HYMN TIME

 The Reverend Gary Davis.

Reverend Gary Davis - I Heard the Angels Singing (youtube.com)

ALL-FLASH QUARTERLY #1 (NOVEMBER 1941)

The original fastest man alive was created by writer Gardner Fox of the anthology comic Flash Comics #1 (dated January 1940); the same issue also featured the first adventures of Hawkman and Johnny Thunder.  The publisher, All-American Publications, would later merge with others to eventually become what is now DC Comics.  The original Flash was college student Jay Garrick, who accidently inhaled "hard water vapors" while working for his academic advisor Professor Hughes.  These vapors gave him the power to run at superhuman speeds and to have likewise fast reflexes.  Later tweakings of the original story had the vapors come from "heavy water" which contained a mutagen.

Fox based his creation on the Roman god Mercury; artist Harry Lampert took a depiction of Mercury from a dictionary and blended it with his original vision of Jay Garrick.  The Flash's costume had a lightning bolt emblazoned across the front, red boots, and a winged helmet.

The Flash soon joined the Justice Society of America in All Star Comics while continuing to appear in Flash Comics.  He got his own title in All-Flash Quarterly, beginning with the November 1941 issue.  When the comic book moved from its quarterly status to bi-monthly it became simply All-Flash.  Flash Comics ran for 104 issues; All Star Comics ran for 54 issues during its original run; All-Flash lasted for 32 issues.   With the final issue of All Staar Comics in March 1951, Jay Garrick's days as The Flash were over.  The Superhero would not appear again for ten years, and then revamped as Barry Allen, the second in a long line of characters who took up the mantle of the Flash.

All-Flash Quarterly#1 starts with a recap of how Jay Garrick got his powers and how he eventually turned those powers into fighting crime.  The only person to know his secret is his life-long friend Joan Williams.

Several years pass and Jay, now out of college, is working at Chemical Research Corporation for old Mr. Norris, who has invented KZ-10, a formula that can turn corpses into stone -- something that should revolutionize the embalming industry.  Callen, the gangster who runs the Ritz-Kat Club, learns of the formula and decides to us it for his own purposes.  He kidnaps Norris and gains the formula.  Anxious to test it, he orders his lackeys to kidnap people off the street for test subjects. One of the people happens to be Joan Williams.  Another is a young mother whose daughter is now in tears.  Soon the Flash and the little girl are also kidnapped and turned into stone.  Garrick had been working on a blood plasma serum that would eliminate all four blood groups so that one serum would work of all people.  (Don't ask.  This is comic book science.)  And Barry had been injected with the serum, which -- very conveniently, I might say -- works to eventually counteract the effects of KZ-10.  Barry escapes, gives Callen a dose of his own medicine, and rounds up Callens lackeys -- who, it turns out, were about to kidnaps Joan's father, a wealthy industrialist.  Callen is remorseful, disavows his evil ways, and begs to be punished by the justice system.

Phew!  That's a lot to unpack there...

In the next adventure, The Flash tackles "The Monocle" and his Garden of Gems.  Joan is the costume designer for a fancy fashion show where the models are to wear hats encrusted with valuable gems.  A canister of gas is released in the dressing room, the models fall unconscious, and the hats are stolen.  Is the fashion show ruined?  Au contraire!  Garrick, who thinks all the hat designs were laughable, get some material, rushes home, and -- using his super-speed -- created a number of hats for the show.  Of course he thinks his designs are ridiculous and is stunned to find they are a huge hit.  The fashion show is a success and hats are selling like hotcakes.  But now it's time for the flash to find the missing hats and the $500,000 worth of jewels that adorned them.  The bad guy is The Monocle, who places each gem inside a flower in his garden, so that the gems take the place of a flower's pistil.  (Don't ask why.  It's comic book logic.)  Unable to find a clue to the missing hat and gems, Garrick stops by the Carson bank to make a deposit just as The Monocle's thugs are robbing the bank.  He captures the bad guys but is lured to The Monocle's hangout where there are all manner of scientific traps.  The Monocle escapes in a small plane by The Flash, using his speed powers, jumps on the plane in midair and captures the gang leader.  What the Flash does not realize is that The Monocle has sent some of his men to kidnap Joan; what The Monocle does not realize is that The Flash has accidently made it possible for the police to capture The Monocle's men and save Joan.  Funny how that all works out.

Cowboy Jack is a rodeo star and someone tried to kill him by placing poison on the horns of a bulldogging steer.  The Flash manages to prevent that but does not know who wants to kill Jack or why.  Then the bad guys try to gun Jack down but are prevent from doing so by The Flash.  Again, Garrick has no idea why this is happening.  The Cowboy Jack gets a telegram that his father has struck oil on his Oklahoma ranch.  Another attempt is made on Jack's life before he boards the train for home, and a fourth attempt is made when he arrives in Oklahoma.  The flash is there in both places to foil these attempts.  Jack's father did not have the money to buy all the equipment so he took out a mortgage on the farm.  aha!  now it is clear.  The bad guys will first eliminate Cowboy Jack, then his father, and finally his mother, and the oil rights will be theirs for the taking.   A brilliant plot!  But the main ne'er-do-well, Benton, did not plan on The Flash...

The final adventure of The Flash in this issue centers on ice hockey.  "When Joe Vickers went to see the Redshirts, Brilliant League hockey team play, he intended to buy the team with his entire savings of a lifetime.  But he did not know that Gunner Parker had an interest in the team...or that Dagger Daniels, gangster and racket king, was out to get Parker..."  And in two shakes of a lamb's tail (or, perhaps, a shake and a half of a winged helmet), The Flash get involved to save Vickers and to ensure that hockey remains the good, clean game it always was.

Also included among the extras are brief bios of Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert.

Enjoy.

AFQ_1941_2.pdf (wasabisys.com)

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE RARE BREED

 The Rare Breed by Thoedore Sturgeon, 1966

An original paperback novelization of 1966 film, The Rare Breed marks one of Stugeon's few excusions into the western  (the others being The King and Four Queens, another film novelization, and Sturgeon's West, an outlier collection of stories, some written with Don Ward).  The film was a romantic comedy set in the West, while Sturgeon's take was a western with traces of romance and humor.

1884.  Martha and Hilary Evans, mother and daughter, have sailed from England with four Hereford cows and one bull in an attempt to introduce the breed to the American west.  Herefords are studier and beefier than the scrawny Texas longhorns that predominate in the west; with the advent of rail due in the next few years, surely the day of the Hereford and the doom of the longhorn cattle drive was sure to come.  It was the dream of Martha's husband to introduce Herefords to America, but he and the six Herefords he had with him drowned in an Atlantic crossing two years before.  Now it's up to Martha to realize her husband's dream.

But things do not go well for Martha.  Both she and Hilary are staunchly nationalistic, placing British values over American.  At a St. Louis cattle auction, Martha manages to inflame the ire of the cattlemen and, due to an unfamiliarity with American auction practices, essentially loses her four cows to underbidding.  Worse, the cows are now meant to be used as milch cows rather than breeding stock.  Left only with the giant bull, Vindictor, to auction off.  Martha manages to reverse course and get an outstanding bid for the animal; the bid came from an unscrupulous rancher bidding for a partner deep in the heart of Texas.  Half the money was paid up front; the remaining half to come when the bull is delivered to the partner down south.

But vindicator was never meant to go down south.  The evil rancher, Ellswoth, intends to claim the bull for himself.  (In the film, this is somehow due his wanting Martha; in the novel his motive is not as clear but it involves vindictiveness and greed.)  Ellsworth sends two of his hired killers -- Simons and Mabry, both as mean as rattlesnakes but nowhere near as intelligent -- to follow the bull on his trip south and to stop it from reaching its final destination.   He hires wrangler Sam "Bulldog" Burnett to keep an eye on the two.  But Burnett is honest and has plans of his own.

Martha and Hilary decide to accompany the bull to Texas and to deliver him personally.  Sam is persuaded to guide them.  Most of the story that follows is a clash of cultures, with Sam and Hilary both displaying pigheadedness par excellence, interspersed with poetic descriptions of the west and detailed descriptions of the cowboy way of life.  The story ends in a rush, tying up all loose ends in a cramped five pages, and basically ignoring the last third of the film.

The major character points of the book are the clashes between the headstrong Hilary and the equally headstrong Sam, with Martha calmly acting as referee.  This comes across as strange because the never truly stated love story is between Sam and Martha.  Also strange is the fact that the best character in the novel is vindicator, the gentle giant of a bull, who faithfully comes when you whistle "God Save the Queen."

A mixed bag but enjoyable and worthwhile reading.  To my knowledge, the book has never been reprinted beyond its original paperback appearance.

The film, if you ever happen to catch it, stars Jimmy Stewart as Sam, Maureen O'Sullivan as Martha, and Juliet Mills as Hilary.  (I have a hard time picturing Stewart as the Sam portrayed in the novel.)  In a sublime bit of casting, Jack Elam and Harry Carey, Jr. are cast as the not too bright Simons and Mabry.  The film also featured an very early score by John Williams, credited as "Johnny Williams."

FATHER BROWN MYSTERIES: THE EYE OF APOLLO

 G. K. Chesterton's famous priest-detective Father Brown (his first name is a mystery; it may be Paul, or it may start with the letter "J") first appeared in 1910; the first collections of stories, The Innocence of Father Brown, appeared the following year and included "The Eye of Apollo" (from The Saturday Evening Post, February 25, 1911).  In it, Brown encounters a cult, The Church of Apollo, run by the charismatic Kalon.  When Kaon's wife dies suddenly, it's up the clever little priest to untangle the mystery.

Chesterton's character has been featured a number of times on film and on television and has been the subject of four radio series.  The first, in 1945, featured Karl Swenson as the title character in Mutual Radio's The Adventures of Father Brown.  Leslie French played Brown on BBC Radio in 1974 in a brief series that celebrated Chesterton's centennial.  Then, in 1984, Andrew Sachs took over the role in Father Brown Mysteries for a BBC Radio 4 series -- it is from this series that the episode linked below came from.  Finally, JT Turner became the priest in a series of 16 stories adapted for Boston's Colonial Radio Theater in 2013. 

Andrew Sachs, the star of this particular episode, may best known for portraying Manuel, the hapless Spanish employee of Fawlty Towers.

Enjoy this outing, scripted by John Scotney.

Father Brown Mysteries-The Eye Of Apollo (youtube.com)

BITS & PIECES

Openers:  MONDAY:  PRINICIPAUTE de MONACO -- Victor Jenning, tanned and very fit, walked down the steps of the casino into the cool night air.  They were already bringing his blood-red Lamborghini around from the lot.  It was a new car, and Jenning was pleased with it -- Carrozzeria Touring body mounted over a 3.5-liter V-12 engine that ran smoothly at 240 kilometers an hour.  It was a hardtop, of course.  Jenning loathed driving fast in an open car -- unless he was racing -- and he had rolled enough cars to have a healthy respect for solid protection overhead.

People were gathering to admire the car as he came up to the bottom of the steps.  It was only natural; the car had never been produced prior to 1965, when old Ferrucio Lamborghini, the tractor and oil-burner tycoon, had established a limited production shop in Cento, just a few miles from Ferrari's plant in Maranello.  Three hundred Lamborghinis were made a year, so it was quite a rarity.  It had cost him $14,000.

