A TREASURY OF COMICS #3: BILL BUMLIN (AUGUST 1947)

 A Treasury of Comics was a newspaper reprint title which lasted for five issues (but not really, explanation to follow) from 1947 tp 1948; each issue featured a separate newspaper comic strip or comic book feature.  Issue #1 featured Raeburn Van/Buren's Abbie an' Slats.  The second issue featured Jim Hardy with Windy and Paddles by Dick Moores.  The third issue featured Bernard Dibble's Bill Bumlin.  Issue #4 once again featured  Abbie an' Slats.  And issue #5 (the "not really" one mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph) was to once again feature Jim Hardy, but became Jim Hardy #1, as identified in the indicia although the cover said A Treasury of Comics #5.

Bill Bumlin was a character used in some United Feature comics.  Dibble was an assistant artist and "ghost" artist on many title, but he never really got a chance at a major strip of his own and Bill Bumlin was the best known work he signed his name ("Dib") to.  For reasons unknown early characters in the comic stories were drawn with tiny wings on their backs.  The stories themselves were humorous fantasies, involving everything from a magic anti-gravity elixir to a gentle and lisping Frankenstein's monster who loved flowers, especially "red roses."  Despite his best efforts, Bumlin usually gets the short end of the stick.  The artwork is wildly and comically original'

Enjoy.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96302

FORGOTTEN BOOK: SECRET LIVES OF BOOKSELLERS AND LIBRARIANS: TRUE STORIES OF THE MAGIC OF READING

 Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians:  True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, with Chris Mooney  (2024)

Okay.  I lied.  This is not a forgotten book -- it only came out last year.  And the author is one of the most prolific and best-selling authors of our time.  When I say prolific I mean it.  Last year Patterson published 93 books (my estimate; don't hold me to it).  And many of his books -- suspense, mysteries, fantasies -- fly off the shelves, but some belong in little niche marketplaces and don't get the wide exposure his bestsellers do. 

So when I say forgotten, perhaps I mean just lesser known.  But not underappreciated.  Never underappreciated.  Some of you, I know, have heard of the book and have read it and really appreciate it.

What we have here is a series of short pieces from various booksellers and librarians throughout the United States and Canada about their jobs, how they got them, what they do, the various customers the interact with, and the not-so-secret joys of helping a reader connect with a book they love.  Many of the stories about helping to connect young children and teenagers to a lifelong love of reading.  Some are about the customers who have shared their hopes, dreams, tragedies, and triumphs with them.  some of the stories are about the kindness of authors, or the reciprocal brotherhood of fellow booksellers.  And some are about the challenges librarians face from organized groups determined to ban certain types of books, and the political pressure that can be rained down on them.  In ways large and small they are heroes all.

One theme stands out.  Books are for everyone.  Not everyone will like every book, but every person has a right to like the books they like.  No one has the right to tell another person what books they should or should not read.  And that still holds true because, for the time being anyhow, this is America.  If you want to look at a true democracy, look at your public library -- it is open to ALL, and the books are FREE.

I was especially pleased to see pieces from McKenna Jordan, owner of Houston's Murder By the Book, and Judy Blume, who runs Books & Books in Key West.  A not-so-small part of me wonders how many of these marvelous bookstores and libraries will be open five years from now.  a larger not-so-small part of me is not worried because readers as a whole are enthusiastic and vocal and will not go quietly into that night.

One thing that bothered me about the book:  the stories are told in the present tense.  Good for creating intimacy, I suppose, but just a little off-putting because I'm sure most of those whose stories are told do not speak that way.  A minor point, but I had to get it off my chest.

Taken alone, each individual story may not mean much to the world at large.  But each story touches upon a person or a group of persons who have been positively affected by both booksellers and librarians.  Taken as a whole, the book is a powerful statement of hope and courage.  And each of us readers can be the hero the future needs if we spread the word.

Highly recommended.

SLEEP NO MORE: MR. MERGENTHIRKER'S LOBBLIES & AUGUST HEAT (NOVEMBER 28, 1956)

 Sleep No More was an NBC Radio program which ran for 26 episode between 1956 and 1957.  It featured a series of readings by Nelson Olmsted of primarily suspense and supernatural stories.   It was a minimalist production, with background music and character voices, with all parts being played by Olmsted.  the half-hour show would sometimes feature two stories an episode, with a total of 34 stories presented over the 26 episodes.  The tine constraints of the half-hour show at times worked against the effectiveness of the tales, cutting the plot and incidences to the bone.

Stories featured over the run of the show were by such authors as Edgar Allen Poe, Virginia Swain, Rupert Croft-Cooke, Anton Chekov, A. M. Burrage, George Moore. Guy de Maupassant, Emile Zola, Paul Ernst, Irvin S. Cobb, Zona Gale, H. G. Wells, James Thurber, Dorothy B. Hughes, David Grubb, Christopher Isherwood, Katherine Anne Porter, Ambrose Bierce, Michael Fessier, Ellis St. Joseph, Charles Dickens, McKnight Malmar, Algernon Blackwood, Cornell Woolrich, George G. Toudouze, John Collier, Jack London, Walker G. Everett. and Nelson S. bond and William F. Harvey, the authors featured in this episode.

"Mr Mergenthirker's Lobblies" was first published in Scribner's Magazine, November 1937.  It was selected for inclusion in Edward J. O'Brien's The Best Short Stories of 1938, and was the title story in bond's first short story collection.  It has been reprinted many times.  Bond went on to write three additional stories about the Lobblies and adapted the original story for a play in 1957.  The story was filmed twice as a television movie, once in 1947 and once in 1948It was also filmed for The Philco Television Playhouse in 1949; Kraft Theatre in 1951 (and a sequel, "Lobblies Never Lie," in 1953); and as an Austrian television movie, Die Kobibs'chen des Mr. Miggletwitcher (1969).  The story was also the basis of a radio series (sorry, no information available).

"A newspaper reporter is startled when a prospective informant, Mr. Mergenthwirker, tells him the source pf all his information is actually an invisible pair of 'lobblies' named Jakepath and Henry."

"August Heat"  was first published in William Fryer Harvey's 1910 collection Midnight House and Other Other Tales .  Considered a classic horror story it has been reprinted numerous times; ISFDb lists over forty anthologies in English alone, and The FictionMags Index lists over 45 anthology and magazine reprints.  The story has been adapted for television at least three times -- for Danger (1950), On Camera (1955), and Great Ghost Tales (1961),  The story was also adapted at least three other times for radio -- twice for Suspense (1945 and 1948), and Hallmark Playhouse (1949).  There was even a comic book adaptation of the story that appeared in DC Comics' Secrets of the Sinister House #12, July 1973.

"During an oppressive heat wave, an artist is inspired to create hiss finest work -- a hurried sketch of a criminal in the dock immediately after a judge has pronounced sentence.  He is somewhat startled, later that day, to meet a man who looks exactly like the man in his sketch."

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMgZax74np0&list=PLAqoiMHG3Z0JlORVMPxKTRbJ33SKzZrWR

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE MURDER AT THE DUCK CLUB

 "The Murder at the Duck Club" by Hesketh Prichard  (from Pearson's Magazine, January 1913; reprinted in the collection November Joe:  Detective of the Woods, 1913; reprinted in More Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (US title, Cosmopolitan Crimes:  Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes), edited by Sir Hugh Greene, 1973; reprinted in Vintage Mystery & Detective Stories. edited by David Stuart Davies, 2006)

The author, Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard (1876-1922) was, by all accounts, an extraordinary person -- cricketer, explorer, adventurer, big-game hunter, writer, and marksman.  He contributed to the sniping practice of the British Army during the first World War and the measures he introduced are  credited with saving the lives of over 3500 Allied troops.  As first-class cricketer, he took nearly 340 wickets from 86 games (which probably means a lot to someone, unlike me, who is familiar with the game).As a big-game hunter he was also a advocate for animal welfare and helped secure legal measures for their protection, and he campaigned to end the clubbing of grey seals.  In 1899, he reported became the first white man to explore the island of Haiti coast to coast through the uncharted interior of the island, providing the first written description of some of the practices of voodoo. he also survived and attempt at poisoning.  (For that trip, and many others he was accompanied by his widowed mother, in a time when women just did not do that sort of thing.)  He went on to explore Patagonia and, surprisingly, the untraveled interior of Labrador.  He began World War I as a military correspondent for the War Office and ended up improving, calibrating, and correcting telescopic sights used by British soldiers.  He then designed a trench parapet that gave German snipers only a one-in-twenty chance of making their mark -- a major improvement. He designed dummy heads to be used to locate enemy snipers.  For his later work in formalizing sniper training,  Prichard was awarded a DSO; for his wartime work with the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps he was appointed a Commander of the Military Office of Avis.

And he wrote.  In addition to books on travel, nature, and military subjects, he and his mother, Kate Prichard, combined their talents to write two popular short story collections and an novel about Don Q, a Spanish Robin Hood-ish character; the novel was retrofitted into the Zorro universe when it was made into a film starring Douglas Fairbanks, Don Q., Son of Zorro; the New York Times rated the 1925 silent film as one of the top ten of that year.  The mother and son team also wrote series of stories about Flaxman Low, acknowledged to be the first psychic detective in fiction (although the magazine publisher touted them as true accounts, to the authors' dismay); these were published as The Experiences of Flaxman Low as by "E. and H. Heron," 1899.

Writing by himself, Prichard penned nine stories about November Joe, a crime fighting hunter and backwoodsman from the Canadian wilderness.  they were collected in November Joe:  Detective of the Woods, which was listed as #55 in the Queen's Quorum, a chronological listing of the 125 most important collections of mystery and detective short stories in genre.

The seventh of the nine stories was "The Murder at the Duck Club."

Four men -- Harrison Hinx, Simonson, and Galt -- head out to the duck blinds one afternoon at the Tamarind Club, a private hunting club in Quebec.  three come back alive; the fourth, Harrison is found dead in his duck blind later that evening, shot.  All evidence points to Ted Gault as the guilty party.  Galt had just proposed to Harrison's niece and she accepted, but Harrison was not in favor of the union.  He and Galt were heard loudly arguing outside Harrison's duck blind that afternoon.  an investigation showed that Harrison had been killed with number six shot and only Galt used that particular ammunition, the other men used number four.  Footprints outside where the murder had taken place prove that only Galt had walked by there, and indeed, had stopped for a period within twelve paces of where the older man had been shot.  all in all, more than enough evidence to have Galt arrested for murder.

Earlier that spring, Harrison, Galt, and Simonson, along with Harrison's niece, Eileen east, were part of a party of Americans that November Joe had taken salmon fishing.  Eileen, having been very impressed with November Joe and his abilities (as were most people who had met him), sent an urgent message to him, asking him to come immediately. 

