RACE, SAVING THE THEATER aug. 2016

MINNESOTA NICE REVISITED

I learned about writing this past week by reading the incredible collection of memoirs in “A Good Time For The Truth: Race in Minnesota,” edited by Sun Yung Shin.

In “People Like Us,” David Lawrence Grant writes about Minnesota Nice (p.197) that makes so much sense I wonder why we’ve never had this conversation before.  

Sherry Quan Lee, in “Discomfort Zone,” ends her memoir on a hopeful note.  These 16 essays made me glad that Garrison Keillor’s reign at “Prairie Home Companion” has come to an end.  His Lake Woebegone was never anyone’s Minnesota; not even his.  (He was the son of a postal worker in the undistinguished suburb of Anoka.)  People in Seattle may think the PHC is Minnesota but it isn’t.

I lived in Idaho four years and never heard an anti-semitic remark, but my first week as a graduate research assistant on the University of Minnesota Farm Campus I was shocked by a comment from a coworker that was the standard assumption about “Jews.”  I suffered in silence.

Now I live in an apartment community with immigrants from many developing countries who speak several languages while I am lucky to manage one.

Scandinavian culture is giving way to more exotic ways of life here and not too soon.  You still can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Lutheran church here.

This collection of short stories was referenced in an article in the “Korean Times” that I picked up at the library in my neighborhood.  All the contributors to the book are accomplished writers with different styles including poetry. http://www.mnhs.org/mnhspress/books/good-time-truth

ST. PAUL FIRM COULD GET BID FOR DEMOLITION, SOON

A St. Paul demolition company that moved the Academy Theater in 1999 to it’s present downtown Minneapolis location could get the bid to demolish the Terrace Theatre it was learned today.

A representative of the firm Thursday afternoon was quite vague and hesitated to answer when asked when a bid might be let but he thought that Inland Development (not Hy-Vee) would contract for the work.  He also hedged on whether his company is or will be the successful bidder.

His involvement in the project seems fairly significant; in fact he inspected the inside of the theater a few months ago and said it’s “bad and I don’t see what there is to save.” He also has been inside the building several other times and noted mold and a leaking roof.

So has he inspected the theater on behalf of Inland or the city or both and has an agreement been reached formally or informally for demolition? 

He added that he never understood why the Academy Theater was moved and said it too was bad.  He was unaware of the transformation of the Academy to the successful Cowles Center which opened in 2011.  The Academy/Cowles stood vacant for about 30 years, 

He said he couldn’t understand why anyone is interested in saving the Terrace.

His company has been involved in demolition related work to the Ordway Theater expansion and the long vacant flour mill in downtown Minneapolis that is now the Mill City Museum.  

IT’S THE CORPORATIONS, STUPID

Donald Trump is in town to raise money and I am clipping my toenails or I would be at the Minneapolis Convention Center now.

The big news in Minnesota is not Donald or Hillary but how corporations are screwing over homeowners and other residents with the blessings or city councils and mayors.  If we don’t stand up for our communities, who will?  

In Robbinsdale, we jumped from the frying pan into the fire today when the Iowa grocery store chain dropped plans to build a mega strip mall on property that houses our historic mid century modern theater.  A few minutes later we recoiled in horror when the New York real estate trust that owns the property filed a request with the city to demolish the theater now because it’s a “blight.”  (A demolition expert told the owners that it’s “bad, nasty.”)  A hearing will be held Tuesday and we will have an appropriate response. Stay tuned.

In the spirit of mock democracy, the mayor has given residents a Hobson’s choice of pitting the theater against a grocery store in an online “survey.”  It’s either the theater or the grocery store because that’s what the corporate suits want.  But we had both the theater and the grocery store on that site for many years before both went out of business.  

So is this property a white elephant and blowing up the historic theater will solve nothing?  All of Minnesota needs to be involved in the conversation; not just the local yokels.  Who’s going to build another mid century modern design theater for us now?  No one.  Let’s worship at that historic cinema temple and find our way out of the wilderness.

SOUR SISTER OF SONG

Florence Foster Jenkins was to singing as Donald Trump is to presidential politics:  Both are rancid fish out of water.  But in the biopic “Florence Foster Jenkins,” director Stephen Frears turns the society matron Jenkins as played by Meryl Streep into a sympathetic character.  

By the end of the film, we want her to succeed even though she sounds like a bull moose in heat.

FFJ borrows much from actors of the 1940s with Streep a dead ringer for Margaret Dumont of Marx Brothers fame and Nina Ariana stealing scenes reminiscent of the tough blonde Iris Adrian  in several Monogram and PRC films of yore.

Big Bang star TV actor Simon Helberg plays off the Streep’s over the top matron with ease and is a revelation.

The danger in making a Jenkins film is that her life was a one-line joke:  she couldn’t sing.  But Frears and writer Nicholas Desplat have turned the focus on a universal desire to realize life long desires and aspirations.  She is the Rocky Balboa of bad music.

WRIGHT’S 1940 NOVEL TOO IMPORTANT

 Richard Wright’s 1940 provocative novel, “Native Son,” could be the narrative for current events as racial strife continues unabated.  Here are the thoughts of the central character, pursued by the law, in Wright’s novel:

“Why should not this cold white world rise up as a beautiful dream in which he could walk and be at home, in which it would be easy to tell what to do and what not to do?  If only someone had gone before and lived or suffered or died—made it so that it could be understood!

