Never Too Late
According to an article at nypost.com through Fox News, edited by yours truly, the USS Oklahoma Project by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has identified, through genealogists, the remains of Shipfitter 3rd Class John Donald, 28, of Marietta, Georgia, one of 429 sailors lost on the Oklahoma during the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. 429 personnel on the ship were killed that day. So far, all but 334 of the 2403 who died at Pearl Harbor have been identified. Kudos. Photo from Google Images:
Amusing line from talk radio host Mark Simone this morning, commenting on the State of the Union Address. Not an exact quote: “Biden told more lies than George Santos.” Kudos.
Once again Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, aired a film with which I was completely unfamiliar: Messiah of Evil (1973), written and directed by husband and wife team William Huyck and Gloria Katz. The latter passed away at 76 in 2018. They were more successful as writers. They were responsible for American Graffiti (1973) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). They also wrote the universally panned Howard the Duck (1986). Messiah of Evil is the story of strange doings at a seaside California town. It is odd and arty. Along for the ride are three Hollywood stalwarts who specialized in playing oddballs: Royal Dano, Elisha Cook Jr. and Charles Dierkop. It stars Marianna Hill. Born in southern California in 1942, she studied at Lee Strasberg’s famous Actor’s Studio. Her career spanned 1960–2013. Her work will last because of her participation in Star Trek (Dagger of the Mind, Season One, Episode 19), Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter (1973) and The Godfather Part II (1974), in which she played Fredo’s wayward wife. Apparently she never married. In a fun bit of trivia, she is the cousin of U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, her birth last name… The name Joy Bang rang a bell but my initial instinct was off. I thought she might have been part of the Andy Warhol scene or a porn star. Her career was brief, ‘67-’73, 23 credits, the most significant Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam (1972). Born in Kansas City Mo. in 1945, she was raised by adoptive parents in NYC. It is believed her last name was that of her husband, whom she divorced. Here’s a quote attributed to her from an interview with Roger Ebert: “To get from one day to the next, to be alive, to talk to people, to love your love-man, that’s all it amounts to.” At one time she was linked romantically to the Who’s drummer Keith Moon… A third woman in the cast looked very familiar, Anitra Ford, a Californian born in 1942, birth name Weinstein. I could not recall where I’d seen her. Her career was similar to Bang’s, running from ‘66-’77, 22 credits, the most notable The Longest Yard (1974), the Burt Reynolds football-prison movie. She was also one of Bob Barker’s beauties on The Price Is Right. She is a published poet, accomplished photographer and successful artist whose work has been displayed in various galleries in Santa Barbara. There is no mention of a spouse or kids. All three of these fascinating females are still with us. Photos from GI, facts from IMDb. First up, Hill:
Bang:
Ford:
And, in case the name was unfamiliar, Dierkop:
I consider this good news. Headline from newsmax.com: “Harry Potter Video Game Gets Big Sales Despite LGBTQ Backlash.”
First good business day for the floating book shop in a while. My thanks to Crazy Joe, Wolf and all the other kind folks who bought, donated and swapped wares. Here’s what sold: the first 20 Bond flicks — in Russian, several books in Russian; six thin, glossy pictorials on various topics; three books on French vocabulary; Lost Splendor: The Amazing Memoirs of the Man Who Killed Rasputin by Prince Felix Youssouppoff; Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco by Bryan Burrough & John Helyar; Hand Me Down Dreams: How Families Influence Our Career Paths and How We Can Reclaim Them by Mary H. Jacobsen; Why Him? Why Her?: How to Find and Keep Lasting Love by Helen Fisher; Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Thomas Flexner; Play Ball Like the Pros: Tips for Kids from 20 Big League Stars by Steven Krasner; and Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Achievements of the Divine Augustus), published by Oxford University Press.
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