The only people at the camp -- the only people who could possibly have killed Harrison -- were the other three hunters, and Tim Carter, the head guide, Noel Charles and Vinez, the two club under-guides, and Sitawanga Sally, the full-blooded Indian cook.  How could any of them, except for Tim Galt, have killed Harrison without leaving a trace?

It takes all of November Joe's skills as a woodsman and his innate ability as a detective to come up with the solution.

It's easy to see how November Joe was looked on with admiration: six foot of strength and sinew, surmounted with a perfectly poised hed and features, with a curious deprecating manner that carried his own charm.  November Joe "appeared unable to speak two sentences to any woman without giving her the impression that he was entirely at her service -- which, indeed, he was."  Except for his race, I picture him as the ideal "noble savage" found in stories of romance and adventure of the time.

Because of the time the story was written, modern readers may notice a few descriptions and opinions which no longer reflect well; but these are very minor issues.  The story and the series are important contributions to the development of the mystery story.

November Joe:  Detective of the Woods is available to be read online at UPenn's Online Book Page.

OVERLOOKED MYSTERY: PHANTOM OF CHINATOWN (1940)

 Oriental detective James Lee Wong was the creation of author Hugh Wiley, who wrote two dozen short stories about the character from 1934 until 1955; all but the last three stories appeared in Cosmopolitan, with the last story being a rewriting of a 1940 Mr. Wong story.  Twelve of the stories were collected in 1951's Murder by the Dozen.  The character was popular enough to spin off a series of six films from Monogram Studios, 1938 to 1940; the first five films featured Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong.  The final film, Phantom of Chinatown replaced Karloff with an actual Asian -- Keye Luke, born in China but raised in Seattle; of the major Poverty Row oriental detectives -- Chan, Moto, and Wong -- this was the only film to feature and Asia playing an Asian in the lead.  (Well, Charlie Chan's Warner Oland was one-quarter Mongolian on his mother's side. but would you have known that?)

For some reason, perhaps because audiences were used to seeing Keye Luke as Charlie Chan's young Number One Son (just a guess on my part; don't hold me to it), James Lee Wong became Jimmy Wong for this film.

The plot (per IMDb):  "Southern University Archeology professor John Benton has just returned with his team from an expedition in Mongolia.  One team member, Mason, the co-pilot, did not return as he went missing and is presumed dead.  Benton is presenting his findings in a public forum, those findings which he purports will be of great significance to the Chinese government and the security of the Chinese people.  Halfway through his presentation before he gets to the importance of his findings, Benton collapses.  While the collapse was originally thought to be due to exhaustion, he shortly thereafter dies from what is eventually discovered to be from being poisoned.  SFPD Bill Street with homicide leads the investigation.  The primary suspects are anyone who went on the expedition, Benton's secretary Win Lin, and one of Benton's students, researcher James Lee Wong as he shows an inordinate interest in the case.  Street begins instead to trust Wong as they investigate together."

One interesting bit of snark:  When Street points to something and asks what it is, a character replies, "a sarcophagus from a Chinese tomb, sir., that once contained the body of a Ming emperor."  To which, Wong says, "They tell me that a Chinese archaeological expedition is digging up the body of George Washington in exchange."

Directed by Phil Rosen, with a screenplay by George Waggner from an original story by Ralph Gilbert Bettison.  Also featuring Lotus Long and Grant Withers. 

A mild little programmer, but worthy enough to spend an hour of your time.

Enjoy.

https://archive.org/details/Phantom_of_Chinatown_1940

L'ORFEO

 As often happens things got away from this weekend, thus my planned post for today is pushed off until next Monday.  (What's this?  I hear no weeping, or wailing, or gnashing of teeth?  Humph!)

Instead enjoy L'Orfeo, Claudio Monteverdi's opera which premiered on this day in 1607.

The opera recounts the legend of Orpheus, who descended into Hades in a futile attempt to bring back his dead wife Eurydice...a tale that has been told countless times over the centuries.

While not the first work in the opera (or favola in musica) genre -- that honor is usually awarded to Peri's Dafne  (1598, based on earlier works written in 1589) -- L'Orfeo is the earliest opera that is still regularly performed.

La Capella Reial de Catalunya, conducted by Jordi Savall and staged by Gilbert Deflo.  Directed by Brian Large.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUep3sqe35o

HYMN TIME

 From 1937, The Sons of the Pioneers, with Leonard Slye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUJdA1btSU

GOOPS AND HOW TO BE THEM -- GELETT BURGESS (1900)

The famous book of helpful drawings and rhymes, subtitled "A Manual of Manners for Polite Infants Inculcating Many Juvenile Virtues Both by Precept and Example With Ninety Drawings."

FULL DISCLOSURE:  I may have been a Goop.

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=96298&comicpage=&b=i

FORGOTTEN BOOK: ARE SNAKES NECESSARY?

 Are Snakes Necessary? by Brian De Palma & Susan Lehman (2016)

This book by film director Brian De Palma (Carrie, Dressed to Kill, The Untouchables, Mission:  Impossible) and Susan Lehman (De Palma's partner both in work and life) was first published in France in 2018 (although the copyright date is given as 2016) as Les serpents sont-ils necessaires?; it was reprinted in English in 2020 by Hard Case Crime.  The pair have written a second novel, Terry, which remains unpublished.

This is a tricky novel to read and much of it rests on De Palma's film background.  In fact, much of it reminds me of a decent, uninspired film where most of the action is telegraphed.

Various characters weave in and out (sometimes with no seeming connections to one another) in a story that, ultimately deals with an important senatorial race.  And if politics are being discussed, it follows that some hot and heavy sex is to follow...

Among the characters are:

• A glib, successful, and ultimately shallow United States senator seeking reelection
• His beautiful devoted, rich wife, who is dying slowly from Parkinson's
• His political fixer, who will stop at nothing to ensure his candidate's success
• A down-on-his luck news photographer who let one-time success get away from him
• A wealthy, immoral Las Vegas businessman with heavy mob connections
• His trophy wife, who seeks love elsewhere, and ultimately is a vehicle for vengeance
• The senator's former lover, who he has not seen for many years
• Her lovely, gullible 18-year-old daughter, a political junky and aspiring videographer
• The photographer's one-time college lover, bow a successful actress
• A series of beaten and abused, down-on-their luck women, corresponding to a newspaper advice columnist

 Add to this a French remake of Hitchcock's Vertigo, and oblique references to Washington intern Chandra Levy,(who disappeared in 2001 and whose body was found in Rock creek Park) and Natalie Holloway (who disappeared in Aruba, and whose body was never found), and you have a potent mix of fast-paced reading.

Not a great book, really, but at times as exciting and enjoyable as some of De Palma's films

X MINUS 1: HONEYMOON IN HELL (DECEMBER 26, 1956)

George Lefferts adapted this Fredric Brown story, originally published in the November 1950 issue of Galaxy and then reprinted as the title story in Brown's 1958 short story collection, as the 81st episode of NBC Radio's X Minus 1, a series that ran from April 24, 1955 through January 8, 1958.  The program was a follow-up to the earlier Dimension X (1950-1951).  A number of the early episodes were based on stories from Astounding Science Fiction; from episode #37 February 1, 1956) the series drew most of its episodes from Galaxy.

As the world appears to be headed to atomic war, another looming crisis has hit the future Earth of the late  1960s -- very few male children are being born.  Officials suspect an alien plot.  A male cybernetics operator and a female Soviet scientist are paired to see if they can conceive a male child on the moon. Brown's  story has been reprinted a number of times, both here and in France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Holland.

The cast includes Vilma Cure, William Redfield, Wendell Holmes, Roger De Koven, Leon Janney, Jack Grimes, and Charles Penman.  Fred Collins was the announcer.  Daniel Sutter directed.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCK1AD0G0Rs&t=3s

SHORT STORY-ISH WEDNESDAY: THE MAN WHO COULDN'T BE PHOTOGRAPHED

 "The Man Who Couldn't Be Photographed" by John Dickson Carr  (radio play first broadcast on Cabin B-13, July 12, 1948; repeated on October 30, 1948; the script was included in Carr's collection The Island of Coffins and Other Mysteries from the Casebook of Cabin B-13, 2020.

(Sound:  a ship's whistle)

(Music:  in and behind)

ANNOUNCER:  CBS brings you John Dickson Carr's famous Doctor Fabian, ship's surgeon, world traveler, and collector of strange and incredible tales of mystery and murder, directed by John Dietz.

(Music:  fades out)

And that's how each episode of Cabin B-13 began.  The show was broadcast on CBS Radio from July 5, 1948 to January 2, 1949.  The series took its title from an episode written by Carr for Suspense, which aired on March 16, 1943; that episode has been re-aired and revisited a number of time and was the basis of the 1953 film Dangerous Crossing.  The later radio series had little in common with the original play, except that the steam ship Maurevania plays a significant role in both.  The narrator of the radio series was the ship's surgeon, Doctor John Fabian.  For many years it was thought that this series was lost to time, as no recording of the episodes had been found.  Then in the 1990s,all twenty-three scripts were found in the recesses of the Library of Congress.  These scripts were eventually reprinted by Crippen and Landru in The Island of Coffins and Other Mysteries from the Casebook of Cabin B-13 in 2020.

"The Man Who Could Not Be Photographed" has Fabian telling Bruce Ransom, "the greatest romantic film-star in the first decade of talking pictures."  Ransom and his (ahem) personal secretary Nita Ross crossed in the Maurevania to France during a voyage in 1933.  Ransom, as callous and egotistical as he was handsome, had changed for the worse over the past two years, cutting off past ties with 'little" people who could do him nothing to advance his career -- he just "outgrew them," and cast their friendship aside.  One of those was his best friend from college, Tom Sherwood, who happened to live nearby (and, coincidently, was an acquaintance of Fabian).  Sherwood, on hearing his friend was in town, tried to contact Ransom, but was rebuffed.

Ransom was one of those actors who tried to appear authentic on screen -- when a role called for swordsmanship, he learn how to use a sword.  The character in his upcoming film happened to be a champion darts player at the local pub, so Ransom had a dart board set up in his rented house and began to practice throwing darts.  While he was practicing, Nita remonstrated about his recent treatment of Tom Sherwood.  This was when he explained that is someone could no longer be of help to him, he wanted nothing to do with them.  Unfortunately, that also included Nita.  Ransom had brought her with him, away from home, only to dump her in a location where she would be less liable to make trouble.  This did not go over well with Nita, who had a dart in her hand.  She stabbed him in the shoulder, and cursed him, saying she wished she had stabbed in the face, scarring it so no photographer would ever want to take his picture again.  (That's a pretty dire curse to place on a romantic film star.)  the she stormed out of the room.  a few seconds later, there was a shot:  Nita had put a bullet through her head.

Ransom told his butler not to call the police, instead to call the local offices of his studio to clean the mess up.  The he went out for champagne.

