dual personalities

Tag: Theodore Roosevelt

October 27, 2020

Tuesday mish mosh

by chuckofish

Today we toast Theodore Roosevelt on his birthday.

Roosevelt in 1885, the year he moved to his ranch in the Dakotah Territory.

I think I will watch The Wind and the Lion (1975) in honor of our 26th president. This film, you will recall, is about an international incident being (almost) triggered when an Arab chieftain (Sean Connery) kidnaps an American widow and her children. President Theodore Roosevelt (Brian Keith) deals with it American style–He sends in the Marines.

It is also the anniversary of the day Rebel Without a Cause debuted in 1955, 65 years ago! James Dean had just died less than a month before in a car wreck at the age of 24. It is hard to imagine that this story of teenage angst and rebellion was viewed as being quite shocking back in the day, but it was. It seems quite innocent, even sweet, to our jaded eyes.

And, hello, how did I miss the fact that American golf legend Tiger Woods attended the grand opening of Payne’s Valley Golf Course at Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri (near Branson) on Tuesday, September 22. Named after Ozarks native and fellow golf legend Payne Stewart, it is the first public-access golf course designed by Woods. The 19th hole at Payne’s Valley, we are told, is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about golf holes in the world (see below). “Nature golf” looks kind of like miniature golf for grown ups, but who am I to say.

Mid-MO makes the the Big Time.

Finally, here is a great version of the classic Townes Van Sant song “Pancho and Lefty” performed by Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. (Also, I spy with my little eye a young Marty Stuart on mandolin.) Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd41cVwl9FY&feature=emb_err_woyt

Enjoy your Tuesday. Keep going.

8 Comments
January 27, 2016

Can I get an amen?

by chuckofish

President Theodore Roosevelt on a horse in Colorado; Photographer unknown; Around 1905

President Theodore Roosevelt on a horse in Colorado, c. 1905

“There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at first, ranging from grizzly bears to “mean” horses and gunfighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid. Most men can have the same experience if they choose.”
―Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography 

Agreed, but I will always be afraid of grizzly bears no matter what and always.

5 Comments
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_Hough

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.

coveredwagon

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

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.

1263px-RoughRiders

How about you?

*First line of The Mississippi Bubble by Emerson Hough

5 Comments
April 23, 2014

The man in the arena

by chuckofish

0-theodore-roosevelt

On this day in 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt made a speech on the subject of “Citizenship in a Republic”  at the Sorbonne in Paris. One notable passage on page seven of the 35-page speech is referred to as “The Man in the Arena.”

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

These are good words to remember from our most active and hard-working president!

theodore-roosevelt-horse

So did you take my advice and watch Stagecoach last night? I was feeling a little  very down in the dumps because daughter #1 had returned to NYC that morning, so I knew it would be just the ticket to put me back on track. And it was.

It’s amazing how a little bit of sagebrush drama,

Annex - Wayne, John (Stagecoach)_04

exquisitely told by the master of the genre,

stagecoach_2011_a_l

with a generous dose of this guy

012-john-wayne

in the part that blew open his career can do that. It is such a great movie with such finely drawn characters.

And have I mentioned that the OM gave me this for my birthday?

front

Yes, #22…

back

Life is good, right?

sports_mike_matheny_st.louis_cardinals_dugout

Okay so I like the strong silent type. I get it. The man in the arena.

9 Comments
April 30, 2013

No time to read?

by chuckofish

“Once upon a time in the dead of winter in the Dakota Territory, Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat down the Little Missouri River in pursuit of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized rowboat. After several days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then Roosevelt set off in a borrowed wagon to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. They headed across the snow-covered wastes of the Badlands to the railhead at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, the entire 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in Roosevelt’s eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina. I often think of that when I hear people say they haven’t time to read.”

― David McCullough

roosevelt

They sure don’t make ’em like him anymore.

5 Comments
January 16, 2013

Fun facts to know and tell

by chuckofish

For his gallantry at San Juan Hill, his commanders recommended Theodore Roosevelt for the Medal of Honor.

TR_San_Juan_Hill_1898

He was not awarded the medal at that time, but 100 years later in the late 1990s, Roosevelt’s supporters again took up the flag for him. On January 16, 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honor posthumously for his charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish–American War. Roosevelt’s eldest son, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The Roosevelts thus became one of only two father-son pairs to receive this honor (the other pair being Arthur and Douglas MacArthur).

If I ever knew that, I had forgotten it. I am glad to know that T.R. got his Medal of Honor. I suggest a toast to him tonight!

Today is also the birthday of Robert W. Service, the Bard of the Yukon (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958).

Robert_W._Service

When I was in Middle School, I was a big fan of Robert Service. (Yes, I was really cool.) I asked for and was given his collected poems for Christmas. I memorized large portions of my favorite poems, including “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.”

A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;
The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;
Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And watching his luck was his light-o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou.

Margaret Rutherford gave a dramatic recitation of the aforementioned poem in Murder Most Foul. Priceless. Here it is (with Italian subtitles!)–watch the whole thing! (Si. Si. Prego.)

Have a great Wednesday!

3 Comments