(Thank you Janet in the UM OLLI class on civil rights where you provided a bibliography that led to the Wright novel. dz)          

RACIAL DIVESITY CHALLENGES HERE

BLOOMINGTON — Racial diversity is coming to this 150 year old suburb and the city is attempting to update it’s 20-year plan to integrate non-white residents into the community.  Presently almost half of local kindergarten students are non-whites.

At a meeting Wednesday night in the cafeteria of Kennedy High School, city staffers attempted to get feedback from a few residents in a room with tiny backless stools (hard on the back), no air conditioning and no microphone.  Only one person of color attended this meeting.  (I left after 45 back wrenching minutes, straining to hear the presentation.)

From what I gathered they were looking for suggestions that might promote integration.  I suggested the annual Labor Day carnival and classic car show at Bonaventure Catholic Church as the kind of event that would attract a diverse audience.  (I go every year.)

Besides racial diversity assimilation, the outlook is poor for infrastructure with 74 percent of the sewer pipes and almost as many water mains at least 45 years old.  More than half the park buildings need repairs or replacements.

The city sends out a newsletter periodically that non-English readers would find useless.  The city’s cable TV channel might be of interest.  

“THE MASTER” RESONATES WITH TODAY’S NEWS

The main character in the 2012 film “The Master” is reminiscent of today’s headlines where a mentally disturbed man is released from the military and can’t or won’t fit into mainstream society.  It’s about a man lost, lonely and looking for a family, any family.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Joaquin Phoenix plays the obsessed sailor post World War II who drifts into a religious cult where its messiah is portrayed by Philip Seymour Kaufman.  The cult leader is amused by the deranged man whom he calls an animal but other cult members, including his wife played by Amy Adams, see the man as “insane” and a danger.  

The sailor is a poor candidate for cult membership because he refuses to follow the messiah and in the end is rejected.  The story is thin but the character development and acting are great.  If the movie had been made 40 years ago Orson Welles would be the messiah and Richard Widmark would be the crazy guy.

“BLACK CALHOUNS” POST CIVIL WAR SUCCESS STORY

Parts of this book are interesting, but author Gail Lumet Buckley lacks focus and it’s not an easy read.  Buckley is the daughter of African American singer Lena Horne.  The book traces the history of a successful African American family post-slavery with emphasis on Horne’s story and civil rights.  Less would have been more.

ALL’S NOT WELL IN LAKE WOEBEGONE

After the latest in a series of cop vs. African American shooting this past week, it’s apparent that status quo politics won’t reform police departments or get guns off the street.  While people demonstrated in frustration in front of the Governor’s Mansion, they were preaching to the choir since Gov. Dayton has identified the shooting as being related to racial profiling.  

The demonstrators need to take their act to Isanti County and plea at the home of Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt to pass police reform legislation.  We need to elect people to the Legislature and Congress who support gun control and police reform.

Meanwhile, county and city governments are silent.  The county attorney probably will call a grand jury which never indicts police in these Twin Cities police shootings.  More anger will ensue.

(From Pioneer Press:)  DFL Party African American Caucus board secretary Kelis Houston said “she wants to see a stop to the endless circle of protection for police…The mayor has the power to address the union contract which protects them, and if the mayor doesn’t have the power, the governor does.”  (But the governor needs enabling legislation.)

Although the governor got some money from the legislature this session to address African American poverty issues, more needs to be done to level the playing field.

It’s been almost 50 years since the 1967 violent Plymouth Avenue riot in North Minneapolis, and the road ahead does not look promising unless we get some new voices in positions of power here. 

REQUIRED SUMMER VIEWING

Stupid whites can be presidential advisors or anything they want to be, an African American woman observes in the 1979 black comedy “Being There” wherein a witless gardener becomes either the new Messiah or the next president.  The mindless utterings of Chauncey Gardiner will resonate with some who are following the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

Besides this Hal Ashby masterpiece, have a look at Tim Robbins mockumentary on U.S. politics, “Bob Roberts.”

It’s a long hot summer so have a few yuks.

MEET THE 16MM GUY

OLLI member Don Wilkie, a 16mm movie collector, is showing part of his collection of westerns this summer at a local senior apartment complex.  Wilkie has been active in the western movie collectors’ association and is conversant on the history of poverty row studios.  His summer showings are from the LIppert Studio and included “Marshal of Heldorado” (1950) with the handsome James Ellison who was the romantic lead in the 40s Fox musical “The Gang’s All Here.”  

Wilkie has been featured in the Austin and suburban Sun newspapers here.  I thought I was quaint collecting VHS movies, but Wilkie reaches back to a time when you could get 16mm movies from local rental libraries, much like the Blockbusters that went bust.

Eyes Shut Movie Is A Mess

A bored doctor freaks out at a kinky Halloween party and it’s not even Halloween while his wife has a nightmare in "Eyes Wide Shut" 1999.  Almost three hours are consumed until we reach this happy conclusion.  Kubrick should have quit while he was ahead with “Clockwork Orange.”  Thumbs down on this Cruise-Kidman mess.  Britain's Pinewood Studio is where it was filmed, not Manhattan.  Kubrick quit making films in the USA many years ago.