The next day, Ransom visited four photographic studios to have his picture taken, figuring he would choose whichever did the best job.  A few days later, several of the photographers called to say that the pictures taken did not come out.  When he went in person to the last photographer, he was met with visible disgust and was told that these pictures, also, did not come out; something must have been wrong with the camera, they said.  Ransom demanded to see the prints anyway, and was denied.  Despite his fame, he was quickly shown the door.  He came back to his rented house and spent time gazing in the mirror.  What was wrong?  The mirror reflected his usual handsome face.  Why were people looking at him in horror?  Then he hears Nita's voice, as if filtered through the air: "I offer my life, I offer my soul, if that man never faces a camera again."  That must be imagination, right?  This could not happen.  Life is much too sweet now.  "Is it, Bruce?  If you never faced a camera again?'

In a panic, Ransom remembered Tom Sherwood, the friend he has discarded.  Sherwood used to play around with photography.  He called Sherwood and asked him to come over.  After the photographs were take, Ransom insisted that Sherwood develop them on the spot; there was a washroom off them library he could used.  It seemed to Ransom that Sherwood was taking a long time developing.  He picked up the phone and heard Sherwood on an extension, calling for help, telling the other person on the line to come quickly and that a straightjacket might be needed.  When Sherwood came back into the room, Ransom, in a panic, grabbed the gun that Nita had shot herself with and shot Sherwood...

There's not much more to tell, except why Ransom was the man who could not be photographed.

A little shocker of a tale and somewhat reminiscent of the old EC horror comic book stories, but with a surprisingly logical explanation.  This was an original story that used a gimmick that Carr once considered using for a short story but didn't.  As far as I can tell, there is no recording of this radio episode extant, which is  a shame because the sound effects would have really heightened the suspense even further..

OVERLOOKED FILM: KING OF THE BULLWHIP (1950)

Lash Larue made 17 B-movie westerns in the 1940s and 1950s.

This is one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz4bVQaLR2c

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SONGS

 It's Presidents Day!  (As Janet Rudolph pointed out yesterday on Mystery Fanfare @mysteryreadersinc,blogspot,com, it's official name is Washington's Birthday, but we call it Presidents Day and use it to celebrate all who have held that office.)

It's time to take a look at some of the presidential campaign songs over the years. ( I'm not including "YMCA" for our current felon-in-chief because it's 1) a gay anthem and not a campaign song, and 2) if you are going to use it you should get the hand motions correct and not look like a constipated Mr. Roboto.)

All of these are from Oscar Brand's album Presidential Campaign Songs, 1789-1996.

"Free Elections"  An introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt8-1loObe4&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=1

"Follow Washington"  Washington won the first presidential election in 1789 with all 69 electoral votes, with ten states casting electoral votes.  Each elector was allowed two votes and the candidate with the second most votes would become vice-president -- in this case it was John Adams, with 34 electoral votes.   Other votes were cast for John Jay (9 electoral voters), Robert Harrison (6), John Rutledge (6), John Hancock (4), and George Clinton (3), with the remaining votes split among five other candidates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWcYHOwo0t8&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=2

"Adams and Liberty"  John Adams.  The first important presidential campaign song.  Adams was running for reelection for the Federalist Party, but lost to his voce president and former friend Thomas Jefferson.  The songs (which has a familiar tune) was written by Robert Treat Paine, Jr., and son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence;  Treat was born Thomas Paine (after his famous grandfather) but took his older brother's name after the brother had died, apparently to avoid confusion with his grandfather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZZQAvdrW_U&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=3

"For Jefferson and Liberty"  Jefferson used this similarly titled song for his 1880 election against Adams.  The tune, as above, is a familiar one -- John Stafford Smith's "Anacreon," which morphed into "The Star Spangled Banner."

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=pa9C2tMmk&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=4

"Huzzah for Madison, Huzzah"   Madison, who served as Jefferson's secretary of state, defeated vice president George Clinton in the primary, and went on for an easy win over Federalist Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in the general election of 1808.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq01rSyi-0k&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=5

"Monroe Is the Man"  following Washington's custom of serving not more than two terms, Madison chose not to run again in 1816, paving the way for Monroe and the Democratic-Republican Party.  Monroe has distinguished himself as secretary of war in the War of 1812 and had little opposition from the moribund Federalists, who ran Rufus King.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nijhrB6HLM&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=6

"Little Know Ye Who's Coming"  John Quincy Adams, the son of America's second president, and who was Monroe's secretary of state, (the last three presidents had been secretary's of state), began his career as a Federalist like his father, won the presidency in 1824 as a Democratic-Republican, and later switched to become a Whig.  Because the Federalist Party was then so weak, the Democratic-Republican nominee was assured of an electoral win.  Adams's competitor were Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun (who dropped out early), and William H. Crawford.  Although Adams was less than charismatic, he won in part because there were no other prominent Northern political leaders in the running.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeCmtKxYfzA&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=7

"Jackson and Kentucky"  Certainly one of the most controversial presidents in American history, Andrew Jackson was John  Quincy Adams's vice president.  Jackson had won a plurality of the popular and electoral vote in 1824, but not a majority.  The House of Representatives, with an assist from Henry Clay, then named Adams president. Jackson's supporters alleged a "corrupt deal" between Adams and Clay, which marked the beginnings of the Democratic Party.  Jackson ran again in 1828, defeating Adams in a landslide despite Jackson's many negatives.  This song, also known as "The Hunters of Kentucky," "The Battle of New Orleans," and Half Horse and Half Alligator")  It was written by Samuel Woodworth, circa 1815; Woodworth is best known for the poem "The Old Oaken Bucket" and for being the first American to write a historical novel.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G98TDivbyLo&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=8

"Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too"  This song was used to promote William Henry Harrison in 1840, and also Harrison's vice president John Tyler, who ascended to the presidency after Harrison's death in 1841.  With the election of 1845 looming, Martin Van Buren appeared to have a lock on the Democratic nomination, and Henry Clay on the Whig, leaving Tyler to try to form his own party -- the Tyler Party, which was sadly unorganized, had no platform, and no vice presidential candidate.   It lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjog6n8rUQ4&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=11

Another song for Harrison was "The Harrison Yankee Doodle":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxp0nsfEpQo&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=10

"Rock-a-bye, Baby"  Martin Van Buren, the "Sly Fox," won the presidency against a divided Whig party (candidates running included Hugh Lawson White, Daniel Webster, and William Henry Harrison) in 1836. lost reelection in 1840, and failed to be nominated in 1844.  This traditional nursery rhyme was altered to be decidedly anti-"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1WGEfoUwXE&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=9

"Jimmie Polk of Tennessee"  James K. Polk followed John Tyler to become the 11th president of the United States in 1845.  When Martin Van Buren publicly oppose Texas annexation, he lost the support of Andrew Jackson.  Jackson then prodded Polk -- who had been hoping only to secure the vice presidency, to run for president.   Polk was sure he could not win, but at the Democratic National convention, Polk's name was entered on the eighth ballot, and won the nomination on the ninth.  In the general election against Henry clay, Polk got 50% of the popular vote to Clay's 48%, and 63% of the electoral vote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIyhled-578&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=12

"Rumadum Dum"  Zachery ("Old Rough and Ready") Taylor was a national hero due his military victories in the Mexican-American War.  Despite vague political beliefs, he slid into the presidency against Democratic nominee Lewis Cass and the Democratic candidate, former president Martin Van Buren.  Although he ran as a Whig, Taylor ignored his party's platform.. He died of a stomach ailment after being in office for only 16 months, and had the third shortest presidential term in united States history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdcEeW5fQjc&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=13

"The Union Wagon"  Millard Fillmore was Taylor's vice president and assumed the presidency in 1850 upon Taylor's death.  Formerly a member of the Anti-Masonic Party, he was the last president to have been a member of the Whig Party.  Fillmore lost the 1852 nomination from the Whig Party.   After his presidency and the breakup of the Whig Part, Fillmore and  others became Know Nothings and formed the American Party.  While president he was instrumental in passing the Compromise of 1850, which created a brief truce over the expansion of slavery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIMLOgn-ozQ&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=14

"Pierce and King"  I have a slight affection for Franklin Pierce because his father was born in my hometown of Chelmsford, Massachusetts; during the battles of Concord and Lexington, the teen-age Benjamin was reputed to day, "Mother, I hear the shots!",  and grab his rifle and head off to fight.  I also feel far less affection for Franklin Pierce because of his strong anti-abolitionist tendencies.  **sigh**  Pierce served one tern, 1853-1857.  He had been nominated for president on the 49th (!) ballot at the 1852 Democratic convention.  In the general, he defeated Winfield Scott with 254 electoral votes to Scott's 24, and with 50.9% of the popular vote. Weeks after the election, and less than a month before he was to be sworn in, Polk, his wife, and his remaining son (their two other sons had died in childhood -- one in infancy, and the other at age four of typhus) were in a train wreck outside of Andover, Massachusetts; Polk and his wife had minor injuries, but his 11-year-old son 's body was crushed and nearly decapitated.  Polk was severely depressed afterwards, which likely contributed to his performance while in office.  He is remembered as one of the poorest presidents in American history -- CSPAN  surveys in 2000 and 2009 paced him third-to-last among his peers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78v_zAtDEFM&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=15

"Buchanan and John Breckeridge"  James Buchanan was our 15th president (1857-1861).  Beginning in 1854, he was a regular contender for the Democratic Party's nomination, finally getting the nod in 1856.  He won his nomination on the 17th ballot after Stephen A. Douglas withdrew.  In the general election he faced off against Millard Fillmore (now running on the American Party) and Republican nominee John C. Freemont.  Although Buchanan did not actively campaign, his supporters characterized Freemont as a "fussy old man in drag."  In the election, Buchanan carried every slave state but one, and five slavery-free states.  History has recorded Buchanan's presidency as a disaster.  He effectively lobbied the Supreme Court to come out with its inexcusable Dred Scott decision, which was announced two days after Buchanan took office.  Any attempts he made to hold the Union together were ineffectual, and his cabinet appointments were politically insensitive.  Buchanan stayed at the National hotel in Washington in January  before he was sworn in; many of the hotel guests, including Buchanan, suffered sever dysentery -- many died, including Buchanan's nephew and Eskridge Lane, Buchanan's private secretary,  From the very beginning of his term Buchanan severed himself from Vice President Breckinridge's favor by rudeness.  Things were a mess by the time Abraham Lincoln came into office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPzgOPP3rPI&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=16

"Lincoln and Liberty"  In 1860, this was the official campaign song for Lincoln.  It pushed absolution and log cabin-ism, making Lincoln the favorite son of three states -- Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana.  The song has been attributed to Jesse Hutchinson, Jr. of the Hutchinson Family Singers, who travelled the country singing the song at Lincoln rallies.  It has been reused and altered over the years, recently to condemn racism.  In 1860, Lincoln defeated incumbent vice president John Breckenridge (who took the Southern states), Tennessee's John Bell (who took three of the northernmost Southern states), and Stephen Douglas (who took Missouri), winning 180 votes to 123 for this three opponents;  Lincoln's share of the popular vote was only 39.8% of the total vote, which can be seen as indicative of the country's mood at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXwpKeV7Rac&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=17

