Uncategorized | dual personalities

May 24, 2013

The toughest man south of the Picketwire

by chuckofish

Sunday is John Wayne’s birthday–so you know what I’ll be doing to celebrate!

Marion Mitchell Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979) was born in Winterset, Iowa, but his family relocated to California when he was four years old.

A local fireman at the station on his route to school in Glendale started calling him “Little Duke” because he never went anywhere without his huge Airedale Terrier, Duke. He preferred “Duke” to “Marion”, and the name stuck for the rest of his life.

He attended Wilson Middle School in Glendale. He played football for the 1924 champion Glendale High School team. I think I read somewhere that he was president of his senior class. Of course he was. According to Wikipedia, he applied to the U.S. Naval Academy, but was not accepted. Well, their loss. Instead he attended the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in pre-law. He was a member of the Trojan Knights and Sigma Chi fraternities.

He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to USC as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he mostly appeared in small bit parts. His first leading role came in the widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930).

A star is born. Hello, John Wayne.

His career rose to further heights in 1939, with John Ford’s Stagecoach making him an instant superstar.

Wayne would go on to star in 142 pictures.

My “Top Ten”–make that Eleven–Best Films of John Wayne would include:

Stagecoach (1939)
3 Godfathers (1948)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Rio Grande (1950)
The Quiet Man (1952)
The Searchers (1956)
Rio Bravo (1959)
The Horse Soldiers (1959)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
El Dorado (1966)
True Grit (1969)

Eight of these were directed by John Ford. What a great team! Has there been another like it in film history? I think not.

Three of these would be on my “Ten Best Movies of All Time” List.

There are so many other really good movies which do not make the top eleven, but are eminently entertaining. Consider:

Tall in the Saddle (1944)
Fort Apache (1948)
Red River (1948)
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
Hondo (1953)
Blood Alley (1955)
Legend of the Lost (1957)
The Comancheros (1961
Hatari (1962)
How the West Was Won (1962)
Donovan’s Reef (1963)
The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
The War Wagon (1967)
The Cowboys (1972)
The Shootist (1976)

John Wayne is great at all ages, in all decades of his stardom. I contend that even a bad movie with John Wayne is entertaining and worth watching. And I always feel better after I’ve watched one.

I grew up watching John Wayne Theater on Saturday/Sunday afternoons. My parents were both John Wayne fans so we always went to the movies to see his newest film. The first “new” John Wayne movie I went to see at the movies was El Dorado. My mother was back east visiting her dying mother, so our father took my dual personality and me to see it. I’m sure if my mother had been home, we would have been deemed “too young”, but my father wanted to go, so he took us along. It was the summer after fifth grade (second grade for my sister!). It was so great. When I went home I looked up the poem “El Dorado” by Edgar Allan Poe and memorized it. I still know it by heart. Quelle nerd, I know.

When I was a graduate student at the College of William and Mary, John Wayne came to town to tape an appearance on the Perry Como Christmas Special. It was late in 1978. Completely out of character, I went down to Colonial Williamsburg, armed with my Kodak Instamatic, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Great Man. My guardian angel was with me that day. I ran into my hero coming out of one of the colonial shops. A small crowd was forming but people were respectful. I snapped a picture (where is it?!)–he was standing a few feet away. I started to cry. I could cry now writing about it. It’s silly, but it was just so great. He was very tall. He was kind and patient and smiled at everyone, even though he clearly was not well. He died the following June.

John Wayne’s enduring status as an iconic American was formally recognized by the U.S. government by awarding him the two highest civilian decorations. He was recognized by the United States Congress on May 26, 1979, when he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Hollywood figures and American leaders from across the political spectrum, including Maureen O’Hara, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Mike Frankovich, Katharine Hepburn, General and Mrs. Omar Bradley, Gregory Peck, Robert Stack, James Arness, and Kirk Douglas, testified to Congress of the merit and deservedness of this award.

On June 9, 1980, Wayne was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter, at whose inaugural ball Wayne had appeared “as a member of the loyal opposition,” as Wayne described it in his speech to the gathering.