OLLI Tours Streetcar Museum 2016

MINNEAPOLIS — Some of the OLLI seniors actually rode on one of these street cars when they were kids, from Lake Harriet to Como Park before street cars gave way to busesin 1954.  Motor men from the Streetcar Museum have fond street car memories.

MINNEAPOLIS — U of M OLLI scholars gathered at Lake Harriet’s restaurant on the beach for lunch after the Street Car event, now an annual OLLI summer get together.  One of the students was born in The Hague and lived with her parents in South Africa during apartheid and free times.

"South Pacific" --Memorable Summer 2016 event

BROADWAY AT THE GUTHRIE

Sending shivers up my spine with his wonderful baritone rendering of “Some Enchanted Evening” was Broadway actor Edward Staudenmayer as Emile de Becque in the 1940s musical “South Pacific.”

Another show stopper was the ensemble’s gusto performance of “There is Nothin’ Like a Dame,” so well done with the vocals and choreography and making it most memorable for the final preview performance at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater.  Kudos to director Joseph Haj, but the Guthrie’s steep stairway is much too challenging for seniors and parking/driving in downtown is more nerve racking then ever.

“South Pacific” was the season’s big money maker and next summer “Sunday in the Park with George” is being offered which I saw in Houston.  George is not my cup of tea.  www.guthrietheater.org

CAMP RIPLEY JUNE 2016

 

VIETNAM REMEMBERED

CAMP RIPLEY — Over a thousand Minnesotans died in Vietnam while 68,000 Gopher State residents served in that war.  Here I am in my “Navy Whites” in front of a Huey helicopter, the kind used in Vietnam.  The Military Museum is at this Minnesota National Guard training center, not far from St. Cloud.

GOVERNOR’S RETREAT

CAMP RIPLEY — This cabin may have been imported from Norway and is infrequently used by the governor, although I doubt that Mark Dayton has retreated here although the horse fancier Al Quie favored this “Valhalla.” 

MILITARY MUSEUM

CAMP RIPLEY — A very cramped little museum on the base tries to pay honor to those who served in several wars.  The Viking Battalion’s story lends itself to a movie with soldiers on skis sabotaging a Nazi German facility in Norway experimenting with nuclear warfare. We toured this military base as part of a U of M OLLI class.  Ain’t education great?

TRUMP vs SCOTLAND’S PRISTINE SEASCAPE

“The worst environmental crime in the United Kingdom’s history,” is how filmmaker Anthony Baxter described Donald Trump’s golf course development on Scotland’s pristine coastline, leveling 4,000 year old sand dunes and endangering wildlife and habitat. 

Trump’s Scottish campaign is detailed in Baxter’s award-winning documentary, “You’ve Been Trumped,” available on DVD.

Even American golfers, who are the target market for this venture, reacted negatively to the golf course which they said is “gaudy” and not in Scotland’s tradition where golfing started.

The farm of longtime Aberdeen, Scotland, resident Michael Forbes, who Trump said “lives like a pig,” was targeted by the billionaire for removal because, along with windmills, it “ruined the view from the golf course.”  

When Scotland’s Parliament refused to order the removal of the eco-friendly windmills, Trump scrubbed plans to build a hotel on the site.  Also, Trump canceled plans to seek compulsory orders to remove local residents from their properties.  Residents prevailed over Trump even though the golf course was built, but it was difficult because the ruling elites sided with Trump while local property owners suffered the turmoil caused by Trump’s ill conceived scheme. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431694/donald-trump-global-bully

Historic St. Paul Tour 2016

HISTORIC SCHOOL

During a stop at St. Joseph School on Summit Hill, St. Paul, I met several fellow students in the U of M OLLI program who hail from Bloomington.  One lady was raised on the east side and moved to prestigious West Bloomington — the American dream fulfilled.  Another, like myself, was on staff at Normandale Community College for a short time and knew Dave Doctor of the music department (his son Pete is a famous Pixar film producer.)

ST. PAUL’S FAMOUS SWEENEY’S BAR

We stopped for cheese and crackers at this Victorian like setting.  Last time I was here in the 1980s this Selby Dale neighborhood was treacherous at night but now it is a magnet for young professionals.  TOP PHOTO

NOT OVERLOOKED AT THE PARK

In  the background at Overlook Park is the University Club in the 1920s which was a magnet for Scott and Zelda Fitzgrald. (Fitzgerald lived in house on left.)  It is at the top of a steep hill that hindered city development in the early days.  A streetcar tunnel solved the problem.  The tour on Friday was through the U of M OLLI program and the Minnesota History Center with an informative tour guide.

BLOOMINGTON CIVIC THEATER EXPERIENCE

IMMIGRANT’S STORY — “sun crying”

Bloomington civic theater cast member discussed Jewish culture, immigrants, oppression and hope during the audience talk back session after today’s performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.”  Few musicals stir up such emotion as this venerable classic and one audience member bore witness that this production was equal to the Broadway debut that he saw 51 years ago.

Director/choreographer Michael Gruber provided the cast with background on the pograms in Eastern Europe in the early 1900s and this was helpful.

“Fiddler” remains relevant in light of today’s report from the New York Times that Pope Francis received drawings from Syrian children in a refugee camp — one showing children drowning in the sea and another depicting the sun crying.

(John Paul Gamoke makes you believe that he is Tevye.)

