from Bruce
Anecdotes
Telegrams
• Theatrical producer Florenz “Flo” Ziegfeld sent many long, expensive telegrams to the people who worked for him, people he wanted to work for him, and people in general. Sometimes, a telegram would be five pages long! Despite the excessive length of many of his telegrams, Mr. Ziegfeld often ended them with this note: “DETAILS WILL FOLLOW LATER.”
• Comedian Beatrice Lillie became good friends with a young woman named Ellen Graham. One day, the two said a very long goodbye on the telephone. Two hours later as Ms. Graham boarded her plane, the stewardess gave her a telegram from Ms. Lillie. It said: “WHY HAVEN’T YOU WRITTEN?”
• An accident on stage resulted in the amputation of one of Sarah Bernhardt’s legs. Shortly after the amputation, she received a telegram offering her $100,000 if she would allow her leg to be put on display at the Pan-American Exhibition in San Francisco. She sent back this telegram: “WHICH LEG?”
• Playwright Rachel Crothers once received this telegram from a producer: “SEND SCRIPT AND IF GOOD WILL SEND CHECK.” She telegraphed this message in reply: “SEND CHECK AND IF GOOD WILL SEND SCRIPT.
Tickets
• One day, Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár and a friend attended a play as a guest of the management. Unfortunately, the play was very bad, and so Mr. Molnár stood up to leave. But his friend stopped him, reminding him that as guests, they were obligated to stay until the end of the performance. Mr. Molnár sat down for a little while, then stood up again. His friend asked, “Where are you going?” Mr. Molnár replied, “I’m going to the box office to buy two tickets so we can leave.”
• Playwright John Mortimer once stopped for gasoline at a station near Covent Garden. The attendant pumping his gas recognized him, saying that he had sat near Mr. Mortimer at a performance of the opera Aida. This surprised Mr. Mortimer, as those seats were very expensive, so he asked the gas station attendant how he could afford the tickets. The attendant explained that he hadn’t spent any more for the tickets than any other pump man would spend getting drunk Friday night.
Travel
• Declan Donnellan, co-director of Cheek by Jowl, has directed Shakespeare around the world. In Uruguay, he directed the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet in a real orange grove with a real balcony. In Sri Lanka, Romeo and Juliet came from different backgrounds: he spoke Sinhalese and she spoke Tamil. In Katmandu, he held a workshop on the deus ex machina in Pericles and realized that the king’s son — who was himself regarded as a god — was present. In Warsaw, he wasn’t able to do a workshop on Shakespeare because the photocopier was confiscated on the basis of its being an illegal press.
• Fanny Brice showed she could take care of herself in her early attempts at show business. Many vaudeville comedians used to tell stories of traveling with shows whose managers skipped with the funds, leaving the comedians stranded far from home. Fanny’s story is somewhat different. When her show’s manager tried to skip with the funds, Fanny followed the manager to the train station and forced the manager to buy her a ticket home. Fanny’s response to this unfortunate closing of her show? “Now — I’ll find another show.”
• While traveling in the Soviet Union in 1939, Noël Coward stayed at a Leningrad hotel where he turned on the tap and was shocked to discover tadpoles coming out along with the water. He complained to the hotel’s management, saying, “In England, when we want hot water, we turn on the tap marked ‘Hot.’ When we want cold water, we turn on the tap marked ‘Cold.’ And when we want tadpoles, we turn on the tap marked ‘Tadpoles.’”
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Stupid Little Girl"
Album: KISMET
Artist: Kid Gulliver
Artist Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Record Company: Red on Red Records
Record Company Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Info: “We have a new full-length record out called KISMET, which is a collection of songs from 2014 until now. ‘Stupid Little Girl’ is the single that is out now.” — Simone Berk, vocalist
All songs written by David Armillotti
All songs performed by Kid Gulliver
All songs produced, mixed and mastered with Brian Charles at Zippah Studios, Brighton, MA
Kid Gulliver is:
David Armillotti- guitar, back-up vocals
Simone Berk-vocals, guitar
Sandy Summer- drums
kidgulliver.com
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $10 (USD) for 11-track album
Genre: Pop
Links:
KISMET
Kid Gulliver on Bandcamp
Kid Gulliver on YouTube
Red on Red Records on Bandcamp
Red on Red Records on YouTube
Sugar Snow (Simone’s other project)
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
550 Doses of LSD
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Garfunkel and Oates
Garfunkel and Oates
For when you need a backdoor to preserving your virginity.
