Pierre Jalbert

Jalbert played the French-Canadian soldier "Caje" on the Combat! television series, and did an outstanding job with the role. He portrayed a unique blend of toughness and sensitivity, since he was the only member of the squad who spoke French and was constantly interacting with civilians. Jalbert was both Junior and Senior National Ski Champion in Canada, however, due to breaking his leg he never got to ski in the Olympics. His brother, Rene Marc Jalbert, was the Sergeant-At-Arms of the National Assembly of Quebec and became famous for ending the killing spree of an armed gunman in the assembly chamber.

It won't win friends

"Intuition tells me he is not overfond of me."
"You did treat him a bit cavalierly. Sarcasm is not exactly a means of endearment."

(from The Greene Murder Case, by S. S. Van Dine)

Philo Vance was exactly right in this estimation. One of the things that will make one dislike another person the quickest is sarcasm.

Dogs have stares?

The supercilious stare of which only a pedigreed collie is capable.
(from Murder On Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

I am with Vance on this one

Vance signed. "Not a nice creature, Markham - not at all a nice creature. I shall never be a politician if it involves an acquaintance with such gentlemen." (from The Greene Murder Case, by S. S. Van Dine)

Like Philo Vance, there are some people I just prefer not to be around, rather than have to associated with them and be civil.

They had a blast!

The special effects guys in the Combat! television series must have had a blast - literally. There were explosions constantly in that program. There is no telling how much they used of whatever sort of explosive they used. That part of the budget alone must have been considerable.

Combat! - nice features of the program

One of the things that my father really liked about the Combat! television program was the fact that the Germans spoke German. He minored in German in college and enjoyed following the dialogue. Another nice feature was the fact that the larger battle sequences used actual WWII footage.

Cutting the UN budget

I think the United States pays more than our share of the United Nations budget - no doubt about that. However, I have no problem paying more than anyone else. In the first place, we want to have more influence on world affairs than anyone else. In the second place, with the UN building located in the US, that is a lot of money from foreign nations being spent here - no telling how much, because those are all high dollar jobs.

Their taste in gum

"A big copper leaned against the door post and chewed Juicy Fruit, noisily."  (from Murder On Wheels, by Stuart Palmer) It is nice to know what was the favorite chewing gum of New York finest.

Lap organ

In one episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, we see Granny playing a lap organ. This is a very cumbersome, very limited instrument, but probably was fun if it was all you had.

LINK

Crumbleskull

This is a nice, creative insult flung at Fibber McGee by Doc Gamble. Fairly descriptive, I thought.

Granny had it

"Honey, when I was your age, I set so many men's hearts on fire that they started calling that part of Tennessee the Smokey Mountains."

(Granny Clampett)

An insult that just died

"You are a cad and a bounder!" When is the last time you heard that? Have you ever heard it, unless someone was speaking tongue in check? I have no idea why that expression died, but it surely did.

How to get at secrets

Long experience as a teacher had given Miss Withers the pet theory that the time to find out anything that someone doesn't want to tell is early in the morning. She knew that a large majority of the world's citizens awaken by slow degrees, with resistance at a low ebb, and whenever she found it necessary to determine a culprit among her pupils at Jefferson School, she made the accusation bright and early the nest morning as the boys and girls were filing into their seats.

(from Murder On Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

Child prodigy

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who wrote the film score for Robin Hood (the Errol Flynn version) was a child prodigy. He wrote a ballet at age 11, which became a sensation in Vienna, and a piano sonata at 13, which was played throughout Europe by famed pianist Artur Schnabel.

ROBIN HOOD FILM MUSIC

That horse had some party!

          "The usual complaints of a noisy party came I, but this wasn't the usual party. The people in a basement apartment on Bedford Street complained that their ceiling was coming down.
          "Well, as it turned out later a crazy poet above them was throwing a lease-breaking party. As a climax some of the boys had kidnapped a milkman's hose and somehow led it up four steps and into the ground-floor living room. When we got there they'd all ducked out, and all we picked up was a lonesome white horse surrounded by empty gin bottles."

(from Murder On Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

Slow motion

"A cleaning man with a mop who was presumably posing for slow-motion pictures."

You can picture the type, can't you?

(from Murder On Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

Graduation

I watched my son-in-law receive his Doctorate today at the Fayetteville campus of the University of Arkansas. It was a proud moment for us all. He actually has not graduated yet, because he still has to defend his dissertation, but I have every confidence that it will go well. He is an outstanding young man, in many respects.

Bird brain

"Ribbons held back the white curtains, doilies lay primly on every table, there was a stupid looking canary in a gilt cage." (from Murder On Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

I have never paid much attention to canaries, certainly not enough to judge their intelligence; but if one actually looked stupid, then it must have been. Really stupid.

