When I saw her as she really was

There was nothing wistful and gentle about her now. The soft blue eyes I had admired so much were hard and had begun to shoot out sparks. The skin I would have loved to touch was flushed, the mouth set in a rigid line, the fingers twitching. She seemed to me, in brief, to be exhibiting all the earmarks of one of those hammer murderesses you read about in the papers who biff husbands over the coconut and place the remains in a trunk: and with all possible swiftness I removed myself to the other side of the chesterfield and stood staring at her dumbly. And, as I did so, I realized for the first time how a hen must look to a worm.

(from Laughing Gas, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Not exactly a compliment

"Good evening," she said again. She seemed a kindly, amiable old soul, and I warmed to her immediately. What attracted me about her particularly was the fact that she had a face exactly like that of a horse of mine at home, of which I was extremely fond. It made me feel that I was among friends.

(from Laughing Gas, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Now that is thirsty!

I should probably have shuddered even more than I did, had there not begun to steal into my consciousness at this juncture a rummy sensation which I could not at first analyse. Then I got onto it. It was suddenly borne in upon me that I was dying of thirst. What with the warmth of the day and the fact that I had so recently been taking vigorous outdoor exercise, the epiglottis seemed to have become composed of sandpaper. Already I was gasping painfully like a stranded fish, and it seemed to me that if I didn't climb outside something moist in about half a jiffy, I should expire in dreadful agonies.

(from Laughing Gas, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)



More HERE about thirsty.

The relativity of relatives

A large number of relatives does not cause one to love them any less, but it does give a little different perspective on the various events of life. It is just a different situation from a small family. I was one of 32 grandchildren. My parents have 22 grandchildren. My wife and I have fifteen. My father was one of ten children, and we had six. Large families just dictate that one cannot give undivided attention to every birth, every marriage, every sickness, every graduation, etc., etc. There just simply is not enough time. It is not that you do not consider those things as important, but there just are not enough hours in the day to fulfill all the duties of life in a large group. I might make every ballgame of two grandchildren, but I am simply not going to make every game of fifteen. It just will not happen. Neither am I going to make every funeral of my cousins. And on and on. The love is not less, but you have to spread it a little thinner. I hope all the various recipients of my affection do not question the quality when the quantity is necessarily more sparse.

More HERE about relatives.

The sweat of thy face

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Thus was the curse from God Almighty, and man has lived with it ever since. This "sweat" takes many forms. For some, it is literal perspiration as they make their living in the world. For others it is stress. For some it is isolation and loneliness.For some it is the deterioration of the body from repetitive motions. But it is there. We cannot escape it.

Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane in the Torchy Blane movies

There were several actor/actress duos who had a great chemistry in portraying married or sweetheart couples in mystery or detective movies. Farrell and MacLane worked very well together, but it was in a strange manner. Theirs was at times an adversarial relationship, she being a nosy reporter and he a police officer. However, they managed to stay sweet on each other despite the perpetual disturbances.



More HERE on Torchy Blane.

Funny - but not for her

What the upshot would have been, had the deadlock continued, I cannot say. But fortunately there now proceeded from upstairs, rending the air and causing the welkin to ring like billy-o, a female scream. I recognized it immediately for what it was - the heart cry of a woman who has just found a frog in her bedroom.

(from Laughing Gas, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

Fifth Columnists in old movies - Sky Murder and All Through The Night

These two movies were directed and produced by different men, but they have much in common. Each stars a big-name leading man (Humphrey Bogart and Walter Pigeon). Both feature beautiful German-born actress Kaaren Verne in a prominent role. In both movies she is being forced to cooperate with the German fifth columnists in America because of their threats against her relatives in Germany. Both deal seriously with a serious subject, but also incorporate almost slapstick humor throughout through the use of Donald Meek in Sky Murder and a host of character actors in All Through The Night (and somehow it works). In both the climactic scene is a meeting of the fifth columnists in a dimly-lit warehouse or basement. And both are very enjoyable World War II-era movies.

People who live in constant pain

I really feel for them. I do not do well with pain, even in small doses. Those who get to the point that they have to "manage" their pain have my complete sympathy, at least to the point of my being able to sympathize with them.

