqhY890nQALdKrKsNcpxY-AQJgRJiGZKc9wux2AFzM_tu-v-k8NhY4G-pEBwhcN9NVaJkWeq_MPuSE0YWToXaYpwbd816JlP53v98uoGfJj0jyqshcflDVT_kK0a3Xcqu4/w200-h147/LarrySandersShow-JerryAndLarry.png" width="200" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: medium;">[With two staffers spotted fooling around
all over the workplace—not just in their boss’s office, but within view of him,
sidekick Hank, and a guest onstage, where they can be distracted—talk-show host
Larry Sanders feels obliged to reprove the couple.]</span></i><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry Sanders </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[<i>played
by Garry Shandling, only his back seen in this picture</i>]: “I’m in the middle
of a Peter Falk interview, and if we have to look up and see you doing that,
what are you thinking?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry Capen </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[<i>played
by Jeremy Piven, pictured</i>]<b> </b>[<i>taking Sally’s hands</i>]:<b> </b>“Sally
and I are very much in love, and we are spontaneous people.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[Sally reaches out to protest, but Jerry
brushes her off.]<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Hold on, hold on.<b>
</b>If you’re lucky to find someone…”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[<i>played by Kimberley
Kates</i>] <i>[putting her hands together, pleading</i>]: “Mr. Sanders…Can I
say something?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Please.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“I’ve accepted a
position on <i>Saturday Night Live</i> as a talent coordinator.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[stunned
and angry]: </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“What?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“I’ll be leaving
for New York on Tuesday.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“When were you
planning on telling me?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“I don’t know. I
didn’t know when to tell you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[sarcastically]:
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Oh,
<i>this</i> is a good time. I don’t think you ever were going to tell me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“I was going to
tell you tonight.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Oh, really? You
really were going to tell me?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[philosophically,
like a marriage counselor]:</span></i><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Any
time is a good time for open and honest communication. This is a good start.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “I can’t believe
this. I—I—I put everything…” [<i>As Larry begins to interrupt</i>]. “Hold on a
second.” [<i>Back to Sally</i>] “I put everything on the line for you.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“What did you
think this was? We had a great time, but this is another great opportunity for
me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “In New York?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Good. You’ll have
a little time to get away from each other, test the relationship, and—this is
very positive.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Besides that,
this gives me a chance to be with my boyfriend again.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[shouting]</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">:
“You have a boyfriend!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Yes, I do…”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Jerry: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Oh, God!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Sally:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"> “…a writer on the
<i>Letterman Show</i>.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Larry</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">: “<i>That </i>is
wrong on so many levels. I don’t know where to start.”—<i>The Larry Sanders
Show</i>, Season 1, Episode 8, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0625386/?ref_=ttqu_ov">Out of the Loop</a>,” original air date Oct.
3, 1992, teleplay by Marjorie Gross, directed by Ken Kwapis</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-44856596685726910432024-03-10T05:44:00.000-07:002024-03-11T04:25:56.365-07:00Quote of the Day (James Poniewozik, on How ‘American Nostalgia Developed Layers’)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu4dZ9dFmNODUW_omeHB-Rcp2quudXJ9mjBxDxBd4sa3Ao_iWwNqsq6ADFmmeibWgrQAvONvgkb0CHozGku588ndG2nqbHL3xprhGep-koUQ-5l991UMRYkYJQbT_v1jIDJG1z9wgRbQfH1Isc8oCUTxjUTTtHx7P1BoWClcfA54glnWqBn1W05GgxQpc/s600/HappyDays-RobinWilliams-RonHoward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="600" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu4dZ9dFmNODUW_omeHB-Rcp2quudXJ9mjBxDxBd4sa3Ao_iWwNqsq6ADFmmeibWgrQAvONvgkb0CHozGku588ndG2nqbHL3xprhGep-koUQ-5l991UMRYkYJQbT_v1jIDJG1z9wgRbQfH1Isc8oCUTxjUTTtHx7P1BoWClcfA54glnWqBn1W05GgxQpc/w200-h100/HappyDays-RobinWilliams-RonHoward.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“Supercharged by TV,
American nostalgia developed layers, like a living room wallpapered once a
decade. The 2020s look back to the 1990s which looked back to the 1970s which
looked back to the 1950s. Of the many reasons that nostalgia never ends, the
biggest may be that it is chasing a fantasy, which is always at least one
generation out of grasp.” — <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">TV critic</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">James
Poniewozik, “How to Set Off a Nostalgic Time Loop,” <i>The New York
Times, </i>Jan. 21, 2024</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The image accompanying
this post comes from the 1970s sitcom <i>Happy Days</i>, a key moment in the
nostalgia movement that looked back to the late Fifties and early Sixties.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(This picture, from
Season 5, shows Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, and, in a successful effort to
launch a spinoff, Robin Williams as the alien Mork. UFOs, like nostalgia, never
