Prolific Journeyman

Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on over the air antennas in NYC, ran Something Big (1971), a silly though entertaining western starring Dean Martin, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, a most prolific auteur at home working on the big or small screen. Born in London, he tagged along on Hollywood sets with his dad, Victor, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1936 for The Informer, which ran frequently on Channel 9’s Million Dollar Movie back in the day. IMDb lists 59 titles under his name, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. In a career that spanned 1956-’91, he has the distinction of having directed the most episodes of Gunsmoke, 96, and Have Gun Will Travel, 116. He also did several episodes each of Rawhide, Perry Mason and The Wonderful of Disney. He was dubbed a journeyman by yahoos in the press, something with which fans of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart would undoubtedly disagree. He directed several of their films. Although none are considered classics, several are very entertaining. A friend has often cited Shenandoah (1965) as one of his favorites. Mine is Bandolero! (1968), simply because Raquel Welch is the female lead. Married four times, father of four, McLaglen passed away in 2014 at 94, outliving many of his critics. Here’s a shout out to this Tinsel Town stalwart.

I see no sense in commenting on the impeachment trial. Most folks’ minds are made up.

Headline from Yahoo News: “It’s so cold in Florida that Disney World water park and other Orlando parks are closing.” They’ll get no sympathy from me.

I’ve begun the annual drudgery of income tax filing. I do a little bit at a time as forms arrive in the mail. It’s too annoying to do in a single sitting. Only bureaucrats can come up with such an inane system.

It was one of those days that had me wondering whether a tipping point has been reached of non-English speaking people in the neighborhood. The selection could not be much better at present. My thanks to the woman whose mom is a chef, who bought a book on cake baking entitled Chocolate. I avoided looking at the cover. Here’s why:

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