Hildegarde had good taste in old movies

          He turned to Miss Withers. "Hildegarde, what movie is playing at that Strand this week?"
          Miss Withers didn't know. But Aunt Abbie stopped doing the Florence Nightingale. "It's a wonderful picture, Inspector. I saw it last night. It's 'What Price Gangster,' with Chester Morris."

Chester Morris is, of course, one of our favorites, mainly because of his Boston Blackie movies, but also his appearances in other old flicks. Not a prototypical leading man type, but somehow he managed to pull off that role.

Good technique for a detective

It was years ago that Miss Withers had learned to be silent and invisible. She might have been standing in the doorway of her third grade classroom during a furious spitball battle, or looming up over the shoulder of a hapless youth who preferred a lurid copy of Weird Tales to the more prosaic reading of his Geography, and had got the happy idea of enclosing the former within the covers of the latter. Naturalists call it "the ability to freeze" - and a just-hatched partridge chick can do it perfectly.

(from Murder on Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

"Close enough for jazz"

This expression is from musicians tuning their instruments, but not being too particular about it. The inference is that since jazz musicians "bend" the note much of the time, anyway, the tuning of the instrument is not of paramount importance. There is, however, the implication that jazz is a sub-par type of music, and some jazzers resent the expression. Be that as it may, it has come to have a broader meaning: "It is adequate, and there is no need to go to great lengths to make it better."

Why they did not get married

In The Penguin Pool Murder, the movie ends with Inspector Oscar Piper (crusty police inspector) and Miss Hildegarde Withers (crusty spinster schoolteacher) headed off to get married. A very nice, completely surprising end to an entertaining movie. However, in subsequent movies in that series, the couple, although they work together regularly and obviously have a crusty affection and respect for one another, are not married. We learn what happened in Murder On Wheels, the second novel in the series.

"You didn't think I was going to sit there in Whyte's and eat your cinnamon toast as well as my own, did you?" Her voice was pitched low,but it had an edge on it. "The last time you heard a police alarm and walked out of me you left me sitting in a taxi outside City Hall until the Marriage License bureau had closed. I'm not letting you get away from me again that way."

Hildegard did not mean "get away again" from marriage, but from involving her in an investigation. The novel later reveals that they realized that they were not suited for marriage. However, in one of the later movies in the series, they are attending a social event together (with Piper in white tie and tails, no less), so they were still an "item," but just never got married.

Hall of Famer

Well-known actress Ruta Lee is of Lithuanian descent. In 2013 she was inducted into the National Lithuanian American Hall of Fame.

Here is what a police Inspector looks like

"A tall, gaunt man in a loose gray topcoat was pushing through the crowd. His lower lip protruded belligerently, and a dead cigar was clamped in one corner of his mouth." (from Murder on Wheels, by Stuart Palmer)

This is our introduction to Inspector Oscar Piper in this novel. He fits the prototype of that role that we find over and over again in old movies. Always the topcoat. Always the cigar.

Hildegarde vs.The Falcon and Bulldog

Stuart Palmer, the creator of Hildegarde Withers (one of our favorites), took a 6-year break from writing novels to go to Hollywood to work as a script writer. While there, he worked, among others, on scripts for the Bulldog Drummond and Falcon series of movies, which also are among our favorites. So, if you like old detective/adventure movies, Palmer is connected to a considerable slide of the landscape.

Horse-faced

Those of you who are acquainted with the Hildegarde Withers series of movies (and if you like old detective flicks, you should be) will recall that she is called "horse-faced" a time or two during the course of the shows. Edna Mae Oliver, the first actress to play the role, was no raving beauty; but the nickname was not because of her. The author of the books from which the character was taken, Stuart Palmer, had a "horse-faced English teacher" from his high school days. However, the role was indeed inspired by Oliver, whom Stuart had seen on stage in the musical Showboat.

The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories (P. G. Wodehouse)

This collection of short stories is early Wodehouse (published in 1917). Sir Pelham had not yet fallen into his predictable and enjoyable formula from which we have derived so much pleasure. These were a little different. The humor is a little understated compared to, say, those involving Bertie Wooster's relatives. And, consequently, I think his writing is actually a little better because of it. I highly recommend this one.

Very methodical

There was something admirable - and yet a little horrible - about Henry's method of study. He went after Learning with the cold and dispassionate relentlessness of a stoat pursuing a rabbit. The ordinary man who is paying installments on the Encyclopaedia Britannica is apt to get over-excited and to skip impatiently to Volume XXVII (VET-ZYM) to see how it all comes out in the end. Not so Henry. His was not a frivolous mind. He intended to read the Encyclopaedia through, and he was not going to spoil his pleasure by peeping ahead.

(from "The Man With Two Left Feet," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Do you reckon she was hard to live with?

Famous actress Ginger Rogers was married five times. The longest of them lasted about eight years. One would logically deduce from this that the gal may have been a little difficult to live with.