As he made his way around the crowd, he answered their questions with smiles and a slightly bored voice, then go in  behind the wheel.  He was a jaded man, and so felt only mild pride, but it was sufficient for make him forget -- momentarily at least -- the ten thousand dollars he had just dropped that night at baccarat, in a particularly poor run of luck,

He started the engine, listening with satisfaction to the bass growl from the twin exhausts.  the crowd parted, and he reached down for the lights.  His hand flicked on the windshield wipers, and he had a twinge of embarrassment.  Damn!  It was painfully obvious that he'd owned the car for just a week.  He bent over to peer at the switches.

At that moment his windshield shattered in front of him.

Scratch One by "John Lange"  (Michael Crichton), 1967

It may be hard to find a more Ian Fleming-James Bondian opening than that.  The scene rapidly shifts from Jenning narrowly escaping an assassination attempt to various parts of the world -- Cairo, Portugal, Demark, Paris...in most a successful assassination attempt had been made; only in Paris did it fail -- there, the victim lay comatose, his head crushed.  Also in Paris, a cabal meets, upset that the attempt on Jenning had failed.  No, it seems, "the arms shipment may not be delayed."  Moreover, a very talented American assassin has been sent and will soon arrive in nice.   The cabal has then hired the world's most formidable assassin to incept and kill the American.

Enter Roger Carr, an innocent victim of mistaken identity, who finds himself 'trapped in a squeeze play involving a sadistic mastermind, a primitive killer, and exotic hook and the CIA", all of whom seem willing  to eliminate Roger.

Scratch One was the second novel written by Crichton while he was a medical student.  Eight of his early novels were published under the "John Lange" pseudonym.  His fourth novel, A Case of Need, published as by "Jeffery Hudson," won an Edgar Award for Best novel in 1969; curiously it was the one book by Crichton that I absolutely detested (your mileage may vary).  Crichton's sixth published novel, and the first to be published under his own name, was The Andromeda Strain.  From that point on, best-sellerdom, Hollywood blockbusters, and a Jurassic Park franchise followed.   His books have sold over 200 million copies world wide.  Although Crichton died in 2008, his appeal to reaers has not.  Currently a posthumous collaboration with James Patterson was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller.  The current hit movie Twisters, is the follow-up to Crichton's 1996 film Twister. 

Concerning Scratch One, Crichton wrote the book in eleven days, saying, "Any idiot should be able to write a potboiler set in Cannes and Monaco."

Incoming:  Because I am a technical Luddite, I somehow manage to erase this entire section of the post, and cannot retrieve it no matter how many goats I sacrificed to the Internet Gods.  A shame really, because I had listed about thirty really nifty books and had included my usual scintillating comments.  In brief, here's much of what I had listed.

• Lawrence Block - I went on a Lawrence Block overload this week.  I picked up Random Walk, a serial killer new age-y novel, and Passport to Peril, a suspense thriller that seems to have been marketed as a Gothicky, woman-in-peril  romance, originally published as "Anne Campbell Clark."  Also, Dead Girl Blues, Block's latest (and possibly last) standalone novel.  Wagons Ho! was a juvenile published by Whitman under the name "Trevor Cole," and Ten Heroes of the Twenties was a young adult set of biographies by sports writer and broadcaster Rex Lardner, with Block acting as a ghostwriter to complete the book -- it's not known how much of the book block actually wrote.  Also, Inherit the Dead, a round robin novel edited by Jonathan Santlofer, featuring twenty authors, including Block.  And then there are the 'non-fiction" books on sexual behavior that block penned as "John Warren Wells."  The ones I picked up were Eros and Capricorn (also published as Comparative Sex Techniques), The Taboo Breakers (also published as Your Husband, My Wife), The New Sexual Underground  (also published as Something for Everyone), Older Women and Younger Men:  The Mrs. Robinson Syndrome, Sex and the Stewardess, Tricks of the Trade:  A Hooker's Handbook, 3 Is Not a Crowd, The Male Hustler, Women Who Swing Both Ways (also published as Versatile Ladies:  The Bisexual Option), Beyond Group Sex, The Sex Therapists, Come Fly with Us, Wide Open:  The New Marriage, Love at a Tender Age, Different Strokes (a collection of sex columns from the men's magazine Swank), and Sex without Strings, Yes, that beet-red thing you see in the distance would be me, blushing.

Also, in no particular order:   High Adventure #110 (January 2010 issue of this pulp reprint magazine, edited by John Gunnison; this one includes two of the three stories Murray Leinster had written about Malay Collins, the Master Thief of the Far East); The Horizontal Man by Helen Eustis, a classic mystery; Forbidden Forest by Michael Cadnum, a novel about Little John and Robin Hood; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders by john Mortimer, wherein Rumpole meets She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed; and Chance to Kill, Murder Most Strange, The Ringer, three more Luis Mendoza mysteries by "Dell Shannon" (Elizabeth Linington). The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller. horror novel; The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan, mystery-suspense; and Death Comes Too Late by Charles Ardai, a collection of 20 stories.

One Monkey Don't Stop the Show:  Slick McGhee, the younger brother of Brownie McGhee, wrote and recorded this sing in 1950.  Some confusion came about when other artists recorded different songs with the same title:  Big Maybelle in 1955 covered later by Bette Midler), Joe Tex in 1965 (covered later by The Animals and by Terry Knight and the Pack), the all-girl group the Honey Cone in 1971, and Little David Wilkins in 1975.  Others who recorded similarly titled songs include Hank Ballard and the Moonlights, Jesse Rogers, Gillian Welch, and Goodie Mob.  Bobby Rush recorded an "answer" song in 2021, and Earthgang used the title in the third verse of their song, "Meditate."

Here's the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6usR4-nzZXg

Animal Sounds:  It's said that the best place to live is where you can hear birds in the morning and crickets in the evening.   Here are a few animal sounds that may or may not be familiar, courtesy of a 1954 Folkways recording of various zoo and farm animals.

https://archive.org/details/lp_sounds-of-animals-audible-communication-of_arthur-merwin-greenhall-nicholas-collias

Naughty But Mice:  It's city mouse Herman versus the champion country mouse-catching Katnip, in this 1947 Paramount cartoon.  I don't have to look far to see where Itchy and Scratchy got their thematic template.

https://archive.org/details/noveltoon_naughty_but_nice

National Toilet Paper Day:  Today we honor an item that many feel is an indispensable item of modern day living.  The modern commercially available toilet paper was introduced in the United States by Joseph Gayetty in 1857:  "The greatest necessity of the age!  Gayetty's medicated paper for the water-closet."   Previous to 1857, it had been kind of rough sledding for much of the world.

Not so, China.  The recorded mention of toilet paper comes from about 589. even though paper had been used in china for other purposes for about eight centuries.  An Arab traveler in 851 was amazed that paper was used for cleansing themselves.  In the early 14th century ten million packages of toilet paper ( each with 1000 to 10,000 sheets) were produced annually in one section of China alone.  The imperial court of Nanjing in the Ming dynasty was recorded in 1393 to have an annual supply of 720,000 sheets of toilet paper.  Clearly, some enterprising manufacturers were cleaning up.

Elsewhere, people had to stick to the old tried and true, using  wool, lace, and hemp (if you were wealthy), or "rags, wood shavings, leaves, grass, hay, stones, sand, moss, water, snow, ferris [?], plant husks, fruit skins, seashells, or corncobs."  In ancient Rome a sponge on a stick was used, then placed in a jug of vinegar.  In the eighteenth century the rise of publishing led tot he use of newspapers and cheap editions of popular books; often the pages would be read while in the facility before being used, or so I'm given to understand -- I wasn't there.

In many parts of the world today, water is considered and cleaner and more sanitary practice than using paper.

Anyway, back to the history of toilet paper.

In 1883, Seth Wheeler, of Albany, gained the earliest patent for toilet paper and a dispenser.  In 1890. the Scott Paper company began selling toilet paper in rolls.  Manufactured toilet paper still had its risks -- as late as 1930 one company advertised a "splinter free" product.  St. Andrews Mills in England introduce a softer, 2-ply roll in 1942, which presumably helped the Brits to keep calm and carry on.  Wet wipes -- moist toilet paper -- was introduced in in the 1990s; years later it was discovered that these caused a problem with sewer lines when improperly disposed of.

Toilet paper today comes mostly from pulpwood trees, although sugar cane byproducts or bamboo may be used.   It can be colored, or festooned with designs, or perfumed with various scents.  It can be smoothed or embossed.

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY

Should toilet paper hang over or under the roll?  Although it is just a matter of habit or personal preference, I have heard some people insist to the over orientation is more sanitary, which makes absolutely no sense.  People appear vehement in their choice, as Ann Landers found out when she raised the issue in her newspaper column in 1986; she concluded that under was the obvious choice, but 15,000 readers disagreed -- more responses than for any other single topic in her career.  About 70% of Americans today say over.

TOILEGAMI

Toilegami refers to toilet paper origami the art of folding the first squares of toilet paper on the dispenser in a fashionable manner.  It is very popular in Japan.  The housecleaner that we use once every other week is a toilegami artist, whether we want her to be or not.

After typing all the above about toilet paper, I'm wiped.  Time to move on to another subject.

Other Holidays:  Today is also Women's Equality Day, which should be a given.  

Perhaps we can extend this holiday to Tuesday, November 5th.  Today is also Make Your Own Luck Day ( I would do that but I'm having a hard time finding the ingredients), National Dog Day (because they deserve it), Motorist Consideration Monday (something that's needed for many whom I encounter on Route 98), and National Cherry Popsicle Day (huzzah!).

Concerning the Photo of Tim Walz Hugging His Son at the DNC:  That's the type of person I want as my Vice President.

Krakatoa:  181 year ago saw the beginning of the final stage of the eruption of Krakatoa.  The eruption took place from May 20 to October 21, 1883, with the final eruption peaking on August 27, destroying over 70% of the island and surrounding archipelagos.  The eruption was heard 1930 miles away in Perth in one direction, and 3000 miles away near Mauritius in the other direction.  The acoustic pressure wave circled the globe more than three times.  At least 36,417 deaths can be attributed to the explosion and the ensuing tsunamis.  The eruption caused a volcanic winter with temperature drops and increased precipitation.  The sky was darkened worldwide for months.  Some people theorize that the eruption was one source for Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," as the sky in the painting greatly resembled the reddish skies that resulted from the eruption; the theory goes that this had a great effect on Munch ten years later in 1893 when he painted the picture.

Despite the title of the 1968 flick Krakatoa, East of Java, Krakatoa is actually west of Java.

A Minor Annoyance:  Every time I go to post an item on this blog, I get a cue as to what time I wish the item to appear.  The fallback position is "12:00 AM" and I mentally begin to fume when seeing this.  There ain't such critter as 12:00 AM or 12:00 PM -- there is only 12:00 Noon and 12-:00 Midnight, dammit!  Does this bother you as much as it does me?

Happy Birthday, Otto Binder:  Otto Binder (1911-1973) was a pioneering science fiction and comic book writer.  In the science fiction field, he began writing with his brother Earl Binder, as "Eando Binder" with 'The First Martian" (Amazing Stories, October 1932).  Earl Binder soon became inactive as a writer, although he continued for a while as Otto's manager; a third brother, Jack, was an artist, working heavily in the comic book field.  From 1936 on, all work published as by Eando Binder was solely the work of Otto, including the classic stories of Adam Link, Robot and Anton York, Immortal.  

