You forget just how “rednecky” Mitchellville is, once you’ve been gone and are now an “outsider”. They seem very suspicious of strangers, and not the sort of welcoming town I remember. Perhaps the strangest of all was talking to two summer workers at the elementary. I was asking about the former principal Dave Edwards (roughly 1964 to 2007), they did not know who he was! How do you work at Mitchellville Elementary and not know who Dave Edwards was??
I’ve done a previous post on the 70’s television series Police Story. A channel called ‘Decades’ each weekend will pick a show and run with it for 48 hrs. This weekend it was Police Story. I was reminded looking in the credits that Joseph Wambaugh was a writer for it (he was crime drama in the 60’s & 70’s). What was just staggering about it, was that each week they had a completely new cast and director! Every week they hit a home run with a brand new team. Today’s shows can go 5 years and not get it right. And the stars! Tonight’s episode: Pernell, Barbara Anderson, Robert Brown, Christopher Stone, Alex Cord, Anne Jeffreys…
Pros. I don’t know about these things, but I would have to guess the “crew” was one of the best in Hollywood. To give it that same top notch feel each week. Best writers, best cameramen, best lighting, best editing, best acting. And to get the actors they did, makes me think everybody wanted to be part of a class act like that. Every week was like an “All-Star” game. The best of the best. And I almost forgot, the score (music?). NBC would do that, have the slickest productions. Bonanza, The Virginian. NBC was a class act back then.
[From ‘Lambiek Comiclopedia‘]
“Walter Molino was an Italian comic artist and illustrator, notorious for his sensational cover paintings for Domenica del Corriere, that depicted mayhem and disaster in everyday situations. His illustrations for the women’s weekly Grand Hotel popularized the “cineromanzi” genre, in which the lead characters in picture stories were based on popular film stars. Prior to this, he worked for Italy’s pre-war comic magazines, most notably co-creating ‘Virus, il Mago della Foresta Morta’ (1939-1940) and ‘Captain l’Audace’ (1939).”
Italian comic artist and illustrator. Walter seems to have been incredibly prolific with his work. Newspapers, comic books, magazines. Once again, somebody had a post on him in the art group on Gab. Reading his bio and the melodrama so much of his work contained, it made me wonder if Italy was the only place he could have come out of? My stereotype of the larger than life/over the top/grandiose nature of Italian life? He was just starting out with some of his first jobs in 1934, maybe the Great Depression was a formative experience that contributed to the nature of his work.
One of his mainstays was the magazine, Domenica del Corriere (The Sunday Courier). Similar maybe to a magazine we had called True Detective. Fun stuff regardless. I love ‘busy’ art, and his was all of that. Lots of action, animals and general mayhem. Just delightful. Then he had his political cartoons for the newspapers, fairly conventional. Then he had a series called the Grand Hotel that are just the most wonderful and stylish black and white pieces.
Deere & Company World Headquarters
One John Deere Place
Moline, IL 61265
I remember when they were on contract strike at the Ankeny plant sometime around a year ago. The local media was taking it all cavalierly, like this happens all the time. Big time labor and management disagreements. Uh-huh. We don’t have any factories left. When Maytag moved to Mexico, that was about it. Little warning bells were going off in my head. This new breed of management does not trifle with labor. They’re like the Walmart store that unionized, they just closed down and moved it out overnight. They don’t give a rip about labor or ‘old Joe’ whose been there 30 years. They don’t even care about the company. They don’t even invest in the company. They simply inflate the price of stock to make themselves and the board rich through stock buybacks. The farmer outside of Ankeny who has been buying “Green for 40 years!” cares more about that company than the CEO does.
(In Iowa lingo John Deere is Green, Allis Chalmers was Red, and Ford was Blue. No intermarriages, you went to separate churches, and yes, shots were fired.)
“A 20th Century pilot named Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade awake from 500 years in suspended animation to find that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane.”
TCM on Saturday mornings likes to do some ‘kid’ programming. Lately they have been showing a 20 minutes episode each week of the Buck Rogers serials from 1939 and 1940 that Universal made. One of the most fascinating aspects for me is the ‘Buddy’ Wade character played by Jackie Moran. He was only 16 when they started. He only lived to be 67 like so many of that era.
Buster Crabbe has a great story. He was the only actor to have played Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and Tarzan. He was a two time Olympic swimmer, in ’28 & ’32. He won a gold and a bronze. He, by the way, is what a natural body builder looks like. Not like the steroid junkies of today.