Not exactly a hot spot

Mr. Megg's hometown was no City of Pleasure. Remove the Vicar's magic-lantern and the try-your-weight machine opposite the post office, and you practically eliminated the temptations to tread the primrose path. The only young men in the place were silent, gaping youths, at who lunacy commissioners looked sharply and suspiciously when they met. The tango was unknown, and the one-step. The only form of dance extant - and that only at the rarest intervals - was a sort of polka not unlike the movements of a slightly inebriated boxing kangaroo.

(from "A Sea of Troubles," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

He had the easier job

"Young man," he said, "don't worry yourself. You've got a cinch. You've only got to hand a story to the police. Any old tale will do for them. I'm the man with the really difficult job - I've got to square myself with my wife."

(from "One Touch of Nature," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Blue-blooded dogs

Any dog will tell you what prize-ribbon dogs are like. Their heads are so swelled they have to go into their kennels backwards.

(from "The Mixer," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Keep the family name clean

Through a sort of mist I seemed to have a vision of Aunt Agatha hearing that the head of the Mannering-Phippses was about to appear on the vaudeville stage. Aunt Agatha's worship of the family name amounts to an obsession. The Mannering-Phippses were an old, established clan when William the Conqueror was a small boy going round with bare legs and a catapult. For centuries they have called kings by their first names and helped dukes with their weekly rent; and there's practically nothing a Mannering-Phipps can do that doesn't blot his escutcheon

(from "Extricating Young Gussie," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Musical comedy

Musical comedy is the Irish stew of the drama. Anything may be put into it, with the certainty that it will improve the general effect.

(from "Bill the Bloodhound," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Looking ahead to Mr. Chicken

The bad guy in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken was played by Philip Ober. His lawyer was played by Charles Lane. Both of them rarely played good guys. However, in the episode of Whirlybirds entitled "Bankrupt Alibi," Lane plays the good guy sheriff. Ober remains the bad guy.

At least he left well

"Ah," he said, and left quickly, with the feeling that, however poorly he had shown up during the actual interview, his exit had been good. He might have been a failure in the matter of disguise, but nobody could have put more quiet sinisterness into that "Ah!" It did much to soothe him and ensure a peaceful night's rest.

(from 'Bill the Bloodhound," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

No matter how smelly

He lit his cigar. Among his friends at the Green-Room Club it was unanimously held that Walter Jelliffe's cigars brought him within the scope of the law forbidding the ferrying of concealed weapons; but Henry would have smoked the gift of such a man if it had been a cabbage leaf.

(from "Bill the Bloodhound," by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Delegate

"It affords me, if I may say so, the greatest satisfaction," continued the noble lord, "that in a collaboration like ours all the uninteresting and disagreeable routine work is done by you."
(from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

Amateur detectives, especially those of the nobility, did not have to dirty their hands with routine, and could get the official police to do those things.

Unrealistic memories

"The thing I object to in detective stories," said Mr. Piggott, is the way fellows remember every bloomin' thing that's happened to 'em within the last six months. They're always ready with their rime of day and was it rainin' or not, and what were they doin' on such an' such a day. Reel it all off like a page of poetry." (from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

I'm right there with you, Mr. P. Normal people do not remember things like they do in these stories. I have commented before about how the characters in the Philip Marlowe radio show can remember the address of all their friends? Can you do that?

Ann Baker - why didn't she make it big?

Ann Baker's only major role was the title slot in the television series Meet Corliss Archer. She was not a great actress, but certainly adequate. She was not dazzlingly beautiful, but sort of summed up "cute." But most notably she did have a really dazzling smile - really attractive.

So stupid it hurts

As previously mentioned, the Meet Corliss Archer television program was enjoyable and fun. However, it has one of those characters who is so stupid that it just hurts to watch him. Dexter, the boyfriend of the title character, is one of those really, really dumb individuals who cannot be trusted to be in the same room with anyone or anything. He sort of reminds me of Gilligan of the Island fame.

Bunter fit the part

"He had a truly terrible man-servant - the sort you read about in books - who froze the marrow in your bones with silent criticism." (from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers).

It appears the butlers of Sayers' acquaintance were the same as in the circle of P. G. Wodehouse.

Morality and freedom

The moral degeneration of a people almost always will lead to a loss of civil liberties. People who are self-disciplined do not need totalitarianism to keep the peace. Plus, a moral people is more likely to be a watchful people, and a watchful people is more likely to be a free people.

Interesting description of a piece of furniture

"An elderly but affectionate armchair." From Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers, which is one of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries.

Not hard to find motives

          "You'd have to begin by the usual things, I suppose - finding out what the person had been doing, and who'd been to call, and looking for a motive, wouldn't you?"
          "Oh, yes," said Lord Peter, "but most of us have such dozens of motives for murderin' all sorts of inoffensive people. There's lots of people I'd like to murder, wouldn't you?"