For Lincoln's reelection campaign, a popular song was "Battle Cry of Freedom" (also known as "Rally 'Round the Flag").  Here's the song, as orchestrated by John Williams, from the motion picture Lincoln:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW4ZwyYJYbQ

"Just Before the Election, Andy"  Andrew Johnson had the thankless task of becoming president after Lincoln's assassination.  He favored quick restoration of the seceded states back into the Union, but did not give protection to former slaves, which allowed Southern state to pass Black Codes which de[rives many freedmen of civil liberties.  In response, the 14th amendment was ratified in 1868.  Congress also passed the Tenure of Office Act, and when Johnson defied it to try to fire secretary of war Edward Stanton, he was impeached, narrowly avoiding conviction.  Having burned his bridges with the Republican Party, Johnson tried for the Democratic nomination in 1868, losing to Horatio Seymour.  This campaign song was very anti-Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UcN_F5gJ8&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=18

"Grant, Grant, Grant"  Ulysses S (note I did not put a period after the initial) Grant had an easy time defeating Horatio Seymour in 1868.  (Grant's full name was Hiram Ulysses Grant; which he changed to Ulysses Hiram Grant because he did not want his initials to spell out HUG.  Grant's mother's maiden name was Simpson, leading some to erroneously assume that was his middle name.  When he arrived at West Point, he discovered that, through a clerical error, his appointment to the academy was in the name of Ulysses S. Grant; unless he accepted that name he would be allowed into the academy.  Grant has explained that the middle initial S does not stand for anything, and for well over century it has been argued whether to place a period begin the S, or not.  I chose not to because it is a letter and not an initial.  So there.)  Where was I?  Oh, yes. He won his first term over Democrat Horatio Seymour, 214 electoral votes over Seymour's 80, and with 52.7% of the popular vote. Grant's first administration was plagued by corruption, some of which may not have been his fault, although nepotism reigned and nearly forty members of his family benefited financially from government appointments or employment,.  Despite the accusations of corruption that circled his administration, Grant was very popular, and he easily won a second term over a visibly ill Horace Greeley, who died just weeks after the election.  A lot of things happened during Grant's presidency, including the establishment of the Department of Justice, the Office of the Solicitor General, the United States Civil Service Commission, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Army Weather Bureau (now now -- for the nonce -- as National Weather Service.  Whether any of these will exist in 2026 is anybody's guess.  Grant was also the president who made Christmas a legal federal holiday,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drcr30HFAe8&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=19

"For Hayes and Wheeler, Too"   Rutherford B. Hayes became president in what some have called the "stolen election."  The election of 1876 was too close to call.  Hayes, the Republican had 166 electoral votes -- soon to be reduce to 165 after one of the electors from Oregon was disqualified.  His opponent, Samuel Tilden, had 184 electoral votes, just one shy of that needed to win.  The 19 electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were in doubt because of fraud by both parties.  Both the Republican Senate and the Democratic house claimed to be the body to decide the outcome.  The matter was submitted to a bipartisan Election Commission which, through various maneuverings ended up with 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats.  The Republicans on the commission voted for Hayes.  Democrats eventually agreed after Hayes promised to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.  In 1880, Hayes stuck to his 18876 promise to serve only one term.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH06u6p7UkQ&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=20

"If the Johnnies Get into Power Again"  The lingering scars of the Civil War are all too evident in this campaign song for James A. Garfield, a dark horse candidate, who faced off against Democrat Winfield Scott Hancock, who was expected to carry the Solid South.  Fewer than 2000 votes among the 9.2 million popular votes cast separated the candidates, but Garfield swept the electoral vote, 214 to 155.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4wGmQN2aNw&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=21

When Garfield was assassinated half a year into his term in 1881, vice president Chester A. Arthur became president.  In the 1884 election, Arthur lost he nomination to James G. Blaine, 541 votes to 207.  Arthur admitted defeat and played no role in the 1884 campaign.  To my knowledge, chester A, Arthur never had a campaign song, making him an outlier among American presidents.

"Democrats, Good Democrats"  Grover ("The Rover') Cleveland, former mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York,  defeated James G. Blaine in 1884.  He then lost to Benjamin Harrison (grandson of William Henry Harrison) in 1888.  He then returned to the White House in 1893 after defeating Harrison.  He was only one of two American presidents to serve non-consecutive terms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w77Zdl2JzIk&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=22

"He's All Right"  Harrison defeaed Cleveland in 1892. although he received 90,000 fewer voted than Cleveland he took 233 electoral votes to Cleveland's 168.  The magic did not work for Harrison's reelection, however -- Cleveland received 277 electoral votes to Harrison's 154.  Cleveland scored 5,556,918 popular votes to Harrison's 5,176,918 for the most decisive presidential win in 2o years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehq1u0kW9E4&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=23

"Marching with McKinley"  Republican William McKinley (no, I'm not going to rename him William Denali, although I'm tempted) defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in 1896 while the country was in a deep depression, advocating "sound money" and high tariffs.  McKinley won a second term in 1800, again defeating Bryan.  McKinley was pro-business, and his term was noted for economic expansion, imperialism , and territory expansion.  Efforts to duplicate his policies in later years have not worked out well -- times have changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbl-r6k4-Us&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=24

"Roosevelt the Cry"  Theodore Roosevelt became president following McKinley's assassination in 1901, and was the youngest person to come U.S. president.  Roosevelt was a different kind of politician and a champion of antitrust and Progressive policies.  Roosevelt won the vice presidential nomination in 1900 in large part because New York machine boss Thomas C. Platt wanted rid of Roosevelt as New York governor.  He had been the country's vice president for some six months before being propelled into the nation's highest office.  His Democratic opponent in the 1904 election was Alton Brooks Parker.  Roosevelt promised to give every American a "square deal", and won the popular vote with 56% to Parker's 38%, and the electoral vote 336 to 140.  He refused to run in the 1908 election, keeping a promise he had made in 1904.  He was, however, disappointed in the presidency of William Howard Taft and allowed himself to be convinced that the Republican Party and the nation needed him.. when it became apparent that he would not get the Republican nomination in 1912, he formed the Progressive, or Bull Moose, Party, which was unable to carry the day -- Roosevelt got 27% of the vote, and Taft got 23% of the vote, leaving Woodrow Wilson with 42% of the vote and a landslide 435 electoral votes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIVZZMUBVlA&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=25

"Get on Raft with Taft"  Probably with worst title for a campaign song ever.  William Henry Taft's campaign excoriated Taft's opponent William Jennings Bryan handily with this little ditty.  Although viewed as Roosevelt's heir, Taft veered away from his policies.  Taft lost reelection in 1812 to Woodrow Wilson, who got 435 electoral votes; Roosevelt got 88, and Taft a mere 8.  Taft also famously got stuck in the White House bathtub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Wfxzn1x64&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=26

"Wilson, That's All"  Woodrow Wilson was president from 1913 to 1921, the only Democrat to hold that office during the Progressive Era.  He led the United States into world War I and was the leading architect of the League of Nations.  His opponent in the 1916 presidential election was Supreme Court jurist Charles Evans Hughes.  The election was close, with Hughes getting 254 electoral votes and 46.1% of the popular vote, and Wilson getting 277 electoral votes and 49.2% of the popular vote.  Wilson suffered a serious stroke in October 1919, leaving him paralyzed on one side and making him prone "to disorders of emotion, impaired impulse control, and defective judgement."  Edith Wilson, the First Lady, reportedly acted in his stead, quietly and surreptitiously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ykYsV5a3c&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=27

"Harding, You're the Man for Us"  Warren G. Harding's campaign song was written by noted entertainer Al Jolson.  Harding served from 1921 to his death in 1923, and was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents.  After his death, his reputation was tarnished by revelations about Teapot Dome and his extramarital affair with Nan Britton.  He defeated Democrat James M. Cox in a landslide election in 1920.  The 1920 Republican convention was deadlocked between candidates General Leonard Wood and Illinois governor Frank Lowden, with Harding -- then an Ohio senator -- coming in a very distant third -- a dark horse candidate.  June 11-12 became known as "the night of the smoke-filled room," as party leaders tried to come up with a candidate.  Utah Senator Reed Smoot told RNC chairman Will Hays that the Democrats were most likely to nominate Ohio governor James M. Cox, and that if the Republicans wanted a chance to take Ohio, they should nominate Harding.  Hardng got the nomination and defeated Cox in a landslide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br9lce1VRKk&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=28

"Keep Cool with Coolidge"  "Silent Cal," a small-government conservative and former Massachusetts governor, became president after Harding died from an 'unexpected" heart attack on August 2, 1923.  (It should not have been unexpected -- there were warning signs as early as 1899.)   Coolidge served from 1923 to 1929.  His opponent in 1924 was Brigadier General Charles G. Dawes (Frank Lowden of Illinois had been nominated on the previous ballot, but he declined.)  The GOP party was split when Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin broke off to form the Progressive Party, which many felt would ensured an easy win for the Democratic candidate.  Coolidge ran a standard campaign despite mourning the death of his younger son that year, and won every state outside of the South except for la Follette's Wisconsin.  He did not seek a second full term.  The taciturn Coolidge was noted for being silent in five languages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mjRF3fQSdw&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=29

"If He's Good Enough for Lindy"  Herbert Hoover gained national attention and praise for directing Woodrow Wilson's Food Administration during World War I; after the war, he led the American Relief Administration, which provided food for starving millions in central and eastern Europe, especially Russia.  He served in Harding's cabinet in a highly visible capacity, becoming known as "Secretary of commerce and Under-Secretary of All Other Departments."  His opponent in 1928 was the charismatic New York Governor Al Smith.  Despite being very popular, smith had two things against him -- he was a Catholic and he was anti-prohibition.  Hoover defeated Smith, taking 58% of the popular vote and 444 of the 531 electoral votes.  Hoover's presidential term had the misfortune of running from 1929 to 1933 -- the Depression began in October 1929.  Hoover's half-hearted response to the Depression cost him the next election.  About the campaign song:  Charles Lindberg was extremely popular and had sparked the American imagination  because of his heroic flight across the Atlantic.  If Lindberg's isolationist stance was known at the time, it did not future against his popularity.  His embrace of Nazism was till in the future.  So, yeah, if Hoover was good enough for Lindy, then...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_5TEWlVK7U&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=30

It should be noted that Al Smith had a couple of campaign songs.  "The Sidewalks of New York (also known as "East Side, West Side") -- an 1894 vaudeville song -- was sued during Smith's 1920, 1924, and 1928 campaigns; Here's Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra, with Lewis James on vocals:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FChFqyiaZV0  Also, "Al Smith for President," here performed by the New Lost City Ramblers:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA3-LqUnZVk