MUSIC THEATER TRADITION, MINNESOTA STYLE

With acclaimed programs in music theater at Mankato State University and U of M Duluth it’s a small wonder why we have a wealth of talented young performers in the Twin Cities and beyond.  Mentorship of young performers learning from professionals is one of the byproducts of Bloomington Artistry’s civic theater efforts, we learned Tuesday  at the U of M OLLI class at Bloomington Arts Center. 

It’s a two-way street, explained Equity actor John Gamoke, with the professional actor learning from the newbies.  Anita Ruth for the past several years has conducted these informative classes on music theater and it’s time well spent in the lifetime learning program.

PAY INEQUALITY FOR MEXICANS PROPOSED

BLOOMINGTON — A Minnesota Republican legislator has introduced a bill that would discriminate against migrant farm laborers based on their country of origin, said Ken Peterson, Minnesota's Commissioner of Labor and Industry, Tuesday night at the Progressive Isssues meeting at Davannis Restaurant.  

Farm workers now earn $12 per hour for working up to 48 hours per week, but overtime pay is time and a half or $18 an hour.  Under the Republican measure Mexican workers would not be eligible for over time pay, Peterson said. This is a “bad step” and “let’s give these people a break,” Peterson added.  The labor commissioner said he believes that Gov. Mark Dayton would veto the bill if it ever reaches his desk.

Boise’s Oldies FM Station 99.5 reported that Idaho Democrats held the largest ever caucus in the United States and Bernie got 80 percent of the vote in Ada County and 78 percent in the state. 

Junk Dealers, RKO and Movie Sale

GOING APE OVER RKO

Thank you Rick Notch for giving me this wonderful encyclopedia, “The RKO Story” by Jewell and Harbin, of all you need to know about American movies.  The back stories on “Hunchback” and “King Kong” were entertaining as I watched these two movies last night.  We should have been at the Orpheum or Fox in Spokane to see both of these on the big screen.

PEDDLERS TO PROCESSORS

The family business is being honored now at the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest with the display “Jewish Scrap Stories”.  I am interested since my father and two uncles were in the scrap business in Eastern Washington.  (Uncle Dave was quite prominent with B. Barer and Sons, Walla Walla.)  Families fled from persecution in Europe and emigrated to American in search of a better life, the narrative reads.  Most everyone my age knows of scrap metal dealers, the first recyclers, in their communities.  See the exhibit at the Jewish Community Center, St. Louis Park.

MOUSE IN THE REFRIGERATOR

Imagine a movie junkie like me being in a room with nothing but old VHS tapes and DVDs.  That’s the scene at the Southdale Library which is selling ($2 and 25 cents) the massive collection of movies and TV shows that the Star Tribune TV critic received over the years from networks and studios.  It boggles the mind. 

Lash Larue Ruled in PRC Cowboy Movies

I vote for PRC cowboy Lash Larue, if you are reading this Mr. Freeman, who taught the class on Silver Screen Cowboys.

SATURDAY MATINEE REVISITED

Grab your popcorn and get there early because it’s SRO for Len Freeman’s Silver Screen Cowboys class at the U of M McNamara Center.  He was a slob on the screen, but Gabby Hayes was conversant on fine wine and great art.  Can we assume that he chose the chablis served with the stew at the chuckwagon campfire?

SUNSET FOR SUNSET — His incredible good looks couldn’t save Sunset Carson’s job as a Republic cowboy star when he showed up at a studio party drunk and with a 15 year old girl.

DEMON RUM — Several early Hollywood stars were drunks, including Gene Autry and William Hopalong Cassidy, but the later reformed when he married the lovely Grace Bradley.

The class features a chapter from a western serial typically shown during Saturday Kiddee Matinees so we are biting our nails as the plane carrying Gene Autry and Frankie Darro is spinning toward the ground.  Stay tuned till next week when we conclude “The Phantom Empire.”

SCREAMING KIDS IN THE THEATER

Who can remember a theater full of kids screaming when the cartoons started?  One of my classmates in Silver Screen Cowboys (U of M OLLI, McNamara Center) vividly recalls watching the weekly serials and westerns at the Park Theater in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon kids’ Matinee for ten cents.  (The theater at Selby and Snelling was torn down for an office building.)

We then tripped down memory lane about all the lost neighborhood movie houses in the cities.

As a kid growing up in Spokane, Saturdays before television would find us at the Manitou Presbyterian Church on 29th Street where they would roll 16mm excerpts from Abbott & Costello comedies.  The kids were off-the-wall crazy.  Also, the Orpheum and Fox theaters showed Saturday Matinees.  All that died with television which is a shame.

Our instructor Lens Freeman reminded us of the “cowboy code” which appeared in comic books:  “Avoid drinking, smoking and gambling.”  No mention of swearing.

February 2016 Fishing Tournament at Bush Lake

SATURDAY’S BEACH PARTY

With the temperature in the high 50s, I headed to Bush Lake for the Fishing Tournament where thin ice warnings didn’t keep spectators and SUVS off the lake.  Later in the week it will be back in the ‘30s.  (2/27/16)

WINTER SCENES, NORMANDALE & BUSH LAKES

Big Eyes, Trumbo

BIG EYES, BIG LIES, I MARRIED A MONSTER

I was in Frisco in June 1962 visiting Jan and Alan in Oakland when the Walter Keane big eyes “art” was the buzz up and down Market Street.