(from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

Real love

"We're really in love. Lots of times in the school lunchroom we just look into each other's eyes and forget to eat. That's really love when two people just look at each other and lose their appetite."

(from Meet Corliss Archer TV show)

A meal he intends to miss

          "Lady Swaffham rang up, my lord, and said she hoped your lordship had not forgotten you were lunching with her."
          "I have forgotten, Bunter, and I mean to forget. I trust you told her I had succumbed to lethargic encephalitis suddenly, no flowers by request."

(from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

Chief Gates and Corliss Archer

The voice of Ken Christy became one of the most distinguishable in old radio history. He played a variety of roles, probably the most memorable of which was Chief Gates on the long-running series The Great Gildersleeve. As old movie fans, also, my wife and I have noted his appearance in quite a few flicks of that era. He was on television as well. On the Meet Corliss Archer show, he played the neighbor of the Archers and the father of Corliss' boyfriend Dexter.

Mary Brian - the transformation of different eras

The 1920s and early 1930s were a period in which women's grooming was (in my opinion) singularly unattractive. This is illustrated in the transformation that occurred in photographs of actress Mary Brian (see below) as she moved from that period into the 1940s.

Meet Corliss Archer

This was a cute sit-com from the early days of television. (It had also been a radio show and a comic book.) Ann Baker starred in the title role. She had a not-very-bright and extra-clumsy boyfriend who evidently almost lived at the Archer's house. The scope of the show was limited, but it is enjoyable and well worth the effort. Something the family could watch and enjoy.

Illogical conclusion

          "Well, it is not good jumping at conclusions."
          "Jump? You didn't even crawl distantly within sight of a conclusion. I believe if you caught the cat with her head in a cream-jug you'd say it was conceivable that the jug was empty when she got there."

(from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

Not accustomed to honesty

I always think that the franker you are with people, the more you're likely to deceive 'em; so unused is the modern world to the open hand and the guileless heart, what?

(from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

A nice way of saying "going bald"

Mr. Alfred Thipps was a small, nervous man, whose flaxen hair was beginning to abandon the unequal struggle with destiny.

(from Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers)

An experienced butler to a detective

"Bunter!'

"Yes, my lord."

"Her Grace tells me that a respectable Battersea architect has discovered a dead man in his bath."

"Indeed, my lord? That's very gratifying."

(From Whose Body? by Dorothy M. Sayers. This is a Lord Peter Wimsey novel. He is the son of a duke, and Bunter is his butler - obviously having the legendary imperturbability of the British butler, plus a keen interest in his lordship's cases.)

Too much of that Taste

Back in my childhood - maybe even before my teenage years - one of the Fort Smith radio stations had a call-in request program. I would occasionally list to it for a while. About the only thing I remember was that they played A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (seemingly) every other time. In fact, it got so bad that once the host had to say that they were going to set it aside for a while and give some other songs a turn.

LINK

Dugs

"She - the Gaunt Woman - is the bitch at whose dugs they must feed or starve."

This is an expression from Edmund Gilligan's novel, The Gaunt Woman. The Gaunt Woman was a translation of the Danish name of a sailing vessel masquerading as Danish, but actually a German sub tender. It carried the supplies for a pack of submarines off the eastern coast of Canada. I must admit that the term dug used as "the udder, teat, or nipple of a female animal" was a new one to me.

Interesting description of a good man

The kid held out his hand. He had plenty of good stuff in him. Cape Breton stuff. Patrick knew his kind and liked it well. Tough as halibut and faithful to the last kick of their hearts.

(from The Gaunt Woman, by Edmund Gilligan)

The Gaunt Woman

This is a very nice novel by Edmund Gilligan. It was the basis for the screenplay of the movie Sealed Cargo (1951), which is how I became familiar with it. I recommend it highly. It concerns the captain of a sailing vessel who is involved in the identification and destruction of a German submarine tender during World War II. The tender was disguised as a Danish sailing vessel. Mystery, danger, even a touch of romance. Well worth the read.

The perfect Grannies

Ellen Corby (The Waltons) and Irene Ryan (Beverly Hillbillies) were the two prototypical Grannies in television history - one serious and one comic.

Ozzie Nelson's ridiculous baton

The director of a stage band is largely window dressing, but it still irks me to see those massive batons used by some of them in an entirely improper manner. Take Ozzie Nelson (of the Ozzie and Harriet TV show) for instance. Before he was a television star he was a band leader, and he used one of those ridiculously-large batons that he waved largely to no purpose. The way he used it, it would have been almost impossible to see the beat from his baton. Below is a link to a video of his band. And yes, that is Harriett singing midway through the clip.

LINK

Who was his secret love?

Harriet Nelson: Don't tell me you didn't have a crush on a girl when you were his age.

Ozzie: Yes, I did, but she married Douglas Fairbanks.

