A matter of focus

"It is easy not to see what one is not looking for." (Michael Lanyard, in Alias the Lone Wolf, by Louis Joseph Vance)

This is a cardinal principle in matters of deception, both manual and spiritual. It also explains why so many things are overlooked - we were not looking for them. Human beings find it difficult to focus on more than one thing at a time.

Did telephone operators really talk like that?

"One moment, plee-uz." That was the stereotype on the old radio shows. Wonder if it was fact or fiction.

Makes sense to me

The market takes a downturn, through no fault of any employee, and companies in a panic start laying off people left and right. Seems to me, if it is no one person's fault more than another, why not start by laying off the CEO? You can save a lot more money by getting rid of him than any other employee.

Aging gracefully

It is a great pleasure to me to see a person who accepts with dignity and humor the problems of age. I hope I have been able to do that. However, I must confess that in some instances age is thrust upon us with such force that we have no choice but to accept it abruptly - gracefully or otherwise.

A poem from Abbott and Costello

SEAFOOD
January is a month with "R" in it
And so are the months that follow it.
If you've been holding oyster in your mouth all winter
Now is the time to swaller it.

Good description of Barry Fitzgerald from IMDb

"One of Hollywood's finest character actors and most accomplished scene stealers."
"The diminutive Irishman with the irresistible brogue."

No challenge for a driver from the Great War

"To anybody who's ever piloted a load of casualties through eighteen inches of mud, dodging shell holes and shells on their way to make new holes, in a black rainstorm at midnight - this sort of thing," Jules announced - "a hard, smooth road under a clear sky - is simple pie."

From Alias the Lone Wolf, by Louis Joseph Vance. Jules was the chauffeur who had been instructed to drive with his lights off in order to effect an escape from the villains in the book.

Just using simple logic

Bumps: "Uncle Cecil, wipe your chin off."

Sir Cecil: "How can I? It's fastened on."

(from The Smiths of Hollywood radio show)

Diplomattress

What is that? According to Arthur Treacher on The Smiths of Hollywood radio show, it is a female diplomat.

Radio cap pistols

Radio sound effects normally did such an impressive job that it is a little surprising that many of the detective shows would use what are obviously cap pistols. "Snap, snap," goes the sound. Just not convincing.

Handel's Water Music

If you are not familiar with Handel's compositions in this genre, you might really enjoy them. They were designed to be played beside or on the River Thames, at the request of the King. Handel did a wonderful job, and this probably is some of his more outstanding music.

Edward Jenner and the smallbox vaccine

At some time in my youth (maybe the 6th grade?) I had to write a paper for school. After consultation with my mother, I decided to write it about Edward Jenner and his development of the smallpox vaccine. I remember that he had noticed that milkmaids were generally immune to smallpox, and went on to discover that it was having contracted cowpox (a similar but milder disease) made them immune. I dreaded the paper, but after I got into the subject, I really enjoyed it. And to this day I remember how that particular vaccine came to be.

They were third cousins once removed

Irene Ryan



Mary Castle



Isn't genetics a wonderful thing?

Gathering suspects together

I wonder which fictional detective began the process of gathering all the suspects together at the finish of a case to reveal who committed the crime.

Radio programs sharing plots

Veterans of old radio programs will recognize the program Blood Harvest as being common to Mr. District Attorney as well as Tales of the Texas Rangers.

Mr. District Attorney - perhaps just a little overstatement

"Mr. District Attorney: champion of the people, defender of truth, guardian of our fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Pretty exalted description. Well, maybe true of the office; but in fact, as often as not, the individual holding it was probably a politician hoping to use the office as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Charlie Chan on patience

"Patience and a mulberry leaf become a silk shawl."
(from Charlie Chan Carries On)

Dealing with the jerks in this world

They are there. They exist. In some cases it is impossible to get rid of them because we do not have the authority to do so. The simplest thing to do is just to ignore them, but sometimes that is virtually impossible to do. One thing we can do to help the situation is to make sure that where we do have authority or influence, we direct and insist that courtesy be shown.

A great example of understatement

A foreign agent has been following Humphrey Bogart. After they go on shipboard, the spy tries to assassinate Sydney Greenstreet.

After they extract Greenstreet from under the table, Bogey asks, "Do you know him?"

"I don't think so. In any case he isn't a close friend."

(from the movie Across the Pacific)

I found a mistake in The Great Impersonation

Germany has just invaded Poland, and Great Britain has declared war on Germany. A German nobleman in the diplomatic corps in Africa happens upon an old school friend whom he favors enough to be his twin, so he goes to Berlin get approval to impersonate the Englishman. He starts to play the part, and gives his superior details of the life of the Englishman and says, "My father was killed during the last few days of the First World War." But, of course, at that point it was not the "first" world war, but the only world war, because the second had just begun, but at that point no one could know for sure that it would turn into a conflict of that magnitude.