Words & Deeds
The human race is usually predictable but sometimes not, as this newsmax.com manifests: “Surprising Number of Hospital Workers Refuse the COVID-19 Vaccine.”
What did I miss? Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on ota in NYC, ran Nightfall (1956) in its Thursday night Noir To Die For prime time slot. Based on the novel by David Goodis, it’s faulty from start to finish, or so I thought. 3600+ users at IMDb disagree, forging to a consensus of 7.2 on a scale of ten on it. Given its stellar cast and the accomplishments of those behind the scenes, I expected more. Among the 75 titles under director Jacques Tourneur’s name are the acclaimed Cat People (1942) and Out of the Past (1947), one of the best films of the genre. Screen writer Stirling Silliphant won an Oscar for his adaptation of John Ball’s novel In the Heat of the Night (1967). He was amazingly prolific, writing 116 episodes of Route 66 and 37 of Naked City, as well as tons of other scripts for popular prime time fare. And the principal players of the cast of Nightfall all had significant careers: Aldo Ray, Anne Bancroft, Brian Keith, James Gregory, Jocelyn Brando (Marlon’s older sister), and Rudy Bond (Cuneo in The Godfather {1972}). What did I miss? Beatdowns are a staple of noir. Here is Bancroft tending to Ray:
Born and raised in Philly, Rudy Bond was comfortable on the big or small screen and the stage. Although there are only 63 titles under his name at IMDb, he was in three other cinema classics: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954) and in the uncredited role as the judge in 12 Angry Men (1957). He received a Purple Heart during WWII. He was taken by a heart attack at 69 in 1981. His face should be familiar:
I started a new book and quickly came upon a word I’d never encountered even though I’d spent eight years in a Catholic elementary school: in·tro·it, noun, a psalm or antiphon sung or said while the priest approaches the altar for the Eucharist. I wonder if I’ll ever come across it again.
From a foxnews.com article by Marisa Schultz, edited by yours truly: North Face denied an order of jackets to a Texas oil and gas company reportedly because it did not want its brand affiliated with the fossil fuel business. Now the firm is being trolled, as those fighting back point out that many of it jackets, backpacks and clothing products are made from oil and gas. Fossil fuels are needed to make the petrochemicals used in the plastics, nylon, climbing ropes and more. Oil and gas products fuel the factories that manufacture the goods. And fossil fuels are the backbone for shipping North Face products around the world. Seven billboards are going up around the Denver offices of the parent company. Here’s one:
The rain held off, allowing the floating book shop to put in a full session. When Moses showed with a box of cook books, I thought it would be another of those days that ended with more weight than at the start. Fortunately three of those bad boys sold almost immediately and, together with everything else that went out, lightened the load a bit despite two large psych texts that were donated by a lovely young woman as I was packing up. Here’s what else sold: a book on pregnancy in Hebrew, Memories of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon, Blowfly by Patricia Cornwell, a huge illustrated dictionary, a kids book in Hebrew, a collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a large pictorial titled Greeks, Vision in White by Nora Roberts, Welcome to the Monkey House: Stories and Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Book 1: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, and Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. My thanks to the buyers and donors.
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