go out of fashion!)</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-7492980553822760402024-03-10T05:11:00.000-07:002024-03-10T05:11:46.370-07:00Spiritual Quote of the Day (St. Augustine, on How ‘Christ is the Day’)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2PbNBfKbq60MB_aZImMdh_aW0YEaCoqQzuzrD0TLJkchDXvV4u4QlQ-rn6oKR4-teR8xqyuOotCJQVO8EA3_Fo1GVSTZHiCkwCGFxCiLRwhx_TE86XOz5Mglzj8x-u2V5ivvt2r9MiHmyPjHZJmCSMekSnNjZ0voRfVNW478lZ5ZeL_9Mbun7y4GmE28/s292/StAugustine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2PbNBfKbq60MB_aZImMdh_aW0YEaCoqQzuzrD0TLJkchDXvV4u4QlQ-rn6oKR4-teR8xqyuOotCJQVO8EA3_Fo1GVSTZHiCkwCGFxCiLRwhx_TE86XOz5Mglzj8x-u2V5ivvt2r9MiHmyPjHZJmCSMekSnNjZ0voRfVNW478lZ5ZeL_9Mbun7y4GmE28/w137-h200/StAugustine.jpg" width="137" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“Awake, then, while it is day: the day shines, Christ
is the day. He is ready to forgive sins, but to them that acknowledge them;
ready to punish the self-defenders, who boast that they are righteous, and
think themselves to be something when they are nothing.”—St. Augustine of Hippo
(354-430 AD), “Homilies on the Gospel of John (Chapter III: 6-21),” in <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/s/schaff/npnf107/cache/npnf107.pdf">Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> (Christian Classics Ethereal Library), edited
by Philip Schaff (1888)</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-63241425017805931322024-03-09T11:12:00.000-08:002024-03-09T13:56:59.625-08:00This Day in Musical History (Adaptation of O’Casey’s ‘Juno’ Opens, Then Flops)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOZ70VsfnEwXKAy35hWlCw1lzdkO4D2FvPkMc0P6z3FfEVn1lmOK6CC8zMIxVkMEP2fFtKDUQCKdvEHL_yVN8J42Fnwri5AxgkQtlFMegpa1lSRkZkDi2Rbh_uw9OqPYALPm_-mygz17SULWsuXhpcBNC9VOrz4_6eUOl9DrWdRvyhaQYYET_qNAFy7E/s320/Juno-Musical-Cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="320" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOZ70VsfnEwXKAy35hWlCw1lzdkO4D2FvPkMc0P6z3FfEVn1lmOK6CC8zMIxVkMEP2fFtKDUQCKdvEHL_yVN8J42Fnwri5AxgkQtlFMegpa1lSRkZkDi2Rbh_uw9OqPYALPm_-mygz17SULWsuXhpcBNC9VOrz4_6eUOl9DrWdRvyhaQYYET_qNAFy7E/w200-h195/Juno-Musical-Cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Mar. 9, 1959—<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/juno-2081">Juno</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> might not have been a
“can’t miss” musical, but it came loaded with expectations because of its
constellation of talents when it opened at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theater.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Its music and lyrics were by the creator of a
legendary Depression musical, with a book by a playwright who would eventually
write <i>Fiddler on the Roof</i>; a male lead with Hollywood credentials for comedy; an
innovative choreographer who changed how dance worked in musicals; an
Oscar-winning actor equally at home with directing for the stage; a beloved
actress returning to Broadway; and an Irish playwright whose tragicomedy
formed the foundation of the show.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But <i>Juno</i> the musical, like its titular heroine,
was plagued by misfortune—more specifically, critics who couldn’t hide their
disappointment with the result of this all-star team. It closed after 16
performances, and, despite defenders who have attempted revivals, it remains
seldom performed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The musical was based on a 1924 landmark of the Irish
Literary Renaissance, <i>Juno and the Paycock, </i>generally regarded as the
best entry in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639997/?ref_=tt_ov_wr">Sean O’Casey’s</a> “Dublin Trilogy” set in the
period surrounding the Irish War of Independence and Civil War. (See <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002048/">my blog post from a decade ago</a> that reviewed a production at New York’s Irish Repertory
Theatre.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The first adaptation of the play was for the screen rather
than the musical stage, in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021015/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_5_nm_0_q_Juno%2520and%2520tg">a 1929 movie by Alfred Hitchcock</a>—what
biographer Peter Ackroyd called the director’s “first thoroughly conceived and
consistent talkie.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Uncharacteristically, that film included few of
Hitchcock’s visual flourishes, but at least it stayed largely faithful to the
source. It turned out to be more successful than Hitchcock’s last couple of
releases, as he transitioned from silents to talkies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But Hitchcock, possessed of a vigorous if often
twisted sense of humor, may have felt little need to tinker with O’Casey’s dialogue. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In contrast, it was O’Casey’s socialism, not his comic
sense, that appealed to songwriter <a href="https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/marc-blitzstein-7489">Marc Blitzstein</a>, who had achieved
notoriety two decades before with his agitprop musical <i>The Cradle Will Rock</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">More recently, his translation of Kurt Weill and
Bertolt Brecht’s <i>The Threepenny Opera</i> had turned that tale of Weimar corruption into what was then the longest-running musical in Off
Broadway history—and giving him as much clout with investors as he would ever
receive. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Book writer <a href="https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/joseph-stein-6978">Joseph Stein</a>, though no longer a Marxist,
retained enough progressive sympathies as an Adlai Stevenson Democrat to work
well with the more leftist Blitzstein. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All of that may have helped secure early on O’Casey’s
approval of their project (called, at this initial stage, <i>Daarlin’ Man). </i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
playwright never left his home in England to view rehearsals or performances of
this musical, and he could be caustic toward anyone who looked askance at his
work (as the Abbey Theatre, which rejected some of his more expressionist plays
after the “Dublin Trilogy,” could attest). </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But a discussion with Blitzstein and
tapes of the songs contemplated for the show led O'Casey</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> to green-light the project.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One fact, had it been considered more thoroughly,