"Happy Days Are Here Again" was the unofficial anthem of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Democratic Party.  Here's Jack Hylton and  his band from 1930:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW-0kbIcf1E

"Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again" was a Roosevelt campaign song from 1936.  Roosevelt, as governor of New York trying to address the effects of the Depression made him the Democratic frontrunner in 1932.  He handily defeated Hoover. winning 57% of the popular vote and carrying all but six states.  His 1936 campaign against Alf Landon saw victory with 60.8% of the vote, and carried all but two states.  In 1940, Roosevelt broke with tradition and ran for a third term, feeling that he was the one best able to deal with the Nazi threat.  His Republican opponent this time was Wendell Wilkie.  Roosevelt won with 55% of the popular vote and almost 85% of the electoral vote.  1944 saw America in the midst of war and hesitant to change leadership.  Roosevelt was in poor health and thought that he might have to resign after the war was won.  With this in mind, he was persuaded to drop vice president Henry A. Wallace from the ticket in favor of Harry Truman.  Roosevelt's final presidential opponent was Thomas e. Dewey, the governor of New York.  Roosevelt and Truman won with 53.4% of the popular vote and 432 out of 531 electoral votes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpl4Yt8i9vA&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=31

"I'm Just Wild About Harry"  Truman selected this 1921 Eubie Blake/Noble Sissie for his campaign song.  the song had been written for the Broadway show Shuffle Along, the first successful Broadway play to have all African-American actors.  (I don't know if that had any meaning to Truman, but I think it's interesting that Truman was the president who integrated the U.S. Armed Forces.)  Truman, who became president after FDR's death, ran for president in 1948 against Thomas Dewey.  In the spring of 1948, Truman's public approval rating was at 36% and he was not expected to win.  Shortly before the election, Truman issued an Executive Order ending racial discrimination in the Armed Services and in federal agencies.  This caused chaos among both political parties.  South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond declared his candidacy for president on the Dixiecrat ticket, and Henry Wallace veered off to the Progressive Party.  Despite his civil rights plank, Truman carried many of the Southern states and gained some narrow victories in other states to win with 303 electoral votes.  This was the election where the Chicago Tribune, judging from early results, declared "DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN" as its front page banner headline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qerX8WnLEU&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=32

"I Like Ike"  In 1952, Truman allowed his name to appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot.  his advisors talked him out of running for another term.  Truman eventually persuaded Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson to run and Stevenson was nominated at the 1952 Democratic Convention.  His opponent was the highly popular Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, who had been the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, leader of the Invasion of Normandy military campaign, and one of only nine Americans promoted to five-star rank.  Eisenhower defeated Stevenson with an electoral margin of 442 to 89.  An Eisenhower/Stevenson race was repeated in 1956, with an electoral college victory of 457 to 73, giving the race to the incumbent. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBfPC95cEBE&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=33

Another Eisenhower campaign song was "We Love the Sunshine of Your Smile":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzAJHnx4gJs

"Marching Down to Washington"  the 1960 presidential election pitted vice president Richard M. Nixon against Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy.  The race was noted for having the first televised presidential debate.  Most who watched the debate on television felt that Kennedy had won; those who merely heard it on the radio felt that Nixon had won  -- a dichotomy that cemented the importance of visual media in american politics.  The election proved to be one of the narrowest in 20th century American politics -- in he popular vote, Kennedy beat Nixon by just two-tenths of one percent.  Kennedy ended up with 30 electoral votes to Nixon's 219.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9o38H4HYFg&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=34

Another campaign song used by Kennedy was "High Hopes," popularized by Kennedy's friend, singer Frank Sinatra:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S94Bh3Qez9o

'Hello Lyndon"  Lyndon Johnson's 1968 campaign song was a riff on "Hello, Dolly," which was popularized by Carol Channing.  Johnson, who became president after Kennedy's assassination, was opposed by Arizona senator Barry ("In your heart you know I'm right") Goldwater, who sank before the Democratic juggernaut with 53 electoral votes to Johnson's 486.  Johnson received 61.05% of the popular vote -- the highest ever share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GondYPCvw&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=35

And here's Carol Channing's version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbFmiECNojA

And here's Goldwater's "Go with Goldwater" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4IFO3Uo2cU)

"Buckle Down with Nixon"  Richard Nixon's 1968 comeback pitted the former vice president against vice president Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace, in the midst of the chaos surrounding the Vietnam War, with Nixon defeating Humphrey by only 500,000 votes.  The final count gave Nixon 301 electoral votes to Humphrey's 191,withWallace taking 46.  Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign was against South Dakota senator George McGovern, with Nixon winning every state except Massachusetts (my home state, yay!).  Then came Watergate...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-qEMLVt1oU&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=36

Other Nixon campaign songs were "Nixon's the One"  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fen7TVp9A6Y&t=6s) and "Nixon Now" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp_2embNSfQ)

During the 1968 presidential campaign, Robert f. Kennedy used "Omaha Rainbow" as a campaign song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb6EtgjtPmE

George McGovern used Paul Simon's "Bridge over Troubled Water" as a campaign song in 1972:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-YQA_bsOU

And because I'm covering all sorts of bases in this post, here's the "George Wallace for '72" campaign song (Gawd help us):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vaB07Lc7Mc

"I'm Feeling Good About America"  Gerald Ford took over the reins of the country after Richard Nixon resigned.  He ran a full term in 1976 against Jimmy Carter, losing with 240 electoral votes to Carter's 297, and with 48% of the popular vote to Carter's 50.1%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HBhR5D9L04&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=37

"Why Not the Best"  Jimmy Carter's 1976 campaign song mirrored his campaign slogan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsB5b-Z5F-4&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=38

Carter also used "Ode to the Georgia Farmer" ("Eating Goober Peas"); here's Tennessee Ernie Ford:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73u_yeFoEsM  

"California, Here I Come"  Ronald Reagan challenged Jimmy Carter in 1980.  Carter, who had been hurt by the Iran hostage crisis and by not being one of the  Washington elites, lost decisively with 49 electoral votes to Reagan's 489.  Reagan's 1984 election campaign had Minnesota senator Walter. Mondale as his opponent.  Again, Reagan won easily, with 325 electoral votes from 49 states; Mondale had only 13 electoral votes from his home state and the District of Columbia.  For this election, Reagan garnered 59% of the popular vote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEbwxhDoClY&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=39

Mondale's campaign song was "Gonna Fly Now," the theme from Rocky:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4

"This Land Is Your Land"  George H. W. Bush adopted Woody Guthrie's classic song for his 1988 campaign against Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.  Bush defeated Dukakis by a margin of 426 to 111 in the electoral college, garnering 53.4% of the popular vote.  (As an aside, I once interviewed Dukakis's wife, Kitty, during the election.  Her first words as she came into my office were, "Jesus, I need a cigarette."  As someone who was more used to politicians and their wives to be more decorous, I immediately fell in love with her.  She was plain folks.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2ZIBy7L9c&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=40

Dukakis used Neil Diamond's "America" for his campaign song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg8pj1x9-t4

"Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" In his 1992 bid against George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton used this Fleetwood Mack song written by Christie McVie as his theme song.  Clinton defeated Bush with 370 electoral votes to Bush's 168, with third party candidate Ross Perot garnering no electoral votes.  Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign placed him against senate majority leader Bob Dole.  Dole was defeated, 159 against 379 electoral votes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS-8EAgE72Q&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=41

Perot's theme song was Willie Nelson's "Crazy":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnYEQbEHNZE

Dole's was "Dole Man," a riff on the Isaac Hayes/David Porter's "Soul Man," a major hit for Sam and Dave in 1967:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JICHtfrerp4

Ah, politics...as evidenced by "The Same Old Merry-Go-Round":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHnr8hebCOA&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=42

And that brings us through the 2Oth century, as recapped by Oscar Brand with "Song of Presidents":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On68bzy5OSY&list=OLAK5uy_kWpFpRMTKLILqKIDMiv3weItFjBlyDA-c&index=43

  

HYMN TIME

 From 1953, The Johnson Homes Quartet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oq7vcI3TYs

SHADOWS FROM BEYOND #50 (OCTOBER 1966)

Evidently a one-shot, a retitling of Charlton's Unusual Tales; there appears to be no further issues of this comic book..  (Comics companies often used the numbering of a discontinued title on a new title, thus avoiding certain postal fees.)

Three horror stories introduced by the "Old Gypsy":

• "Reprieve!"  The Kommandant of a Nazi death camp is placed on trial.  His lawyer, who has promised to win acquittal, exerts a hypnotic power on all the witnesses, making them recant their damning testimony and the Nazi is freed.  But the lawyer has also promised justice will be served.  He takes his client back to where the death camp had stood, and there are the ghosts of his victims...waiting for their revenge.
• "He'll Go a Long Way"  The Old Gypsy tells the fortune of Boyce Haskell, telling him he'll fo a long way. something Haskell has heard all his life.  Feeling the fortuneteller gulled him, he gets a cop and goes back to demand his money, but the fortuneteller and her studio have vanished.  Haskell cheats and lies and defrauds his way to the top and builds a faulty high-rise apartment building.  To escape an angry woman whose husband he has cheated, Boyce runs and board a subway train.  But the train has no stops in this world, anyway.
• " 'Spacious' Rooms for Rent"  Slumlord Smith refuses to spend any money on upkeep.  Not only are the rooms substandard, they are small and tenants keep demanding more space.  An alien beams down to his rooming house and asks to rent a place, and Smith squeezes him into a small area in the cellar.  The alien  moves the rooming house, with tenants and all their rooms, as well as Smith to where they will all have space...outer space.

Ho-hum.

But there's some interesting artwork here, possibly by Pat Masulli, Dick Giordano, Pat Boyette, and Mo Marcus.  The final story is supposedly the first comic story by Boyette, who went on to create the Peacemaker with Joe Gill.

But for the most part, a very forgettable issue with the Old Gypsy inserting herself at various points throughout each tale  -- a distinct distraction.

For those who may be interested:

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=61913

FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE LOST GET-BACK BOOGIE

 The Lost Get-Back Boogie by James Lee Burke  (1986)

From the author's website:

"Korean War veteran Iry Paret is trying to put the past behind him, having just been released from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola after serving time for manslaughter.  He heads west to begin a new life in Montana on the family ranch of Buddy Riordan, a friend from prison.  Life in Montana, however, is far from serene.  Buddy's father is waging a one-man campaign to shut down the local pulp mill that is devastating the environment.  Tensions are growing, and so is the level of power the Riordans and Iry are up against.  Meanwhile, Iry begins falling for Buddy's estranged wife. and soon his loyalty to his friend ass well as his determination to stay on the straight and narrow are put to the test."

