Sunday Best

In his op-ed piece at nypost.com, Kyle Smith takes elite colleges to task for favoring Blacks and Latinos over Jews and Asians, and argues that the institutions that do so should not receive any federal money. Here’s an excerpt: “When two black musicians complained that the New York Philharmonic shut them out on the basis of race in 1969, the classical-music world began using blind auditions, with screens hiding the musician from the judge. The orchestras filled up not with blacks but with Asians. The number of women accepted into orchestras skyrocketed, too. But a 2014 survey found only 1.4 percent of classical musicians were black.” Kudos.

Leave it to politicians: According to an article at NYP, a bureaucrat wants to mandate 500 hours of training for anyone who shampoos hair at a beauty salon or barbershop. Estimated cost to applicant: an average of $13,354. Gangsters are what they are.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, has rejected the federal government’s offer of an additional $300 in weekly unemployment benefits, touting her state’s economic recovery. Kudos.

Season One, Episode 28 of Combat!, The Sniper, featured guest appearances by two Hollywood mainstays. Born in Germany during WWII, Hans Gudegast, who eventually changed his name to Eric Braeden, has had an incredible run, mostly on the small screen. He emigrated to the states as a teenager and attended Montana St. on a Track and Field scholarship. Early in his career he was often Tinsel Town’s go-to Nazi officer. Incredibly, he is 40 years into a stint on The Young and the Restless, having logged more than 3000 episodes. Has there ever been a more prolific actor? He was the star of one of my favorite sci-fi flicks, Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970). He was perfectly cast as mogul John Jacob Astor in Titanic (1997). He has won numerous awards, including a Daytime Emmy. Not only baby-boomers but members of ensuing generations will recognize the handsome face:

The female lead in the episode in question was played by Gail Kobe, born in the Polish section of Detroit, Hamtramck, as Gabriella Joyce Kieliszewski. The name rang a bell but I couldn’t place her in other shows, although she did guest shots on popular small screen fare from the mid 50’s to the mid ‘70’s. Her most notable big screen appearances were bit parts in East of Eden (1955) and The Ten Commandments (1956). There are 81 titles listed under her name at IMDb as Actor. During her final years in front of the camera, she started working behind it. She served as a producer on more than a thousand episodes of several soaps, including the enduring Days of Our Lives. She passed away at 82 in 2013.

Since it was raining lightly, I spun by the viaduct at Avenue Y between East 15th & 16th and, to my surprise, found a parking spot. My thanks to the young woman who caught me while I was setting up the display. She bought a hardcover in Russian and two paperbacks in English, one of them The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCollough, published in 1977, still in demand. Not a lot of money, but a few bucks on a day when I figured to make nothing.

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