might have forestalled this blessing: though Stein and Blitzstein may
have shared O’Casey’s leftist sympathies, they did not exhibit the sharp sense
of humor that had leavened <i>Juno and the Paycock</i>. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The tone of the
musical, according to future <i>Juno</i> star Victoria Clark, more closely
resembled another Weill piece of musical theater, the tragic <i>Street Scene</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Two out-of-town tryouts, in Washington and Boston,
proved increasingly troubled. In the spring and early summer of 1958, Blitzstein
barely survived an appearance before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities, in which he admitted to Communist Party membership till 1949 but
refused to name names. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Just when the production appeared to be coming
together, Tony Richardson, a rising British theater talent who soon became
famous for the film version of <i>Look Back in Anger</i> and the Oscar-winning
Best Picture <i>Tom Jones</i>, backed out as director because of scheduling
conflicts. His replacement, Vincent J. Donehue, had limited experience to that
point with musicals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Neither did movie and theater star <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002048/">Melvyn Douglas</a>,
called in to take over the role of “Captain” Boyle when the choice of the
creative team, James Cagney, would only participate if the property were
adapted for the screen. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although the actress who played Boyle’s long-suffering
wife and family mainstay, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095804/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Shirley Booth</a>, had somewhat more experience than
Donehue and Douglas with musicals, she was nervous about executing Irish
stepdances and playing a “heroic” figure that demanded “an Irish Judith
Anderson.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The production's only Irish actor, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532290/">Jack MacGowran</a> (suggested by O’Casey), after being provoked repeatedly
by Donehue, unleashed a profanity-laced rehearsal diatribe indicating that nobody
in the show knew anything about O’Casey or what they were trying to do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This represented “a fusillade of abuse for director,
company and producing organization such as I have rarely heard in many decades
of performance work,” Douglas recalled, stunning all concerned because, the
leading man conceded, “there was a great deal of truth to what he said.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Though Blitzstein tried to stay even-tempered, even he
was prone to snapping, as when he unloaded on choreographer <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0210350/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Agnes de Mille</a>
(whose work in this instance, some would later say, was among the best of her
career).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reviews of the January 1959 performances in Washington,
while observing that O’Casey’s play presented unique challenges in adapting,
still pointed out the musical’s deficiencies in tone and tightness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A month later, Boston critics—aware of word of
mouth already spreading, as well as interviews in which Booth and especially
Douglas confessed to their insecurities about the demands required by their
roles— noted the same problems. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That proved the undoing of Donehue, who was sacked
the morning after the Boston opening. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The history of Broadway includes occasional shows that
are rescued from near-certain disaster. But it’s more often the case that the
problems apparent before an opening are not fixed in time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And so, despite the replacement of Donehue with <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001207/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Jose Ferrer</a>, who brought considerable stage credibility and film renown (including
an Oscar for <i>Cyrano de Bergerac</i>), and new, better songs from Blitzstein
(“It’s Not Irish” and “For Love”), the creative team behind <i>Juno</i> could
not improve matters enough in the month before opening on Broadway. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Years later, theater professionals and fans alike would
wonder how a show with so much talent behind the scenes and onstage (not just
Booth and Douglas, but also, in early stages of their careers, Jean Stapleton
and Sada Thompson), could have misfired. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the less charitable detractors was Broadway
composer Richard Rodgers. In the taxi ride home from the show, he and his wife
ridiculed the show's “prosaic lyrics and unmelodiousness,”
remembered their daughter Mary Rodgers in her posthumous memoir <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shy-Alarmingly-Outspoken-Memoirs-Rodgers/dp/0374298629">Shy</a></i>. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Maybe the driver could sing ‘We Have Reached Our Destination’ to similar
effect,’” Richard said acidly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If Broadway musical history is filled with disasters,
it also includes shows that, years after their underwhelming openings, find
far longer lives, either through audiences who could better appreciate what its
creators were attempting (<i>Pal Joey</i>, <i>Chicago</i>) or a combination of
more appropriate stagecraft and casting (the current Stephen Sondheim revival, <i>Merrily
We Roll Along</i>, starring Daniel Radcliffe). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Blitzstein had an example closer at hand: his <i>Threepenny
Opera</i> translation that thrust the Weill-Brecht work into the elite circle
of most-performed musicals. Undoubtedly inspired by that example, <i>Juno</i> revivals
have been mounted over the years at New York’s Vineyard Theater and City
Center, and Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The outcome has been the same: a good try (especially in
these productions’ unbending refusal to provide a happy ending), but still a failure.