Binder began working in comic books in 1939.  While at Fawcett comics, he began writing for Captain Marvel, eventually penning 986 stories -- more than half the total output -- for the Marvel Family, co-creating Mary Marvel and other characters.  For Captain Marvel Adventures he wrote over 60 prose stories about Lieutenant Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol.  He created a number of other characters for Fawcett, including Black Adam, Mr. Mind, and Mr. Tawky Tawny.  At Timely Comics, he created Captain Wonder, The Young Allies, and Miss America, while also writing for Captain America, The Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and others.  He also worked for MLJ Comics (later Archie Comics), Quality Comics, Gold Key comics, and EC Comics.

In 1948 Otto binder began working for DC comics, where he soon made an impact on the Superman group of comics.  He introduced the Legion of Superheroes, introduced Brainiac and the bottle city of Kandor.  He co-created Supergirl, Krypto, The Phantom Zone, and supporting characters Lucy Lane, Beppo the Super Monkey, Titano the Super Ape, and Bizarro, as well as the Bizarro World.

Binder was posthumously inducted the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame and the Will eisner Hall of Fame, as well as receiving the Bill finger Award.  In the first episode of the television series Supergirl, Supergirl prevents a crippled jet from crashing into the "Otto Binder Bridge."

Binder's first non-prose Captain Marvel story was "Captain Marvel Saves the King" in Captain Marvel Adventures #9 (April 1942).  Here's that issue:

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=15842

Florida Man:

• The wheels of justice grind slowly in Florida.  Ten years after the death of four-year-old Antwon "A.J." Hope was murdered, his mother and Florida Woman Destine Simmons has been arrested for the boy's murder.  Simmons did not have custody of the child at the time of the murder; she had been Baker acted the year before after Simmons' mother reported that she had tried to suffocate the boy with a pillow.  Simmons had been involuntarily committed a total of three times before the boy's death.  Simmons' mother had told Broward County deputies that the woman suffered from schizophrenia and depression.  Simmons and the boy's father were in a custody battle at the time, and the Florida Department of Children and Families was in the process of reuniting the mother and her son.  Hope was found dead during the first unsupervised visit [italics mine] since his mother lost custody.  It is unclear why officials waited ten years before charging Simmons with the murder.
• Florida Man Omar Simpson, 21, has been arrested in the murder of 22-year-old Mikesha Johnson near the Hollywood/Hannandale Beach border.  Johnson was shot in the chest and dropped from a vehicle to the side of a road.  Emergency medical procedures failed and Johnson died on the scene.  Motive is unclear, but police have learned that Simpson and Johnson met at a party that evening.
• As Florida has been trending more Republican lately, top Democrats have turned their attention away from Florida and to more closely contested states.  Florida Man and Democratic Convention Delegate state Senator Shevrin Jones, chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, said he hoped to change when he got to  the DNC.  Alas, the Florida delegation found themselves seated at the back of the United Center, "as far away from the main stage as you could possibly be."  One delegate said, "We're sitting in the redheaded stepchild section," while another took a much more positive outlook:  "Sure, some delegates are front and center , but Florida delegates have the best access to the restrooms.  Take that, Pennsylvania!"
• Florida Man Jose Marti-Alvarez, 55, has been accused of fraud for allegedly impersonating a popular pizzeria to fool tourists into ordering undercooked and fraudulently priced food -- a scam that apparently has been going on for several years.  Targeting hotels throughout the Miami Springs, Marti-Alverez falsely advertised as Roman's Pizzeria, a real establishment that had been given a high rating from Barstool Sports founder and pizza Critic Dave Portnoy.  The scam has tarnished the reputation of roman Pizza; dissatisfied customers of Marti-Alverez have complained to the Better Business Bureau and have posted negative reviews online.  Marti-Alverez was charged with "organized scheme to defraud".  when officers attempted to arrest him in a parking lot, he tried to flee the scene, hitting a hotel worker with his car.  So you can add an aggravated battery charge to the rap sheet.

Good News:

• Maryland college staffers save bald eagle.        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/injured-bald-eagle-plucked-from-river-in-daring-rescue-by-college-staffers-in-maryland/
• Deadly poison may lead to more effective drugs.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/cone-snail-poison-is-deadly-but-may-now-lead-to-better-diabetes-drugs/
• Manuka honey reduces breast cancer cell growth.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/manuka-honey-reduces-breast-cancer-cell-growth-by-84-in-human-cells-and-mice/
• A happy ending for a stray pup.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/stray-pup-chases-a-doggie-day-care-bus-and-gets-adopted/
• Colonial grass -- a bumper crop that could stop coastal soil erosion?     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/colonial-grass-could-become-a-bumper-crop-even-with-salty-soil-and-stop-coastal-erosion/
• 94-year-old daredevil ziplines at 100 mph.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/daredevil-94-year-old-is-oldest-ever-to-take-on-worlds-fastest-zip-line-going-100mph/
• Charles Barkley turns down $100 million contract so sports staff can keep their jobs   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/charles-barkley-turns-down-100-million-contracts-to-ensure-tnt-sports-staff-keep-their-jobs-another-year/

Today's Poem:

The Boston Evening Transcript

The readers of the Boston Evening Transcript

 Sway in the wind like a field of ripe corn.

When evening quickens faintly in the street,

Wakening the appetites of life in some

And to others bringing the Boston Evening Transcript,

I mount the steps and ring the bell, turning

Wearily, as one would turn to nod good bye to Rochefoucauld,

If the street were time and he at the end of the street,

And I say, "Cousin Harriet, here is the Boston Evening Transcript."

-- T. S. Eliot

HYMN TIME

 Jim Reeves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhxolymJ11Q

SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY #119: THE MISSING MILLIONAIRE (AUGUST 5, 1957)

John Creasey's The Honourable Richard Rollison,. a.k.a. The Toff, takes center stage in this comic book adaptation of his 1955 novel A Six for the Toff (also published as A Score for the Toff.  You don't need to know much about cricket to follow this story.

"Richard Rollison was an adventurer -- a man known to the world as 'The Toff,' and feared by the underworld as an enemy of crime.  Like most Englishmen he was fond of cricket, and it was just as he was about to leave for the oval that one of his most dangerous adventures began."

The American jewel collector Connor McGinn has telephoned the Toff with an offer of a thousand pound fee.  When McGinn fails to appear at a scheduled morning meeting, Rollison proceeds to the cricket match,  Jolly, Rollison's manservant, suspects something is off and goes to McGinn's hotel room, but the wealthy American is not there.  A mysterious woman, Bella Daventry, is also looking for McGinn, as are New Scotland Yard, which had been asked to keep a protective eye on McGinn by the american authorities.

A man called Jeremiah meanwhile had headed to the cricket match where he hoped to meet Rollison.   when he arrived he was struck by a car and killed.  Bella Daventry saw the entire thing and recognized the man who had cause the fatal accident.  She goes to his loft to confront him and he attacks her with a knife.  Rollison had followed Bella and tries to stop the attack, but the man is killed in the struggle by Bella, who then flees.

This is where things begin to get complicated.  Various thugs attempting to harm Rollison, murder attempts, a supposed kidnapping, and a beautiful damsel n distress (who may not be so innocent), and Rollison still has no idea what is behind it all.  On top of that, he's missing his beloved cricket match!  Luckily Rollison also has the  help of Jolly and of East End gym owner Bill Ebbut (although in this comic book the name is spelled 'Ebbutt")...

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=95806&comicpage=&b=i

Creasey created the Toff in 1933; the first Toff novel was published in 1938.  The Toff stories originally followed a popular template of an aristocratic gentleman adventurer who operates outside legal boundaries; in later adventures, the Toff has lost his fortune in an economic collapse and becomes a private detective for hire.  Creasy published 60 novels and one play about the character -- perhaps his most popular -- as well as a number of short stories.  Following Creasey's death William Vivian butler published an additional novel.  The character, played by John Bentley, appeared in two films in 1952,  and six early Toff novels were serialized on Australian radio in the late 1940s with Robert Burnard as Rollison, and two further novels were adapted for BBC radio in the mid-70s. starring Terrence Alexander.  The Super Detective Library had previously adapted a Toff novel in 1955 -- The Toff at Buntlin's (#61).

FORGOTTEN BOOK: NIGHT AT THE VULCAN

Night at the Vulcan by Ngaio Marsh  (first published in England in 1951 as Opening Night; serialized in Woman's Day (US) and in Woman's Journal (UK, March to May, 1951); included in the omnibus Three-Act Special, 1960; included in 3 x 3 (Three Times Three) Mystery Omnibus, Volume 3, edited by Howard Haycraft & John Beecroft, 1964; adapted for television [and co-written by Marsh] as Night at the Vulcan for The Philco Television Playhouse, August 26, 1951,  adapted as Opening Night for Television New Zealand in 1977 featuring George Baker as Roderick Alleyn [later broadcast on PBS as the first American screening of a New Zealand television series]; adapted for BBC radio in the 1990s as Opening Night. featuring Jeremy Clyde as Roderick Alleyn )

It has been some thirty years since I last read a Ngaio Marsh mystery so it's high time I got back to her books and yo her detective, Metropolitan Police  Inspector Roderick Alleyn.

Night at the Vulcan lies smackdab in the middle of Marsh's books about Alleyn; it was the sixteenth of thirty-two books featuring Alleyn published in her lifetime (one additional book, the unfinished Money in the Morgue was completed by Stella Duffy and published in 2018, thirty-six years after Marsh had died).  It was one of six novels set in the theater -- Marsh's great passion; three other novels concerned actors off-stage; Marsh also wrote on theatrical short story featuring Allyn -- "I Can find My Way Out," (first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, August 1946), which is referenced in Night at the Vulcan.

Martyn Tarne is a nineteen-year-old actress who had just arrived in London.  She has had some success in touring companies in her native New Zealand and hopes to further her career in England.  Unfortunately, all her money, as well as her press clippings, were stolen when she arrived.  Now she is dead-broke with no place to live and has had no luck with theatrical agencies.  After making the rounds of almost all the theaters in London, she turns to the Vulcan, a newly reopened and renamed theater which had been closed for years following a notorious murder.  The theater is readying for the premiere of a new play and Martyn sneaks in, hoping merely to find a hidden corner where she can sleep.  The manager of the theater is famed actor Adam Poole, who happens to be a distant relation to Martyn, a second cousin once removed, or something like that; Poole has no idea of the relation and had no idea that he had relations in New Zealand.  Yet there is a strange physical resemblance between Poole and Martyn -- something that turns out to be significant.  Poole is also cast as the star of the new play.  Through a set of coincidences, Martyn is hired to be the dresser for the play's leading lady, the noted Helena Hamilton; Helena and Poole have has a relationship that is beginning to wear out, although they both have great respect for each other.