So I know what I’ll be doing on Sunday–honoring old John Wayne by watching some of his movies. What is your favorite John Wayne movie?

Here’s a nice tribute TCM did with Harry Carey, Jr. (By the way, they are showing a whole slew of John Wayne films on Sunday starting at 6:45 a.m.–all war movies.)

9 Comments

May 23, 2013

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

by chuckofish

Two years ago today the city of Joplin in our flyover state was devastated by a tornado, the fifth deadliest since 1900.

We felt their pain then and we feel for those poor people in Oklahoma who suffer the effects of Monday’s EF-5 tornado.

We know about tornadoes here. We take them very seriously.

This image from “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) was always very scary to me growing up because it was true-to-life.

Every time I look at the sky and it looks like this:

my heart does a little flip flop. We keep an eye on the sky.

2 p.m. in the afternoon yesterday

Things look worse. But then, usually,

things look better. But not always. Plenty of times we have taken to the basement.

I remember once at school when I was in the fourth grade or so, we filed down to the lowest level and sat along the wall on the terrazzo floors and waited. I remember being really worried–not about myself, because I figured I was safe downstairs with the rest of my school. But I just knew my mother at home was ignoring the sirens. And probably not only ignoring them, she was no doubt outside looking up at the sky, daring the weather gods, hoping to get a good look at this tornado. After all, she was not originally from the Midwest–what did she know? I was really worried.

I’m sure I told her so when I got home. I’m sure she laughed.

Many’s the time when the sky looked threatening and greenish and we all would run outside and yell, “Auntie Em! Auntie Em!” We learned that from our mother. But she also taught us when to take the sirens seriously and go downstairs.

That’s the trick in life. Knowing the difference.

5 Comments

May 22, 2013

“Maybe you’re right, pal.” “Oh, I’m eternally right. But what good does it do me?”

by chuckofish

Oh, Leslie Howard. I still love you after all these years.

Did you see The Petrified Forest (1936) last night? It was on TCM*. I have been a fan of LH since high school when I first saw this movie on TV. One of the quotes on my senior page was from this play/movie:

“I had a vague idea that I’d like to see the Pacific Ocean and perhaps drown in it. But that depends.”

Boy, if you put that on your senior page these days, you’d be sent to the guidance counselor’s office for sure. But back then, if they even noticed, no one thought twice about it. Just an angst-y teenager, whatever.

* Full disclosure: I recorded it, because DWTS finale was on.

P.S. Kellie Pickler won the mirror ball on Dancing With the Stars! This made my day. My week. What is wrong with me?

Hat tip to daughter #1’s instagram feed. Hello, Cynthia McFadden.

7 Comments

May 21, 2013

What the hell happened?*

by chuckofish

I am closing in on the final pages of The Sand Pebbles. This 597-page novel is really wonderful and I highly recommend it. Written by Richard McKenna, it centers on an American gunboat on the Yangtze River in 1926. The author completed it in May, 1962, just in time to enter it in the 1963 Harper Prize Novel Contest. Not only was it picked over 544 other entries for the $10,000 first prize and accepted for publication by Harper & Row, but it was also chosen as the following January’s Book-of-the-Month Club selection. It was also serialized in the Saturday Evening Post for the three issues from November 17, 1962 through December 1, 1962.

The author’s life story is not the usual back-of-the-book blurb. Enlisting in the Navy in 1931 at the age of 18, he served until 1953 when he retired after 22 years of service as a machinist’s mate. He then entered the University of North Carolina. He received his degree in English in 1956, married one of the university librarians and settled down to write. Sadly, he died in 1964 at the age of 51, but one feels that to have written his magnus opus and seen it published to acclaim is a great thing. He must have been an extraordinary man.

I am reminded of what John Steineck said about his own East of Eden: “I put everything I knew into that book.” One feels this is the case with Richard McKenna. The Sand Pebbles is full of truth. The author pours everything he has into this well-crafted, well-written story of a man struggling to understand himself and the world he finds himself in.