But what I noticed this morning as Buck and Buddy dashed around saving the world, was how often heroes had their partners. Lone Ranger and Tonto, Roy Rogers and Pat Brady, Batman and Robin, and probably many others if I took time to think about it. The partners are usually very competent, but danged if the bad guys don’t usually get the drop on them somehow, and our hero has to come rescue them! More unusual I would suppose, would be the perfectly equal partners like in Starsky & Hutch, or the Dukes of Hazzard.
“I was never one to think that because you are in the picture business, because you’re an actor, you’re a special person. Not at all, and I have little regard for any people who act that way. If you’re lucky, you bring a little excitement to the world. If you’re really lucky, you lend your fame to worthwhile causes — as I was recently privileged to do raising money for the 1984 Olympics, or promoting healthy activities. Apart from that, you’re just another human being, trying to make a living, doing it the best way you possibly can. That’s the way I’ve always operated, and I will continue to do so, just doing the best I can.” – from Buster’s IMDB page
FOX News had a fun little article revolving around the original Chicago stage production of Grease in the 70’s (‘Taxi’ star Marilu Henner on turning down ‘Grease’ film, befriending John Travolta: ‘A special kind of talent’). It later moved to Broadway, then a national touring cast and of course the film version. Marilu had mentioned they really cleaned it up after Chicago to make it much more palatable for a national audience.
I had thought that kind of odd because that was one takeaway I had from the movie when I saw it originally, was how coarse it was. And that was cleaned up from the stage production?? Everyone in the comments was talking about how much they loved or hated it. One guy (Buckeye4ever) called it in his top 10 greatest of all time movies. I’m thinking yeah? Fun little movie but Top 10? He had another strange one on his list at #9, ‘Back to the Future’? All his others were solid choices then he had those two:
So I got to thinking, what would my “Top 10” be? His list basically has ones I really like. Manly movies from the ‘over 50’ or 60 crowd. I’d told him that Clint Eastwood had made a couple (15:17 to Paris and Richard Jewell) that were such an homage to the ‘every man’ that I consider them to be two of the most beautiful films ever made. I would have to add those two to my list. And dumb as it is, Summer of ’42. The vision of Jennifer O’Neill in that movie will never leave my head.
And I must really like director Robert Mulligan, because another of his, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird‘ would have to be on my Top 10 list. So that’s 4 so far. Movies that stick in my head the past 60 years? Not many. ‘Stagecoach‘ (1939) would be #5. Say ‘Rambo‘ #6. While I’m thinking about my ‘final four’, I’ll finish my thoughts on Grease from the FOX article. Sorry Marilu, but everyone seemed confident ONJ was the correct choice for Sandy. I was talking to a guy on the music page on Gab, and he said when he saw her in concert circa 1975, he thought she was the most beautiful woman that ever lived.
I didn’t think so at the time, but I sure do now. She seems like a nice person too. But the one I had forgotten that had made such a cultural impact back then was John Travolta. He’s made a lot of disgusting crap in the last 35 years, but for a 10 year period from say ’74 to ’84, he was a trendsetter. Take it from someone who lived back then. He made a goofy but culturally influential movies (one of his first), ‘Boy in the Plastic Bubble‘. Then you had the TV show ‘Welcome Back, Kotter‘, which was huge because of him. Then Saturday Night Fever in 1977. Huge. ‘Grease‘ in ’78. ‘Urban Cowboy‘ 1980. It started this whole ‘country-western’ thing with “bull riding” and bars, it was crazy. Then more dancing of a different type in ‘Stayin’ Alive‘ 1983. Six years after the first appearance of Tony Manero.
Maybe I’m not seeing it clearly, but while a lot of people are “popular”, like his costar Olivia, its weird but I would say Travolta had more cultural impact hands down. And she was huge. But back to the movie list. Xanadu? (ONJ) Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid? (Rachel Ward) Just doesn’t seem right. I think I’d rather throw in ‘The Blind Side‘ 2009, for my undying love of Sandra Bullock. That would be #7. I’m going to be able to do it! I didn’t think I was there for a minute. Richard Widmark in ‘The Last Wagon‘ 1956 (#8). Sidney Poitier in ‘Lilies of the Field‘ 1963 (#9). The #10 spot was a tie between Maltese Falcon and Rear Window. There’s a couple of places Falcon messed up, so I’ll go with Grace Kelly for the win in ‘Rear Window‘ 1954! She was probably 24 when she made it. Holy cow. #10
(Put your top 10 in the comments!)
As we get ready to head into the summer riot season, astronomical gasoline prices, rolling blackouts, continuing invasion from Latin America, more mass shootings, gun confiscation, let’s top it all off with a goddamn monkey pox pandemic just in time for the election! So they can gin up the cheat by mail vote! Almost the first of June, it will me most interesting to see where we are 6 months from now. The first of December.