It’s not likely that this verdict will change soon--unless, perhaps, it's staged as an opera rather than a musical (as has been the case over the past four decades with <i>Street Scene</i> and Sondheim's <i>Sweeney Todd</i>--and how Blitzstein's <i>Regina</i> was fashioned from its 1949 creation)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The best way to understand why that situation is so sad
is to listen to YouTube performances of some of the musical’s songs, including Rebecca
Luker’s rendition of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yd5ga0G6Fs">I Wish It So</a>” or the Celia Keenan-Bolger-Clarke
Thorell duet of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69C4mfmaptg">My True Heart</a>.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-86450645485560898212024-03-09T03:43:00.000-08:002024-03-09T11:15:54.004-08:00Quote of the Day (John Steinbeck, on the ‘Slow, Eating Agony of a Lie’)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_A_qzucOwcEefPZZMEwGNnU35UEZABkJ-CzwtNFURKehEIHG085GFIJKgFBgdCKdqu2LeGclii1X79xIaoI0Mze6yCYdzy9XXL_Jw9r8j0TQ4eL8EWvMhKDaCEIkJ0lYnKhc700-_XWvMj3XFiIG2wr67BmhNsgNOE0R6icKPq0PqFVyY2agYPx2VVs/s227/JohnSteinbeck_1962.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="162" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_A_qzucOwcEefPZZMEwGNnU35UEZABkJ-CzwtNFURKehEIHG085GFIJKgFBgdCKdqu2LeGclii1X79xIaoI0Mze6yCYdzy9XXL_Jw9r8j0TQ4eL8EWvMhKDaCEIkJ0lYnKhc700-_XWvMj3XFiIG2wr67BmhNsgNOE0R6icKPq0PqFVyY2agYPx2VVs/w143-h200/JohnSteinbeck_1962.jpg" width="143" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the slow,
eating agony of a lie is never lost. That's a running sore.” —American novelist
and Nobel Literature laureate John Steinbeck (1902-1968), <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/East-Eden-Oprahs-Book-Club/dp/0670033049">East of Eden</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> (1952)</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-86408691802741443462024-03-08T04:22:00.000-08:002024-03-08T04:30:16.149-08:00Quote of the Day (Amy Poehler, on the ‘Barbie’ Oscar Controversy)<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPcv79928KBZ8GsB4BqxQdtF0dSgQcmXR10yc1_l9__OvIzC34Aq7qCsNC-Lv1h-RGGLqDuCs-cEIIDtadZLA7Su8zKr229ck5ibqKLE2mqy0KBqFNU6yCbbUTn3Q3VCSo9GttprrPegUHPowqYEgtNSio6Juk3bUP04Lmwl3ZBAL4wlMEhZH_AiOp3s/s780/Barbie-Robbie-Gosling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="780" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPcv79928KBZ8GsB4BqxQdtF0dSgQcmXR10yc1_l9__OvIzC34Aq7qCsNC-Lv1h-RGGLqDuCs-cEIIDtadZLA7Su8zKr229ck5ibqKLE2mqy0KBqFNU6yCbbUTn3Q3VCSo9GttprrPegUHPowqYEgtNSio6Juk3bUP04Lmwl3ZBAL4wlMEhZH_AiOp3s/w200-h113/Barbie-Robbie-Gosling.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“When asked to comment, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig
said they couldn’t hear ‘under a giant pile of money.’”—</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Actress
and comedian</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Amy Poehler, on the Best Actress and Best Director
snubs for <i>Barbie</i>, in her “Restless Leg Tour” with Tina Fey, quoted by Jason
Zinoman, “Between Friends, an Endless Barrage of Jokes,” <i>The New York Times</i>,
Feb. 10, 2024</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Looks to me like <i>Barbie</i> has been driving all
the way to the bank!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-5319185999929600282024-03-07T04:29:00.000-08:002024-03-08T04:28:56.723-08:00Quote of the Day (Kenneth Roberts, on a Colonial Action Hero)<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5zIu-MjH5-uAjecGX1dprIIVx6Se_oKSfl8coMyeM7hBFaaUZvsb58JsFZbazYcJSusVqXx8tnq-S_q0Iq-4wuBesfYFIpUaOmjQ2wLWkas0nyhKAznNboFmjCTpUrlaoF6Uf-tbEuSDUo9Unmow2AS84wteyNsLp03FeesEzUKhAQcUXdcyvgkkXtk/s400/SpencerTracy-NorthwestPassage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="400" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5zIu-MjH5-uAjecGX1dprIIVx6Se_oKSfl8coMyeM7hBFaaUZvsb58JsFZbazYcJSusVqXx8tnq-S_q0Iq-4wuBesfYFIpUaOmjQ2wLWkas0nyhKAznNboFmjCTpUrlaoF6Uf-tbEuSDUo9Unmow2AS84wteyNsLp03FeesEzUKhAQcUXdcyvgkkXtk/w200-h141/SpencerTracy-NorthwestPassage.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“The man himself was
thick That was my first impression, one of solid thickness: not mental
thickness, but physical — a kind of physical unkillableness, it might be called.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“His lips were thick, and
so was his long, straight nose. His hands, clasped before him on the table,
were enormous and muscular; and their fingers, pallid by comparison with the
brown of his face and hands, looked parboiled, as though left overlong in water.