"Railroads are war roads"

This was the phrase used on a public service announcement on The Green Hornet radio show in August 1944 to emphasize the fact that rail travel needed to be reserved largely for the military. It said that half the Pullman cars and one out of three coaches were being used by the armed forces.

"Hello. I hope I haven't kept you waiting."

After the phone rings (another radio program that begins in that manner), this is the first line you hear on episodes of The Crime Club old radio program. It is the librarian of the club who answers the phone, and he check for you (the caller) to see if they have the particular story that you want. This was a pretty good mystery program; worth listening to.

Quiet Please, Murder (1942)

          George Sanders and Richard Denning in the same movie is a nice formula for success. This time Sanders is the bad guy, who shoots a librarian and steals a rare book. Gail Patrick is his girlfriend who in the beginning is in on the scheme. She sells a copy of Hamlet to Sidney Blackmer, a German spy, who spots it as a phoney and murders the dealer who set up the deal. Denning is a detective investigating the theft from the library. Now Patrick is on the spot and when Denning offers to keep her from blame if she helps him nab Sanders, she agrees.
          Most of the movie takes place in the public library, a strange place for a mystery. Blackmer mistakes Denning for Sanders and tries to make him give up the money from the forgery. Later Blackmer is murdered, and Sanders poses as a detective from homicide. He has all his cohorts lined up for a full scale murder investigation, but what he is looking for are the priceless books from the libary's collection, which have mysteriously disappeared. Everyone who had been in the library are confined, supposedly under police custody.
          What follows is a film "noir" if darkness is a requisite for the genre, because most of the scenes are in the shadows. There are chase scenes through the book stacks in the library. Denning keeps trying to figure out who is who and who is on who's side.
          This a distinctly and deliberately understated movie, but do not let that fool you. It is a thriller in the fullest sense of the word, and very well done. Definitely a "keeper."




Patrick

Charlie says it is not always to the strong

"If strength were all, tiger would not fear scorpion."

(from Charlie Chan's Secret)

Cosmo Booch and Dikran Marsupial slogged in the schnoz

IN A FLASH
It all happened, says George, who can turn a phrase as well as the next man, in a flash. The fiend leaped on to the porch and immediately dispelled any notion that might have been lurking in the minds of the checker players that here was a mere kibitzer who had come to breathe down the backs of their necks and offer advice, by pasting Cosmo Booch squarely on the schnozzle. And while Cosmo was calling on the Supreme Court to have this declared unconstitutional, he did precisely the same to Mr. Marsupial. He then left by the front or carriage entrance.

(from a newspaper report as recorded in Laughing Gas, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse)

There really are Private Eye badges

In old radio shows and movies, private eyes are always flashing their badges, knowing that most folks will only glance at them and assume they are plainclothes policemen. Easy to see why.

The things that are truly important in life

The people who do them rarely get very much credit from the world.

Champagne Velvet beer - irritating commercials

Among the most unpleasant commercials on old time radio were the ones for Champagne Velvet (CV) Beer on Boston Blackie. They would use the line, "It's just as smooth . . ." Smooth would be pronounced as "smeeoooooooth." It was as if they were trying to make it sound as ridiculous as possible. The logic behind this tactic is hard to fathom.



More HERE about Boston Blackie.

The British version of "Take It Or Leave It" radio show

Accept It or Jolly Well Pop Off (according to Arthur Treacher)

The Jack Carson radio show

Jack Carson’s was a familiar face in movies during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He had his own radio show during 1946-47, which was remarkably well done. He proved himself to be an adept comedian, and having the inimitable Arthur Treacher as his butler did not hurt things any. Throw in Irene Ryan (Granny Clampett) and you have an All-Star cast. (Carson sounds remarkably like Howard Duff of Sam Spade radio fame.)

HERE is a good blog post about the Jack Carson show.
You can find downloads of Carson’s show HERE.

Sheriff elections

One of the ironies of the election process (at least in Arkansas) is that the sheriff's department's work is done mainly outside of incorporated communities, and yet a sizeable chunk of the voters who elect them live within the cities where relatively little of their work is done. For example, in my home county, Logan, the three largest incorporated communities by themselves have collective populations of about 8400 people, or about 38% of the total county population. They have the right to vote for sheriff, of course, but most of the department's work will be done outside of the city limits.