So who was she? Well, we would deduce that "she" was Mary Pickford. Ozzie was born in 1906, and Pickford married Fairbanks in 1920.

The feminine mind

Ozzie Nelson (discussing Harriet with the boys): The feminine mind is a very weird and complicated machine.

Ricky: Like an airplane.

Ozzie: Yes, and without a pilot

Did we really say that?

Before we were married, my wife and I told a gentleman that we could keep our cost of living down because we did not drink coffee. Can you imagine?

Just superior

When I was in high school, one of my best friends was never lacking in self-confidence. Muhammed Ali had popularized the slogan, "I'm not conceited, I'm just convinced." My buddy went it one better: "I'm not conceited, I'm just superior." He intended it to be taken tongue-in-cheek, I am (reasonably) sure.

Gail Kobe - one of those "hard" actress faces

Gail Kobe was one of those actresses who just looked like she was almost perpetually angry. Always a little hard edge. Never quite soft and friendly, warm and fuzzy. Of course, appearances are very often deceiving, but that is the way she looked, to me.

Sometimes the truth hurts

"Truth sometimes like stab of cruel knife." (from Charlie Chan at the Race Track)

The medicine I feared the most

When I was a child, I preferred any medicinal treatment to rubbing alcohol put on an open wound. It stung like fire!

Sam Spade in wartime?

Want to see how Sam Spade (Howard Duff) is as a soldier? Just watch the episode of Combat! entitled "Missing In Action" in the link below.

LINK

William Leahy - the unknown Five Star

Nine men have worn five stars in the military of the United States: five Generals of the Army and four Fleet Admirals. Without much doubt the least known of these nine was Fleet Admiral William Daniel Leahy. He had been Chief of Naval Operations (1937-1939), following which he undertook a couple of diplomatic posts. He was recalled to active service by President Roosevelt in 1942 as his personal Chief of Staff. In addition, he chaired the Chiefs of Staff during the war. According to Wikipedia, from 1942 to 1949 he was the highest-ranking member of the military, reporting only to the President.

Bombed out buildings

One of the constant backdrops on the Combat! television program was the partially-destroyed buildings of Europe. Everywhere you looked. That had to be depressing for the people who lived there. Destruction all around you.

Ricky Ricardo's ancestors were politicians

Desi Arnaz (who played Ricky Ricardo on the I Love Lucy show) was almost universally known as a band leader and actor. What many people may now know is that his father and grandfather were well-known politicians - in Cuba.

From Wikipedia:
Desiderio Arnaz II was the youngest mayor of Santiago de Cuba (1923–1932). He was elected to the Cuban House of Representatives in November 1932 for the Oriente Province. When Gerardo Machado was overthrown as president in August 1933, Rep. Arnaz was arrested and jailed. Six months later, he was allowed to go into exile. He graduated from the Southern College of Pharmacy (merged and known now as Mercer University, School of College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences) in 1913 in Atlanta, Georgia. Rep. Arnaz was the son of Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha I (1857–1929), a doctor (and grandson of Manuel Arnaz, a mayor of Santiago de Cuba in 1869) and Rosa Alberni y Portuondo (1870-?), the great-granddaughter of a mayor of Santiago de Cuba, José Joaquín Portuondo y Rizo, 1st Conde de Santa Inés (1762–1824).

The important things

It is some consolation to us of the "little people" to observe how uniformly rich and famous people's personal lives are a shambles. They are good at the unimportant things, but they pretty much mess up the important things.

Their beautiful young co-stars liked working with them

Buddy Ebsen and Andy Griffith were comic actors with long-running and successful television programs who both turned to serious roles late in their careers (Barnaby Jones and Matlock, respectively). Per Wikipedia, both evidently had very good relationships with their female co-stars in those programs.

After her stint on Barnaby Jones, Meriwether became best friends with Ebsen, keeping in touch for many years until his death on July 6, 2003.

[Nancy] Stafford continued to have a relationship with Andy Griffith after her departure from Matlock. After Griffith's death, Stafford said about him that "Andy was more than you can imagine. Obviously, he was an American icon, but he was an incredible professional. He set a tone on the set, every single day that was absolutely inspiring. He was fun. He was profoundly loyal. He was just an amazing wonderful man and he left an indelible mark on my life as well as the lives of everyone who watched him over the years." She recalled speaking to him on his 86th birthday (shortly before his death), saying, "He sounded so wonderful, he picked the phone right up and he was upbeat and he sounded full of energy and we laughed and we joked. I told him how much I loved him and we just had a great, great, great conversation; so glad that we did. He sounded amazing."

Why string quartets are important in music

Most musical ensembles have a variety of tonal color in their make-up. Even choirs' sounds vary depending upon the words they are saying. However, in a string quartet there is not much variation in color. Just a string sound. Maybe some pizzicato thrown in. So, the composer has to rely purely upon the music itself to make the composition good. Therefore, writing for string ensembles is in that respect more challenging than for other groups. It reveals very quickly if the composer can compose.