Garfunkel and Oates | The Sofa Sessions: The Loophole | IFC
.
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Local (RW) TV station now replacing the term 'fetal heartbeat' with 'cardiac activity'.
Trailblazing American Women
2022 Quarters
The U.S. mint revealed its designs for quarters that will be released beginning in 2022 featuring trailblazing American women on the reverse side of the coins.
Five new designs will be released each year between 2022 and 2025. Next year's coins will depict poet, author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou; astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Wilma Mankiller, the Cherokee Nation's first principal woman chief; Adelina "Nina" Otero-Warren, a leader in New Mexico's suffrage movement; and Anna May Wong, the first Hollywood film star of Chinese American descent.
The designs will be on the tails of the coins; George Washington will still be featured on the head side. They were created by the United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program designers and sculpted by United States Mint medallic artists. Washington's likeness will be different than on other quarters. His side of the 2022 quarters was created by early 20th-century sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser, whose design of a portrait of Washington was initially considered for a 1932 coin celebrating his 200th birthday.
Each design is inspired by the lives and work of the women celebrated. Ride's coin depicts her next to a window on the space shuttle. The U.S. Mint said it is inspired by her quote, "But when I wasn’t working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.”
The American Women Quarters Program was developed and approved by Congress this year to celebrate the contributions of notable deceased women in the U.S., as living people are not permitted to be featured on coins. "The women honored will be from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds," according to the U.S. Mint.
2022 Quarters
St. Catharines, Ontario
Eden High School
Parents of high school students in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada have started a petition to remove a school official because of the classic heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
Close to 400 people have signed the Change.org petition to transfer Eden High School Principal Sharon Burns.
On Friday, an update on the petition said they didn't want to remove Burns because of her love for Iron Maiden but because of "openly displaying her OWN handmade sign with the 666 clearly displayed on it."
A petition in support of Burns had more than 10,000 supporters by Friday night.
"It is ridiculous that a couple of parents only judge her role as a principal only based on an instagram post. (About liking the band Iron Maiden. That's it.) Eden High School is a public school. Not a Christian school. If you somehow don't like the principal of your child, grandchild, relative etc.'s school, then send them to another one," it said.
Eden High School
Flea Market Portrait
Frederic Chopin
A peeling portrait of Frederic Chopin purchased at a flea market in Poland hung modestly in a private house for almost three decades before an expert dated the painting to the 19th century, when the Polish piano composer lived.
Now restored and in a gilded frame, the small painting resides in a bank vault somewhere in eastern Poland while its owners negotiate their next steps, including a public exhibit.
News of the artwork’s existence broke this week as Warsaw hosted the 18th Frederic Chopin Piano Competition, an international event known for launching the careers of world-class pianists. The competition runs through Oct. 23.
Nicolaus Copernicus University professor Dariusz Markowski, the art expert who examined and restored the portrait last year, says it has significant historic and emotional value, but he refrained from estimating what it might sell for.
The painting measures 29.5 centimeters by 23.3 centimeters (11.5 inches by 9 inches.) Using advanced methods, Markowski timed its creation to the mid-19th century based on the materials and pigments used, and the extent of the ageing and damage.
Frederic Chopin
On Stage Accident
Bolshoi Theatre
A performer at Moscow's renowned Bolshoi Theatre was killed on Saturday in an accident on stage during an opera, the theatre said.
The Bolshoi, one of Russia's most prestigious theatres, said the incident occurred during a set change in Sadko, an opera by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
"The opera was immediately stopped and the audience was asked to leave," the theatre said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.
Moscow investigators said they were probing the circumstances surrounding the death of the 37-year-old performer, a man. It did not disclose his identity.
The Interfax news cited a source as saying that the performer was crushed by a ramp during a change of scenery. Sources told the RIA and TASS news agency he had been killed by a falling piece of decor.
Bolshoi Theatre
A Growing Worry
Charities
A spotlight that has been thrown on how many of the rich and powerful shield their wealth is also intensifying a fear among philanthropy experts: That the tax havens being used by the wealthy will increasingly siphon money away from charitable causes.
Wealthy Americans have long sought to use charitable contributions to reduce their tax burdens. But the “Pandora Papers” report, issued Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, revealed how world leaders, billionaires and others have stashed trillions of dollars out of the reach of governments by using shell companies and offshore accounts, which are considered legal.
