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David Mitchell

More Movie Trivia

Sppeaking of War, Anti-war, and movies - my dad used to make me stay up and watch the "Late Movie" now and then. He thought a few films superceded classroom time, so he would write me a note (of course - a note "from the Doctor")  and let me sleep in till noon before going to school after lunchtime. One of them was the 1935 "David Copperfield" (with the wonderful W.C. Fields). Another was "Kon-Tiki". But the one that sticks in my memory so much was what Dad thought was the best "anti-war" movie ever made. It was the 1930 version of "All's Quiet On the Western Front" with a young Lou Ayres in the main role. Dad wanted me to see that portrayal of the "male macho, heroism theme being drilled into young school boys by their old nationalistic professor. It was ttold from the German side of WWI. It makes a pretty strong statement about this concept.  

And also two other "War" movies come to mind - both released in about the same time frame and both making an anti-war statement from two different points of view - one, a comedy, the other deadly serious. 

Did any of you see "Dr. Strangelove" the comedy with Peter Sellers playing three parts?  The satire is brilliant.

The other was one of my all-time "cult" faves - "Fail Safe", with a chilling scene of the lead pilot, who has gotten past the Russian defenses, and will not listen to his own wife's voice pleading with him to turn back becaue it's a mistake.

This film is considered the "father film" to "War Games" which I took my son to see years ago and we loved it. It is also the first role for Larry Hagman (J.R. in Dallas). It has Hank Fonda (as the President), Walter Matthou, and a tense scene with my Uncle Herb's neighbor from across the street in Pacific Plasades, Dom Deluise. Uncle Herb explained that Dom was the most foul-mouthed, nasty neighbor you could imagine. Wenever he was out in his driveway, swearing a blue streak at his kids or his wife, the rest of the neighbors would all go back inside. 

(OH, pardon the addition. I meant to add that Larry Hagman was Mary Martin's son - (Mary Martin in the original Broadway Sound of Music & TV Peter Pan)

Joseph D. McCarthy

And now for INTERMISSION.  (Because one of your classmates asked me to include the following).

The year is 1918 "One Hundred years ago."  What a difference a century makes!  Here are some statistics, and facts, for the year 1918:

The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.  Fuel for cars was sold in drug stores only.  Only 14 percent of the homes had a  bathtub.  Only 6 percent of the homes had a telephone.  The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel tower.  The average wage in 1918 was 22 cents per hour (just about what I earned in grade school).  The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.  A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year.  A dentist earned $2,500 per year.  A veterinarion between $1,500 and $4,000 per year.  And, a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at home.  Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCTION!  Instead they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemmed in the press AND the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.  Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.  Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.  Most women only washed their hair once a month.  And used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza; 2. Tubercduloisis;  3. Diarrhea;  4. Heart disease;  and 5. Stroke.

The american flag had 45 stars.  The population of Las Vegas Nevada was only 30.  Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.  Thyere was neither a Mother's day nor a Father's day.  Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write And, only 6 percent of all Americans had gfraduated from high school.

Marijuana, heoin, and morphine were all available over the counter at local corner drugstores. Back then  pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives bouyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach, bowels, and is in fact a perfect guardain of health"  (Shocking?).

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or dommestic help..  There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.A.

Timothy Lavelle

Hunts Cinestage...good memory Larry...I got free tickets to "The Agony and the Ecstasy" which was a very long movie about Constipation, I think. Great venue.

Reefer Madness, Great Escape, Candace in Soldier Blue, she and Steve in Sand Pebbles, Up in Smoke. I especially recall A Clockwork Orange...when we went into the theater at University Village(?) the day was clear. We came out, still under the effects of the LSD we took, and the cars were all covered with thick blankets of snow...we had to wait long trippy minutes while every other patron drove away so we could figure out which car was ours!    

Joe, I just came up I-5 from NCal to WA. The smoke on the freeway sucked major in case ur coming that way soon. 95 degrees thru Portland had people there taking off their flannel shirts!

Frank, I sure wish you'd get a secretary or an editor... 

David Mitchell

Tim,

Been half expecting you to say "Great Escape".  Forgot about Sand Pebbles. Steve McQueen had something special about him.

...... and thanks for going public with that one Joe. 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Hey MR. Lavelle,  The smoke you spotted was NOT "Reefer" related.  It was from the fire in Northern CA that closed I-5 From Ashland, OR south to Yreka, CA (just North of Weed, CA).  Yes there is such a place and it has the CA Fire Academy.

My next trip, starting about 4:00A.M. CA time this Saturday (July 28th), is my annual drive to Columbus, Detroit, Ontario, Canada,etc.  We plan on spending all of August and about a week in September before the return drive.  Haven't finalized all my plans but WILL get to Tommy's, White Castle, Columbus Fish Market, and Yanni's greek food (right across the parking lot from Siren's -You may have recently heard of it).

Michael McLeod

Introducing a new feature: memory fragment. 

Just a random flicker of a memory prompted by either a previous post or nothing in particular.

Anybody can play. 

Here's mine:

"Should I let the water out?"

I can still hear my sister's voice calling out from the bathroom.

We bathed in a tub. To save money we used the same bathwater. We weren't poor. Just had parents who had been through the depression.

It may sound gross in retrospect but it was not considered so back then.

Michael McLeod

And here's a somewhat classier activity for any of you wordsmiths out there.

I'm fascinated with foreign words that have their own unique personality -- like weltschmertz, a German word that means "the pain of the world." I can't think of an English equivalent. Anyway this story is a collection of words in other languages that don't have an equivalent in English.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/27/10-of-the-best-words-in-the-world-that-dont-translate-into-english

David Mitchell

How about "whatchamacallit" ?  (or is that even a real word)

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Mike: The McCarthy kids shared many a bathtub of water. There were four of us, and, for the life of me, I cannot remember how we decided who was first, and who was last. My Mother was too egalitarian to make it always be oldest to youngest. As third out of four, I appreciated that.... 

Michael McLeod

Dave:

Shape up! For future reference, please specify which category your post should be logged in as.

No it is not a real word.

Yes it fits into the nostalgia column. I remember my father using that word -- I mean, "word" -- quite a bit.

I also remember him saying: "Go blow it out your barracks bag." 

(He was a WW2 vet. Was sent to Okinawa - regular army, not a Marine. It was the Marines who did the dirty work, in the worst, most ghastly, and frequently hand-to-hand fighting of the war. Pretty sure that once we took Okinawa, the war was no longer a matter of whether, but when.) 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Timothy Lavelle

I am glad to see that 6 more comrades will be joining the old fart club this coming month though it is very hard to imagine any of our women folks as either old or the other.

Mike...the idea to reflect on fragments of memory is very interesting for many, I'd sure think...on the comic side, that is all many of us have, fragments of whole thoughts...but in reality, who doesn't recall a snippet like "Gee, I wonder whatever happened to Tommy Miller" or a flash of sitting with Dad in Jet stadium or even as simple as "...was it Boggs or Bear who had the shortest uniform" (leave that one alone Dave).

I am going to hope that everyone will feel free to say I Recall and then take us on a short field trip down dusty memory lane. It can be anything. Anything at all from any past date. I write like crap but surely that should not hold back any one any more than it has me.

Larry told Donna K and I a tiny memory and I have savored it often. BTW, Larry, that painting on the home page is den-worthy! Out. 

David Mitchell

Mike,

I'll try "memory fragments" for $200 please.

First one;  (singing) "Gambrinus,,,, gold label beer" 

Second one; driving down Olentangy River Road, before 315 ever existed

Third; Joe Hill's voice calling Jet games on WMNI

oops, I'm not sure I'm allowed to do more than one - sorry

David Mitchell

Hey, this is kinda' fun Mike.

Feels sort of like a 70 year-old idiot's form of Haiku - huh?  

 If you awaken some of the ladies that I put to sleep with the movie thing you should get to keep the trophy for "Most Easily Amused" 

Lawrence Foster

Words & Pictures

Words 

A few posts back Mike talked about words.  There is a free daily newsletter called A Word A Day that folks  might want to check out.  I have subscribed to it for a number of years.  There is also a premium edition but I chose not to buy that.  

This last week the theme was "tosspot" words.  These are compound words where the first word is a verb and the second one is a noun.  The five words this week were:   shunpike (which also became a character in the Harry Potter series), jerkwater, catchpenny. cutpurse, and scapegrace.  

This is the link to yesterday's word:  https://wordsmith.org/words/yester.html   If you choose to you can find the email sign-up here and you can look around at past lists to see if it interests you.  Also I have not been bombarded with junk email and ads from it - quite unusual in this day and age!

Pictures

Tim,  Thank you for the kind words about the Marine Corps painting I did. 

Despite what I seem to hear and see in any and every news broadcast of the day there is a lot of beauty, goodness, and knowledge in DC.  (And, no, I am not just talking about my daughter, but it is true about her!)  One of Becci's friends is leaving DC after 11 years in the "Teach for America" program and is headed back to California to be nearer family.  Becci asked if I would do a painting of something in DC that would be a gift for Lexie to remember her times there.  So I made this painting last week.  This is just one of the many beautiful things about DC when one looks for them.  There is beauty in the world, though at times we do have to look for it.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Larry.......you have given quite the gift to Becci's friend.  This painting has to rank at the top of the list of my favorites of all of the paintings you have shared on the forum.  And you are so right about looking for the beauty that is God's gift to us each and every day.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

This message showed up in my Facebook feed the other day and so I am sharing it with all of you classmates as we all have, by now, experienced our own personal trials and sorrows.

Dear Love Being Catholic Friends,

I just realized that this month I am officially 20 years cancer free! This is the first year that I didn't think about the anniversary date of July 8th - but that's a good thing! No more counting!

I know that many of you on this page have experienced a lot of suffering. My cancer, though I was young, wasn't anything compared to what many of you have gone through - either with your own suffering or through that of your loved ones. Though sometimes life can seem unbearable, try to remember that there IS meaning in suffering, though we may never fully understand the meaning of it during our lifetime. Going through pain ourselves, or seeing our loved ones suffer can be heart-wrenching. It doesn't matter if your suffering is physical, spiritual, emotional, or financial. It all hurts and can leave you feeling hopeless and in despair.

Regardless of what kind of suffering it is, we will all suffer at some point during our lifetime. Watching a loved one die, like our Blessed Mother did at the foot of the cross, is a pain like no other. Though Jesus on the cross and His mother at the foot of His cross suffered greatly, ​they​ trusted in God's ​love and eternal plan. ​Try to have total​,​ confident abandonment to the ​W​ill of God, and trust​ in Him​ completely.God always brings good out of suffering – even if it means because of what you are going through, someone else is praying more, loving more or turning back to God. Remember, God is outside of time, and His love for us is eternal. There would be no Easter, without Good Friday. No resurrection without the crucifixion.

God heals us eternally, but this doesn't mean we won't suffer greatly, some tragically more than others, while on this earth.

Sometimes when we experience suffering it is a big wake up call that reminds us that we are all on this earth for a relatively short time. You never know when your life or a loved one's life will end.​ ​The cancer I experienced at a young age was unexpected, yet the graces, prayers and love that came from it were unforgettable.

Suffering reminds us how much we need God, and how often we are not in control. It reminds us how we need to give God more attention, love Him, and love one another more. It reminds us we need to forgive more, pray more, listen more, talk less, get off our phones and computers and be really present in each others lives. Suffering can make us more compassionate and sympathetic to others, with a greater capacity to love. Spend time, not money on the people you love. Life is beautiful but way too short to spend it on things that don't matter.

​Embrace your crosses when they come your way. Unite them with Jesus and our Blessed Mother and know that though things may seem unbearable at times, life is still beautiful and that Jesus and our Blessed Mother have also walked this path. Life does go on and so many times does get better. Never forget that God is good and has a plan.

Mark Schweickart

Tim, Mike, Dave -- I like the idea that these memory flashes could be done, not as Dave suggested "as 70 year old idiot form haikus," but rather as actual haikus -- 3 lines of 5-7-5 syllables. Here's a few:

Altar-boy casssock  / velcro instead of buttons / priest declared "new-fangled"

Excavated mounds / surround new housing project / dirt-clod fights ensue

Nuns in tears, in shock / November twenty-second/ Nineteen sixty three

David Mitchell

Mark,

I have trouble putting three thougths together in one line but heck, I'm all about dirt clod fights!

David Mitchell

Mary Margaret,

In your sweet post you mentioned the need to "listen more and talk less"  - Amen to that!   (me especially)

- - - that is right straight out of James 1:19

And we do live in a broken world, but I know a "carpenter" who can fix anything - broken hearts, broken lives, whatever. His "tool" is amazing, unconditional, reckless love!  I think if it were a "perfect" world we would all just be robots marching in lockstep. No suffering or joy, no sense of loss or gain. Nothing to look forward to. No higher calling. No reason to care. 

----------------

"lockstep" - hey there's one of those words Larry,,,Mike  - - - as in attitudes, trends, lifestyles, social norms, philosophies, ideologies, prejudice, race issues, "party politics", nationalism - and even religious fanaticism,,,,hmmm?

Mark Schweickart

Three more memory flash haikus:

Now facing away  / he gave up TV for Lent / but could still listen.
As Big Bear bagger / pre-sorts for his customer / he expects no tip.
Who dared egg the school? / Monsignor wanted to know. /  Mystery unsolved.

C'mon now, you guys / let's have a few more players / join this game. It's fun.

Michael McLeod

Algebra of use?

Doubted Then. Still waiting now. 

Time is running out.

Frank Ganley

oedamyiapia i don’t want to see ya spoken in a foreign tongue, john prine 

David Mitchell

Mike,

If I have told you once, I have told you a hundred times; The square of the hypotenuese is equal to the sum of the the squares of the two oppsitie sides of a right angle triangle. Can't you get that trough your thick skull?

Why don't you write an essay on that for Pete's sake? (probably go over real big with your editor - huh?)

Or do you think maybe Pythagora had a touch of ADD? 

------------------------

And this just in........Scientists at Ohio State University (so we know it's gotta be right - right?) now believe that "Black Holes" are just great big fuzz balls. Oh golly I think I can sleep better tonight. 

... then again, maybe not. In a few hours I am headed to Charleston to the big "main" regional VA hospital to spend the night in Uncle Sam's bed (and maybe even his pajamas) with a bunch of his wires attached to my bod, while I undergo a sleep test. D'ya think if I explain to them that it's all good now that black holes are just fuzz balls they'll let me go home? 

David Mitchell

Okay Mark,

Let me see if I've got the hang of this - you say 3 in a row right? How about,,,,,

Barbara Boggs, homeroom - Dona Bain, English class - Karen Sylvester, any class, anywhere, any tme..

Is that kinda' what you were talking about?