Also in the cast is Helena's estranged husband, Clark Bennington, a once talented actor who has begun a slide to oblivion through his alcoholism.  Bennington has brought his niece, Gay Gainsford, to the cast as the ingenue.  Gay does not have the talent needed for the role but Bennington insists that she take it; the role depends on Gay's resemblance to Poole, something she has difficulty portraying  through physical cues.  (You see where Martyn's resemblance to Poole comes in here, don't you?)  Rounding out the cast are character actor J. G. Darcey and "juvenile" lead Parry Percival; Percival resents being cast in such a minor role.  The playwright is Dr. John James Rutherford, an overly dramatic, highly critical, self-proclaimed genius who spends much of his time belittling Gay's insubstantial talents.

Gay is becoming more and more unsteady in her role.  Poole, noticing the resemblance between himself and Martyn, makes her Gay's understudy -- which causes rumors that Martyn might be Poole's love child from a tour he did of New Zealand twenty years before.  There are only a few rehearsals left before opening night.  then, on opening night Gay has a complete breakdown and refuses to go on stage.  With only half an hour before curtain, Martyn is forced to take over the role.  She succeeds wonderfully and the play appears to be a success.  Only a few minutes before the final curtain, Bennington makes his final appearance, then exits.  He does not appear during curtain call and his body is found in his dressing room, an apparent suicide, his death echoing that of the tragedy five years before in the theater.

The first half of the novel goes into great detail with the characters and the work needed to stage the play.  The author's enthusiasm for the theater really shines here.  The reader also gets to see how much Bennington is hated by everyone involved in the play.  Everybody has a motive, no matter how specious.

Enter Roderick Alleyn and his associated from the C.I.D.  Alleyn has good reason to believe this supposed suicide was actually murder.   His brief investigation takes place at the theater on the evening of the murder.  The murderer is revealed and the motive -- merely hinted at before -- is made clear.

The novel is a well-written, character-driven mystery and a paean to the theater that Dame Ngaio Marsh so loved.  Part of me, unlike with Marsh's other novels, did not give a hoot about whodunnit; I just wanted to keep reading about the theater and the marvelous people that the author had created.

Recommended.

It should be noted that one of Alleyn's assistants in this case was P.C. Lord Michael Lamprey, who had been a child witness in the 1941 novel A Surfeit of Lampreys (US title Death of a Peer) and a young man eager to join the police force in "I Can find My Way Out."

LUX RADIO THEATRE: THE MALTESE FALCON (FEBRUARY 8, 1943)

That little statuette may have been "the stuff that dreams are made of, but I submit that Dashiell Hammett's novel and John Huston's film have been the stuff that detective fiction fans have been dreaming of for more than eighty years.

We all know the plot.  As Sam Spade tracks down the killer of his partner Miles Archer he encounters Kasper Gutman and his cronies who are searching to the legendary Maltese Falcon, a statuette that may be as substantial as dreams.  In this radio version, based on John Huston's screenplay, Spade is played by Edward G. Robinson (if you can't get Bogart as the tough guy, go with Little Caesar), Gail Patrick is Bridget O'Shaughnessy, and Laird Cregar is Kasper Gutman.  Buried down in the cast was Bea Benaderet, who would go on to fame as the "Busy Bea," with more than 1000 radio and television appearances, including as Blanche Morton on the Burns and Allen shows, the voice of Betty Rubble on The Flintstones, and Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction.

Cecil B. DeMille was the host and John Milton Kennedy served as the show's announcer.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T12ew2uBwfY

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: EIGHT SPELLS A WEEK

 Eight Spells a Week, anonymously edited (Sabrina the Teenage Witch #17; Archway Paperbacks, 1999)

Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a comic book character who premiered in Archie comics universe in Archie's Madhouse #22 (October 1962).  I had aged out by that time.  Never read her.  the Sabrina the Teenage Witch comic book ran from 1971 to 1983 for 77 issues.  I read nary a one.

A younger version, Sabrina -- the Cute Little Witch, appeared in the Little Archie comics.  Again, I was too old.  Never read her.

In 1970, The Sabrina the Teenage Witch Show was an animated series on CBs, running for four seasons.  But, hey, I was a grown-up with a new family, so nope.

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch became a live action television show on September 27, 1996 on ABC for four seasons.  It moved to the WB for its final three seasons, ending on April 24, 2003.  It starred no-longer-a teenager Melissa Joan Hart (formerly of Clarissa Explains It All -- never saw that one -- and later of Melissa and Joey -- again, never saw this one) as Sabrina.  Needless to say, I never saw this one either.  There were also three mad-for-television films, none of which I saw.

A new run of the comic book began shortly after the television premiere.  This one ran for 32 issue from 1997 to 1999.  Again, this flew under my radar. 

Hart was also the primary voice on Sabrina:  The Animated Series for all of its 65 episodes on ABC and UPN in 1999.  Nope, never had a glimpse of that one, either.  The final 199 issue of the comic book provided a bridge for a new comic book series, beginning in January 2000, based on the animated series.  This one was titles Sabrina, and it lasted for 37 issues before being retrofitted as Sabrina the Teenage Witch for another 20 issues; it was then turned into a manga comic, which lasted until issue #104 in September 2009.  Not a single issue passed under my soulful brown eyes.

Along the way Sabrina made many appearances throughout the Archie-verse, but none that I saw.

In 2013, the Hub Network ran Sabrina:  Secrets of a Teenage Witch for one season before the producers went bankrupt.  Never saw it.

The comic book The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a darker reimagining of the character, began in October 2014.  It is still ongoing.  Never read it. 

In 2017, it was announced that a Sabrina one-shot would be published as part of the "New Riverdale" reimagining, which updated the characters in the Archie-verse to be more realistic and have more mature themes.  The one-shot never happened.  Finally, in 2018, a five-issue mini-series came out to great acclaim.  It was followed by a 2020 min-series and a Sabrina Winter Special.

Also in 2017, a live-action series of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, featuring Kiernan Shipka in the title role, was picked up by Netflix for a two0-season run.  Netflix finally aired the series in four parts, from  October 26, 2018 to December 31, 2020.  This one I did watch.  My considered opinon:  meh.

Clearly I am not part of the Sabrina demographic.

So why read an anthology of stories published for the YA audience, but clearly meant for even younger readers? 

Two words:  Ray Garton.

Sabrina has had a long publishing history:  fifty original novels and two collections, from 1997 to 2003, in the original series, six books based on television episodes, fifteen books in the Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Salem's Trials series, and four miscellaneous titles.  That does not count various collections from the comic books and manga series, nor does it count the three recent The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina tie-in titles.

Ray Garton, who passed way far too soon this past April at age 61, was an accomplished horror novelist.  He was named World Horror convention Grand Master in 2006.  In addition to his 25 horror books and two collections, he penned four film novelizations, nine young adult novels (eight under the pseudonym "joseph Locke." which he used to prevent his YA audience from accidently reading his books that were geared for a much older audience), and three anthologies.  (One of his novels, The Dark Place:  The Story of a True Haunting, had been published as non-fiction.  Garton had been hired by spiritualist shysters Ed and Lorraine Warren to write the story of the Snedecker's, a family whose home was supposedly haunted by anal-rapist demons, and of the Warrens' involvement in the case.  When Garton complained that the family  was making wildly contradictory claims, the Warrens told him to "use what works and make the rest up.  And make it scary."  When Garton announced his role in the book, the Warrens and the Snedeckers denounced him.  At one time, The Dark Place was listed as one of the most sought after books on Abebooks.  BTW, Ed Gorman was also a ghost for the Warrens, and I doubt his experience was any more positive.)

Anyway, Garton penned three of the Sabrina the Teenage Witch novels (two under the Joseph Locke pseudonym), as well as the story in this collection.  When I was looking for something by Garton to read, this anthology came to light; most of my other Garton books are in storage.

The conceit of Eight Spells a Week is that Sabrina accidently breaks a magic mirror.  For a mortal, this would mean seven years of bad luck, but as a half-witch Sabrina is to face only seven days of bad luck  -- super bad luck, unfortunately.  Each of the episodes is written by authors who have contributed earlier to the paperback series.'

Sunday:  The Mirror Crack'd Up" by Nancy Holder.  Sabrina is to attend her high schools annual Mother-Daughter-Primary-Caregiver/Court-Appointed-Guardian/Parole-Officer/Big Sister Tea.  Because Sabrina's mother is a mortal, she is forbidden to see Sabrina before her 18th birthday, or she (the mother, not Sabrina) will be turned into a ball of wax.  No problem, because her mother is on an archeology dig in Peru and Sabrina's Aunt Zelda was to attend with her.  Zelda is called away on with business at the last moment and Sabrina does not want to go alone because the mean girls would make fun of her.  So she magically transports her mother to the high school.  All she has to do is not been seen by her mother.  Nancy Holder is a popular writer of tie-in novels, most notably in the Buffy-verse; she has written four novels and one collection about Sabrina.

"Monday:  The Interview" by Diana G. Gallagher.  Sabrina intends to interview a world-famous author for her school paper.  After she has committed to the interview, she discovers that the author absolutely refused to interviews with anyone at any time.  Diana Gallagher has written television tie-ins for Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the Buffy-verse, Charmed, Smallville, Sonic X, Star Trek, The Journey of Allen Strange, and The Secret World of Alex Mack, as well as eleven Sabrina tie-ins.

"Tuesday:  Smitten" by Ray Garton.  Sabrina's on-again, off-again human boyfriend (as opposed to her on-again, off-again half-witch boyfriend) appears to have gone completely ga-ga over a new girl in school and Sabrina is jealous.  Sabrina does not want to go back to going steady with him, but then again...she decides to use a spell to get him to temporarily fall for a girl he could never care for.  Spells can't go go awry, can they?

"Wednesday:  Love Canal" by Mel Odom.  Wanting to get away from his bad luck for a while (and figuring the bad luck would not travel with her), Sabrina decides to of on a dream date with her  sometimes-boyfriend, Harvey.  Enchanting him to believe he is dreaming all of this, she transports the two of them (and Salem, her familiar) to Venice.  Unfortunately, a television crew from a popular show in her hometown is also there and photographs Harvey knocking the venetians dead with his karaoke version of a Monkee's song...and they plan to air it the next morning.  Mel Odom has written dozens of books in a variety of fields:  action-adventure, computer strategy guides, fantasy, game-related fiction, juvenile movie novelizations, science fiction, and young adult, as well as comics.  Among his many books are seven novels in the Buffy-verse and seven Sabrina novels.

":Thuirsday:  Thursday's Child Works for a Living" by Mark Dubowski.  For five weeks the school's Spirit Club had been working on a special prop for the upcoming pep rally and football game -- a ten-foot long, mechanized version of the school mascot, the Fighting Scallion (the mascot was mean to be a Fighting Stallion, but a typo back in the school's history changed that).  Tresting the animated Scallion, Sabrina accidently blows its motor.  It will cost $50 to get a new motor and the Spirit Club's coffers has only $2.50.  How can Sabrina come up with $50 fast?   She manages to get a job assembling the popular Puzzle Dolls, which have become a fad akin to Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Kids.  the orders are too much for the staff to handle and the company may go under.  Can Sabrina save the company and earn her 450 without resorting to magic?   Mark Dubowski has written fiction and nonfiction for young adults and children, including three Sabrina tie-ins, two of them with his wife, Cathy East Dubowski (who follows).