Jake Holman, the hero of the story, is a great character with whom many can relate:

They could command you what you had to do, he thought, but they could not command you how you had to feel about it, although they tried. So you did things their way and you felt about them your own way, and you did not let them know how you felt. That way you kept the two things separate and you could stand it.

One imagines that there is a whole lot of Richard McKenna in Jake. Toward the end of the book he describes Jake’s thoughts about Shirley, the missionary teacher: “He kept her deliberately on the edge of his dream. He would get books from her and read them and later they would talk about them. They would be friends, but she would still be just a teacher.” One can’t help thinking of the author’s courtship of the UNC librarian.

The movie, which was released in 1966, is one of my favorites and Steve McQueen is perfectly cast as Jake Holman.

Any excuse to insert a picture of Steve McQueen in the blog is a good one.

The screenwriter did take many liberties with the story, however, which is a necessity I suppose with such a long, detailed book. In the book the sailors (the “sand pebbles”) are good guys deep down and not all are the low-lifes portrayed in the movie. The captain, also, is a good guy and not the duty-obsessed, blinders-wearing martinet portrayed in the film.

Perhaps it is better that Richard McKenna never saw it.

*P.S. No one says this in the book. Instead, Jake says, “Go to hell, you bastards!” The book is always better.

3 Comments

May 20, 2013

And then we were all in one place

by chuckofish

Sunday was Pentecost, and coincidentally, Grace Church officially merged with another parish, so it was an extra big deal for all concerned. However, when I got to church, some new person was sitting in “my pew” (!) so I had to look around for another place to sit. You see how it is.

I moved down the row and sat with my old friend Ron, an 80-year old African-American retired Army Colonel. It was a good choice as we happily made barbed comments throughout the overly-long 2-hour service which included four baptisms–in Ron’s words, “The worst logistical hash-up” of the year–and a brass quartet which intruded on our post-communion prayer time–“so much for our moment of quiet contemplation.” Ron and I were, of course, the only members on our knees in prayer, because for some unknown reason which neither of us understands, kneeling has been phased out of our liturgy. When I asked Ron after the service if he knew why that was, he did not, but commented that “in that other church, they have a Pope who decides those things.” We were on the same page for sure.

Although the choir was off-key most of the time and the brass quartet hit some really sour notes, it was a happy and welcoming occasion. But enough already–I skipped the church picnic afterwards and came home to water my plants and finish up my DIY bathroom project.

Somehow I convinced my old man to take me down to Ted Drewes for some frozen goodness.

It is already in the “hot and humid” range here in flyover land and I refuse to turn on the airco before June, so frozen custard it is.

How was your weekend?

6 Comments

May 18, 2013

Yul and the Gang

by chuckofish

My son, James (not Jim), is home for a visit and in need of some real, home-cooked food — none of that “prepared by a chef, cooked by you” frozen fair for these hungry boys. [Please note: Boy #2, who is missing from the photo, returns from London tomorrow!]

See how hungry they look?

What better opportunity to try out my Yul Brynner Cookbook?

The recipes in the book (supposedly) reflect Yul’s heritage: Russian, Japanese, Gypsy, Swiss, French, Chinese, and Thai. Oh, my! Since we’re fond of curry and don’t mind a little heat to it, I chose “sauteed chicken with hot curry” from the Thai section.

Yul liked his curry REALLY HOT. The recipe calls for 6-8 dried chillies! Fortunately, I know better than to follow even Yul Brynner’s recipes slavishly, so I just put in a couple of shakes of red pepper flakes. Aside from the peppers, the recipe is really quite simple and (when modified) very delicious accompanied by Naan bread and a cooling Adirondack Lager. Trust me, you would not want to put 6-8 chillies in this curry!

I give Yul Brynner, chef extraordinaire, two thumbs up! And this is what I imagine he’d think of our blog:

For my next Yul Brynner movie night I’ll have to prepare something from the Gypsy section of the book. I think Yul would approve, don’t you?

