Uncategorized | dual personalities

July 17, 2014

Happy birthday to some real yankee doodle dandies

by chuckofish

Today is the OM’s birthday so let’s all sing a rousing chorus of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”!

Gee, this is real keen!

And here’s a special rendition of “Shine On August Moon” just for you:

It should be noted that July 17 is also the birthday of the great James Cagney (July 17, 1899 – March 30, 1986). I must say I was not a fan of his as a child/young adult. He is an acquired taste, but I have grown to appreciate him over the years. For years he was type-cast as a gangster, but he won an Oscar for playing a song-and-dance man in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). He is sensational in White Heat (1949) as the devoted son and psychopathic killer. It was his portrayal of Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) that made me an admirer.

I remember watching this melodramatic movie with the boy when he was a small child. He was quite struck by the story and I think he actually wept during the scene when Lon’s young son Creighton is taken away from him. It prompted me to take a deeper look at Cagney who is indeed impressive in the film.

He was also quite a hoofer and his distinctive dance style was admired by the likes of Barishnikov, who was actually a pall bearer at his funeral. Check it out here–he’s like a marionette!

By the way, Ronald Reagan (U.S. President at the time) gave the eulogy at his funeral. Now that’s impressive.

So hats off to the OM and to James Cagney–let’s toast them both tonight!

Bonus picture for a Thursday Throwback: Our brother and one dual personality salute the flag in a festive mood in 1980. (My apologies for the ink stain on our poor brother’s face.)

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July 12, 2014

Summer, but not ‘on the beach’

by chuckofish

Just think. Last Saturday I was enjoying the unparalleled company of my siblings and their spouses. As my dual personality noted, we explored the lake with our brother

we hiked

we shot, talked, antiqued, laughed (a lot, these silly sisters), and enjoyed nature

It was a perfect visit. Let’s do it again soon!

Although not quite as fun and stimulating as my siblings’ company, being home has it’s advantages, too; namely, in addition to my adorable Tim, books and TV/DVDs. This week we were astounded (and thrilled) by Germany’s 7-1 drubbing of Brazil, though we couldn’t help feeling sorry for the Brazilian fans.

so, so unhappy!

Now that the World Cup is winding down (3rd place game today and final tomorrow), I have a lot more reading time. At the moment I’m re-reading Neville Shute’s A Town Like Alice about an English woman’s experience as a prisoner of the Japanese in Malaya during WWII and her life after the war. It’s a very good (and romantic) read and I highly recommend it. First published in 1950, it has been made into a film (1956) starring Virginia Mckenna and Peter Finch

One of Peter Finch’s first movies

and a 1981 mini-series with Bryan Brown, Helen Morse and Gordon Cameron Jackson.

Bryan Brown was a big thing in the early 80s, but I think Peter Finch is cuter

I remember watching the 1981 series with our mother and really enjoying it. You can find both versions in full on youtube or, for a better picture, you can watch the 1956 film at Amazon for $2.99. So if you don’t have plans with fun people this weekend, grab A Town Like Alice and start reading or watching.

However, if you are feeling particularly brave and/or masochistic, you can always go for Shute’s gripping, but extremely depressing, nuclear apocalypse novel, On the Beach, which was made into an excellent film starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins, and Fred Astaire in 1959.

It’s a great movie, but I don’t recommend it for a happy summer viewing experience. Wait until the depths of winter when you need reminding that there are worse things than ice and snow. I would avoid the Armand Assante, Rachel Ward film from 2000, although it does have a 7.1 rating on IMDB (the mind reels).

Whatever you do, have a great weekend!

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July 10, 2014

Throwback Thursday

by chuckofish

Here’s a summery-at-the-beach photo of three little ladies circa 1917–cousins, all named Catherine after their grandmother Catherine Rand Carnahan, after whom I am also named.

The oldest (top) is my grandmother Catherine Carnahan. The girl in the middle is her cousin, Catherine Carnahan. The baby is Catherine’s niece, Catherine Bays (daughter of her sister, Anna Carnaghan Bays).

I’m just saying…it’s a nice tradition.

