Inadvertent namesakes

My son, Joshua Green, has the same given name as his great-great-great-great-grandfather, Joshua Davis, but that was not done on purpose, although it could have been. My oldest daughter, Rachel Emily Green (now Jones), had the same given names as her great-great-grandmother, but we did not know that when we named her.

Gunfight: Bob Carlisle and the King brothers

In his novel, Mohave Crossing, author Louis Lamour refers to a gunfight that occurred in the Bella Union hotel between the men named above. This was a true historical event, and a sensational one at the time. Here is a LINK to a good article about the gunfight.

Beauty is a luxury

So often our first thoughts of spouses concerns their physical attractiveness, and certainly we ought to be attracted to them. Historically, however, at least among the lower classes, beauty was less a requisite quality than ability. A man needed a wife who was a good manager; a woman needed a man who was a good provider and protector. That was the sine qua non of the relationship - the absolute necessity. Beauty was a luxury.

Here is another tough name to negotiate

Agnes Margaretha Barones Schimmelpenninck van der Oye. Her mother was named Henriette Frederique Suzanne Huyssen van Kattendijke.

Lou Holtz - the comedian

Although folks today know the name more as connected with a football coach, Lou Holtz was also the name of a well-known comedian and actor who lived 1893 to 1980. Old radio fans will know him from the Rudy Vallee programs.

Courting disclaimer

Now young man, if you're in earnest about this, you have my permission to court Julia Elizabeth as much as she'll let you. But don't blame me if she marries you. Don't go lamentin' about I helped you in or led you on or anything like that.

(From the Royal Gelatin Hour radio show. All this was said in an Irish accent.)

Just naturally comes with trouble

Even a good woman, with her ways and notions, can cause a man more trouble than he can shoot his way out of, and I'd an idea this here was no good woman.

(from Mohave Crossing, by Louis Lamour)

Ain't it the truth!

Believe me, there's more snares in a woman's long lashes than in all the creek bottoms of Tennessee.

(from Mohave Crossing, by Louis Lamour)

A lot of people talk to themselves.

That in itself is not a matter for concern. The ones you worry about are the ones who have to repeat themselves because they weren't listening.

Reasons why I like the movie Casablanca so much

First, it is filled with great lines. You hardly realize how many of them there are until you see a collection of them.

Next, there are some really great individual performances. It won three Oscars, including Best Picture, and was nominated for five more, including Humphrey Bogart for Best Actor and Claude Rains for Best Supporting Actor.

Next, it is in glorious black and white. It just would not have worked in color.

Next, there is the great music, including the all-time classic, As Time Goes By.

Last, but not least, it was released in 1942, which was the year my father graduated from high school.

Those cricket sounds

Wouldn't you like to have been the sound effects men who got to make those great cricket sounds in outdoor evening scenes in the old radio shows?

With all the kinfolks that I have

I guess I need to be studying Einstein's Theory of Relatives.

Brennan on the Moor

Author Louis Lamour often referred to this tune in his books as one of the tunes that was brought over from the British Isles.

Listen to it HERE.

He was just a leader

We pointed the cattle west into the empty land, and the brindle steer took the lead. He had no idea where he was going, but he intended to be the first one there.

(from Killoe, by Louis Lamour)

Freckles Comes Home (1942)

This is not great art, but still it is enjoyable lightweight entertainment. A gangster has to leave town until the heat is off. On the bus he meets Johnny Downs, who is going back to his hometown and recommends it. His friend, Marvin Stephens, and the inimitable Mantan Moreland, provide the comic relief. (Someone has sold Moreland a "gold finder.") Downs' father has made a bad financial investment, and it is up to the fearless trio, with the help of the romantic interest, Gale Storm, to save the day.




Storm


Downs

George Guhl, the forgetful sergeant

Guhl played the desk sergeant at police headquarters in most of the Torchy Blane series of movies. He played an easy-going, slow-thinking, lovable sort who had great problems with his memory. He would use various tricks, like strings on his fingers, to try to remember things.

Stucco bathtubs

"Scratch while you bathe."

One of the "big deals" of Al, the perpetually-unemployed boyfriend of My Friend Irma on the old radio show.

Acclimated - how?

Summer is a lot hotter at the start of the season, and winter is a lot colder. We are not used to the drastic change in temperature, and it takes several weeks to get accustomed to it. My question is whether this change is purely physical, or at least partly mental. Does the hot seem not so hot because our minds are used to it, or do our bodies also adjust?

Want to know what Fred Flintstone really looked like?

Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone, as well as many old radio characters.

Perhaps a career modification is in order?

It dawned on him that he might have been hasty in choosing Hollywood as a career when for his first picture the studio chose as the love interests Marjorie Main and Irene Ryan.