“Big Eyes” is a gaze at ‘60s sexism, co-dependent relationships and old fashioned American hucksterism.  Amy Adams is quite convincing as the Stepford wife Margaret married to Walter Keane who is a clownish charlatan as played by Chris Waltz.

In the interviews on the DVD, director Tim Burton discusses good vs bad art and compares the Keanes to goofy movie director Ed Wood who is immortalized in an earlier Burton film that I adore.  In a revealing aside, Burton reveals that he cast Kristen Ritter in a supporting role because she looks like Barbara Steele, who was the “queen of gothic horror” in Mario Bava and Roger Corman ‘60s AIP movies.  Burton can’t help himself.  He must have been influenced by the horror kings on late night TV as a kid like we all were.

“TRUMBO” JAILED FOR POLITICAL BELIEFS

Like a Frank Capra story, the little guy stands up to the power elite and reclaims his good name before the curtain drops.  And the crowd at Minneapolis’ Riverview Theater applauded last night as the credits rolled.  The movie was appropriate for today’s events that feature billionaires, big banks and a seriously diminished middle class.

The hero is Dalton Trumbo who was uncooperative with the House Unamerican Activities Committee in the late 1940s so he was put behind bars.  The villains include the venomous Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper brilliantly portrayed by Helen Mirren as an anti semitic snake out to destroy the pinko/red script writers.  

Other heroes include actor Kirk Douglas, director Otto Preminger and B movie producer Franklin King played by John Goodman who threatens a Congressional investigator with a baseball bat.  The movie short changes the accolades that should be showered on Trumbo’s script for the King Brothers’ Monogram film noir “Gun Crazy” and the Kings’ “The Brave One” that earned Trumbo an Oscar under a pseudonym.

These melodramas where we can cheer for the downtrodden and boo the villains are best seen communally by the like-minded in a mid century modern setting like the historic Riverview.  I am glad I could have been there for the fun. http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20160217/bryan-cranston-delivers-winning-performance-in-trumbo

Girl Most Likely and Best Little Whore House

58 YEAR WAIT FOR “GIRL”

When I first saw “The Girl Most Likely” in 1957 at Spokane’s State Theater, who knew it would take 58 years before I would own a copy.  The DVD arrived this past week and it was worth the wait for Gower Champion’s choreography and Jane Powell vocals in RKO’s last movie at 790 Gower St.  

When I sat at the same picnic table with Jane and Louis Nye at NBC in 1963 I wisely didn’t butt in to compliment her on “Girl” but the water ballet, “Balboa,” is super.  (Jane must have been rehearsing a Vegas act.)

Now I am starting a campaign to get Universal to release on DVD “The Second Greatest Sex,” a western musical with George Nader, Jeanne Craine and Mamie VanDoren. I saw that at the Riverside in Spokane.  It has a good cast.

Elsewhere … the campy Mexican horror movies, “Brainiac” and “The Vampire’s Coffin” on Netflix are worth a few laughs, particularly the monster with the paper mache mask in “Brainiac.”

PERFECT PRE SUPERBOWL SHOW

BLOOMINGTON —  “Too much cussin’,” opined the matron next to me Sunday at Artistry’s “Best Little Whore House in Texas” staging with a spirited group of “college football players” doing a Texas line dance that looked like clogging or tap dance.  Kudos to Tyrone Russell the lead college boy and director Joe Chvala for this memorable moment in an otherwise forgettable 1978 Tommy Tune Broadway musical.

Remiscent of Ted Cruz as a Texas windbag politician was Hazen Markoe as the mayor and Senator Wingwoah, also inspired by the cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn.

The Texas line dance was such a smash that it was reprised during the curtain call by much of the ensemble.  Those who left during the curtain call missed a lot of fun.

Kudos to Jim Pounds as Sheriff Ed Earl, a good ole boy no doubt inspired by Dukes of Hazard.  Anita Ruth on the honky tonk piano provided the right notes to make us believe we were at the notorious Chicken Ranch where Texans played when they weren’t at the local Baptist church.

2016 Caribbean Cruise and Tampa Bay

 Band Wagon at Ringling Museum, Sarasota

CONFERRING WITH CAYMAN BANKERS

GRAND CAYMAN — Here’s where Mitt banks so it must be good.  But I got splinters from shaking hands with these bankers.  It was 84 and humid when we landed in Georgetown.

JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO CARIBBEAN

In Willemstad, Curacao there are about 115 Jewish households.  Mikve Israel-Emmanuel, now a Reconstrucionist congregation, is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Americas.  Another synagogue on this island, Shaarei Tsedek, a modern orthodox congregation, shown here.  www.snoa.com

“SAWDUST IN YOUR VEINS”

SARASOTA, FLA. —Childhood memories were brought back for me at the Ringling Circus Museum which features a billboard from the Cole Bros. Circus which the Zarkin Family attended in Spokane in the 1940s under the big top.

Prominent at the museum is the poster for the Demille epic “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) that glorifies the golden age of circuses, but is a schmaltzy mess with Charlton Heston chewing up the scenery with Betty Hutton.  Jimmy Stewart as a criminal clown saves the life of Heston’s character and no doubt they chatted about far right politics between takes.