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July 9, 2014

“Though many brave unwritten tales were simply told in vapour trails”*

by chuckofish

Let’s take a moment to remember that the Battle of Britain began on July 10, 1940 as Nazi forces attacked shipping convoys in the English Channel. It was the first major assault by the Luftwaffe. Although heavily outnumbered, the British fighter pilots put up a fierce fight and succeeded in driving off the attackers.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Window for Rolls-Royce, dedicated in 1947 in the Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey

“Spitfire” window was created to honour all members of RAF Fighter Command. It’s located at the former RAF Bentley Priory, headquarters of Fighter Command during the Second World War

“Spitfire” window created to honor all members of RAF Fighter Command. It’s located at the former RAF Bentley Priory, headquarters of Fighter Command during the Second World War.

Battle of Britain Memorial in Kent, England

A section of the Battle of Britain Monument in London, England

I might have to dust off my copy of The Battle of Britain (1969), an “historical reenactment of the air war in the early days of World War Two for control of the skies over Britain as the new Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force determine whether or not an invasion can take place.”

Directed by Guy Hamilton, there is a lot of aerial action by Spitfires and it boasts a who’s who of British actors, including Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Ian McShane, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, and on and on.

If I had not just recently seen Spitfire–The First of Few (1942) starring Leslie Howard and David Niven, I would certainly watch it.

Leslie Howard is great as aircraft designer R.J. Mitchell and, as usual, he is doing his best to support the war effort in the best way he can.

It goes without saying that I will toast those few brave flyers who fought so valiantly to save so many. Will you join me?

* Lines from “Our Wall” by Flight Lieutenant William Walker, 616 Squadron, inscribed on a plaque next to the memorial wall in Kent.

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July 8, 2014

“I don’t know what I would do without her.”*

by chuckofish

Grace Goodhue Coolidge (January 3, 1879 – July 8, 1957) is one of my favorite first ladies. She and her husband Calvin lived for many years in Northampton, MA, a town I know well. In fact they met there, when she was on the faculty of the Clark School for the Deaf and he was a lawyer.

The story goes that while watering flowers outside the school one day in 1903, she happened to look up at the open window of Robert N. Weir’s boardinghouse and caught a glimpse of Calvin Coolidge shaving in front of a mirror with nothing on but long underwear and a hat. She burst out laughing at the sight; he heard the noise and turned to look at her. It was their first meeting. After a more formal introduction sometime later, the two were quickly attracted to each other.

Her vivacious personality was the perfect complement to his shy character. They were such opposites. She was a Pi Phi at the University of Vermont and the president of her sorority. Calvin was no Greek at Amherst. He was an outsider, an “ouden”–or “nothing.” At the Christmas break of his freshman year, he did not want to return to school, but because he believed in finishing what he started, he did, and he pulled himself together.

Throughout their marriage, Grace and Calvin were a devoted pair. They may have been very different in some ways, but they also had a lot in common. They were both descended from Puritans, both were from Vermont and both had found their way to Northampton.

Both were animal lovers and the White House was a veritable menagerie sometimes referred to as the “Pennsylvania Avenue zoo.” Dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, even a raccoon–“She was a mischievous, inquisitive party,” wrote Grace of their raccoon Rebecca. “We had to keep watch of her when she was in the house. She enjoyed nothing better than being placed in a bathtub with a little water in it and given a cake of soap with which to play. In this fashion she would amuse herself for an hour or more.”

It is amusing to picture the man who brought dignity back to the White House with a raccoon in the bathtub.

They were indeed a couple, supporting each other. Somehow they went forward after the tragic death of their 16-year old son Calvin Jr. who had played tennis without socks and developed a blister and then sepsis. It nearly ruined them, but Calvin found solace in knowing that Abraham Lincoln had also lost a son while president. He and Grace pressed on.

If you are interested in learning more about the Coolidges, I recommend Coolidge by Amity Shlaes, published last year by Harper Collins. He and his wife were warm and real and unpretentious. They worked hard. I’m afraid we will not see their like again.

So join me in toasting Grace Coolidge tonight on the anniversary of her death in 1958.

