Ultra Interesting Day
The fat lady is warming up.
9–1–1 is an American fixture. Apparently, the number was different mid 20th century. Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on over the air antennas in NYC, ran yet another film I’d never seen, Dial 1119 (1950), starring Marshall Thompson as an escapee from an institution who goes on a rampage and eventually holds hostages in a bar. William Conrad plays the bartender, Keefe Brasselle a waiter. Among the patrons are actors who had significant careers, mostly notably Leon Ames, who seems ubiquitous but has “only” 158 titles under his name at IMDb. He did 40 episodes of Mr. Ed and 34 of Father of the Bride. The two female detainees had nice runs and even did some singing in their appearances on the big and small screen. Born in London, Virginia Field was excellent as an older woman on the make. She segued from movies to TV in the early 50’s and has 74 titles under her name. Born in Paris to a female American WWI ambulance driver, Andrea King grew up in Forest Hills. She did some stage work, including Broadway, and wrote children’s books. Here’s a great bit of trivia about her from her IMDb profile: “She never cooked a meal nor purchased any kinds of groceries in her entire life, she would dine out all three meals a day.” Also in the cast as a shrink is one of Tinsel Town’s all-time great supporting players — Sam Levene, who did great work on Broadway as well, most notably being the first to play Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. Braselle, a WWII vet, had an interesting if undistinguished career. There are 43 titles under his name in the actor category, two as director, two as producer. He had a brief stint as a pro wrestler, did some singing, and bragged about mob connections. In 1968 he wrote a novel about TV’s “savage” chieftains — The Cannibals, burning bridges in what is called a roman a clef. Jokers at Amazon are trying for a big score, offering a hardcover and paperback for more than $800 each. Brasselle died of cirrhosis of the liver at 58 in 1981. I was unable to ascertain his parentage, if he was a goombah. Thompson’s career spanned 1944-’91. He too segued to TV, most significantly in 89 episodes of Daktari, ‘66-’69. Back in the day I used to confuse him with Van Johnson, with whom he co-starred in one of my favorite films, Battleground (1949), a rousing rendering of the Battle of the Bulge. Dial 1119 was directed by Gerald Mayer, who quickly turned to TV, at the helm of many popular TV series, doing at least five episodes of nine. Here’s a publicity poster. Levene, far left, was not a hostage at first:
Some sessions of the floating book shop are noteworthy because of conversation rather than sales. Such was the case on yet another gorgeous indian summer day. My thanks to the middle age woman who bought four books in Russian, and to the young one who purchased Skeleton Crew, a Stephen King short story collection; and to the gentleman who donated about ten books in Russian; and to the home attendant of the Brainiac Brothers, who delivered two more works of non-fiction… It looks like Matt has a buyer for his Brooklyn home, which means he will be able to buy the house in the Hamptons he has been eyeing. The asking price is $650,000 and it will need another $90,000 in repairs, including a new roof. That sum should easily be covered by the sale of his local property… A gentleman who swaps books in Russian divulged some of his personal history. An engineer who had a thousand workers under his guidance in the Soviet Union, he was allowed to emigrate in the ‘80’s. He spent a year-and-a-half in Italy waiting for approval to come to the USA. He arrived in 1987 and eventually found work as a chauffeur at $45 an hour minus expenses for uniform, gas, insurance etc.. He eventually reached the max of $145 an hour, and worked 16 hours a day. He drove scores of the rich and famous, including Donald Trump, and has passed the souvenirs he accumulated on to his children. Retired, a cancer survivor, the biggest part of his life is now his grandkids. Thanks for sharing, sir. I love immigrant stories… Marie has been a big supporter of the floating book shop, donating and buying books, including my own. The past two times I’d seen and greeted her she continued on her way with barely a wave. I surmised she was either extremely cautious about Corona or that she was unhappy about being mentioned in my novella, Class of ’67. It turned out to be the latter. She stopped today to express her feelings. She is offended by being referred to as a “tiny redhead.” “I’m not tiny,” she said. She also objects to the labeling of the galleries in which she tries to sell her paintings as “minor.” “What’s a minor gallery?” she asked. And she took me to task for citing a woman who has participated in AA, and for saying she had completed the twelve-step program, which is never complete but lifelong. I did not use their last names. I consider their inclusion as part of a work of fiction — holy cow, ’67 is a roman a clef! Am I no better than Brasselle? Two other people I cited were thrilled to be a part of it. I’m not angry. I’m saddened that a relationship I value may be damaged beyond repair.
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