"Friday:  The Play's the Thing" by Cathy East Dubowski.  the high school drama club is potting on an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and are going through a final rundown before the evening's performance.  Sabrina trips, knocks over a ladder, and gets a bucket of paint spilled on both the cast and the set.  The only thing that can save the show is a bit of Sabrina's magic, but every spell she casts seems to make it worse.  Cathy East Dubowski, wife of Mark Dubowski, has written more than 100 books for children and young adults, specializing in novelizations of movies and literary classics.  She has written ten Sabrina books, including two with her husband.

"Saturday:  Reflections in a Mirror Crack'd Up" by David Cody Weiss and Bobbi JG Weiss.  Sabrina casts a spell to see what her life will be like in the not-too-distant future (as opposed to the near future), sitting in front of her television to watch her future play out.  Did I mention that spells often go awry?  this time, she is sucked into the television and and has to live her future, rather than just watch it.  The authors have collaborated on a number of tie-in franchises, including Smallville, Star Trek, and The Journey of Allen Strange, as well as on eight Sabrina novels.

Because magic and spells can go awry (and for no other reason that I can see), Sabrina's curse of bad luck continues for an eighth day.

"Sunday:  Mom vs. Magic" by David Cody Weiss and Bobbi JG Weiss.  This one is based on one of the television episodes.  Salem is freaking out because his mother is coming to visit and she is unaware that he has been turned from a warlock to a cat as punishment for trying to take over the world.  Meanwhile Zelda and Hilda are on a visit to their mother, who always favored Zelda, and Harvey is having trouble trying to get the perfect gift for his mother.  Sabrina knows she cannot see her mother but she misses her and sends her a letter via magic; that, however, is against the rules, and the Witches Council has decreed that Sabrina must choose:  either never see her mother again or relinquish her witch powers forever.  This one has one line that almost made the entire book worthwhile for me:  "Could you help me buy a present for my mom?  Last time I got her a can opener.  I have to stop taking gift advice from my dad."

So Sabrina's bad luck -- her super bad luck --is nothing much, although i suppose it might be to a sometimes thoughtless teenager.  Sabrina, IMHO, is basically a turnip-brained fathead throughout, but what do I know?  I'm not an eleven-year-old girl form whom this book seems targeted.

There were a few smirks along the way, but basically this falls into the I-read-so-you-don't-have-to category.

Ray Garton's story, by the way, paled in comparison to the three novels he wrote for the series.

ROCKY KING DETECTIVE: MURDER PhD (OCTOBER 26, 1952)

Roscoe Karns stars as Inspector Rocky King.  three hours before Dayton Merrill is scheduled to be executed for murder, King gets a phone call from the man who claims to be the real murderer.  King is unable to get a stay of execution based on the telephone call alone, so he and Detective Sergeant Lane (Earl Hammond) must race against time to find the evidence that would save an innocent man's life.

Also featuring Todd Karns (Roscoe's son) as Sergeant Hart, and the voice of Grace Carney as Rocky King's wife (who is heard but never seen in the series).  Included in the cast of this episode were Somar Alberg, Ward Costello, John Anderson (Psycho, Eight Men Out, The Satan Bug), and Anne Roberts.  The announcer was Ken Roberts.

Directed by Wes Kenney and Lee Polk from a teleplay by Frank Phares; Roscoe Karns provided additional dialog.

Rocky King, Detective (also known as Inside Detective) was one of the earliest television detective shows, was broadcast live and aired for six seasons, from January 7, 1950 to December 26, 1954 on the Mutual Network.  It was one of the network's most popular programs.

Join King and Hart as they try to beat the clock and save a man's life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPluJA3onvM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILLY J. KRAMER

Billy J. (the "J" was added at the suggestion of John  Lennon, who thought it sound be a bit edgy) Kramer (born this day, 1943) and The Dakotas were managed by Brian Epstein in the Sixties and had several hits with Lennon-McCarthy songs that were never recorded by the Beatles, including "Bad to Me."  Afraid he would ever be in the shadow of the Beatles, Kramer turned down a Lennon-McCarthy song and instead recorded "Little Children," which became his biggest hit in the United States.  All of the releases following 1968's "Trains and Boats and Planes" failed to chart, as Kramer moved to a more ballad-like approach to his music.  soon after, Kramer and The Dakotas parted company and Kramer continued with cabaret and television appearances.  His last new album was 2013's I Won the Fight.  Kramer continues to perform; his  2024 single "Are you With Me/" made the Heritage chart.

He was part of the British Invasion 50th Anniversary tour of the US and UK in 2015.

"Little Children" (with the Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJBq7HY46oI

"Are You With Me?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fjyTNW7-eE

"I Couldn't Have Done It Without you"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmMIJKkpon8

"My Sweet Rose"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDkkAUA1l78

"Trains and Boats and Planes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIEpKZLH1GY

"Bad to Me" (with the Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUccayM0FyM

"Do You Want to Know a Secret?" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_BVJIShHU

"Pride (Is Such a Little Word)" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbdcgqlhLNU

"From a Window" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ivqShRLfU0

"I Call Your Name" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9w6OryY_I

"My Babe" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogm9imSeiEc

"I'm in Love" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXlNEp-nwco

"Neon City" (with The Dakotas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEzA0ADzjBQ

HYMN TIME

 Elvis (ahem) Presley (?) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWSGzpCZP5M

SUPER DETECTIVE LIBRARY #113: BLACKSHIRT AND THE SECRET OF COREY'S CASTLE (OCTOBER 1957)

 Richard Verrill, the professional thief known as "Blackshirt" turned mystery writer and crime fighter, was created by Graham Montague Jeffries (1900-1982) under the pseudonym "Bruce Graeme."  Jeffries wrote over 100 books over a period of 60 years, ten of which feature the popular hero; twenty additional novels were written by Jeffries' son Roderic under the name "Roderic Graeme."  "Bruce Graeme" had also written three historical crime novels about the character's 16th century French ancestor Monsieur Blackshirt, "a gallant scallywag"; these novels appeared under the name "David Graeme," who was purported to be Bruce Graeme's cousin, but was actually Jeffries himself.  It doesn't end there -- "Bruce Graeme also published three novels about Blackshirt's son, Lord Blackshirt.

Britain's Super Detective Library (All in Pictures) featured Blackshirt in at least thirteen issues for 1956 to 1959.  "Blackshirt and the Secret of Corey's Castle" is credited to Roderic Graeme.

"This is a story of a damsel in distress -- Caroline Simpson.  Because of her father's job she was kidnapped by a big-time underworld racketeer.  Her father was Assistant Commissioner of Police -- but her couldn't help her..

"There was only one man who could help Caroline -- a man who loved adventure, a knight errant in modern dress -- a man who carried on a war against crime with weapons with weapons the police dared not use -- BLACKSHIRT!

"Blackshirt fought the scum of the underworld with their own cunning methods -- and there was no more worthy adversary for him than Brady Stevens -- a racketeer who would stiop at nothing to gain his own ends!

"It was Blackshirt's job to trace the kidnapped Caroline to grim, forbidding Corey's Castle -- -- and to fight Brady Stevens on his own ground -- -- --"

Let's go along for the ride, shall we?

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=95776&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK: CODE OF ARMS

 Code of Arms by Lawrence Block & Harold King, 1981

When Lawrence Block set out to write a World War Ii spy thriller he found himself a bit over his head and thriller writer Harold King was eventually asked to come on board as a co-author.  The result is a detailed and historically accurate (as much as possible for a work of fiction) account that both explains why Hitler never invaded England and why Rudolph Hess tried to broker a peace deal with England without Hitler's knowledge.   Not a typical Lawrence Block book by any means but still chockful of what you would expect from him:  deft characterization, tight plotting, rapid pacing, and a great read.

One of Germany's greatest weapons was the unbreakable Enigma coding machine.  But in a top-secret effort the British have broken the Enigma code.  and now they must do everything they can to prevent the Germans from learning that their code has been broken.  Enter James Carstairs, a totally ruthless and driven man placed in charge of not letting the Germans know that Enigma had been broken.  the British have been selectively using the information they have gathered, but the fear is that the Germans may soon suspect that their enigma messages were no longer safe.  Carstairs set up a phony network of spies in order make the Germans assume that the captured information had come from a high-ranking Nazi collaborator rather than from Enigma.  The Nazi they picked for their unwitting foil was Rudolph Hess, the third in the Nazi government and a close friend of Hitler.  The people chosen for Carstairs' network would have no idea that the network was phony and no idea that they were immanently expendable.

American Ted Campbell was an avowed neutral although he had close ties to both England and Germany.  The son of a famed World War I fighting Ace and now the owner of Campbell Aircraft, with main offices and manufacturing facilities in Germany, he has had a personal relationship with many of the Third Reich's top leaders -- not realizing the he was being used as a useful idiot.  With the death of his father, Ted has assumed a mostly administrative role in the company, waiting for the endless paperwork fostered by the German government to be finished so that he can assume control of his company.  Because of the war,  his two major manufacturing plants have been closed...or so he thinks.  Actually they are being used to secretly supply the Luftwaffe with Campbell airplane motors for the German war effort.  It is only when he discovers that a German plane that had crashed into a British estate. killing his fiancee. had been outfitted with a Campbell engine that Ted realizes he had been a dupe.  Ted is recruited by Carstairs and now must navigate dangerous German political waters without truly what his true purpose in this game was.

Johann Regenhauer is a bloodless, psychopathic SS officer wanting to advance his career.  He is charged by Reinhardt Heydrich to investigate rumors of a group of spies working with someone in the fourth Reich.  He does this in thez bloodiest, most ruthless way possible.  Getting only bits and pieces of the plot through torture, Reganhauer soon determines wrongly that Campbell is intricately involved, b ut he must tread carefully because Campbell is friendly with the still powerful Hess.

Hess, meanwhile, while remaining loyal to his friend Hitler and to Germany, feels that it is a grave error for Germany to invade England.  The true enemy is Russia.  If he can somehow arrange for England to join with Germany in attacking Russia, it would be a glorious victory for Hitler.

Kate Buchanan, is an American war correspondent broadcasting from Germany, well-liked because her reporting has caused no problems with the German censors.  She was once a lover of Ted Campbell, but later married a Communist sympathizer; he husband was killed in the Spanish Civil War and Kate has become allied with an offshoot Communist group working in Germany.  Ted learns that the group will soon be targeted by the Gestapo and, fearing for Kate, urges her to leave; when he tries to leave, her former allies try to blow her up, leaving her permanently blind.  Ted's feelings for Kate resurface and she becomes a pawn in the game between him and Reganhauer.

Meanwhile Ted has to try to stop Germany's planned invasion of England and has get an unwitting Hess to Scotland and into the hands of the British...

A finely-wrought thriller.

Block's co-author, Harold King, was best known for his novel Paradigm Red, which was made into the 11977 television film Red Alert.  His other novels include The Task Master, Closing Ceremonies, and Hahnemann Sequela.  

Code of Arms received only one printing from ists publisher, although the publisher evidently released an eBook version that same year (1981).  It was reprinted once in paperback by Berkley in 1982.  It has not been reprinted since.  It is one of only a few of Block novels that he has not reprinted under his own imprint, LB Books.  In terms of page count, it remains Block's second longest novel, coming in at 441 pages to Small Town's 448 pages.

This may not be the Block you are used to but it is a captivating and thrilling read.  