*Calvin Coolidge referring to his wife.

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July 7, 2014

Yep, our family is as functional as all get-out.*

by chuckofish

As you know the OM and I spent four days over the holiday in Michigan with my dual personality and her spouse at our brother’s lake house in Clay Township on Lake St. Clair. He and his lovely wife wined and dined us, took us on boat rides

and on nature hikes.

They introduced us to the neighbors

and took us shooting

No, that’s not Ernest Hemingway, that’s my bro

and treated us to incredible sunsets from their backyard.

And who knew my brother could cook?

It was lovely.

*Homer Simpson, of course

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July 2, 2014

I tramp a perpetual journey

by chuckofish

Today I am actually traveling! The OM and I are flying up to Michigan where we are meeting my big brother and heading to his house on Lake St. Clair. My dual personality and her DH (Dear Husband) are driving from the North Country to meet us. We will celebrate the frater’s birthday (and also our country’s) with much toasting and fireworks. Absent friends and all that.

The siblings circa 1967–pretend traveling at the Transportation Museum

And FYI the Star of the Month for July on TCM is the lovely Maureen O’Hara.

Check out the schedule here. They aren’t showing The Quiet Man (1952) or Only the Lonely (1991) where John Candy plays her son–inspired casting! But they are showing Rio Grande (1950), and there are some other good ones on the list.

Enjoy your holiday weekend! Celebrate responsibly!

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July 1, 2014

“Gentleman, this is America!”*

by chuckofish

Last Saturday (June 28) was the birthday of Emerson Hough (1857–1923), the author of some 34 books and countless magazine articles and a distant cousin of my great-grandmother. You can read all about him here.

Emerson was also descended from the original Hough who emigrated from Chester, England in 1683 to Pennsylvania, but his ancestors subsequently moved from Pennsylvania to Loudoun County, Virginia.

Family legend has it that Hough’s most famous novel, The Covered Wagon, was based on my great-great grandmother’s journal.

If there is any truth to this story, boy, wouldn’t I love to get my hands on that journal! One of these days I’ll have to venture up to the University of Iowa (Hough’s alma mater) to check out his archive. (There are also letters in the collections at Iowa State and the University of Virginia.)

Besides writing fiction, Hough was also a journalist and conservationist. He once explored Yellowstone on skis and his reports were largely responsible for an act of Congress protecting the buffalo in the park.

One of the highlights of his writing career came when Theodore Roosevelt wrote him a fan letter, praising Story of the Cowboy (1897):

I don’t know when I have read a book that I like more than your “Story of the Cowboy.” I have always been hoping against hope that such a book would be written, but I had about given it up, and there was scant time remaining in which anyone could write it. At last, thank Heaven, it has been done! Not only is it to my mind a most fascinating book, but I think it is as valuable a bit of genuine contemporary history as I have yet examined.

Hough died in Evanston, Illinois, on April 30, 1923, a week after seeing the Chicago premiere of the silent movie The Covered Wagon, which was a huge hit. It ran fifty-nine weeks at the Criterion Theater in New York City, eclipsing the record of The Birth of a Nation. He is buried in Galesburg, Illinois.

findagrave.com

Anyway, I plan to toast old Emerson Hough tonight. And while I’m at it, I’ll toast Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders who stormed San Juan Hill on this day in 1898.

How about you?

*First line of The Mississippi Bubble by Emerson Hough

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June 30, 2014

And that’s my opinion from the blue, blue sky

by chuckofish

At church last week we were exhorted to “Bring your smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras… any electronic communications device…” to church yesterday as we joined a nationwide effort to “make the Good News go viral.”

O gee. No thanks. Call me old-fashioned, but I wanted no part of this:

Use your smartphone, tablet or other electronic devices to share comments, prayers or pictures on your favorite social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
Use #Episcopal and #GraceKirkwood.
Text questions or comments to Fr. Todd during the service.
Post a selfie with people around you during the time of the Peace, in the Narthex, during coffee hour, etc.
(please ask permission before taking anyone’s picture).
Use #Episcopal and #GraceKirkwood.
Keep an eye on the monitor next to the pulpit to see what other people are posting (yes, there will be a TV in the sanctuary — just for today!).
Come to our Sunday Forum at 9 a.m. in LaVielle Conference Room (all ages welcome).

