James Dean | dual personalities

February 8, 2019

“Like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream.”*

by chuckofish

Another week almost in the books…it was long, rainy and filled with the usual ups and downs, swings and misses, and bombshell drops at work.

I am always cheered by the photos the boy takes and texts of the wee babes at their preschool. I love this one of Lottie and her friend Mattie embracing/greeting each other. Screen Shot 2019-02-04 at 11.27.55 AM.png

The last two are of a color matching game they were playing at school. Remarkable children!

This weekend I have more plans on my social calendar than usual. Later today daughter #1 is driving here from Mid-MO and then I will drive her to the airport in the morning. She is going to a conference in Washington D.C. and will also spend a night with daughter #2 and DN in Maryland. They are going to have way too much fun.

Saturday night is the Elegant Italian Dinner at church, a much-anticipated annual event where we eat lasagna and salad by candlelight and hope that nobody knocks the bar over (like last year). The boy and daughter #3 are attending with us this year while the wee babes enjoy pizza in the nursery. We are delighted that they are going with us.

Since today is the birthday of James Dean (1931-1955), I suggest watching one of his three movies this weekend: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) or Giant (1956). I will probably opt for Rebel Without a Cause. Because, hello.

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It is also the birthday of another of my faves, William Tecumseh Sherman.

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So I will toast him tonight.

William Tecumseh Sherman, excerpt from a personal letter

I confess, without shame, I am sick
and tired of fighting—its glory is
all moonshine; even success
the most brilliant is over dead
and mangled bodies, with the
anguish and lamentations of distant
families, appealing to me for sons,
husbands and fathers; tis only those
who have never heard a shot,
never heard the shriek and groans
of the wounded and lacerated that cry
aloud for more blood, more vengeance,
more desolation

–Johnny Noiπ

Have a great weekend, travel safely and make good choices.

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Be still my heart.

And, hey, Ted Drewes opens for its 90th season on February 12!

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@explorestlouis

*Del Griffith in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

4 Comments

October 7, 2015

An’ The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes, An’ tells ’em, ef I be good, sometimes

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) who was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author, frequently referred to as the “Hoosier Poet.”

Statue in Greenfield, Indiana

I suppose no one reads his poems anymore. (Although–surprise!– his books are still in print.)

I remember my mother reading them aloud to us with great gusto. There was Little Orphant Annie

Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’
sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-
an-keep;
An’ all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun,
A-listenin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!

and The Raggedy Man

O The Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;
An’ he’s the goodest man ever you saw!
He comes to our house every day,
An’ waters the horses, an’ feeds ’em hay…

Indeed, they were fun to read and fun to listen to. That is no doubt why Riley was among the most popular writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

So join me in a toast to the forgotten Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley. (Perhaps with one of these.)

I leave you with this picture of another famous Hoosier reading some JWR poetry for fun and personal enrichment.

Enjoy your Wednesday–and don’t let the Gobble-uns git you!

2 Comments

September 24, 2015

“Oh he’s real abstract. He’s…different.”*

by chuckofish

Tomorrow (Friday) is James Dean day on TCM–so set your DVR! And wait–they aren’t showing the usual three movies–the only ones he made before dying at age 24. They are presenting a selection of performances that he gave on live television that are rarely seen. All the programs are TCM premieres.

Born in Indiana, Dean moved to New York City in 1951 to study at the Actors Studio. While in NYC he performed in stage and TV dramas, and these are the roles to be showcased. They include a thief who finds redemption in Something for an Empty Briefcase (1953) for NBC’s “Campbell Soundstage”; an accused murderer in Sentence of Death (1953) for CBS’s “Studio One”; an ex-convict struggling for a new life in the Rod Serling teleplay, A Long Time Till Dawn (1953) for NBC’s “Kraft Theatre”; the restless son of a farm couple (Dorothy Gish and Ed Begley) in Harvest (1953) for NBC’s “Robert Montgomery Presents”; a waiter suspected of stealing in Run Like a Thief (1954) for NBC’s “The Philco-Goodyear Playhouse”; a lovestruck stable boy in Sherwood Anderson’s I’m a Fool(1954), with Natalie Wood, for CBS’s “General Electric Theater”; a “hepcat” killer in The Dark, Dark Hours (1954), with Ronald Reagan, for the “General Electric Theater”; and a wealthy man accused of robbing his family in The Thief (1955), with Diana Lynn and Mary Astor, for the ABC “United States Steel Hour.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait! (My apologies and regrets to those of you who do not get TCM or have DVR capabilities. So it goes. Why not watch Rebel Without a Cause–always a fine idea!)