LUX RADIO THEATRE: IS ZAT SO? (SEPTEMBER 1, 1936)

Is Zat So? began as a play written by James Gleason and Richard Taber and produced by George Brinton McLellan and ran for 634 performances in New York's 39th Street Theatre, and opened the same year at the Adelphi Theatre in London..  The comedy, starring Gleason, Sidney Riggs, and Armstrong, featured two brothers -- a boxer and his manager -- who are hired by a high society gent to teach him how to fight.  Lurking in the wings is an unscrupulous brother-in-law, eager to gain control of the man's and his sister's inheritance.

The play was adapted as a silent film in 1927, featuring George O'Brien, Edmund Lowe, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and directed by Alfred E. Green from a script by Philip Klein.  the only known copies of the film were destroyed in the 1937 Fox film fire, and it is now considered a lost film.

Lux Radio Theatre, ran from 1934 to 1955 on, first, the NBX Blue Network, then consecutively on ABC, CBS, and NBC Radio.  For the first two seasons, the program dramatized Broadway plays, before moving on to recent films;  a singular effort was made to feature the original stars of the plays and films whenever possible, usually paying them $6000 for an appearance.  The hour-long show was recorded in front of a live audience.  The show continued on television as Lux Video Theatre through the 1950s.  Cecil B. DeMille served as host of the show from 1936 to the beginning of 1945.

Robert Armstrong, who appeared in the original Broadway play, is featured in this adaptation, along with James Cagney and Boots Mallory.  

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_UrZ4gpn8M&list=PLlUoyloCGlWzovaTaxVhZfMH9C0StdA95&index=14

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: GYNECOLOGIA

 "Gynecologia" by Gilbert Cannan (from Windmills, A Book of Fables, 1915)

Gilbert Cannan (1884-1955) was a British translator (Rolland's Jean-Christophe, Heine's Memoirs, and books by Chekhov and Larbaud), novelist, essayist, poet, and playwright who managed to published more than thirty titles over fifteen years before he succumbed to insanity and was institutionalized for the last 32 years of his life.  In 1914, near the beginning of his career, Cannan was listed as one of four significant up-and-coming authors by Samual Butler; the other three were D. H. Lawrence, Compton Mackenzie, and Hugh Walpole -- heady company, indeed.  Cannan served as secretary to J. M. Barrie and began a relationship with Barrie's wife whom he eventually married; not only did Cannan get Barrie's wife, he also got Barrie's Newfounsland Luath, who was the inspiration for the Darling's dog Nana in Peter Pan.  An earlier relationship failed when the woman left him for explorer Robert Falconer Scott.  When his marriage ended in divorce, he began an affair with Gwen Wilson ("a show stopping beauty"), and when Wilson married British MP Henry Mond, 2nd Baronet Melchett, the three of them formed a menage a trois.  Cannan's circle included D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, John Middleton Murray, Dora Carrington, Bertrand Russell, Ottoline Morrell, Dorothy Brett, C. R. W. Nevinson, and the artist Mark Gertler.   One of his cousins was the noted mystery novelist Joanna Cannan.  A pacifist and conscientious object, he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1916, in part due to the horror of war but also the possibility that he might be conscripted.   A more significant mental breakdown occurred in 1923 an proved to be incurable; he was sent to the Priory Hospital in Roehampton, and then confined to Hollooway /sanitarium for the rest of his life.

"Gynecologia" appeared as the third story in the collection Windmills, which tells of the fictional (and allegorical) country of Fatland, whose traditional enemy were the Fatters.  This particular tale satirizes in some detail the near-future sexual mores of that dystopia as reported by American Conrad Lewis:

"I, Conrad P. Lewis, of Crown Imperial, Pa., U.S.A., do hereby declare that the following narrative of my adventures is a plain truthful tale with nothing added or taken away.  At the end of a long life I am able to remember unmoved things that for many years I could not call to mind without horror and disgust.  Even now I cannot see the charming person of my daughter without some faint discomfort, to be rid of which (for I would die in peace) I have determined to write my story.

"The whole civilized world will remember how, during the years when Europe was sunk under the vileness of a scientific barbarism, there was suddenly an end of news from Fatland.  Our ships that sailed for her ports did not return.  Her flag had disappeared from the high seas.  Her trade had entirely ceased.  She exported neither coal nor those manufactured goods which had carried her language, customs, and religion to the ends of the earth.  Her colonies (we learned) had received only a message to say that they must in future look after themselves, as, indeed, they were capable of doing as any other collection of people.  In one night Fatland ceased to be.

"It was at first assumed that her enemies the Fatters had invaded and captured her, but, clearly, they would not destroy her commerce.  Moreover, the Fatters were at that time and for many years afterwards living in a state of siege, keeping nine hostile nations at bay upon their frontiers.  This was the last of the great wars, leading, as we now know, to the abolition of the idea of nationality, which endowed a nation with the attributes of a vain and insolent human being, so that its actions were childish and could only be made effective by force.  When that idea died in the apathy and suffering and bitterness of the years following the great wars then the glorious civilisation which we now enjoy became possible."

So, if it wasn't the Fatters. then what could have had such a devastating effect on the once glorious Fatland?

Allegory and satire is always tricky, perhaps even more so when read nearly 110 years after the fact.  nonetheless, this is an enjoyable tale and, for some reason, I felt is appropriate to present it to you now...

The entire book, Windmills, a Book of Fables, is at the link.  the three other stories in the book are "Samways Island", "Ultimus", and ""Out of Work".

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t3513wd0s&seq=1

OVERLOOKED OATER: UNDER WESTERN STARS (1938)

Selected for admission to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 2009 as being 'culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and worthy of being preserved for all time, Under Western Stars also marked the first starring role for Roy Rogers, made under contract to Republic Pictures after a walkout by singing cowboy star Gene Autry.  The film's song, "Dust", was nominated for an Academy Award for best song.

John Fairbank (Guy Usher, The Case of the Black Cat, The Spanish Cape Mystery, Buck Rogers), who runs the local water company, has refused to allow free water for farmers and ranchers, forcing Roy rogers and his men to overpower guards at the dam and release a water valve.  A sympathetic judge fines Roy only one dollar, while also convincing him to follow in his father's footsteps and run for congress.  Elected to the House of Representatives. Roy brings the misery of the "Dust Bowl" plight to the attention of the politicians.  Roy is secretly helped by Fairbanks' daughter, Eleanor (Carol Hughes, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, Renfrew of the Royal Mounted, The Border Legion).  When Roy needs the backing of a key congressman, he arranges for an inspection trip, but the congressman is unimpressed.  So slyboots Roy gets the inspection party stranded without water to make a point.

Also featuring a familiar cast of faces and character actors:  Smiley Burnette, Tom Chatterton, Kenneth Harlan (he of nine[!] wives -- there may have been more wives, but they weren't his), Stephen Chase, Earl Dwire, Dick Elliott, Slim Whitaker, Jack Rockwell, and the Maple City Four (Frits Meissner, Al Rice, Art James, and Pat Petterson(.  Among those in uncredited roles are George Montgomery (Philip Marlowe in The Brasher Doubloon), Henry Hall, Jack Ingram, and (of course) Trigger (his first film).

Directed by Joseph Kane from a script by Dowell McGowan, Stuart McGowan, and Betty Burbridge.

As hinted above, Under Western Stars was meant to be a vehicle for Gene Autry under the title Washington Cowboy.

 Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwmCvndTNl0&list=PLpAGnumt6iV4zCl3zeB75j6eKEPmDBSYC&index=31

BITS & PIECES

Openers:  Being convinced that his end was nearly come, and having lived long on earth (and all these years in Spain, in the golden time), the lord of the Valleys of Arguento Harez, whose heights are not Valladolid, called for his eldest son.  And so he addressed him when he was come to his chamber, dim with its strange red hangings and august with the splendour of Spain:  "O eldest son of mine, your younger brother being dull and clever, on whom those traits that women love have not been bestowed by God; and know my eldest son that here on earth , and for ought I know Hereafter, but certainly here on earth, these women be the arbiters of all things; and how this be so God knoweth only, for they are vain and variable, yet it is surely so:  your younger brother then not having been given those ways that women prize, and God knows why they prize them for they are vain ways that I have in mind and that won me the Valleys of Arguento Harez, from whose heights Angelico swore he saw Valladolid once, and that won me moreover also...but that is long ago and it is all gone now...ah well, well...what was I sating?"  And being reminded of the discourse, the old lord continued, sating, "For himself he will win nothing, and therefore I will leave him these my valleys, for not unlikely it was for some sin of mine that his spirit was visited with dullness, as Holy Writ sets forth, the sins of the father being visited upon the children; and thus I make him amends.  but to you I leave my long, most flexible, ancient Castilian blade, which infidels dreaded if old songs be true.  Merry and lithe it is, and its true temper strength when it meets another blade as two friends sing when met after many years.  It is most subtle, nimble nd exultant, and what it will not win for you in the wars, that shall be won for you by your mandolin, for you have a way with it that goes well with the old sirs of Spain.  And choose, my son, rather a moonlight night when you sing under those curved balconies that I know, ah me, so well; for there is much advantage in the moon.  In the first place maidens see in the light of the moon, especially in the Spring, more romance than you might credit, for it adds for them a mystery in the darkness which the n ight has not when it is merely black.  And if any statue should gleam on the  grass near by, or if the magnolia be in blossom, or even the nightingale singing, or if anything be beautiful in the night, in any of these things also there is advantage; for a maiden will attribute to her lover all manner of things that are not his at all, but are only an outpouring of the hand of God.  there is the advantage also in the moon, that, if interrupters come, the moonlight is better suited to the play of a blade than the mere darkness of night; indeed but the merry play of my sword in the moonlight was often a joy to see, it so flashed, so danced, so sparkled.  In the moonlight also one makes no unworthy stroke, buy hath scope for those fair passes that Sevastiani taught, which were long ago the wonder of Madrid."

-- Don Rodrigues:  Chronicles of the Shadow Valley by Lord Dunsany (1922)

And so begins the wandering, episodic adventures of Rodrigues in an ancient Spain that never existed.  The dreamlike, mystical, romantic fantasy, embued with a rich lyrical language and infused with a sly wit, owes not a little of Cervantes and his Don Quixote; to the point where Rodrigues eventually gets his own Sancho Panza before the successful conclusion of his quest.

Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett (1878-1957), eighteenth Baron Dunsany, was a man of many parts:  "peer, soldier, novelist, poet, sportsman, globetrotter, playwright, translator, essayist,", one-time chess champion of Ireland, and "the worst-dressed man" in the country.   A master of Anglo-Irish fantasy, Dunsany penned hundreds of short stories, including those set in the invented world of Peguna (with its own unique pantheon of gods), and the adventures of Joseph Jorkens (who would relate his many fantastic experiences for a drink).  Of his more than ninety books, fourteen  were novels (some published posthumously), and Don Rodigues:  Chronicles of Shadow Valley, to be followed by his most famous novel, The King of Elfland's Daughter.   A sequel to Dom Rodrigues, The Charwoman's Shadow, was published in 1926.  Dunsany's short story "Two Bottles of Relish" (Time and Tide, November 12, 1932) has been an enduing classic crime story and has been reprinted at least 43 (!) times.