The Lost Get-Back Boogie -- the title comes from the name of a song that Iry, a country musician, has been trying unsuccessfully to write ever since he had been imprisoned -- marked a turning point in Burke's not-quite fledgling career.  The author had gone 11 years without having one of his books printed in hardback, and the manuscript had been rejected 111 times.  When the novel was finally printed by Kouisiana State University Press it was critically acclaimed and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.  From that point, recognition and success followed, and in the following year, Burke published his first novel in a series of wildly successful books about Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux.

The Lost Get-Back Boogie has everything on has come to expect from Burke.  Lyrical, haunting prose.  An unabashed love for the beauty of nature, both in Louisiana and Montana.  A deep appreciation of the music of the people.  A sympathetic look at society's underdogs, unable to fight against (or to even understand) the hold the powerful have over them.  The pride and determination of people caught in society's trap, and sometimes caught in the trap of alcohol and drugs.  Flawed characters trying to do right and sometimes succeeding.  The casual and unthinking violence and degradation that can be part and parcel of the justice system.  But through it all, there is hope of a light at the end of the tunnel of a difficult and problematic journey.

Iry Paret is a person damaged by his own pride and arrogance, and damaged further by a difficult childhood, a war that seemed to suck the humanity out of him, and a crime that did not reflect his true nature, and finally by this betrayal of his best friend.  Nonetheless, his nobility shines through, as does James Lee Burke's nobility.

And in the end, we can hope that Iry's song, 'The Lost Get-Back Boogie" may finally get written.

Highly recommended.  

LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE: TIN BOX (1934)

When I was very young, for reasons I still cannot explain, I was enamored with Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie.  The fact that I could not explain how Annie was able to see without pupil in her eyes bothered me, but did not put me off from the plucky little 10-year-old redhead.  I eventually grew out of that stage -- perhaps later than I should have.

Little Orphan Annie, the comic strip created by Harold Gray, debuted in the Daily News of New York on August 5, 1924, and continued until June 13, 2010.  the strip followed Annie, her dog Sandy ("Arf!"}, her benefactor "Daddy" Warbucks, and Warbucks' cohorts, Punjab and the Asp, as well as  Mr. Am ("a bearded sage, millions of years old, whose supernatural powerss included bringing the dead back to life") in a thinly veiled  right-wing landscape that excoriated labor unions, the New Deal (damn that government interference in private enterprise,, anyway!), and communism and socialism.  (At one time, Daddy Warbucks died briefly from despair at the 1944 election of FDR; the story was retrofitted in 1945 (at the time of Roosevelt's death) to bring Daddy Warbucks back from a "coma.")

Annie became extremely popular.  a 1937 poll raced her as the most popular comic strip character of her time.  Annie appeared in a radio series and in two films in the 1930s, a noted Broadway musical with two sequel musicals and a "junior" stage version, three film adaptations of the Broadway musical, two direct-to-video films, an animated Christmas film, various book collections beginning in 1926 and continuing to multivolume reprints of The Complete Little Orphan Annie, beginning in 2008.  And there have been ties-ins, toys, premiums, and other merchandising of the character over the years, as well as various Big Little Books and other children's volumes.  Annie was even honored with a US stamp.

Although the strip ended in 2010 with an unresolved cliff-hanger, Annie still lives on.  Annie and the gang have made a series of guest appearances in the Dick Tracy comic strip since 2013, the last appearance (for now) being in 2019.

The Little Orphan Annie radio show began on Chicago's WGN in 1930 (exact date uncertain) and moved to the NBC Blue Network on April 6, 1931, airing until April 26, 1943 as a fifteen-minute late afternoon show.   In 1931, coast-to-coast networks had not been established, so the program used two different casts -- one in Chicago and one in San Francisco.  Shirley bell played Annie in Chicago and Floy Margaret Hughes played her on the West Coast; when coast-to-coast networking became available in 1933, the Chicago cast was used.

The show was the first radio early afternoon children's series \, and proved to be extremely po;uar with the younger set.  The show took place in the rural community of Tompkin's Corners, where Annie had been adopted by the Silo Family.  Annie, aided by Sandy and her young friend Joe Corntassle (played in later episodes by Mel Torme), took on the evildoers n her small town.. Later, she expanded her reach by fighting evil throughout the world, aided by other crime-fighting children.

Brought to you by Ovaltine.  The familiar theme song was sung, variously, by Pierre Andre (who was also the show's announcer) or Lawrence Salerno (a WGN staff baritone).  Leonard Slavo played the organ.  Among the writers for the show were crime novelist, pulp writer, and scriptwriter "Day Keene" (Gunard Hjertstedt), the head writer for Little Orphan Annie and Kitty Keene, Inc., and Ferrin Fraser, who co-wrote five books with noted animal hunter and collector Frank Buck.

Enjoy this little fifteen-minute snippet from the adventures of Little Orphan Annie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw3sSoM63eQ

SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: WHITE-MAN-DEVIL

 "White-Man-Devil" by "Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins)  (from Wide World Adventure, June 1930; reprinted in World Stories #28, July 1930; included in Leinster's collection The Trail of Blood, 2017)

This is how the story begins:

"this is the true story of how Makwa got killed and why Kittredge swore off, and all other narratives are inaccurate.  It is current report that old Makwa was blown into several pieces when H.M.S. Alfred shelled the village on account of his indulged appetite for long pig.  You will told that in Tulagi, and Port Moresby also, if you ask about him, and a great many people believe it.  But, as a matter of fact, when the Alfred shelled the village it accounted for exactly six pigs and the village idiot.  Makwa and his people knew the ship for a faka ha'ita and dived for the bush before she opened fire.  And, of course, when she steamed away they came back, surveyed the damage, ate the six pigs with an excellent appetite, and regretfully refrained from eating the village idiot for religious reasons.  They considered themselves amply repaid for the damage done when they found four 4.7 shells which had struck soft earth and failed to explode.  They were forthwith preserved as remarkable magic in the devil-devil house.

"The damage done by the bombardment has been exaggerated, you see.  After the shelling, Makwa continued to rule the village, painstakingly keep on good terms with the local devils, scratch his populous head -- and plan devilment exactly as before.  In fact he waxed in reputation, authority, duplicity, and depravity until Kittridge rolled ashore dead drunk in a whale boat."

And this is how the story ends:

"This is, then the first time anybody has ever told the true story of how Makwa got killed and why Kittridge swore off.  All other narratives are inaccurate."

Along the way we learn that Kittridge, acting only as a drunk could do, staggered into the village of natives too startled to object, went up to Makwa, rubbed his bushy head with his hand, and called him "a good boy."  Makwa, who had seventeen proven murders to his name (and seventeen heads to prove it), had bribed the devil-devil man to place a curse on anyone who touched his head; anyone who did so would immediately shrivel up and die -- which allowed Makwa to continue his rule by fear.  To have his head touched by anyone, especially a white man who did not shrivel up when ding so, was a great threat to Makwa's power.  Plus, a white man's head had only one proper place -- separated from the body and hanging in Makwa's hut.  Kittridge was knocked unconscious and woke finding himself caged and scheduled to become long pig.  Now sober and sure he was about to die, Kittridge had to bluff his way to freedom, knowing that the odds of being able to pull off the bluff were heavily against him.

"White-Man-Devil" is an entertaining, colorful tale that displays Leinster's knack for jungle adventure stories at his greatest.  Those who know Leinster for his science fiction -- or perhaps westerns -- only are in for a treat.  A powerful tale difficult to put down.

As with so many of Leinster's stories, there are also some memorable observations.  One of my favorites in this story displays an enjoyable cynicism:  "And no man's religion works when it requires him to forego riches."

OVERLOOKED FILM: ODD MAN OUT (1947)

 Elizabeth Foxwell, at The Bunburyist, reminds us of the 50th anniversary of novelist and screenwriter R. C. Sherriff's (1896-1975) death.   Sherriff wrote his first play (A Hitch in the Proceedings, 1921) to help his rowing club to buy a new boat.  His seventh play, Journey's End, 1927, starred a young Lawrence Olivier and had a two-year run; the 2007 revival won both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk award; Sherriff novelized the play in 1930.  Among his other novels was The Hopkins Manuscript (1939), a science fiction novel about the cataclysm when the moon collides with the Earth; critics were quick to point out the influence of H. G. Wells, but neglected to mention similar works such as Hector Servadac by Jules Verne, o the more recent When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.  As a screenwriter, Sherriff wrote or co-wrote many of today's classic films, including The Invisible Man, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (nominated for an Academy Award), The Four Feathers, That Hamilton Woman, Stand By for Action, No Highway in the Sky, The Dam Busters (nominated for a BAFTA Award), and The Night My Number Came Up (nominated for a BAFTA award).

One of his most celebrated films was 1947's Odd Man Out, directed by Carroll Reed and starring James Mason. Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, and Kathleen Ryan.  The movie won the first Bafta Award for Best British Film, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best film Editing.  The film, set in Belfast, follows a wounded Nationalist leader attempting to evade police following a botched robbery.  the film eerily prefigures Orson Welles's 1949 movie The Third Man.  It was based on the 1945 novel by F. L. Green; the source novel was later used for the 1969 Sidney Poitier movie The Lost Man.

The film has been called "Reed's masterpiece."   Critic Marc Connelly wrote the movie was "hailed as a masterpiece by many critics and a box office hit -- at least in Europe, where Reed had gauged the mood of postwar despondency with caliper-like accuracy."

Enjoy.

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

BITS & PIECES

Openers:  The girl screamed once, only the once.

Even that, however, was a minor slip on his part.  That might have been the end of everything, almost before it had begun.  Neighbours inquisitive, the police called in to investigate.  No, that would not do at all.  Next time he would tie the gag a little tighter, just a little tighter, just that little bit more secure.

Afterwards, he went to the drawer and took from it a ball of string.  He used a pair of sharp nail-scissors, the kind girls always seem to use, to snip off a length of string of about six inches, then he put the ball of string and the scissors back into the drawer.  A car revved up outside, and he went to the window, upsetting a pile of books on the floor as he did so.  the car, however, had vanished.  He tied a not in the string, not any special kind of know, just a knot.  There was an envelope lying ready on the sideboard.

-- Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin  (1987)

I recently streamed all four season of Rebus, both the John Hannah and the Ken Stott versions.  The two actor appeared to playing very different characters but both portrayals were interesting.  One of my failings ( and I have many, sadly) is that I have never read a book by Ian Rankin, one of the most celebrated crime writers of our time.  To remedy that, I picked up Knots and Crosses, the first Rebus novel.  It was the second novel published by Rankin and the first of 25 novels, 27 short stories, one novella, and a non-fiction book about the character

Knots and Crosses, written as a standalone novel, introduces Rebus as a Detective Sergeant in the Edinburgh police department.  He is divorced with a pre-teen daughter.  His late father had been a stage magician, as is his nearly-estranged brother.  To get away from family life, Rebus joined the army, where he performed extremely well.  He then transferred to the elite SAS, whose training included sadistic torture that broke him.  He left the SAS and joined the police, but his experiences with the SAS followed him and adversely affected his life.  Now he is bitter, disillusioned, and drinks too much.   Rebus is apt to go his own way, even in the regimented police force.