WASTING AWAY IN MARGARETAVILLE

KEY WEST — One of our mates from the ship, William, might be here in the Green Parrot Bar, and was a running joke because he never returned to the ship.  The cruises dump about 20,000 gawkers on this tropical island party town which clogs up the historic area.  

ENTERTAINMENT AT SEA

(We rubber necked our way through the galley where they feature a walk in oven which is a great idea.) A highlight was the jazz band concert where  trumpet player Yuri from the Ukraine did a boffo rendition of the cha cha hit “Cherry Pink”.  At another show, former Letterman Mark Preston, did some old hits from the ‘50s, but was beyond his prime.  The Boogey Nights dancers and singers did a great show with just the right pacing, costumes and scenery.

Schooner Bar had the Viking-Seattle game on and we saw the very sad end.  This bar featured an annoying loud trivia game.

BAD BOY WITH BENTLEY GRILL

Alamo surprised us with an upgrade with this new Chrysler 300C which had every gizmo imaginable including a moon roof and leather interior.  We rode in style for a week in Tampa Bay.

Highsmith Portrayed as Angry, Prejudice in Book

READ LAST CHAPTER FIRST

Before you see “Carol” read Marijane Meaker’s memoir “Highsmith” about her two year affair with Patricia Highsmith, author of “The Price of Salt” and “Strangers on a Train.”  Meaker gets it wrong about the movie made from the later title.  Farley Granger played the tennis player, not Robert Walker.  The last chapter sums up the real Highsmith, brandishing a switch blade and spewing anti-Semitic and racists nonsense.  “Highsmith” is an interesting look at the artists’ lives in Greenwich Village in the 1950s.

I read this on a Caribbean cruise Jan. 2016.

SINATRA, LATHAM AND SIMMS AT CEMETARY

 Driving into Desert Memorial Park FM Mod 107.3 was playing Frank’s “Fly Me to The Moon” so we knew this was the right moment to honor him on the 100th year of his birth.

So modest a gravestone for such an important talent, I thought.  “The Best is Yet to Come” implies some notions about the hereafter.

What song would you pick for Frank's grave?  His gravestone is easy to find since it is decorated with flags.  Other celebrities are lost amongst the flat grave markers.

JACK LATHAM, MY FRIEND AT KNBC NEWS

CATHEDRAL CITY — KNBC news anchor Jack Latham is the one good thing I remember from working at KNBC/4 news in LA in 1963-64.  Latham took an interest in me, a flunky editorial assistant.  His career started at KHQ in Spokane and he appeared as a news anchor in the cult classic film “Wild in the Streets.”  He also had an uncredited part in the ‘30s classic movie “Showboat.”  

Three of us searched Desert Memorial Park last Friday for his grave marker. 

GINNY SIMMS, MINNESOTA MOVIE, RECORDING STAR

CATHEDRAL CITY —  Singer Ginny Simms, a Minnesota native, was well known for her movie and radio appearances.  She also owned Breezy Point Resort near Brainerd.  She appeared in the RKO ‘40s musical comedy “You’ll Find Out” with band leader Kay Kaiser with whom she was involved.  

Her grave stone was difficult to find. Loved ones spend thousands for burial here and it’s almost impossible to find the graves. 

DESERT DIARY 2015 DECEMBER

 MODERNISM CAPITAL IN DESERT

I am not wild about museums, but the one in Palm Springs gets kudos

for restoring a bank building into an architecture and design museum

celebrating the mid century.  The nod to the later is the model of the Frank Sinatra house near the museum.

The house was completed in 1950 just before Sinatra’s career collapsed.  The house, designed by a noted architect, features a piano shaped pool.

Riverside's Mission Inn is old California and dark but the city's historic restoration is very spotty with ugly 60s architecture interspersed.  

Altlhough Manheim Steamroller's Christmas music with a rock beat is enjoyable, the hard plastic seats at Fantasy Springs Casino are painfully uncomfortable.

Gas prices fluctuate wildly in the valley and some stations require a credit card PIN or cash.

Rare classic cars at the Westfield Mall included the Willys Aero coupe, AMC Gremliln and Studebaker Avanti.

Tomorrow's opera stars competed Dec. 5 in the Palm Springs Opera audience choice award event Dec. 5.  We rubbed elbows with desert millionaires who listen to G. Keillor on public radio.  I voted for the Russian in the blue dress.

The Town Center Cafe serves great Greek food in Palm Desert where the Goodwill has classic VHS movies including "Wolfman" and "Attack of the Crab Monsters."

We didn't skip aerobics here where Joslyn Senior Center was best.  Indio Senior Center's "Groovin' with Delores" is for fans of Richard Simmons manic work out. 

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

CATHEDRAL CITY — Driving into Desert Memorial Park FM Mod 107.3 was playing Frank’s “Fly Me to The Moon” so we knew this was the right moment to honor him on the 100th year of his birth.

So modest a gravestone for such an important talent, I thought.  “The Best is Yet to Come” implies some notions about the hereafter.

What song would you pick for Frank's grave?  His gravestone is easy to find since it is decorated with flags.  Other celebrities are lost amongst the flat grave markers.

PALM SPRINGS CONFIDENTIAL!

INDIO — At our Indian Palms apartment we were 40 minutes from Palm Springs on the I-10, a miserable freeway with freighters weaving wildly in the breeze.  Atheists get religion on Highway 60 to Riverside, jammed with semis. In Indio we are about 100 miles from the latest mass murder terrorist horror

story. 