One foot in the grave

Patty: Look at all those gray hairs (speaking about her father). He has seven: I counted them.

Richard: So, what's seven gray hairs.

Patty: It's the beginning of the end, Nature's way of saying, "You've had it!"

Richard: I guess when they start to get decrepit, they start to go pretty fast.

(from The Patty Duke Show)

Clearwater Clapsaddle?

He was a character on the Jack Benny radio show. I am guessing the writers had a lot of fun dreaming up that name.

Perfect nerdy little brother

Paul O'Keefe played Ross, the younger brother of Patty Duke on The Patty Duke Show television series. He was perfectly cast.

A very specialized musical post

Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales. It is a position within the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. There have been six of them, currently Anne Denholm. In 2006 the Prince presented to the Harpist a gold leaf harp costing 150,000 pounds, which is the instrument the Harpist uses.

What instrument did she take up?

On one episode of The Patty Duke Show she takes up a musical instrument. Which one? The tuba, of course. You just knew it was going to be either that or the drums.

Blots on civilization

There were the others, like Henry Rossiter, who wanted the rewards without the labor, who, to get them, would take from others what they had worked hard to gain. It was the mindless selfishness of those who had not come to understand that all civilization was simply a living together, so that all could live better.

(from The Man From the Broken Hills, by Louis L'Amour)

Good advice for a young man

"It is a poor man who has not honor, but before you do a deed, think how you will think back upon it when old age comes. Do nothing that will shame you."

(from The Man From the Broken Hills, by Louis L'Amour)

Aunt Bea on The Eve Arden Show

The Eve Arden Show ran on television for one season of 26 episodes. (Arden was much more famous for her work on Our Miss Brooks on radio and TV.) One of the main cast members on this cast was Frances Bavier, who portrayed her mother, and who went on to greater fame as Aunt Bea on The Andy Griffith Show.

Hollywood's most closely set eyes

Actor Allyn Joslyn wins the prize.

The Great Blue Norther of 1911

So you think you have experienced a "cold snap"? Consider these facts regarding the cold front that moved through the central U. S. on November 11, 1911:

Kansas City had a record high for the date of 76 by late morning. By midnight the temp had dropped to 11 degrees.

Springfield, MO was at 80 degrees at 3:45 PM. Fifteen minutes late the temperature was at 40 degrees. By midnight they had a record low of 13 degrees.

Oklahoma City set a record high and low in the same day: 83 and 17 degrees, respectively.

As one might expect, there were nine tornadoes set off by the system as it moved through.

Given the lack of public communications in those days, just imagine the number of people who were trapped in situations with totally inadequate clothing for the severe temperatures.

Two of the oiliest - Fortunes of Captain Blood

When you think of the term "oily" with regard to actors' voices, the movie Fortunes of Captain Blood exhibited two of the three best (or worst) examples that I know. George Macready and Lowell Gilmore both had starring roles. The only other worthy competitor that I can think of offhand is Carleton Young, who starred as The Whisperer on the radio.


Macready


Gilmore


Young

Take One False Step (1949)

This is a great little murder mystery starring William Powell, one of our favorites. One of the things that makes this flick doubly enjoyable is the presence of two of the all-time great character actors as the two detectives on the case, those being James Gleason and Sheldon Leonard, both in fine form.


Gleason


Leonard

Maroons

In his novel The Warrior's Path, Louis L'Amour gives a significant role to an ethnic group on Jamaica called Maroons. These were slaves who had escaped and had established communities in the mountainous interior of the island. Here is a quote from a Wikipedia article about the Maroons:

To this day, the maroons in Jamaica are to a small extent autonomous and separate from Jamaican culture. Those of Accompong have preserved their land since 1739. The isolation used to their advantage by their ancestors has today resulted in their communities being amongst the most inaccessible on the island.

In 1973, there were still 11 Maroon settlements remaining, holding lands allotted to them in the 1738-1739 treaties with the British. These maroons still maintain their traditional celebrations and practices, some of which have West African origin. For example, the council of a Maroon settlement is called an Asofo, from the Twi Akan word asafo (assembly, church, society).

Native Jamaicans and island tourists are allowed to attend many of these events. Others considered sacred are held in secret and shrouded in mystery. Singing, dancing, drum-playing and preparation of traditional foods form a central part of most gatherings. In their largest town, Accompong, in the parish of St. Elizabeth, the Leeward Maroons have a vibrant community of about 600. Tours of the village are offered to foreigners. They hold a large festival annually on 6 January to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty with the British after the First Maroon War.

See, you don't have to use profanity

"You thick-headed, feeble-minded, dim-witted Kallikak, snake-brained, gopher-livered, tin-plated, peg-topped, maggot-headed . . ."

