Whiz Kids, CB & GB

The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee had ended in a two-way tie a few times. Yesterday there were eight winners, as the organizers ran out of words, the final 47 spelled correctly. The ages of the mavens range from 12–14. Each will receive $50,000. Kudos, kids. Here are the final words posed to each, and their meanings: “odylic” — relating to a hypothetical life energy called “odyll”; “cernuous” — drooping like a plant; “palama” — the webbing aquatic birds have on their feet; “pendeloque” — a gemstone cut into the shape of a pear; “aiguillette” — the braided loops on some military uniforms; “bougainvillea” — an ornamental tropical plant; “erysipelas” — a type of bacterial infection; “auslaut” — the final sound in a word or syllable. Two were vaguely familiar, although I did not recall their meaning. Here are great eight:

Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on over the air antennas in NYC, ran Possessed (1947), starring the legendary Joan Crawford, her character battling mental illness. It was solid, holding up well, at least in my layman’s eyes. In researching the film at IMDb, I found two participants I didn’t know much about. The lovely Geraldine Brooks, a native New Yorker, played the stepdaughter, her first film role. She moved into TV in 1949, where she remained almost exclusively, guest starring on many popular shows. There are 91 titles under her name. She also did some Broadway, receiving a Tony nomination for the lead in an obscure play that closed immediately. Tragically, in 1977, at the age of 51, she succumbed to a heart attack while battling cancer. The director of Possessed, Curtis Bernhardt, had an interesting history. He was arrested by the Nazis and escaped to France, then came to America, where he immediately went to work despite a limited grasp of English. In total, his career spanned from 1925-’64. In 1938 while still in Europe, he directed Carrefour, which was later remade in the UK as Dead Man’s Shoes (1940) and in the USA as Crossroads (1942), neither of which he helmed. In scanning the 42 titles under his name, I spotted only one other I recognized — Sirocco (1951), starring Humphrey Bogart, which seems underrated, although I’ve watched it only once in full. Bernhardt passed away in 1981 at 81. Here’s a pic, followed by one of Brooks:

My thanks to the kind folks who donated and bought wares today, especially to The Quiet Man, who returned and wiped out the remaining Bruce Springsteen CD’s, and also selected Rocky Balboa (2006) on DVD.

My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts

Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza