from Bruce
Anecdotes
Friends
• Betty White, star of ,The Golden Girls,, and Carol Channing, star of ,Hello, Dolly, were friends. Once, Ms. White played the lead in ,Hello, Dolly, in several Ohio cities, then she teased her friend by saying that everyone felt the production was much better than the original starring Ms. Channing. However, Ms. Channing simply replied, “Your mother said what?”
Gambling
• Alexander Woollcott belonged to the Young Men’s Upper West Side Thanatopsis and Inside Straight Club, whose members met regularly to play poker. One day, a member of the club brought a rich man to play poker at the club, announcing that the rich man would be easy to pluck. The next morning, Mr. Woollcott and his friends looked up the rich man in Dun and Bradstreet, found that he was worth $60,000,000, then sent that publication this note: “Dear Sirs: He now has $60,000,210.”
• The cast and crew of ,Peter Pan, were on tour in New England at a time when many people thought that actors and actresses were scandalous. On the train, the actors playing pirates noticed that some scandalized Puritans were staring at them as they played poker (also a no-no), so they seated the child playing Liza at the poker table, gave her some cards, and set some poker chips in front of her. The child gazed intently at the cards.
Gays and Lesbians
• Early in her career, Lillian Hellman read and evaluated plays for theatrical producer Herman Shumlin. After she had written her first play, ,The Children’s Hour,, she left it on his desk with a note saying that this was the best play she had seen while working for him. Mr. Shumlin read her play, agreed with her assessment of it, and produced it on Broadway, where it immediately became a hit after opening on November 20, 1934. Unfortunately, because of the shocking subject matter of the play — a child unjustly accuses two teachers of being lesbians — the Pulitzer Prize Committee did not give it a prize and refused to even consider it for a prize. This infuriated so many New York critics who felt that it was the best play of the season that they formed the Drama Critics Circle and began to present their own awards.
• Charles Nelson Reilly was once invited along with some other actors to ride a float in a Gay Pride parade. All the actors were told that the float would bear a banner saying “Actors for Gay Rights,” but when they arrived at the parade, they discovered that the banner actually said “Gay Actors for Human Rights.” None of the other actors would get on the float, but Mr. Reilly figured that he looked good in his tuxedo and his toupee, so he rode on the float alone. Eventually, Mr. Reilly announced that he was gay.
• Actress Hermione Gingold once saw a production of ,Peter Pan,, starring Joan Greenwood. In the scene in which Peter Pan saves Tinkerbelle’s life by asking the audience if they believe in fairies, Ms. Gingold’s voice rang out: “Believe in them, darling? I know hundreds of them!”
Gifts
• Conductor André Previn has in his office a jack-in-the-box; the puppet that comes out of the box is a conductor. This was a gift to him from British playwright Tom Stoppard. One day, Mr. Previn had told him that he had to fire someone and didn’t know how to do it. Later, Mr. Stoppard gave him the jack-in-the-box and said about the puppet conductor, “Just put a note in his little hand, reading, ‘You’re fired.’ Then have the fellow come in and hand it to him.”
• Toilet paper can be a much-appreciated gift. At the beginning of World War II, many British people realized that certain products would become rare. English entertainer Joyce Grenfell knew a foresighted woman who ordered a couple of grosses of toilet paper (an enormous order). During the war, she gave it away as presents at Christmas and birthdays to friends who were very pleased to receive the rare product.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
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Music: "Te dare mi mejor ola ( “I’ll Give My Best Wave” )"
Album: LOS CHAMÁNICOS
Artist: Los Chamánicos
Artist Location: Santiago, Chile
Info:
Band Pro Tip: Put something in the “About” section of your YouTube Channel.
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $7 (USD) for 10-track album
Genre: Rock. Surf.
Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
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Bonus Links
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Lardbutt, Jr.
Evan has a good time with that thorny question for the ages--Which is the stupidest spawn of Predator:
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gas is holding steady at $3.99/gal at the local no-name, cash-preferred station (10¢/gal more for credit cards).
Ryman Auditorium
Americana Awards
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile added another trophy to her shelf as she won artist of the year at the 2021 Americana Honors and Awards show, while country singer Sturgill Simpson took home the album of the year award.
The annual awards show returned in-person on Wednesday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, after it was canceled last year because of the pandemic.
“To be artist of the year after a year like we have all had as a community, there’s a weight to it and I know it’s profound,” said Carlile. “Because it was hard to be an artist this year.”
Simpson won for “Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 - The Butcher Shoppe Sessions,” in which he recorded bluegrass versions of his songs. Simpson did not attend, so Shooter Jennings accepted the award on his behalf.
The late folk singer John Prine, who Carlile called “the godfather of Americana,” won song of the year for “I Remember Everything.” Prine died in 2020 due to COVID-19 complications. The song also won two Grammy Awards earlier this year.
Americana Awards
Defends Refusing to Film in Texas
David Simon
David Simon, creator of acclaimed HBO series “The Wire” and “The Deuce,” has defended his decision not to film his latest series in Texas because of the state’s controversial abortion law.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Simon asserted, “This is not a political decision for us; we can’t ethically ask any female cast/crew to relocate to any state that requires them to forgo civil liberties. The end.”
That announcement was met with a disapproving response from the Dallas Film & Creative Industries Office, which tweeted on Tuesday: “Laws of a state are not reflective of its entire population. Not bringing a production to Dallas (a big ‘D’) only serves to further disenfranchise those that live here. We need talent/crew/creatives to stay & vote, not get driven out by inability to make a living.”
Simon promptly fired back: “You misunderstand completely. My response is NOT rooted in any debate about political efficacy or the utility of any boycott.”
“My singular responsibility is to securing and maintaining the civil liberties of all those we employ during the course of a production,” he continued.
David Simon
Court Revives Suit
Facebook
A federal appeals court has revived a Philadelphia newscaster’s lawsuit against Facebook over the unauthorized use of her image in advertisements for dating sites and sex-related products that ran on the site.
A divided panel concluded that Facebook is not immune from Fox 29 host Karen Hepp’s claim that the advertisements violated her right to control her public image and reputation.
U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas Hardiman, writing for the 2-1 majority, said the suit falls under the narrow carveout for intellectual property claims under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The act largely protects internet providers from liability for third-party content.
However, Hepp argued that she is a public figure whose image was used to sell what she called “prurient” goods and services on Facebook without permission or compensation.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other free-speech groups filed an amicus brief in support of Facebook in the case, while the Screen Actors Guild filed one in support of Hepp.
Facebook
Honorary Royal Navy Officer
Commander Craig
Britain’s Royal Navy said Thursday that James Bond star Daniel Craig has been made an honorary commander in the service — the same rank held by the fictional secret agent.
In Ian Fleming’s spy thrillers, which spawned the film franchise, Bond is a World War II naval veteran working for Britain’s secret service with a “license to kill.”
Craig was made an honorary naval officer ahead of the release of “No Time to Die,” his fifth and likely final appearance as 007.
Since the series began in the 1960s, the Bond thrillers have brought welcome — though unofficial and fanciful — publicity to Britain’s military and intelligence services. Britain’s armed forces allowed bases and personnel to be used in making “No Time to Die.”
Honorary naval officers act as ambassadors for the service.
Commander Craig
Shameful
Ohio State
A federal judge Wednesday dismissed all of the outstanding lawsuits against Ohio State University that were filed by hundreds of former students and athletes who claim school officials failed to protect them from a sexual predator.
U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson (R-Compromised) of the Southern District of Ohio said there was no question that the victims "suffered unspeakable sexual abuse" at the hands of Dr. Richard Strauss and that coaches and other school officials knew about it and did not stop him.
But Watson said the cases could not move forward because the statute of limitations for criminal rape cases in Ohio is 20 years and Strauss preyed on hundreds of men from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. He died by suicide in 2005.
In a separate ruling, Watson also refused to recuse himself from the cases even though it emerged that he failed to disclose that his wife has a business relationship with the university. He also acknowledged that he went on a cruise sponsored by a group that raises money for a university-affiliated hospital while he was presiding over the cases.
Watson did not explain in his decision why he waited until now to decide that the cases could not continue because of the statute of limitations. Eric Weitz, a spokesman for the Southern District of Ohio, did not provide a response to that question.
Ohio State
Ceremonies To Be Curtailed Again
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize ceremonies will be reined in and scaled-down for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic, the foundation behind the coveted prizes said Thursday.
The winners of this year’s prizes in chemistry, literature, physics, medicine and economics, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize, are set to be announced between Oct. 4 and Oct. 11.
The laureates will receive their Nobel Prize medals and diplomas in their home countries, the foundation said. It said the presentation events will be woven together with an awards ceremony at Stockholm City Hall on Dec. 10, which is the anniversary of the death of prize founder Albert Nobel. The peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, because Nobel wanted it that way for reasons he kept to himself.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is keeping open the possibility of welcoming the Nobel Peace Prize winner or winners to Oslo, the foundation said. The committee plans to announce the format of its festivities in mid-October.
Nobel Prize
Replacing Traitor Windows
National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral announced Thursday it has chosen contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall, renowned for his wide-ranging works depicting African American life, to design new stained-glass windows with themes of racial justice that will replace a set with Confederate imagery that were removed in 2017.
The landmark sanctuary said in a statement that the four windows will tell “a new and more complete” story of the nation's racial history. Poet Elizabeth Alexander will write a poem to be inscribed in stone tablets alongside the windows, overlaying older ones that venerated the lives of Confederate soldiers.
The windows will replace a set that honored two Confederate generals, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, with saint-like reverence and had included a Confederate flag. The cathedral removed them in 2017, prompted by a larger national reckoning over Confederate imagery and white supremacy in the wake of deadly right-wing attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia, that year and in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. The window openings have been covered with plywood since 2017.
The cathedral, also the seat of the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and Diocese of Washington, regularly serves as the setting for ceremonies tied to major national events.
In replacing the windows, the cathedral acknowledged a need to correct what it called a “false narrative of what America once was.”
National Cathedral
Earliest Definitive Evidence Of People
The Americas
Humans reached the Americas at least 7,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new findings.
Many researchers are sceptical of evidence for humans in the North American interior much earlier than 16,000 years ago.
Now, a team working in New Mexico has found scores of human footprints dated to between 23,000 and 21,000 years old.
The footprints were formed in soft mud on the margins of a shallow lake which now forms part of Alkali Flat in White Sands.
A team from the US Geological Survey carried out radiocarbon dating on seeds found in sediment layers above and below where the footprints were found. This gave the researchers remarkably precise dates for the impressions themselves.
The Americas
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