  

Incoming:

• Gary A. Braunbeck, Mr. Hands.  Horror novel.  It was an odd doll, carved out of wood, with stubby legs but long arms and huge hands.  So little Sarah named it Mr. Hands.  She love that doll...until the day she was murdered.  Now her mother, Lucy, has discovered something amazing about her daughter's doll -- it allows her to control another Mr. Hands.  But this one is no doll.  He's a living, terrifying being with tremendous power.    Mr. Hands's deadly power is at Lucy's command.  He will do whatever she tells him -- even kill.  To Lucy this is a rare opportunity, a chance to see that justice is done.  Her justice.  She decides who will live and who will suffer a horrible death, and Mr. Hands carries out the sentence without mercy.  But once Mr. Hands is unleashed, will anyone be able to stop him?"  This edition incudes the International Horror Guild award-winning novella, "Kiss of the Mudman."
• Lawrence Block, a bunch of early novels, mostly erotica originally published by Midwood or by Midnight Reader  (and associated lines):  Candy (originally by "Sheldon Lord"), Carla (originally by "Sheldon Lord"; Block's first published book); College for Sinners (originally by "Andrew Shaw"; also published as The Libertines); Four Lives at the Crossroads (originally published as Crossroads of Lust by "Andrew Shaw"); Sex Takes a Holiday (originally by "Howard Bond"; a long-lost novel -- for years Block did not known if the book was published, or if so, under what title or what name); Sin Bum (originally by "Andrew Shaw");  Tramp (originally by "Andrew Shaw"); The Wife Swapper (originally by "Andrew Shaw"); and A Woman Must Love (originally by "Sheldon Lord."  Also, As Dark as Christmas Gets, a Chip Harrison story originally released as a booklet by the Mysterious Bookshop.  (I'm not done with Block yet -- see Cornell Woolrich, below.)  Block has released much of his backlist lately under his own imprint, LB Books.
• Larry Correia, Monster Hunter International.  Fantasy novel, with high-powered weapons.  "Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer.  It turns out that monsters are real.  All the things from myth, legends, and B movies are out there, waiting in the shadows.  Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry.  On the other side are people who kill monsters for a living.  Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business.  And now Owen is their new recruit.  Business is good..."  The first of (thus far) eight novels in the series; there are also a number of short stories and additional books in the franchise.
• Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad.  2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with some fantastic elements.  "a set of thirteen interrelated stories with a large set of characters all relating to Bernie Salazar, a record company executive, and his assistant, Sasha.  The book centers on the mostly self-destructive characters of different ages who, as they grow older, are sent in unforeseen, and sometimes unusual, directions by life.  The stories shift back and forth in time from the 1970s to the present and into the near future."  The book also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction in 2010.  a sequel, The Candy House, was published in 2022.
• Loren D. Estleman, Adventures of Johnny Vermillion.  Western.  "Johnny Vermillion's theater troupe brings masterpieces tot he wild west.  The four actors are versatile enough to wear many costumes and play many roles.  A few props, a little makeup, a costume and  -- voila -- applause on the rugged frontier.  Johnny also arranges a special attraction in each town.  While his actors bustle on and off the stage in many roles, one plays the villain in the bank.  Then the troupe takes the curtain calls and makes its escape aboard a train.  Johnny Vermillion is one of the most entertaining rogues ever to turn a dishonest dollar.  Any audience will love a troupe that can transform A Midsummer's Night Dream into grand larceny."
• John Farris, Soon She Will Be Gone.  Thriller.  "To the outward eye the billionaire Trevillion family appears to be the paradigm of culture and class.  But when hot young artist Sharan Norbeth is taken under their wing, she discovers that family loyalties have become horribly twisted, and hidden evil festers below the surface.  Sharan must pry apart the mystery hidden in the family's innermost core -- and fast, if she doesn't want to disappear into a traceless oblivion."
• Chester Gould, Chester Gould's The Complete Dick Tracy, Volume 20:  1961-1962, Dailies and Sundays.  Compilation of the newspaper comic strip.  Along the way we meet such characters as Spready, Happy Voten. Keip Choppin, Trusty, Mona the Mouthpiece, and Little Boy Beard.  There were, I believe, 26 volumes in this series, covering Tracy's career from 1931 to 1977, when Max Allan Collins took over the writing chores and breathed new life into the strip.
• Peter Haining, The Compleat Birdman:  An Illustrated History of Man-powered Flight.  Nonfiction.  "The amazing history of man's search for flight is recounted in texts and a wealth of illustrations.  Drawing on old legends, folklore, eye-witness reports, newspaper cuttings, literature, and much unpublished material, and including many illustrations and engravings of considerable rarity, the author has produced the first full history of this phenomenon, from the days of the cave man to the space age.  It is a glorious panorama of centuries of near achievement, and often heartbreaking failure, culminating in man's latest aeronautical enthusiasm, hang-gliding.  The author comments o  such provocative issues as whether the witches of tradition could fly, as rumour maintained, whether Leonardo da Vinci, who played such a significant role in the development of aeronautics, actually tried to fly himself, and whether there might be any truth in the theory that the first men possessed the ability to fly, and then lost it through their own folly."   A lot of bushwah covered here, folks.  Haining was best known as an indefatigable (and sometimes flawed) anthologist.
• Gar Anthony Haywood, All the Lucky Ones Are Dead.  An Aaron Gunnar mystery, the sixth in the series.  "Young gangsta-rap superstar C. E. Digga Jones has everything to live for -- respect, money, and a beautiful family.  so when he commits suicide, questions need asking.  But it turns out the dead man's perfect life was far from perfect -- and the more questions came up, the more answers point to a motive for murder."
• Janet Hutchins, editor, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September/October 2021 and September/October 2023 issues.  Every nonce in a while someone donates copies of EQMM to our local library, where they are sold for a quarter apiece.   No fool me, I pick them up when I can.  These issues include stories by Jerome Charyn, Joyce Carol Oates, Liza cody, Bill Pronzini, and Twist Phelan, among others.
• Cathleen Jordan, editor, Alfred Hitchcock's Shrouds and Pockets.  Mystery anthology of 29 stories from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, first published from 1966 to 1981; also issued as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Anthology #26 (Winter 1988).  Authors include Edward D. Hoch, John Lutz, Bill Pronzini, Jack Ritchie, Lawrence Treat, Kaye Nolte Smith, Richard Deming, Arthur Porges, Edward Wellen, and Joe l. Hensley.
• Stuart Kaminsky, CSI:NY:  Dead of Winter.  Original tie-in novel.  "The body of a middle-aged man is found in the elevator of a ritzy doorman building on the Upper East Side.  Mac Taylor and Aiden Burns's initial investigation yields no bullets, no DNA evidence, and no motive.  Could this be the perfect crime?  Meanwhile, only a few blocks away, Stella Bonasera and Danny Messer investigate the murder of a witness being held in protective custody.  The law enforcement officers on duty swear that the victim spent the night in a locked hotel room -- only to be found dead in the morning.  From the heart of Midtown to the outer boroughs, the New York CSI team must piece together the evidence and solve two puzzling crimes in the city that never sleeps."
• Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise.  Crime novel.  "In hindsight, Victoria's Secret model Kelly Barr thinks maybe it wasn't such a great idea to accompany her callgirl roommate Chloe to Tony Paradiso's house.  The wealthy, eighty-four-year-old retired Motor City lawyer's idea of fun was innocent enough; watching old Michigan football games on TV while a sexy companion shakes her pom-poms and prances around topless in a U of M cheerleader's outfit.  On this particular night, though, two killers decide to get into the action, leaving Chloe and 'Mr. Paradiso' dead in the old man's living room while Kelly is elsewhere with Tony's right-hand man.  there is a bright spot, an opportunity for a very profitable score, provided Kelly can convince the cops she's somebody else.  But Homicide Detective Frank Delsa isn't stupid, even if he is lonely, good-hearted...and about to sign up for more trouble than he ever bargained for."
• James Reasoner, Fear on the Fever Coast.  Sword and sorcery, Book 2 in the Snakehaven series.  "Young adventurer Jorras Trevayle is back, penetrating deeper into a dangerous world of giant serpents, sorcerers, pirates, and madmen.  A dead.ly plague is laying waste to the land, and the secret to its cure lies within the sanctum of a vengeful wizard.  Together with a group of brigands and cutthroats, Trevayle sets out to obtain that cure, but the real question is which is the biggest threat to his continued survival:  the sorcerer who wants to settle a score with him, the swamp surrounding the old plantation house known as Ophidionne, or the giants serpents that roam the night searching for prey!"
• Selden Rodman, editor, 100 American Poems.  An old Penguin Signet paperback from 1948.  Covering poets from Edward Taylor (1644?-1729) to Robert Lowell (1917-  )  [SPOILER ALERT:  Lowell died in 1977, but Rodman had no way of knowing that in 1948]  An interesting display of the eve-changing, yet always American, poetry landscape.  Some of there will surely show up in my Bits & Pieces posts on this blog.
• John Saul, Creature.  Horror novel.  "A powerful high-tech company.  A postcard-pretty company town.  Families.  Children,  Sunshine.  Happiness.  A high school football team that never -- ever -- loses.  And something else.  Something horrible...Now, there's a new family in town.  A shy nature-loving teenager.  A new hometown.  A new set of bullies.  Maybe the team's sports clinic can help him.  Rebuild him.  Then they won't hurt him again.  They won't dare."  A best-selling author of psychological suspense and horror novels, Saul has been big beans in the horror genre since his start in 1977, although his popularity faded somewhat in recent decades.  His earlier works, especially, were sometimes criticized for doing bad things to children.  Creature (1989) would most likely fall into that category.
• "Dell Shannon" (Elizabeth Linington), Appearances of Death, Crime File, Deuces Wild, Felony at Random, and Spring of Violence.  All mysteries featuring LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza.  Linington wrote 37 novels featuring Mendoza, plus six other novels as "Dell Shannon."  She also wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms "Lesley Egan," "Egan O'Neill," and "Anne Blaisdell."  In all, she published 82 novels (if I counted correctly).  She was one of the first female writers of the police procedural novel, and has been dubbed the "Queen of Procedurals."   Two of the books in the Mendoza series (as well as Nightmare by "Anne Blaisdell") were nominated for Edgars.  I have to admit to never having read her work, in part because of my severe antipathy of her having been an active member of the John Birch Society.
• "Richard Stark" (Donald E. Westlake) , Backflash.  A Parker novel.  "Parker's got a couple of rules that have helped him keep alive throughout his long career.  One of those is never to work on a boat.  But with a gambling boat cruising down the Hudson, stuffed to the gunwales with cash, Parker's got a plan, a team, and a new rule:  a shot at a big enough score makes any rule worth breaking.  Parker and his crew hit the boat, but as always, there are a lot of complications -- and a lot of bodies -- before this one's in the bag."
• Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash.  Science fiction, the British Science Fiction and the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning novel.  "In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CasaNostra Pizza, Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince.  Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring the infocalypse.  Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately."
• James White, Double Contact.  Science fiction, a Sector General novel.  "Sector general.  It's the massive hospital space station out on the Rim, where human and alien medicine meet.  Now, in the latest adventure, the empathic Dr. Prilicla, a veteran of Sector General for years, is put in command of an expedition answering three distress beacons.  What he finds is two hitherto-unknown intelligent species, one of which has nearly wiped out the other.  And he also finds evidence of a botched first contact -- along with a rare opportunity to set matters right.  Assuming, as always, that he make an accurate diagnosis..."  The Sector General stories are some of the best, and most imaginative,  in science fiction, made all the more remarkable by their innate core of decency.  Always worth reading.
• Cornell Woolrich & Lawrence Block, Into the Night.  Suspense novel.  An unfinished novel at the time of Woolrich's death, the book was missing a beginning, and end, and a few minor parts in the middle.  It fell to block to fill in the blanks and the book was originally published in 1887, however "better editing might have expunged the book's conflicting statements, anachronisms and unbelievable coincidences, but one suspects Woolrich knew exactly what he was doing when he put is aside."  Now a new edition has come out this year in which Block tweaked the original novel as published and provided a new ending more in keeping with Woolrich's vision (Block had originally given the story a happier ending).  The book remains 90% Woolrich and 10% Block.
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, The Palace.  Historical horror novel, the second in a series of  26 novels (and one collection) featuring the vampire Count of Saint-German.  "This spell-binding novel weaves an unforgettable tale of love, power and corruption in 15th-century Florence.  The rich collection of characters includes Laurenzo deMedici, who suffers from a mysterious and lingering ailment, Laurenzo's friend Botticelli, and Botticelli's cousin Estasia, a woman tortured by her own unquenchable desire.  Inextricably linked with these three is a stranger -- a very wealthy, mysterious newcomer to Florence named Francesco Rogoczy da San Germano.  Franceso builds himself a house that rivals the most sumptuous in the city.  No one knows for sure what rituals take place in his palace, but people suspect many things.  The stranger never eats in public; has no mirrors in his home -- even his manner of lovemaking is strange.  Francescos most powerful enemy is the fanatical monk named Savonarola -- an obsessed ascetic whose hypnotic effect on the citizens of Florence has led to the burning of Botticelli's paintings on the grounds of profanity.  Savonarola's influence is so malevolent that people have been burned at the stake.  Francesco must decide to flee with his life or to risk all to save a woman he loves from certain death."  Once upon a time a time I read everything I could fins by this author then I stopped.  I don't know why.