*Buzz Gunderson in Rebel Without a Cause

3 Comments

September 6, 2013

Friday movie pick: such untamed emotion!

by chuckofish

Lucky Julie Harris. Laughing it up with these guys:

Julie Harris with Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando and James Dean in 1955

Julie Harris died last month. She was, of course, an American stage, screen, and television actress of the first rank. She won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She was a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame and received the 2002 Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.

I remember watching my mother watch Julie play Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst on television back in the 1976. My mother wept pretty much uncontrollably, which was quite unnerving to me. But Julie Harris was one of those actresses that loses herself in the part–she became Emily Dickinson. Awesome.

I haven’t had a Friday movie pick in some time, so I suggest we all watch Julie Harris in East of Eden, which introduced James Dean to the world. It was Julie’s second film. It only covers a small part of Steinbeck’s great novel, but it is a good movie taken on its own. James Dean’s performance is spectacular and he is ably supported by Raymond Massey, Jo Van FLeet, Burl Ives, and–of course–Julie Harris.

Today is also the birthday of Elia Kazan (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003)–American director, producer, writer, actor, founder of the Actors Studio, and Williams College graduate. The New York Times described him as “one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history”. He was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for East of Eden, but lost to Delbert Mann, who won that year for Marty. C’est la vie.

Have a great weekend!

5 Comments

December 11, 2012

On the banks of the Wabash

by chuckofish

On this day in 1816 Indiana (“Land of the Indians”) became the 19th U.S. state. The Hoosier (“country bumpkin”) state is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populace.

The Wabash River, which is the longest free-flowing river east of the mighty Mississippi River, is the official river of Indiana. Thus, its state song is “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” written in 1897 by Paul Dresser, the brother of noted Hoosier writer Theodore Dreiser. (Apparently Paul Dresser was horrified by his brother’s shocking novels and changed the spelling of his name to differentiate them.)

The official state flag of Indiana was adopted in 1917. It was designed by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, Indiana; he won a flag design contest sponsored by the DAR for Indiana’s 100th anniversary of statehood in 1916. There are 19 golden stars on a blue field. The 13 stars in the outer circle represent the 13 original colonies of the United States of America; the 5 stars in a half circle represent the states admitted prior to Indiana (but after the original 13), and the larger star atop the flame of the torch of Liberty represents Indiana.

In our family we have a fondness for the state of Indiana because daughter #1 attended and graduated from DePauw University in the charming town of Greencastle.

During those four years we spent a lot of time in Indiana. We have been to many charming bergs in the state, including Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie, Terre Haute, New Harmony, Crawfordsville, Evansville–some a lot more charming than others. Indiana is, of course, a state boasting many fine colleges and universities, including Butler, Purdue, Valparaiso, Earlham, Ball State, Wabash, Notre Dame, and, of course, Indiana University.

Indiana is a state full of history and the birthplace of many famous Americans, including Johnny Appleseed, Gen. Lew Wallace, V.P. Dan Quayle, Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, Booth Tarkington, Bill Blass, Cole Porter, Kurt Vonnegut, Red Skelton, David Letterman, Hoagy Carmichael, and my personal favorites:

Steve McQueen and James Dean

Yes, Indiana. Way to go.

I could go on and on about the great state of Indiana, but I’ll stop here. I’ll just make one suggestion. In honor of the anniversary of Indiana’s statehood, I recommend watching a really good movie that celebrates the state’s love of basketball: Hoosiers (1986) with Gene Hackman and Dennis Hopper. (BTW, One of the players on the high school team was played by a DePauw basketball player. The NCAA gave him a three-game suspension and he was charged 5% of his acting fee.)

We must also note that today is the birthday of two great actors (neither one from Indiana):

Victor McLaglan (1883-1959)