6 Comments

May 17, 2013

Words of Wisdom

by chuckofish

It is that time of year again. Graduation time–which means commencement speeches. Ugh. It is the time of year when the least appropriate people (entertainers and comedians and politicians) make advisorial speeches. Aaron Sorkin. Jane Lynch. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. But people want to be entertained. They want snappy one-liners.

I thought I might find some good ones for a blog post, but just try googling “commencement address”. You come up with nothing but tripe.

At daughter #2’s graduation last year, the best her top-10 university could come up with was some cartoonist.

I remember nothing noteworthy from his speech.

Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress, was the speaker at my graduation from Smith College.

I remember nothing from her speech.

Betty Friedan, a leading figure in the women’s movement in the U.S., spoke at my sister’s Smith gradation in 1981.

I remember I thought she gave a good talk–there were some good take-aways and she refrained from haranguing us. Unfortunately, I can no longer remember any of what she said.

The highly touted speech at Kenyon College by David Foster Wallace in 2005 is, in the last analysis, just depressing. He tells the graduates to be conscious and aware, which is what I’m always saying: Pay attention! But he doesn’t tell them to be grateful. No wonder he hung himself a few years later.

As always, my expectations have been and remain, too high.

My nephew Foster making a thought-provoking and rousing senior speech at his high school graduation–the exception to the rule.

Well, don’t forget to wear your sunscreen.

6 Comments

May 16, 2013

Now learn

by chuckofish

“Now learn,” she commanded herself, “learn at last that anywhere you may expect grace.” And she was filled with happiness like a girl at this new proof that the traits she lived for were everywhere, that the world was ready.”

–Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey

2 Comments

May 15, 2013

He said it

by chuckofish

“The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no measure or limit to this fever of writing; everyone must be an author; some out of vanity to acquire celebrity; others for the sake of lucre or gain.”

–Martin Luther, Table Talk (1569)

Sadly, four hundred and fifty years later, this is still the case. I can hardly bear to go into a big bookstore these days. It is too depressing to see the mess that is produced.

However, there are still some bright lights out there. I see that there is a new Fred Vargas mystery coming out in June.

I do love Commissaire Adamsberg, the chief of police in Paris’s seventh arrondissement!

And there is a new Alexander McCall Smith #1 Ladies Detective Agency book coming out in November.

I like the title of this new one!

Hilary Mantel is working feverishly to finish the third and final installment of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy–one fears before she is too ill to write. Ugh.

Anything else I can look forward to?

3 Comments

May 14, 2013

Oh, the shark, babe

by chuckofish

Today is Bobby Darin’s birthday!

Darin (May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973), you will recall, was an American singer, songwriter, and actor of film and television. He performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk, and country.

When I was growing up, we had a 45-record of Darin’s 1959 hit “Mack the Knife”, which our mother loved. We accused her of listening to it too much and teased her about her uncharacteristic affection for Bobby Darin. My sister and I even had a dance routine worked out with specific hand gestures, which we would perform for years to come (and may have as recently as the boy’s wedding). Of course, we thought it was spectacularly silly and made much fun of Bobby Darin. But truth be told, we secretly liked him a lot.

He made some not-so-classic films with his wife Sandra Dee, but I do love Come September (1960), which stars Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida and, in a small part, Leslie Howard’s son, Ronald Howard.

Awkward, to say the least…

Bobby Darin was best when playing young, finger-snapping hipsters and he was not so great in serious roles. He memorably over-acted in the part of a shell-shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) with Gregory Peck and Angie Dickinson, and was even nominated for an Academy Award. He didn’t win, of course, but it must have been a thrill for him. (At the Cannes Film Festival he won the French Film Critics Award for best actor. Zut alors!)

Singing was his real forte though and he became world famous for such hits as “Splish Splash”, “Dream Lover” and “Beyond the Sea”. He died much too young at age 37. Here he is singing his great #1 hit “Mack the Knife”.

P.S. Darin had a custom car built called the “Dream Car”, designed by Andy DiDia, which is on display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation. It is, like its owner, pretty darn cool.

4 Comments

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