Beneath his large eyes the flesh was puffy; and his shoulders, sloping down
from a bull-like neck, filled his buckskin hunting shirt so solidly that the
leather might have been shrunk to fit them. The breadth of his chest and upper
arms gave him the look of holding a deep breath….</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Yet when he spoke, his
manner was genial, as though he addressed an equal — which was contrary to the
attitude of important military men, according to my understanding. When he
smiled, it was hard to tell the meaning of his smile. It might have been considered
admonitory, or kindly, or even as sheepish, depending on the state of mind of
the person to whom he spoke; but to me it seemed to indicate that he was, at
heart, a good-natured man.”—American novelist Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957), <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Northwest-Passage-Kenneth-Roberts/dp/0892725427">Northwest Passage</a></i> (1937)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For about two decades in
the last century, <a href="https://web.colby.edu/csc-history-of/k-roberts-collection/">Kenneth Roberts</a> was a perennial presence on bestseller
lists with his sprawling works of historical fiction. More than 40 years ago,
when I was a student assistant at my local library, his novels could still be
found on shelves. But when I went looking for a copy of <i>Northwest Passage</i>,
perhaps his most famous one, I couldn’t get my hands on it, so I ordered it
through Amazon.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I doubt that you’ll find
many college English classes that will cite Roberts as a creator of an
innovative or dazzling style, the way they might with Fitzgerald, Faulkner and
Hemingway. But as the above passage shows, he could write vividly.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You can practically see
in your mind’s eye the historical figure he was describing: Major Robert
Rogers, a colonial military leader in the French and Indian Wars whose
unconventional tactics foreshadowed the modern “Special Forces.” (I briefly
described his life in <a href="https://boatagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2020/05/this-day-in-military-history-robert.html">this blog post </a>from four years ago.)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once they bought this
novel and dreamed of adapting it for film, executives at MGM must surely have
had one of their studio actors in mind for the role: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000075/">Spencer Tracy</a>. The
two-time Oscar winner might not have possessed the matinee-idol looks of Clark
Gable. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But his bulk (solid at this time in his late 30s, overweight as he aged)
strongly suggested Rogers, and his naturalistic style of acting gave him an
everyman quality seen more recently in the likes of Gene Hackman, Brian Dennehy
and Ed Harris.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I remember as a child
seeing Tracy in the 1940 movie made from Roberts’ novel. (Well, it turned out
only to be the first half of it, but that’s a story for another day.) I
couldn’t imagine anyone better able to lead a group of men through all manner
of perils than the Major Rogers he created onscreen, including the memorable
“human-chain” scene across a treacherous river.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not unlike Tracy himself,
Rogers— at least as imagined by Roberts—could find something within himself to win
the respect of all kinds of men. But at bottom, his appeal may have rested—as
suggested by Tracy’s smile in the accompanying picture here—on the fact that he
was “a good-natured man.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-61374886551899031982024-03-06T04:16:00.000-08:002024-03-06T10:25:47.195-08:00Quote of the Day (Barbara Kingsolver, on a Motive for Learning to Read)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIocAZaMoKb0yX0q4e4USZ8F23yCdDpsTYdhsdb7eYNOVVYzk1I1It3FrGbha4TRAAXH_wIszpymQ97q3-NSntctQ2HkyMNmS80lef4D2G6-dpRXFluZPAUpPpiL_tgjlfvNPfAvOms7Kc5_4O1VCPlHG4g4mhh1-5VeISWGryHrMofFCYvyIVRzqcSvY/s2403/BarbaraKingsolver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2403" data-original-width="2204" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIocAZaMoKb0yX0q4e4USZ8F23yCdDpsTYdhsdb7eYNOVVYzk1I1It3FrGbha4TRAAXH_wIszpymQ97q3-NSntctQ2HkyMNmS80lef4D2G6-dpRXFluZPAUpPpiL_tgjlfvNPfAvOms7Kc5_4O1VCPlHG4g4mhh1-5VeISWGryHrMofFCYvyIVRzqcSvY/w183-h200/BarbaraKingsolver.jpg" width="183" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“You learn to read so you can identify the reality in