Screw Drivers of 1940:  Probably not what it sounds.  Here's an educational film from Shell Oil about reckless driving and pedestrian safety, shot in and around Los Angeles.  Oh, the traffic woes of eight decades ago...

You may recognize Fox Movietone News comedian Lou Lehr or Jack Benny's announcer Don Wilson.  then again, maybe you won't.

https://archive.org/details/6062_Screw_Drivers_of_1940_01_00_48_26

Chicken Chowder Two-Step Rag:  The song was written in 1905 by Irene Giblin.  This undated recording by Ossman Dudley Trio (Vess Ossman, Audley Dudley, & George Dudley) features banjo, mandolin, and harp-guitar.  Banjoist Ossman (1868-1923) began recording in 1893 and became one of the most recorded musicians of his day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AefVy6Xv-4A

And here's the song performed via piano roll:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOCFzPaUe4I

Today Is World Elephant Day:  Celebrate by taking your piano to Elephants World in Thailand and playing Debussy's "Clair de Lune" to an eighty-year-old elephant.  Or you can let Paul Barton do it while both you and Ampan -- that's the elephant's name -- enjoy the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qQOGCyRbY

It's Also National Gooey Butter Cake Day:  Gooey butter Cake has been with us sine the 1930s when it was accidentally invented by a baker in St. Louis who goofed by mixing the proportion of butter in a coffee cake.  His oops was a boon to future taste buds.

Here's a simple four-step recipe to make this divine treat:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014032-st-louis-gooey-butter-cake

King Philip's War:  Today marks the 348th anniversary of the effective end of King Philip's War, between a group of indigenous natives in Northern New England and the New England colonies, lasting from 1675 to1676.  The name came from Metacom, the Pokanoket chief and Wampanoag sachem, who had adopted the name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Plymouth Colony.  Metacom became tribal chief in 1663 following his father's death, but he rejected his father's alliance with the colonies because of many flagrant violations.  In 1675 three Wampanoags were hanged in Plymouth Colony for the murder of another Wampanoag, inflaming the situation.  Native raiding parties began to attack homes and villages throughout New England.  The colonies gathered the largest armed force that New England had yet mustered -- 1000 militia and 150 Native allies; the militia made a devastating attack on the Wampanoag's allies, the Narragansetts, killing some 600 in the Great Swamp Fight near Kingston Rhode Island.. As the Narragansetts retreated, they burned communities along the way, including Providence.  John Alderman, a Wampanoag 'Praying Indian" -- a Native american who had converted to Christianity -- had been an ally of king Philip, but turned against him when Philip killed his brother.  Alderman shot and killed Philip on August 12, 1676, effectively ending the war, although sporadic fighting continued until the Treaty of Casco Bay was signed on April 12, 1678.  As a reward, Alderman was given Philip's head and one hand, keeping them in a bucket of rum and exhibiting them for a fee.

King Philp's War was the bloodiest war of Colonial times, resulting in the deaths of 1000 colonists and 3000 natives.  It also marked the beginning of a new era for the colonies -- for the first time they fought without aid from Britain, in initiating a sense of independence that would grow over the next century.

Dad Joke:  What's the difference between a lion and a tiger?  A lion won't golf, but a Tiger wood.

Happy Birthday, Gladys Bentley:  Bentley (1907-1960) was a Black, lesbian, cross-dressing  Harlem Renaissance blues singer who as often backed by a chorus line of drag queens.  Following Prohibition she relocated to Los Angeles where she was known as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs", but her career began to decline.  Although openly lesbian, she claimed to have been "cured" during the McCarthy Era by taking female hormones.  nonetheless, her deep booming voice expressed a talent that can not be denied.

"Worried Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIVgbyLfJhk

Boogie'n My Woogie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIVgbyLfJhk

"Big Gorilla Man"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aJ5gQVWO0A

"Red Beans and Rice"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uebXJFgw-0s

'How Long how Long Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I4n5ql23mA

"Lay It on the Line"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1ZccLiEsmg

"Wild Geese blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkEouYyNtcs

"How Much Can I Stand?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njiJYbeTeKM

"Moanful Wailin' Blues"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOrXKOKuYYw

Florida Man:

• Florida Man and Convicted Murderer Anthony Todt, 48, is suing the Osceola country sheriff's Office, the Osceala County Jail, former Sheriff Russell Gibson, and other officials for releasing the contents of a letter he wrote to his father while incarcerated.  Todt had pleaded guilty to murdering his wife and three children, aged 13, 11, and 4, along with the family dog, Breezy; in his confession he detailed exactly how he had done it.  The letter to his father details a much different story and blames the deaths of his children and his dog on his wife.  Jail officials typically scan outgoing letters from prisoners for security reasons.  Todt claims that the release of this letter violated his due process rights and constituted illegal search and seizure.  The murders happened in 2019 and Todt was convicted in 2022.  the case drew some attention when it was revealed that, when he was 4, Todt witnessed his father attempt to kill his mother, who survived the attack.
• Florida Man with Very Weird Facial Tattoos Wade Wilson, 30, has had his death penalty sentencing delayed.  Wilson was convicted of the 2019 murders of Kristin Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, and was due to be sentenced last month, but his lawyers have said that doctors needed for more time to evaluate him.  A new Florida law requires that at least eight out of twelve jurors must recommend the death penalty before it is given; nine of twelve jurors recommended the death penalty for Wilson in the murder of Kristine Melton, while ten out of twelve recommended it for Ruiz's death.  the hearing is now scheduled for August 27.  Wilson is also facing two additional charges stemming from separate incidents while he was incarcerated -- an attempted jail break and an attempt to smuggle drugs.  Meanwhile Wilson's jail inbox has been flooded with over 3900 messages from women and fans, and he has been sent 754 photos -- 163 of which have been rejected by prison officials because of "inappropriate content."  Go figure.  A woman who had dated Wilson in 2018 )pre-face tattoos) said that he was nice and was never violent to her -- until he wasn't; they argued when he started using cocaine and he choked her "two or three times," threw her on the floorboard of her car, cut off her clothes with a knife and sexually assaulted her; ; she claimed the hospital took over 200 photos of the alleged abuse, but the photos have disappeared.  When she filed a complaint with the police, an officer told her that Wilson told him that she she was sexually "into that kind of thing," and no charges were filed.  a year later, much the same thing happened with Kristine Melton, with far more tragic results.   It should be noted that this Wade Wilson has no connection to the fictional Wade Wilson who is Deadpool.
• Florida Man Jasiel Menfarrol, 33, tried to abscond with over $30,000 in Pokemon cards but was stopped by two Mixed Martial Arts coached who restrained him until the police arrived.  the store's general manager told the thief to drop the cards but he "simply looked back, laughing."  The the MMA coaches from the studio next door came...
• An unnamed Florida Man has been caught on live video climbing a cell tower in Miami and disconnecting the power, causing damage estimated to be between $100,000 and $500,000.  The man evidently posed as a T-Mobile worker.  The man, whoever he was, knew what he was doing and avoided touching any boxes that might have been dangerous.  No motive has been given for the act, although this is Florida -- do we really need a motive?

Good News:

• New Bandages heal wounds 30% faster.       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-electric-bandages-heal-wounds-30-quicker-than-conventional-dressings/
• Another $600 million to fund medical students -- this time for historically Black colleges.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/bloomberg-gives-away-another-600-million-to-fund-medical-students-this-time-for-hbc-and-universities/
• 12-year-old girl earns fishing "black belt."       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/12-year-old-girl-earns-black-belt-of-fishing-becoming-master-angler-of-maryland/
• Farmer helps troubled youth to grow and sell food for the disadvantaged.      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/4th-generation-farmer-helps-youth-flunking-out-of-school-to-grow-and-sell-food-for-disadvantaged-in-minnesota/
• Officer "Macgyvers" a save for toddler at bottom of a ten-foot hole.   https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/macgyver-minded-officer-saves-kansas-toddler-from-bottom-of-10-foot-hole-with-makeshift-catchpole/
• Doctor removes lung tumor using robot from 3000 miles away.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/chinese-doctor-removes-patients-lung-tumor-using-robot-from-3000-miles-away/
• Community comes together to rebuild brick wall of mosque damaged by rioters.     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/community-comes-together-to-rebuild-brick-wall-of-mosque-damaged-by-rioters/

Today's Poem;

Red Is the Rose

Come over the hills, my bonnie Irish lass

Come over the hills to your darling

You choose the road, love, and I'll make the vow

And I'll be your true love forever.

Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows

Fair is the lily of the valley

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

But my love is fairer than any.

'Twas down by Killarney's green woods that we strayed

When the moon and the stars they were shining

The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair

And she swore that she'd be my love forever.

Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows

Fair is the lily of the valley

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

But my love is fairer than any.

It's not for the parting that my sister pains

It's not for the grief of my mother

'Tis all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass

That my heart is breaking forever.

Red is the rose that in yonder garden grow

Fair is the lily of the valley

Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne

But my love is fairer than any.

-- words attributed to Tommy Makem, to the tune of "The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomand"

but the song itself dates back to at least 1934

This past weeks marks the second anniversary of Kitty's death.  This was one of her favorite songs.  I was privileged to have 52 wonderful years of marriage and wish it could have been longer.  But I am happy to have had that much and, today, she still lives within me.  A blessing and a win.

Here's the song, as performed by Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KPfB_PRYlY

Love you always, Kitty.