(from Crooked Shadow, by Kurt Steel) In case you were wondering what a Kallikak is, it was the pseudonym used for the family that was the object of a study by psychologist Henry H. Goddard, entitled The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness.

Refreshment

When you live on a dirt road, a gentle rain in the midst of a dry season is a wonderful thing. It even smells wonderful.

Time is relative

"At my age, time is rather a nasty subject. You have noticed that for the last ten years I haven't carried a watch."

(Mr. Cartwright, an elderly character on the Whirlybirds TV show)

Some of Hollywood's loveliest off-center eyes

Fay Wray was perhaps more famous for her scream (in King Kong) than for her eyes, but they fell into that class of beautiful imperfections. One of them was off center just a little, but the effect was very pleasing.

Why did Andy Griffith hate his uncle?

(in the movie No Time For Sergeants)

As he is being interviewed by the psychiatrist, he is asked if he hated his mother or father. He said no, but he did have one uncle that he hated, because he always used to wrestle with their mule and kept him (the mule) all worn out.

Pneumonic plague

Ever heard of this disease? It is one of the three main forms of plague, and is even more virulent than the famous bubonic plague. Here is a LINK to an episode of the old TV program Whirlybirds, which deals with this disease.

Now there is a name for you

Viviane Ventura was a minor actress, born in London and raised in Colombia. Her daughter is named Sheherazade Goldsmith. That is an interesting combination. Sort of like being named Giuseppe Schwartz.

The deterioration of speech

"There is a special immediacy to history when one sees the root speech morals of a simple folk disintegrate."

This sentence is from Crooked Shadow, a mystery novel by Kurt Steel. It refers to the phrase "one of the new men," the meaning of which changed during the rise of the Nazis in Germany.

Not so young man

Several times in the movie "Murder in the Private Car" (1934), Russell Hardie calls Charlie Ruggles by the name "young man." This is ironic, since Ruggles was born in 1886 and Hardie in 1888


Ruggles

Truth's path

"Truth, like football, receive many kicks before reaching goal."
(from Charlie Chan at the Olympics)

People who never come home

Travel does broaden one's perspective: there is no doubt about that. If we never "get out of Dodge," we do not have much beyond a worm's viewpoint. However, living constantly on the road is not healthy, either. There is a reason that people have homes, and those who do not have one in the truest and fullest sense of the word are lacking one of the most important things in life.

One of the smoothest

Of all the detectives, one of the very smoothest was Roger Moore (later Sir Roger) as The Saint of television fame. His taste was impeccable, and he was always suave and debonair, and all that sort of thing. But he was quick with his fists and equal to every challenge.

Standard procedure with women

Mike Barnett: How long will it take you to dress?

Gloria: Five minutes.

Barnett: OK, I'll be back in an hour and wait for your to finish.

(from Man Against Crime television program)

Interesting, if true

"I never knew a really brave fighting man, yet who was reckless." (from The Daybreakers, by Louis L'Amour)

If this statement is even generally true, it is quite interesting. Brave men are careful men.

Concerning gun control

"Violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of the men without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble." (from The Daybreakers, by Louis L'Amour)

"Know" - a confusing word?

The "k" is silent. The "w" is silent. It is pronounced exactly like "no," but has an entirely different meaning. Must be tough on people learning to speak English.

One man's view of politics

"Statesmanship is about ten percent good ideas and motives and ninety percent getting backing for your program." (from The Daybreakers, by Louis L'Amour)

Whether or not that ought to be the case, I suspect it is the case in a good number of cases.

Tough medicine

Cap was a fair hand at patching up wounds and he made a poultice of herbs of some kind which he packed on my shoulder. He cleaned the wound by running an arrow shaft through with a cloth soaked in whiskey, and if you think that's entertainment, you just try it on for size.

(from The Daybreakers, by Louis L'Amour)

Don't worry

"There would be trouble enough, but man is born to trouble, and it is best to meet it when it comes and not lose sleep until it does." (from The Daybreakers, by Louis L'Amour)

This quote contains the essence of an important biblical principle.

Dona Drake - a broad range of roles

She was a beautiful actress who generally was assumed to be of Latino derivation because she looked the part and played so many of those roles. However, Dona Drake actually was 3/4 black and 1/4 white. The remarkable result of this combination of bloodlines made Drake a tremendously versatile actress.

Johnny Midnight

This was a television program starring Edmond O'Brien about an actor turned private investigator. Naturally, its subject matter deals a lot with the stage. The plots are pretty good, and O'Brien does a creditable job with the lead acting. The staging tends to be very dark, and with the production quality that made its way to YouTube, it is hard to watch, but still worth the effort.

Guy Williams - unappreciated sword fighter

Hollywood has had its flashy on-screen swordsmen. They all looked pretty good, whether or not they actually could fight. (Cameras can cover a multitude of faults.) Some that come to mind are Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Tyrone Power, and Stewart Granger. Rathbone actually was supposed to have been a decent swordsman. One who came across pretty well on television was Guy Williams, who played Zorro in the Disney television series. He looked athletic and moved very well.