Born November 15, 1887. Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Died March 6, 1986. Sante Fe, New Mexico. 99 years. Quite a time to have been alive. She’s famous for New Mexico landscapes, giant flowers and New York City skyscrapers (don’t ask me). Her landscapes and flowers are fairly interesting in my opinion. In my old age I’m very wary of the simplistic nature of some art, simply covering up a lack of talent.
Her skyscrapers though! Just love ’em. I didn’t realize it until recently, but I just love urban art. O’Keeffe has been called the “Mother of American modernism” – (Wikipedia) Her husband was photography legend Alfred Stieglitz. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
“In the summer of 1929, O’Keeffe made the first of many trips to northern New Mexico. The stark landscape and Native American and Hispanic cultures of the region inspired a new direction in O’Keeffe’s art. For the next two decades she spent most summers living and working in New Mexico. She made the state her permanent home in 1949, three years after Stieglitz’s death.” (from her museum’s about page)
Oh well. I find them kind of interesting.
Some time ago I came up with a list of 22 of my favorite male vocalists. I was talking with a musical junkie on Gab when Gloria Gaynor’s name came up, and her hit ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’. That’s when it occurred to me that she was just the tip of the iceberg. There was a 20 year period from around 1965 to 1985 that these 14 incredible singers performed, that I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams ever having a lineup like this again! When I run into concentrations of talent like this (in any field) I always think how odd it is for them to all exist in the exact same time period. How lucky I was to have been around at a time in history when no one else is going to see this. It’s like the 1960 Yankees, or the incredible lineup of impressionist painters of the late 1800’s. The 1985 Celtics. A ‘league of their own’ so to speak. The fact that these 14 women all happen to be incredibly beautiful is just a coincidence!
Gloria Gaynor, Chaka Khan, Marilyn McCoo, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Freda Payne, Sheila Ferguson (Three Degrees), Ronnie Spector, Shirley Owens (Shirelles), Patti Labelle, Gladys Knight, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Roberta Flack.
Chuck had an interesting film career. I said ‘Chuck’ then I realized kids today might not know who Charlton Heston was. When you’re from that generation he was the embodiment of the over the top biblical epic ‘The Ten Commandments‘. Then 10 years later he’s making monkey movies! (Planet of the Apes) He was a Lefty back then, it was only later he became president of the NRA and got his head on straight. I don’t think “Hollywood” liked him that much. I think they could sense he was a God fearing ‘Murican and not like them. They had to deal with him because of his star power. Kind of like the Duke. Before he died his last words were, “Vote… for… the … Orange… Man.” Then he died. Swear to God.
But I digress. He’s been in social media posts lately (in meme form) because of Soylent Green, “monkeypox” and the like. Great stuff. Beats using Woody Allen anyway, am I right? In 1968’s Planet of the Apes everyone “knew” it was an analogy for racism. Omega Man which came next in ’71 was humanity being wiped out by another Fauci created virus. Then in ’73 was him and Edward G. Robinson teamed together again in Soylent Green to warn us what happens if you don’t get your smokestacks under control. You’ll be eating people! (which is actually true, not to mention the grotesque nature of ‘lab grown’ meat that you know nothing about).
He was making all this Lefty wet dream stuff 50 years ago. I saw in his IMDB credits he had a great short he narrated in 1977 called Energy: A National Issue. Not to mention all the disaster flicks! Airport ’75, 2 Minute Warning, Earthquake. Before he left his God phase he was John the Baptist and Ben Hur. Great stuff. Then I completely forgot in the 80’s he was on TV as a cast member of Dynasty and The Colby’s! Man how did I forget that? Jason Colby.
And the point of this post? None. Absolutely none. Just that Chuck was a part of it, even if he didn’t know it. The coms knew they had something with the ‘ecology‘ movement, they just didn’t know what yet. One movement to rule them all and in the darkness bind them. They didn’t know where “climate change” was going yet. In 1977 they told Time Magazine we were all going to freeze to death in a new ice age! They hadn’t come up with their plan yet to have a series of plagues from 2020 – 2030 in order to create the crisis for The Great Reset.
Heady times. Back then you just thought it was the injun standing beside the road with a tear rolling down his cheek because that brat 10 yr old in the backseat just threw his McDonalds sack out the car window on the highway. You had no idea that 50 years later it would morph into forced injections and eating people. Power outages and an economy so bad you couldn’t afford to buy a house.
Iowa life 