which you live, so that you can become a protagonist of history rather than a
spectator.” — <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">American novelist, essayist and poet</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Barbara
Kingsolver, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Dreams-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0062278509">Animal Dreams</a></i> (1990)</span> </span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-40709522267296553012024-03-05T04:56:00.000-08:002024-03-05T05:23:07.443-08:00Quote of the Day (Sonia Sotomayor, on Politeness)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix19r0dR50q7Md_5cd6IbI2XAzjQgCWxIcsPx5XdTJi7WQQErOpK10o8jS0Tgygakb5Znjz5Ef0izIufHv_Ul0YuHk5XU34gk0exR4wL9sw4oHlbRfSV3kIGM2iO12Lpz64umcxRSA1Up3AQY9-9kjqft_vQ412QzZsZK47Gl2k5Y1Z4t1Z9udG77Ms1I/s600/SoniaSotomayor-2009-WC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="486" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix19r0dR50q7Md_5cd6IbI2XAzjQgCWxIcsPx5XdTJi7WQQErOpK10o8jS0Tgygakb5Znjz5Ef0izIufHv_Ul0YuHk5XU34gk0exR4wL9sw4oHlbRfSV3kIGM2iO12Lpz64umcxRSA1Up3AQY9-9kjqft_vQ412QzZsZK47Gl2k5Y1Z4t1Z9udG77Ms1I/w162-h200/SoniaSotomayor-2009-WC.jpg" width="162" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“Don't mistake politeness for lack of strength."—Associate
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/My-Beloved-World-Sonia-Sotomayor-ebook/dp/B00957T7CQ">My Beloved World</a></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> (2013)</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The image accompanying this post showing Sonia
Sotomayor was taken May 21, 2009, in an official White House photo by Pete
Souza.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-34064250465144284372024-03-04T05:42:00.000-08:002024-03-05T05:22:09.316-08:00TV Quote of the Day (‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ As Richard Lewis Tries in Vain To Dig Larry David Out of a Hole)<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhihvOFECU9DVfDuvMQ85JHpdANT-W-z87OimR-TzPM8rtvFLa8NJQmguThf5Y2ofiim4j5pfDZ_MvEvaDy-EoTmnPP-XqT3SEA8qSOcdjgzT0-E_ACdkFP8xOQkn-yaJ-QWLNyZsS6cArqcOA-RXSrTzuPeG94b-NNzy0UgLf0PBHm_rjdLjCck7mfa3w/s300/CurbYourEnthusiasm-LarryDavid-RichardLewis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhihvOFECU9DVfDuvMQ85JHpdANT-W-z87OimR-TzPM8rtvFLa8NJQmguThf5Y2ofiim4j5pfDZ_MvEvaDy-EoTmnPP-XqT3SEA8qSOcdjgzT0-E_ACdkFP8xOQkn-yaJ-QWLNyZsS6cArqcOA-RXSrTzuPeG94b-NNzy0UgLf0PBHm_rjdLjCck7mfa3w/w200-h112/CurbYourEnthusiasm-LarryDavid-RichardLewis.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></b></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard Lewis</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">
[<i>played by Richard Lewis</i>]: “Dr. Grambs, this is my friend, Larry David.”
[<i>To Larry</i>] “This is my dermatologist. Really? What, for 15 years
already?” <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry David</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"> [<i>played
by Larry David</i>] [<i>grinning</i>]: “Even with the whole affirmative action
thing?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[<i>Prolonged, awkward silence, then…]</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Grambs</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">
[<i>played by Gregg Daniel</i>] [<i>incredulously, glancing quizzically at
Richard, then back to Larry</i>]: “I'm sorry. I beg your pardon, what?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Yeah, what do
you mean?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “It was a joke.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Grambs</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">:
“What do you mean, ‘The whole affirmative action thing?’” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[protesting
more insistently]</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “No, no, no.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Grambs</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">
[<i>to Richard</i>]” “Who is this guy?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “It was a joke.