Altlhough Manheim Steamroller's Christmas music with a rock beat is enjoyable, the hard plastic seats at Fantasy Springs Casino are painfully uncomfortable.

Gas prices fluctuate wildly in the valley and some stations require a credit card PIN or cash.  Expect to pay at least $3.00/gal.

Marketing Electric Car to California Elites

CALIFORNIA DREAMING WITH ELON MUSK

The infante terrible of electric cars and rocket trips is profiled by Ashlee Vance in “Elon Musk” which is entertaining in parts. The prologue is the best read in the book.  Much of the narrative is bogged down in detail about his marriages and business associates.  (Tom Mueller of St. Maries, Idaho, is one of his rocket scientists.)

Musk is more a marketing genius than a techno whiz kid.  He sexed up the electric car using a Mercedes body with aluminum sheet metal, which is the Tesla that caught the attention of the car magazine editors going 0-60 in less than four seconds.  Thumbing his nose at conventions, he markets the car directly through Tesla stores at $100,000 to elites.  Vance writes that there are plans to introduce a $35,000 vehicle.  His assembly plant is in Fremont, Calif., where Toyota and GM once made Corollas, a nasty rental vehicle.

Musk could be the modern day Howard Hughes (another LA eccentric genius) without RKO Radio Pictures and Jane Russell.  Rather than insane, Musk is “profoundly gifted,” Vance concludes.  But it doesn’t make any difference if you are driving a $100,000 Tesla or a $17,000 Chevy Cruze, you are at a standstill on the Harbor Freeway on the best of days.

Although the electric car is the eco-friendly alternative to the gas engine, more and better mass transit to counter the gridlock is a brighter idea.

Mrs. Cook Was Mom To Boarders at 1007 N. 6th

In the kitchen with Margaret Cook

CLYDE AND THE OTHERS

Content with the communal living I  knew when I was a frat boy, I took a room in 1965 at Mrs. Margaret Cook’s boarding house, a few blocks from the Statesman in Boise.

Mrs. Cook was a reluctant landlady who was forced into it by her humorless farmer son, Clyde, married to the righteous Priscilla, Queen of the Bible.  They were the real American Gothic with their children Nathan, Martha, Nealus and Luther.  Clyde, a former New Mexico extension agent, lured his mother to Idaho to raise his four children while he farmed on the desert near Mountain Home.  

At this point in her life she was ripe for retirement and almost crippled with arthritis.  While he was plowing, mom was running a boarding house so his children could attend Boise High School.  

Martha, a sullen teen, slept  on the first floor with her grandmother and the boys were in the basement with Dan the Man, a Boise State College student, YMCA lifeguard and a fine picture of young manhood.  Dan didn’t fraternize with me, Albert, Duane Mitchell, Terry Newman, Jose or Roy the Boy (flim flam specialist who taught us golf and cheated Mrs. Cook out of rent money.)  Dan kept company with the married woman across the street which caused tongues to wag.

Mrs. Cook referred to the relatives as “Clyde and the others,” but she had an attractive daughter who lived in Dallas who was very professional and urban.  The daughter would visit on holidays.

The house was a smaller replica of the Governor’s Mansion, three stories with transoms above the doors on the four second floor bedrooms.  

On Sunday’s when she didn’t serve meals, four of us would go to the Brass Lamp or the Village Pancake House.  Albert had a friend with stereo equipment and tape recordings of musical shows.  Through him I became familiar with the music from “Oliver!”  

Mrs. Cook was to cooking as the Three Stooges are to plumbing.  Memorable was the time she burned the hell out of the roast beef while she caught a nap.  Sometimes Clyde would bless us with milk from the farm which was noxious so she would dilute it with powdered milk, making it even more unpleasant.  Clyde would share the meat from critters he shot on the farm.

Mrs. Cook was in the Lady’s Circle at the Methodist Church and sometimes the ladies would meet in her living room.  Since I was working nights at The Statesman, I would be home during the days.  I am sure she wished I would disappear on Circle days.  

Priscilla supplied me with literature on Christianity so I could mend my heathen ways.  When the Others visited grace was said before the meal and it was a long painful affair as practiced by Priscilla.

I would sometimes go on errands with Mrs. Cook in her 1950 Chevy coupe with manual transmission.  I enjoyed taking her and a church friend in my car to lunch at McCall, Idaho’s answer to Aspen.

Mrs. Cook would invite us to public events at the high school sponsored by her church, such as a talk by the Jewish advice columnist Ann Landers.

Terry Newman was a smart kid whose parents moved to Colorado and left him in the boarding house so he could finish high school in Boise.  He had a portable record player and introduced me to popular music such as Steppenwolf and Jose Feliciano.  

The boarding house Jose was a Latin lover who kept to himself.  He installed a basement shower in exchange for rent money he owed.  I raised a stink when he didn’t get a city building permit before doing the work.

My social life picked up when Ralph Nichols, a coworker, moved nearby and we would go to Lucky Peak Reservoir.  Bob Gould from Spokane was an attorney for Albertsons and moved to Boise in about 1969.  We went to the Snake River Stampede Rodeo and saw “Bonnie and Clyde” but I was glad to find a better social life in Frostbite Falls.

As a family, we visited Mrs. Cook on a trip to Boise in 1973. Duane visited her in a nursing home in later years.

In 2006, I returned to the house now owned by an unkept woman with two big dogs and a broken screen door.

Robinson Pursues Artists Life

Here's Dwight Robinson with a reproduction of his painting, a wild west scene.  Dwight has a background in the natural sciences and worked for State Agriculture when I was working for Jobs and Training.  We traveled together on a Caribbean cruise, San Diego and New Orleans.  He also enjoys jazz and is expert on natural remedies.  He and his partner John live in Red Wing, MN.

Teen Musical, Tomlin Movie Both Span Generations

EDGY LOOK AT AGING

Lily Tomlin gives us an edgy look at the senior years in the new movie “Grandma,” now playing at the Edina Theater.  As Roger S. explained, the Tomlin character is struggling with end of life anger as she views her 30ish lover who can look forward to an exciting life full of interesting relationships.

As for the Tomlin character, she has hunkered down to a debt free retirement, going to the extreme by destroying her credit cards.  The later action complicates the plot when her teen granddaughter asks her for help in terminating an unwanted pregnancy.  The scenes with the teenager offer an opportunity to bridge the generation gap.

A former husband, played by Sam Elliott, offers another look at aging from the perspective of a proud grandfather but interested in reliving moments of past desire with the Tomlin character.  With so few films employing senior actors, “Grandma” is an opportunity not to be missed.

PINT SIZE ROMEO STEALS SCENES

I could hardly get to sleep last night with adrenaline pumping after Edina High School’s homage to the torchy ‘30s in their performance of “Crazy for You,” a new Gershwin musical.  Teen Jack Fischer, playing the juvenile lead Bobby Child, has all the right moves whether it’s side stepping in tap shoes or just his over the top stage presence.  

Talk about your Glee-full resumes, Fischer is a member of the International Thespian Society and has lettered in theater at EHS.  

The ensemble has memorable numbers, singing and dancing that reminded me ofthe great Busby Berkley movies.  This feast for eyes and ears involves incredible coordination and staging, but it works and is rewarding.

The irony for me was that these kids were chirping to tunes that my Mom and Dad grooved on when they were teens.  Talk about bridging the generation chasms, “Crazy for You” at EHS is a landmark event.

The finale with the lead couple swinging on the moon is very campy 1930s romantic comedy.

Summer Day at Statesman Staff Picnic

IDAHO STATESMAN PICNIC

This was taken by a Statesman photographer, probably the summer of 1968, at a picnic for the Idaho Statesman where I was a reporter/writer from 1965-69.  Location:  Julia Davis of Ann Morrison park. 

RKO's "Brave One" Worth the Long Wait

‘BRAVE ONE’ WAS TRUMBO’S MASTERPIECE

Before I see the biopic on blacklisted screen writer Dalton Trumbo, I had to see the 1956 RKO Cinemascope epic “The Brave One” filmed in Mexico.  Trumbo was awarded an Oscar for his screenplay but couldn’t receive it until the 1970s because his political beliefs conflicted with the reactionaries in Congress.  It was shown on TCM last night.

A heroic bull representing the working class is the hero in this story and the matador represents the oppressive aristocrats, they way I read this yarn.   If ever a movie had to be in Cinemascope it was this one.  Jack Cardiff’s photography is breath taking and Victor Young’s music is memorable.  The Trumbo biopic is coming soon to theaters, but also see “The Brave One.”

Netflix "Master of None" Scores With Senior Comedy

THOUGHTFUL TV SHOW ON SENIORS

Aziz  Ansari takes his girl friend’s grandmother out of the stifling confines of a nursing home to an elegant dinner where they bond.  She tells him about going to a Sinatra concert in her teens and he says his own experience at a Hootie Blowfish concert pales by comparison, but she says “don’t be so sure of that.”

The “Older People” episode of “Master of None” opens with Aziz and his buddy’s grandfather struggling with his VCR and the young men advise him to get a Blu Ray player but he argues against that.

Few programs explore the intergenerational gaps so brilliantly as this. (Netflix streaming)

Halloween Movies, Good, Bad and Ugly

SPOOKY DIFFERENT KIND OF HALLOWEEN  Oct. 31, 2015

This year I actually did get afraid.  The 1942 RKO Radio Picture “The Cat People” that I saw Friday night on TCM with Gary left me with nightmares.  It’s easy to figure out; the swimming pool scene with the woman and water reflecting off the walls was incredibly claustrophobic.  No way would I be in that room, even if a jaguar wasn’t chasing me. It had to be in an RKO sound stage because no one would design that mess in a health club.  Director Jaques Tournier knew how to work lights and shadows for maximum fright.

We also watched a less successful Tournier effort: “Curse of the Demon” wherein the producer inserted a monster right out of a Roger Corman fright fest.  It was dumb.  What was even dumber was the scary guy in “Monster from the Surf” (1965).  

Also, last night I was left with two virgin bags of candy unopened.  Apparently trick and treat is not part of the tradition for kids who live in my building.  The candy will be just as fresh a year from now.  I didn’t even bother to put on my vampire costume as I watched two Karloff classics on TV.  I think I went to a Jaycees party in about 1968 with a date as a bum in Boise but most of my Halloweens aren’t even a foggy memory.