Christmas Eve
Here’s a fun headline from nypost.com: “Not so jolly Baby uses sign language to say ‘Help’ while on Santa’s lap.” And here he is:
Karma, Kramer. Two liberal politicians were carjacked in a 24-hour period.
Academia has become laughable in the eyes of many. Here’s another reason why in a newsmax.com headline: “California Education Official, Exposed for Living in Texas, Resigns.” Long commute, of course done through alternative fuel vehicles — not!
Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, continues to deliver fresh film noir titles. Last night it ran Where Danger Lives (1950), starring Robert Mitchum as doctor who falls under the spell of a mentally unstable femme fatale played by Faith Domergue. It’s a good story, though a bit talky. It holds up well until the ending, which goes contrary to the genre and feels as if it was added to lift the gloom. In researching the supporting cast, the history of two stand out: Phillip Van Zandt had amassed 248 credits, including work with The Three Stooges, when he committed suicide at 53; Dorothy Abbott took her own life at 47. There are 57 titles under her name at IMDb, including multiple appearances on popular prime time fare, 25 episodes alone of Ozzie and Harriet. The flick was directed by John Farrow, Mia’s dad. Her mom, Maureen O’Sullivan, has a brief role as the woman Mitchum’s character spurns for Domergue’s. The screenplay is credited to Charles Bennett from a story by Leo Rosten. Each had an impressive career. Among the 65 titles under Bennett’s name is Foreign Correspondent (1940), for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, shared with Joan Harrison. Rosten’s most notable credit is his novel Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), which was adapted to the screen by Richard L. Breen, Phoebe Ephron & Henry Ephron, who received an Oscar nomination. The film received two others, for sound, and for singer Bobby Darin’s supporting role. Here are the aforementioned and unfortunate Abbott and Van Zandt:
The sun didn’t make an appearance until late, so I spent almost all of today’s session of the floating book shop in the car. My thanks to the gentleman who bought the DVD of School of Rock (2003) and a Star Wars video game; and to the woman who jumped on the five-for-one deal on Russian translations of Harlequin romances, buying 15; and to the Frenchman, who selected two classical CDs; and to the woman who chose a Russian translation of Arthur Hailey’s Airport; and to the gent who took home a Ciara CD.
Merry Christmas.
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