He's like a buddy. I know him, he's a sweetheart.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Grambs</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">:
“The implication being that I wasn't good enough to be a dermatologist?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “No, come on, it
was a joke. He's a liberal, he's like you and me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Grambs </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[to
Larry]</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “So, if I wasn't black, you would have said the same
thing, or not?” [<i>To Richard</i>] “Do you see my point?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “I see it in a
historical sense, but not in a nice-day sense.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Dr. Grambs</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">:
“You know, Richard, I've worked too hard and too long at this. I can't do it. I
don't know what his trip is, but I can't do it. “<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “I don't have
any trip! No, it was a joke!” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[<i>Dr. Grambs resumes jogging, waving them off.</i>]<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">[to
Larry]</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “Holy s--t! What hit you?” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “It was a joke.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Richard</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “I know it's a
joke, but you sounded... Christ, like Pat Buchanan's gym partner.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Larry</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">: “I was just
trying to be affable.”—<i>Curb Your Enthusiasm</i>, Season 1, Episode 9, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0551382/">Affirmative Action</a>,” original air date Dec. 10, 2000, teleplay by Larry David, directed
by Bryan Gordon</span> </span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-65145133231519834152024-03-03T05:43:00.000-08:002024-03-03T08:20:38.477-08:00Spiritual Quote of the Day (Bruce Springsteen, on Flannery O'Connor and ‘The Intangible Mysteries of Life’)<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSC4tfX_8ye1T6im8DWnqrZ9xoNnMnmZtonefTkDbcs4LGl41u-q_wAZq-cM0LFd7m4TrP88-oSlAHnbxW3c1GEPMapazmw7Gp3bi0QCcfY5MCfo18jXWLhOWlk6f8iCLZEb4tq-vS8afPnSYyLUceF3_joEi9CJeEpjz1pXX7cmrU-Tk6vCjfcnHNCHM/s512/FlanneryOConnor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="290" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSC4tfX_8ye1T6im8DWnqrZ9xoNnMnmZtonefTkDbcs4LGl41u-q_wAZq-cM0LFd7m4TrP88-oSlAHnbxW3c1GEPMapazmw7Gp3bi0QCcfY5MCfo18jXWLhOWlk6f8iCLZEb4tq-vS8afPnSYyLUceF3_joEi9CJeEpjz1pXX7cmrU-Tk6vCjfcnHNCHM/w113-h200/FlanneryOConnor.jpg" width="113" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“[T]he short stories of Flannery O'Connor landed hard
on me. You could feel within them the unknowability of God, the intangible mysteries
of life that confounded her characters, and which I find by my side every day. They
contained the dark Gothicness of my childhood and yet made me feel fortunate to
sit at the center of this swirling black puzzle, stars reeling overhead, the
earth barely beneath us.”—American rock ‘n’ roll legend Bruce Springsteen, “By
the Book: Bruce Springsteen,” <i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The New York Times Book Review</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, Nov. 2,
2014</span></span><p></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-29706641454086407212024-03-03T05:35:00.000-08:002024-03-03T05:35:44.976-08:00Quote of the Day (John Gapper, on Weakening ‘Old Empires of Coffee, Cocoa and Tea’)<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLmKUV6u9QLvexILmcM-oN7BoeBM1flQKAKx5-px0rd4odW-wnWj_FIcPR9lwZRAUnSMh3Av8eo2KLhl5ndwzuSU5IqG9-EOMDs7pnxzNcx5fdsWUr8EZEm56oi_rGoAM3ziaN8SxDTvbha90RuhjHkTznZNlPltYayD5hD_r2dlkBdVrPuM18cuItMjQ/s599/JohnGapper-2010-WC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="449" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLmKUV6u9QLvexILmcM-oN7BoeBM1flQKAKx5-px0rd4odW-wnWj_FIcPR9lwZRAUnSMh3Av8eo2KLhl5ndwzuSU5IqG9-EOMDs7pnxzNcx5fdsWUr8EZEm56oi_rGoAM3ziaN8SxDTvbha90RuhjHkTznZNlPltYayD5hD_r2dlkBdVrPuM18cuItMjQ/w150-h200/JohnGapper-2010-WC.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">“[T]he old empires of coffee, cocoa and tea are
getting fragile amid climate change and the interruption of global trade
routes. The price of their weakness is already becoming obvious, and the
supermarket shelves may not always stay full.”—Business columnist John Gapper,
“How Cocoa, Coffee and Tea Empires Became Fragile,” <i>The Financial Times</i>,
Feb. 24-25, 2024<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The image accompanying this post, of John Gapper, was
taken Oct. 15, 2010, by </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Financial Times</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">.</span> </span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5538059816904053911.post-62854438783719390032024-03-02T20:53:00.000-08:002024-03-03T05:24:54.004-08:00Flashback, March 1974: Nixon Imperiled as Watergate ‘Unindicted Co-Conspirator’<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSm6wiaKP-z4Qdh8mj7KFn7IAhwDADxWhBPEo4LeifYBu8D8DgGNFyle8MxxMr8_DXAqkJL0yC3EGvTmJFke0CtVaRPswQ6KmGG5ArvdZXi7QBRFjN5mXnFlABV2YWG2jy405ovkclZh93nR5FochkE5r4pz8AXF5Nun_5CmWksbG5QlKBb2GvQdNi-ls/s460/RichardNixon2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="360" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSm6wiaKP-z4Qdh8mj7KFn7IAhwDADxWhBPEo4LeifYBu8D8DgGNFyle8MxxMr8_DXAqkJL0yC3EGvTmJFke0CtVaRPswQ6KmGG5ArvdZXi7QBRFjN5mXnFlABV2YWG2jy405ovkclZh93nR5FochkE5r4pz8AXF5Nun_5CmWksbG5QlKBb2GvQdNi-ls/w156-h200/RichardNixon2.jpg" width="156" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">A 50-page grand jury report in early March 1974
shattered the relative calm that had descended on Washington after <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/richard-m-nixon/">Richard Nixon</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">
had appointed </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/colonel-of-truth/">Leon Jaworski</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> four months earlier as the special prosecutor investigating the
<a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/watergate-constitution">Watergate scandal</a>.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">Nixon may have felt that at last, the firestorm
ignited by the firing of Jaworski’s predecessor, Archibald Cox, and the
resignations of Attorney General Elliott Richardson and William Ruckelshaus in
protest during the “Saturday Night Massacre” had settled down. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">He had stated in the annual State of the Union message