I suppose this was supposed to appeal to young people, motivating them to come back to the new hipster Episcopal Church. See, we are with it! We’re still where it’s at, man.

The rector takes a selfie

Passing the peace

Yes, a picture speaks 1000 words. (These were on Facebook.) Now all doubt has been erased concerning whether or not we are all huge nerds at Grace.

Anyway, I stayed home. Because–zut alors!– I think church should be a haven away from cell phones and monitors.

That was what I didn’t do this weekend. As for what I did do–it was the usual: estate sale-ing, house cleaning, yard work, a little shopping, reading, and movie watching. I watched The Magnificent Seven (as I said I would) and Blackthorn, as my dual personality suggested. I am proud to say, I figured out how to turn on the subtitles (on Netflix). Go me.

I also watched Murder My Sweet (1944), which is the best film version of a Raymond Chandler novel (Farewell, My Lovely). Dick Powell is, in my estimation, better than Humphrey Bogart. I know that’s sacrilegious to some, but it’s what I think.

Wasn’t it swell of the boy to drop it by for me? It is a really good movie, full of wonderful Chandler lines like “I caught the blackjack right behind my ear. A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom. I felt pretty good – like an amputated leg.”

I also had a big work event on Saturday which went very well. Now I have two work days and then the OM and I are heading up to Michigan to celebrate the 4th of July and my brother’s birthday with my siblings and their better halves. Go team.

8 Comments

June 28, 2014

“Kid, the next time I say, “Let’s go someplace like Bolivia,” let’s GO someplace like Bolivia…”*

by chuckofish

…because, after all, the scenery there is astonishingly beautiful! A couple of days ago while perusing Netflix for something to watch, I came across the movie “Blackthorn” starring Sam Shepard, Eduardo Noriega, and Stephen Rea. Boy, was it gorgeous. It’s 1927 and we learn that the eponymous character, James Blackthorn, is actually Butch Cassidy, who did not die in that infamous shoot-out all those years ago when he was Paul Newman. Having recently learned that the Sundance Kid’s old paramour, Etta Place, has passed away leaving a son behind to whom Blackthorn feels connected — the young man represents Blackthorn’s only connection to the people he loved — he decides to go back to the U.S. Blackthorn sells off everything, saddles up, and heads out only to lose it all, including his horse, when he is waylaid by an incompetent thief on the run (played by the handsome Spanish star, Eduardo Noriega), who bears a notable resemblance to the Sundance Kid (we know from flashbacks). Troubles ensue.

The film is low key, deliberately paced, and lyrically focused on Bolivia, which is as much a character as any of the humans. The cinematography is fabulous.

All these are screenshots — aren’t you impressed?

Equal parts lush and barren, the landscape is like a Venus flytrap — deceptively beautiful but deadly. It’s vastness highlights man’s puny insignificance; (most) people, especially outsiders, become helpless in its grasp.

And I think that’s the point. The characters seem either lost (Noriega) or resigned (Rea and Shepard).

When on the point of death two of the characters (I won’t say who) say almost scoffingly, “Bolivia,” in recognition of the ironic fact that they went there seeking something — refuge, fortune, or results — but found only entrapment and downfall. Even the Pinkerton agent (played by Rea), who chased Butch and Sundance all the way there, could never leave, eventually sinking into a horrible, somnolent and meaningless, existence. He, too, became trapped.

I very much enjoyed this film, although I didn’t realize that I had to turn on the subtitles and so missed everything they said in Spanish (and there’s a lot of it!). No problem. It will give me an excuse to watch it again. The music is also excellent. Don’t be fooled by the Butch and Sundance angle — this is not really an action movie (although there is some action). It’s a sad story about friendship, loss, and surviving the indifference of the universe with one’s integrity in tact.

Watch the movie and let me know what you think!

*Butch to Sundance in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”

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