One maneuver described in the report, a “dynasty trust," can exist in perpetuity in states like South Dakota. Using these trusts, Americans can legally shield themselves from estate and other taxes — and thereby remove a major incentive for charitable giving.
When the wealth of an American individual or couple exceeds a threshold — $11.7 million or $23.4 million, respectively — each dollar value above that level, once bequeathed, is subject to a federal estate tax of up to 40% for each generation.
Experts note some Americans are also legally able to avoid state income taxes on revenue generated by their assets by setting up trusts in states that don’t levy income taxes. One of them is South Dakota, which also doesn’t have its own estate, capital gains or inheritance tax, thereby making it an especially attractive destination to park wealth.
Charities
Sketchy Medical Advice
Virus Immunity
Roger Marshall won't let people forget he's a doctor, putting “Doc” in the letterhead of his U.S. Senate office's news releases. But when he talks about COVID-19 vaccines, some doctors and experts say the Kansas Republican sounds far more like a politician than a physician.
He's made statements about vaccines and immunity that defy both medical consensus and official U.S. government guidance. He's aggressively fighting President Joe Biden's vaccine requirements, arguing they'll infringe on people's liberties and wreck the economy. He's acknowledged experimenting on himself with an unproven treatment for warding off the coronavirus.
Marshall's positions are pushing the first-term senator and obstetrician closer to the medical fringe. But he has company in other GOP doctors, dentists and pharmacists in Congress, several of whom have also spread sketchy medical advice when it comes to the pandemic.
“He has an enormous role to play here because he’s a doctor and a senator,” said Arthur Caplan, founder of New York University’s medical ethics division and director of a vaccine ethics program. "He bears a very powerful responsibility to get it right.”
Marshall says he is fully vaccinated and has said he's urged his parents recently to get booster shots. He and other GOP doctors in Congress appeared in a public service campaign in April to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Virus Immunity
Church Will Repay
$4.4 Million PPP Loan
Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church will repay the $4.4 million it received last year in a PPP loan, the Houston Chronicle reported.
After receiving millions of dollars from the CARES Act funds in December, the Houston-based church faced major backlash online, specifically from church-state separation groups, according to the Houston Chronicle. At the time, owner Osteen's name even trended on Twitter.
Ten months later, the church will repay the total amount of funds received.
Initially, the church defended the decision to apply for the loan, making the argument that none of the money was going to go to Osteen or his wife.
Lakewood was not alone in this case, as at least 60 Texas religious institutions were approved for more than $1 million in PPP loans, according to the Houston Chronicle.
$4.4 Million PPP Loan
Overseas Stain
Corruption
For years, Capt. Juan Pablo Mosquera rose through the ranks of Colombia’s national police, earning accolades from his bosses on his way to becoming the trusted supervisor of a unit that worked hand-in-glove with U.S. anti-narcotics agents.
Now he’s facing up to 20 years in a U.S. prison for allegedly betraying the Drug Enforcement Administration to the same drug traffickers they were jointly fighting.
His 2018 arrest and subsequent extradition to the U.S., which has not been previously reported, is another black eye for an elite DEA program to train and support foreign law enforcement that has been repeatedly subverted by corrupt cops and deadly leaks.
The rare prosecution of a once-standout U.S. ally follows a report this summer from a U.S. government watchdog that blasted the DEA’s leadership in Washington for failing to oversee its foreign law enforcement partners even in the aftermath of a string of well-publicized scandals.
It’s not clear what led the DEA to doubt the 37-year-old Mosquera — the three-page indictment says almost nothing about his alleged crimes.
Corruption
Add Parents To Insurance Plans
California
California is the first state to let some adult children add their parents as dependents on their insurance plans, a move advocates hope will cover the small population of people living in the country illegally who don't qualify for other assistance programs.
The trend nationally has been to let children linger on their parents' health insurance plans. Former President Barack Obama's health care law let children stay on their parents' plans until age 26. Some states have gone further and let kids stay on their parents' plans until at least age 30, including Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
But California is now the first state to go the other direction by letting some adults join their kids' health insurance plans. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed the law this week, but it won't take effect until 2023.
“The signing of the Parent Healthcare Act will help more families care for their parents the way they cared for us,” Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said.
To be eligible, adults must rely on their child for at least 50% of their total support. The law applies only to people who buy their health insurance on the individual market. Those who get insurance through their jobs, which includes most people in the state, aren't eligible.
California
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