There is a child serial killer at work in Edinburgh, one who strangles young girls without molesting them.  At the same time Rebus has been receiving anonymous envelopes, each with a cryptic message and a string tied in a knot; later envelopes contain tiny wooden crosses held together with string.  Rebus plays little attention to them.  With virtually every other member of the police, Rebus is more focused on the child killer, whose victims appear to have absolutely no common link.

In the meantime, an ambitious journalist has tied Rebus's brother to drug running and also suspects Rebus of being involved with drugs and even of being the serial killer himself.

Rebus stumbles across the common link between the victims and it proves that the killer -- whoever he or she is -- has a personal vendetta against Rebus...and that the next victim will be Rebus's own daughter.  Rebus may be too late to save his daughter -- she has been kidnapped.  Can Rebus find the killer in time to save her?  There are no guarantees in this dark book.

Knots and Crosses was followed by a second Rebus novel, Hide and Seek, four years later.  Over time, Rebus becomes a Detective Inspector and refuses a promotion to Detective Chief Inspector.  Eventually he retires, but continues consulting for the police.  Through it all, Rebus remains a deeply flawed character, struggling to overcome past mistakes.

Sir Ian Rankin (b. 1960; named an OBE in 2002; knighted in 2022) has been awarded the CWa Dagger for Short Story (twice), the CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction, and the CWA Lifetime Achievement Award (the Cartier Diamond Dagger), as well as an Edgar Award for Best Novel (and also short-listed once), Denmark's Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, Finland's Whodunnit Prize, France's Grand Prix du Roman Noir and Grand Prix de Litterature Policier, Germany's Deutsche Kimi Prize, the Edinburgh Award. the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Author of the Year, Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award, Specsavers National Book award for Outstanding Achievement, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing, the Chandler-Fulbright Award, as well as being elected to the prestigious Detection Club, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the Royal Society of Literature.  He has been a UNESCO City of Literature Visiting Professor and has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow.  He has received honorary doctorates from five Universities.  He has released recordings, a graphic novel, and has written a libretto for an opera.

Incoming:

• "Philip Atlee" (James Atlee Phillips), The Paper Pistol Contract.  The fourth of thirty-nine Joe Gall Secret Agent novels.  "Meet Joe Gall...The Nullifier.  He kills by special contract only.  In the great, grim game of espionage, he is the master freelance counterspy, the cold deck artist, the enforcer, the ruthless take-out man who stops at nothing.  His mission is to always win -- however he does it.  If subtlety fails, he overturns the table and shouts Earthquake1   Joe Gall is in Tahiti, where the ancient rites of love are ever new, and where the French are planning an atomic test.  The Contract is to sabotage the test -- and then to throw the blame on the Red Chinese.  The Stakes:  survival or annihilation."  Phillips also published several novels under his own name and was the co-writer of the screenplay for the Robert Mitchum vehicle Thunder Road.
• Jay Bonasinger, Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead:  Search and Destroy.  Television tie-in, an original novel based on the television series, and part of the Woodbury saga.  "For many months, the plague has taken its toll on the living.  Nerves are frayed.  Resources are dwindling.   And the dead still refuse to stay dead.  But what Lilly Caul and her ragtag band of survivors discover one evening, returning home to Woodbury after a hard day of scavenging in the hinterlands, is the worst-case scenario:  the town has been brutally and inexplicably attacked by unknown assailants, and all of the town's children have been kidnapped.  Now Lily and her team are launched on a desperate rescue mission., which leads from the walker-infested rural wastelands and into the ruins of post=plague Atlanta.  But that they find there, festering behind the walls of the derelict medical center, will not only change Lilly's life forever, but will very likely change the course of the plague itself. "  See also Robert Kirkwood, below.
• "Max Brand" (Frederick Faust), Peter Blue.  Collection of three western novellas: "Speedy's Mare" (Western Story Magazine, March 12, 1932, one of nine stories written about Speedy, clever young hero who could outwit even the deadliest of men without the use of a gun; "His Fight for a Pardon" (Western Story Magazine, June 27, 1925 as by "George Owen Baxter", features an outlaw from a poor background facing off against a gentleman outlaw born of privilege in an attempt to win a pardon; "Peter Blue, One-Man Gun" (Far West Illustrated, June 1927), in which Blue, an infamous gunman, becomes a redeemed outlaw.
• Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities.  A novel or a work of meditation or a poem -- take your pick.  "In a garden sit the ancient Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo -- Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler.  The mood is sunset.  Prospero is holding up for the last time his magic wand; Kublai Khan has sensed  the end of his empire, of his cities, of himself."  also, Mr. Palomar.  A novel (or, perhaps, a collection of short stories0, at times visual, at times anthropological, at times speculative.  Both books translated by William Weaver.
• Orson Scott Card, Hidden Empire. Science fiction, sequel to Empire.  "At the close of Empire, political scientist and government advisor Averell Torrent has maneuvered himself into the presidency of the United States in the aftermath of the devastating insurrection and civil war.  but the truth is, he engineered that war, and becoming president was just the next step in his plan.  Now that he has complete power, he has two goals:  to expand the american imperial power around the world, and to control or silence the very few people who know that he was behind the assassination of the last elected president."
• Max Allan Collins & terry Beatty, Ms. Tree:  Fallen Tree.  The sixth and final volume of the Ms. Tree comic book adventures.  The hell with Rico -- Mother of God.  Is this the end of Ms. Tree?
• Glen Cook, She Is the Darkness.  Fantasy, Book Two of Glimmering Stone, and the seventh book in the Black Company series.  "The wind winds and howls with bitter breath.  Lightning snarls and barks.  Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone.  Even shadows are afraid.  At the heart of the plain stands a vast, grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory.  From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow beat like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence.  Death is eternity.  Eternity is stone.  Stone is silent.  Stone cannot speak but stone remembers.  so begins the next movement of the Glittering Stone...The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other.  Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are everflowing with trust for each other.  Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of them all."  
• Clive Cussler, with Paul Kemprecos, White Death.  A Kurt Austin adventure from the NUMA Files.  "A ruthless corporation is about to take control of the seas.  For those who oppose them, there is White Death...This is a mission for Kurt Austin and the NUMA team."  I have mentioned before that I am more of fan of Paul Kemprecos than of Clive Cussler.
• Ken Goddard, Balefire, Suspense thriller.  "Huntington Beach, Southern California:  A quiet haven of suburbia that becomes the scene of a series of brutal, unexplained killings that have stunned the local citizens -- and confused and angered the police -- because the killings are aimed at them.  Detective Sergeant Walter Anderson:  Commander of the homicide unit, experienced and unafraid, who will soon learn the true meaning of fear.  Detective Rudy Hernandez:  Dedicated homicide investigator and devoted father, who finds himself torn between protecting his family and defending his city.  Brian Sheffield and Meiko Harikawa:  supervisor of the Huntington Beach crime lab and his forensic-scientist lover, who discover  the deadly secret behind the attacks and rush to stop the madness.  But they'd better hurry.  Because the murders aren't random, the killers aren't locals...and it's not just one little town that's at stake, but the security and peace of an entire nation."
• Jason Henderson, Highlander:  The Element of Fire.  Tie-in; the first of nine novels and one anthology by various authors based on the television series.  "Centuries ago, the immortal pirate Khordas vowed to destroy MacLeod.  Evil and insane Khordas delights in burning his victims inside their homes and ships, while he loots the pyres from which he alone can emerge.  Nantucket, 1897.  Now on an anniversary of blood, this undying monster springs an infernal trap around the Highlander.  But the pirate doesn't want merely to kill MacLeod.  Unless stopped, Khodas will sear to cinders everything -- and everyone -- the Highlander holds dear..."  I liked the original movie, but the film franchise immediately jumped the shark.  Then came the television series, which started off nicely, but soon devolved  into parody.  I wonder how the tie-in series fared.
• Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, The Walking Dead:  Rise of the Governor.  Tie-inb novel, the first  in a series exploring the origins of fan-favorite characters from The Walking Dead universe.  Here, we learn " how the Governor became the man he was, and what drove him to such extremes."
• "Murray Leinster"  (Will F. Jenkins), Masters of Darkness.  Collection of the four stories about detective Hines and super-villain Preston, who uses super-science to plunge the world into darkness.  The stories -- "The Darkness on Fifth Avenue," "The City of the Blind," "The Storm That Had to Be Stopped," and "The Man who Put Out the Sun" -- first appeared in Argosy, 1929-1930, and helped launch Leinster's long career in science fiction.
• Christopher Morley, Parnassus on Wheels.  The classic novel.  "[T]he story of a marvelous man, small in stature, wiry as a cat, Olympic in personality.  Roger Mifflin is part pixie, part sage, part noble savage, and all God's creature.  With his traveling book wagon, named Parnassus, he moves through the New England countryside of 1915 on an itinerant mission of enlightenment.  Mifflin's delight in books and authors (if not publishers) is infectious.  With his singular philosophy and bright eyes, he comes to represent the heart and soul of the book world."   The companion to this novel is The Haunted Bookshop.  Morley was also the author of Thunder on the Left and Kitty Foyle.
• David Morrell, two novels,  The Covenant of the Rose:  "For two thousand years a hidden conflict has been waged.  Now it is bursting into the open-- in a pitched battle over the very future of the planet...In the Amazon and in Africa, from oil spills to animal slaughter, the earth is being defiled, and two covert armies are locked in mortal conflict -- with a woman reporter caught in the middle.  Drawn into the mysterious disappearance of a grey-eyed stranger and his horrific murder by fire, Tess Drake and a veteran New York City police officer follow the trail of blood from Manhattan to Washington to the ancient caverns of Europe.  hunted by both sides, fighting for her life, Tess races toward the dark heart of a secret that will rock the world..."  Also, The League of Night and Fog, the third novel in the Abrlard Sanction trilogy  "They were once master assassins, Saul and Drew -- lethal weapons who dealt death with icy efficiency.  Today they are silent warriors.  Sick of the bloodshed.  Penitent.  But still potent.  Now, for the first time, their paths will cross.  Comrades in killing, they must join forces against a treacherous power from the past.  This will be their most crucial assignment.  It could also be their last."
• "J. D. Robb" (Nora Roberts), five more books in the eve Dallas "...In Death" series.  Ceremony in Death, number 4 in the series:  "Conducting a top-secret investigation into the death of a fellow police officer has Lieutenant Eve Dallas treading on dangerous ground.  She must put professional ethics before personal loyalties.  But when a dead body is placed outside of her home, Eve takes the warning personally.  With her husband, Rourke, watching her every move. Eve is drawn into the most dangerous case of her career.  Every step she takes makes her question her own beliefs of right and wrong -- and brings her closer to a confrontation  with humanity's most seductive form of evil."  Conspiracy in Death, number 8 in the series:  "With the precision of a surgeon, a serial killer preys on the most vulnerable souls of the world's city streets.  the first victim, a sidewalk sleeper, found dead in New York City.  No bruises, no signs of struggle, Just laser-perfect fist-sized hole where his heart had once been.  Detective Eve Dallas is assigned to investigate.  But in the het of a cat-and-mouse game with the killer, Dallas's job is suddenly on the line.  Now her hands are tied...between a struggle for justice -- and a fight for her career."  Judgment in Death, number 11 in the series:  In an uptown strip joint, a cop is found bludgeoned to death.  The weapon's a baseball bat.  The motive's a mystery.  It's a case of serious overkill that pushes Eve Dallas straight into overdrive.  Her investigation uncovers a private club that's more than a hot spot.  Purgatory's a last chance for atonement where everyone is judged.  Where your ultimate fate depends on your most intimate sins.  And where one cop's hidden secrets are about to plunge innocent souls into vice-ridden damnation..."  Kindred in Death, number 29 in the series:  "A recently promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return early from their vacation.  Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene awaiting their arrival.  Deena, their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind, had been brutally murdered in her bedroom.  Her body shows signs of trauma that horrifies even the toughest of cops, including Lieutenant Eve Dallas.  As evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team believe they are about to arrest the perpetrator.  unknown to them, someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities.  Overconfidence can leave to careless mistakes .  For eve Dallas, one mistake is all she needs to serve justice."  And, Brotherhood in Death, number 42 in the series:  "Dennis Mira has had two unpleasant surprises.  First, he learned that his cousin Edward was secretly meeting with a real estate agent about their late grandfather's magnificent  SoHo brownstone, despite a promise they each had made to keep it in the family.  then, when he arrived at the house to confront Edward, he got a blunt object to the back of the head.  Luckily Dennis is married to charlotte Mira, the NYPSC's top profiler and a good friend of Lieutenant Eve Dallas.  When the two women arrive on the scene, he explains that the last thing he saw before he was knocked out was Edward in a chair, bruised and bloody.  And when he came to, his cousin was gone.  With the room cleaned up and the security disks removed, there's nothing but a few traces left behind for forensics to analyze.  A former lawyer, judge, and senator, Edward Mira has mingled with the elite and crossed paths with criminals, making enemies on a regular basis.  Like so many politicians, he has also made some very good friends behind closed -- and locked -- doors.  But a badge and a billionaire husband can get Eve access to places others can't go, and she intends to shine some light on the dirty deals and dark motives behind the disappearance of a powerful man, the family discord over a multimillion-dollar piece of real estate...and a new case that no one saw coming."  Kevin Tipple has been lauding the praises of this series for some while, so I've begun to pick up the books when I come across them;  I hope to start reading them this year.  The sixtieth novel in the series, Blooded in Death, is due out this month.
• John Saul, Brainchild.  Another horror/suspense novel by Saul in which very little good happens to a child.  "Alex Lonsdale was one of the most popular kids in La Paloma, California.  Intil the horrifying car accident.  Until a brilliant doctor's medical miracle brought him back from the brink of death.  Now, Alex seems the same.  But in his eyes there is blankness.  I his heart there is coldness. If his parents, his friends, his girlfriend, could see inside his brain, inside his dreams,  they would be terrified.  One hundred years ago in La Paloma, a terrible deed was done.  A cry for vengeance pierced the night.  The evil still lives.  that vengeance still waits.  Waits for Alex Lonsdale.  Waits for the...BRAINCHILD."   First rule of literary survival:  Never be a kid in a John Saul novel.
• Thomas E. Sniegoski, the first five (of seven) novels in The Fallen YA fantasy series about a young man who is the son of a mortal and an angel.  The Fallen 1:  omnibus volume of the first two books in the series, The Fallen and Leviathan.  "On his eighteenth birthday, Aaron begins to hear strange voices and is convinced he is going insane.  But having moved from foster home to foster home, Aaron doesn't know whom he can trust.  He wants to confide in the cute girl in class, but fears she'll confirm he's crazy.  Then a mysterious man begins following Aaron.  He knows about Aaron's troubled past and his new powers.  And he has a message for Aaron:  As the son of a mortal and an angel, Aaron has been chosen to redeem the Fallen.  Aaron tries to dismiss the news and resist his supernatural abilities.  But he must accept his newfound heritage -- and quickly.  For the dark powers are gaining strength, and are hell-bent on destroying him.  The Fallen 2: omnibus volume of the third and fourth books in the series, Aerie and Reckoning.  "Aaron's senior year has been anything but typical.  Half angel and half human, he has been charged to reunite the Fallen with Heaven.  But the leader of the Dark Powers is determined to destroy Aaron -- and all hope of angelic reconciliation.  Struggling to harness the incredible force within him, Aaron trains for the ultimate battle.  With the Dark Powers gaining in strength, their clash may come sooner than he expects.  and everyone who's ever mattered to Aaron is now in grave danger.  Aaron must protect the girl he loves and rescue the only family he's ever known.  Because if he can't save them from the dark Powers, how can he hope to save the Fallen?"   The Fallen 3: standalone volume of the fifth book in the series, End of Days, packaged to conform with the earlier two volumes.  "The war between Heaven and Hell rages on.  Aaron, half angel and half human, commands the Fallen in their quest to protect humanity.  But evil forces gain strength at every turn.  And lurking somewhere in the shadows is Archangel Gabriel's instrument with the power to call down the End of Days.  Aaron draws confidence from the girl he loves as he struggles to make peace as Lucifer's son."  -- [Whoa  Didn't expect that revelation!] -- "These are desperate times, and Aaron knows the Fallen will needs to forge new, unlikely alliances to survive.  With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Aaron will stop at nothing to defend civilization -- and the girl who holds his heart.  Even if it means facing Hell's darkest demons."  Sniegoski has written a number of fantasy novels, comic books, and comic-related works; one of his most popular series deals with another angel, Remy Chandler, who gave up Heaven to live on Earth and is now a private investigator.