that “one year of Watergate is enough,” and Jaworski’s crackdown on leaks from
his office even as he sifted through evidence surrounding the coverup of the June
1972 break-in at Democratic national headquarters allowed the President to
catch his breath and believe that he could hold onto his office.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 107%;">But the sealed grand jury report altered the political atmosphere
immediately, as noted by </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">New Yorker</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> reporter Elizabeth Drew, in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">in one of the best contemporary accounts of the crisis that drove Nixon from office, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Journal-Reporting-Watergate-Downfall/dp/1468309994">Washington Journal</a><b>:</b></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Even though the indictment was expected, it came as a
hammer blow. That keeps happening: the impact of the actual event is sharper
and more disturbing than was anticipated. We can anticipate the facts but not
their impact, their emotional reverberations. So we are unnerved when seven
former Administration and reelection-committee officials—including the
President’s closest associates, men who held great power—are indicted.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those figures included Nixon’s
chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, domestic policy adviser John Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell, and special counsel Charles Colson, all of whom were convicted for their role in the affair.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">But the big bombshell was contained in a bulging
briefcase that passed from the jury to Judge John Sirica, then to the House Judiciary
Committee: the naming of Nixon as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case—a
dubious first for the American Presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The President’s career was in mortal danger now, as
Capitol Hill had been notified that his involvement in the coverup was
extensive—enough that it might constitute evidence that he had committed the “high
crimes and misdemeanors” that could trigger impeachment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The question at the heart of Watergate—is the
President above the law?—was now posed inescapably.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would not be answered clearly even with
the resignation of Nixon, once his political support had evaporated, five
months later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">His pardon by successor Gerald Ford left an imperfect denouement,
with the President out of office but never having been brought to trial, let
alone found guilty by a jury (though Ford would emphasize that the pardon constituted admission of wrongdoing). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">Even before then, however, the case had, to some
extent, been clouded with ambiguity. Though impeachment had been mentioned in
the Constitution, that document had been silent on whether the President could
be indicted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">In fact, as related in <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/178443/mr-attorney-general-tear-memo">Win McCormack’s article in
the March 2024 <i>New Republic</i></a>, the answer had developed out of another
investigation of the time, involving bribery charges against Spiro Agnew. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The Vice-President had moved to sidestep the
investigation into his conduct as governor of Maryland (with, as it turned out,
Agnew continuing his larcenous ways as he moved into the nation’s second-highest
office) by demanding a trial by the Senate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The Justice Department had wanted a determination that
the Vice President <i>could</i> be indicted. The Veep, every bit as corrupt as
Nixon but more bombastic and less capable than the President, would otherwise
be left in charge with his own corruption charges pending if Nixon were indicted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">Left unsaid by Richardson and his lieutenants but clearly implied, however, was that the wish for a finding that though a Veep could be indicted, a sitting President could not. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">While Jaworski was eager to accept this solution, many
in the group of prosecutors he had inherited from Cox were not. Jill Wine-Banks,
for instance, a young assistant prosecutor, disagreed with her boss. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">A few years ago, in <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/holding-power-account-then-and-now">promoting her memoir, <i>Watergate
Girl</i></a>, she pointed out the injustice of Nixon’s men going to jail while
their boss suffered no such penalty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">The makeshift solutions meant to ensure, as the cliché
of the time went, that “the system worked” were not without critics even then,
as Wine-Bank’s example demonstrates. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">Americans' tendency to forgot (or, for some youngsters, never learn) their history has meant that many might even regard the scandal, in the dismissive phrase of Nixon press secretary Ronald Ziegler, as a "third-rate burglary."<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">Drew's account offers a useful reminder of why the crisis involved far more than a mere break-in, even that it wasn't simply that "the coverup was worse than the crime":</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">"The problem for the White House, as we keep learning, was that there was so much to cover up. The break-in at the Watergate combined the elements of covert operations, espionage, secret funds, hidden contributions, and aggression against political opponents (real and perceived) which also characterized other activities carried out under the Administration.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But, in deciding to review Donald Trump’s claim of Presidential
immunity from prosecution, the Supreme Court may well make a greater hash of
things than occurred in 1974 under Chief Justice Warren Burger, when the justices' unanimous decision might have upheld the doctrine of executive privilege but not in the case of a criminal prosecution.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In contrast, now the court contains one associate justice (Clarence Thomas) whose wife connived behind the
scenes to keep Trump in power</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">—</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">a conflict of interest if there ever was one.</span></p>MikeThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865731845343427202noreply@blogger.com0