Sanitizing humor

In today's politically-correct environment, it is very dangerous to use caricatures of people for fear of offending someone. The problem is that much (perhaps even most) of humor involves caricatures. Caricatures are exaggerations, and exaggerations are funny. Political cartoons are funny because they involve caricatures. Take away the exaggeration of the person's physical features and you take away the humor.

It is the same with the ethnic groups. Lum and Abner, Archie Bunker, Andy Capp: all were exaggerations of features sometimes found in certain ethnic groups. Take away the exaggeration and you take away the humor.

What I have in common with the Sacketts

"Far away back and on three sides of the family, we were Welsh." (Tyrel Sackett in The Daybreakers, by Louis L'Amour)

It just so happens that that statement applies to me, also. Three of my grandparents were born Loyd, Davis and Evans, three of the most common Welsh surnames. (The usual Welsh spelling is "Lloyd".)

Not Freddie's fault

That she should be furious at her failure to find the jewels was excusable, but she had no possible right to be furious with Freddie. It was not his fault that soot had poured from the chimney in lieu of diamonds. If he had asked for a necklace and been given a dead bat, he was surely more to e pitied than censured. Yet Eve, eyeing his grimy face, would have given very much to have been able to scream loudly and throw something at him. The fact was, thee Hon Freddie belonged to that unfortunate type of humanity which automatically gets blamed for everything in the moments of stress.

(from Leave It To Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Making his case

          "Good-bye," said eve. "Thank you for being so hospitable and lavish. I'll try to find some cushions and muslin and stuff to brighten up this place."
          "Your presence does that adequately," said Psmith, accompanying her to the door. "By the way, returning to the subject we were discussing last night, I forgot to mention, when asking you to marry me, that I can do card-tricks."
          "Really?"
          "And also a passable imitation of a cat calling to her young. Has this no weight with you? Think! These things come in very handy in the long winter evenings."

(from Leave It To Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Getting his forty winks

The ability to sleep soundly and deeply is the prerogative, as has been pointed out earlier in this straightforward narrative of the home-life of the English upper classes, of those who do not think quickly. The Earl of Emsworth, who had not thought quickly since the occasion in the summer of 1874 when he had heard his father's footsteps approaching the stable-loft in which he, a lad of fifteen, sat smoking his first cigar, was an excellent sleeper. He started early and finished late.

(from Leave It To Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Vintage Wodehouse

          He could not analyze the sound, but the fact that there was any sound at all in such a place at such an hour increased his suspicions that dark doings were toward which would pay for investigation. With stealthy steps he crept to the head of the stairs and descended.
          On uses the verb "descend" advisedly for what is required is some word suggesting instantaneous activity. About Baxter's progress from the second floor to the first there was nothing halting or hesitating. He, so to speak, did it now. Planting his foot firmly on a golf-ball which the Hon. Freddie Threepwood, who had been practicing putting in the corridor before retiring to bed, had left in his casual fashion just where the steps began, he took the entire staircase in one majestic, volplaning sweep. There were eleven stairs in all separating his landing from the landing below, and the only ones he hit were the third and tenth. He came to rest with a squattering thud on the tower landing, and or a moment or two the fever of the chase left him.

(from Leave It To Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Making his pitch for her hand

Reflect that I may be an acquired taste. You probably did not like olives the first time you tasted them. Now you probably do. Give me the same chance that you would an olive. Consider, also, how little you actually have against me. What, indeed, does it amount to, when you come to examine it narrowly? All you have against me is the fact that I am not Ralston McTodd. Think how comparatively few people are Ralston McTodd.

(from Leave It To Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Poor Freddie!

He looked at Eve. He looked at her searchingly. Into her pleading eyes he directed a stare that sought to probe her soul, and found there honestly, sympathy and - better still - intelligence. He might have stood and gazed into Freddie's fishy eyes for weeks without discovering a tithe of such intelligence.

(from Leave It To Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

A speech you might pass on

About now, if she had not had the sense to detach herself from the castle platoon, she would, she reflected, be listening to Lord Emsworth's speech on the subject of the late Hartley Reddish, M.P., J.P.: a topic which even the noblest of orators might have failed to render really gripping.

(from Leave It to Psmith, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Politically incorrect, but still very funny

According to the standards of today, the Amos and Andy television show was very politically incorrect. But that does not detract from the fact that the actors in the show did a wonderful job, if their job was to be funny. Tim Moore particularly gave a legendary performance as the Kingfish, and Ernestine Wade was the perfect complement as Sapphire, his wife (although they were almost 20 years apart in age). So, regardless of the surrounding political circumstances, we can look back on the crew of actors who devoted two years to this show and say that they were great!