Cream Cheese Brownies:  So the Super Bowl is Over and you are either very happy and hungover, or very sad and hungover, or, perhaps, somewhere in between. Like many, you are wondering what to do with the rest of your life until football season stats up once again.  Well, I can't help you over the long Run, but I can give you an idea on how to occupy some of your time today...because today is....[drum roll, please],,,NATIONAL CREAM CHEESE BROWNIE DAY!

So, let's get cracking, eh?

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/cream-cheese-brownies

And...er...uh...:  There's also another holiday today and I urge you not to conflate the two.  With this holiday, you should definitely stay out of the kitchen:

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/national-poop-day/

The Sweet Science:  In the news this week is the death of Irish boxer John Cooney. 28. after being injured in a title match a week before.  Cooney was defending his Celtic superfeatherweight title against Welshman Nathan Howells in a February 1 match in Belfast.  The fight was stopped in the ninth round.  Cooney was assessed by an onsite medical team, then taken out in a stretcher to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where it was determined he had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage and was operated upon to relieve pressure on the brain.  He remained in intensive care, dying on February 8.  Cooney had won his title from Liam Gaynor in November of 2023 but a hand injury prevented him from boxing again until last October, when he defeated Tampela Maharrudi.

Cooney is just the latest in a long line of men who have died from injuries suffered in a bout.  One estimate has over 500 deaths attributed to the sweet science sine the establishment of the Marquis of Queensbury rules.  Because of various boxing leagues and federations and the methods used to record events it is difficult to get an accurate count.  Then, too, there have been uncounted unrecorded later deaths related to injuries sustained in the ring.

In was ninety-two years ago on this day that 24-year-old Ernie Schaff was fatally injured in a match against Primo Carnera (who was lass than five months away from becoming the World Heavyweight Boxing champion).  Schaff, who had an official record of 55-13-2, with 1 no contest and 4 no decisions (reports indicate that Schaaf had actually won 3 of those no-decision bouts); of his 75 total fights, 23 of his 58 wins were by KO, and he came into the February 19 match following a TKO win the previous month (the month before that, he claimed the New England Heavyweight title with KO win).  But, in his best shape, Schaaf weight 200-210 pounds; Carnera weighed 250 pounds; of his 88 professional wins, 72 were by knockout; he won more fights by knockout than any other heavyweight champion.

Schaff suffered a knockout loss in round 13.  He fell into  a coma and was rushed to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery.  He died on February 14.  An autopsy revealed that Schaff had meningitis, a swelling of the brain, and was recovering from a severe case of influenza when he entered the ring against Carnera.

(Carnera, by the way, eventually lost his heavyweight championship to Max Baer, who, coincidently, had killed a boxer in a August 25, 1930 match -- 26-year-old Frankie Campbell died just hours after the match -- it was revealed that Campbell's brain had been knocked loose from the connective tissue in his head.  Carnera was also a professional wrestler who had a 143-2-1 record after losing to world heavyweight champion Lou Thesz in May 1948.  Carnera also had an acting career -- you might remember him as one of the tug-of-war-pulling strongmen in Mighty Joe Young.  Carnera was also mob-linked and a number of matches have been deemed suspicious by those who have studied the sport.)

I know that boxing entails athleticism, stamina, speed, strength, coordination, and endurance.  I understand that there is more to the sport than meets the casual eye.  But to me it remains a blood sport, pure and simple.  I know that many others will disagree with me, citing that every major sports -- even baseball -- has had its fatalities.  But all I can see is a port where the sole purpose is to beat an opponent senseless.

Boxing will continue.  Fans will cheer. More people will die or become permanently injured.  The beat -- and the beatings -- go on.

Hearts and Flowers:  1930's Hearts and Flower, featuring Dolly Daisy, has been described as the creepiest sop-motion animated cartoon ever.  The Internet Archive description of the cartoon calls it a "charming and heart-warming film that is sure to please audiences of all ages....a simple but effective tale of love and adventure."  I believe whoever wrote that was on some serious drugs and had never watched the piece, giving plot descriptions that just are not there.  There is a lot to unpack here behind the scenes, starting with voyeurism and going to a moon that likes to fondle a young girl's bottom., with a little bit of racism along the way.  Creepy is a good word for it.  See for yourself.

https://archive.org/details/dolly-dasiy-in-hearts-and-flowers-7680x-4320-prob-3-1/DOLLY+DASIY+IN+HEARTS+AND+FLOWERS.mov

Sir John Sucking:  A unfortunate name perhaps, Suckling (1609-1641) was an English poet of "careless gaiety and wit."  His father was Secretary of State under James 1; his uncle the Earl of Middlesex.  His lose friends included Ben Jonson, Thomas Carew, and Richard Lovelace.  A man of many talent, Suckling's poetry was brought to the attention of Charles I, and he later assisted Charles in the First Scottish War.  He was deemed the most skillful card player, as well as the best bowler, in England.  He invented the game of cribbage.  It is unclear how he died but many believe he ingested poison either intentionally or unintentionally, and there has been a persistent rumor of a servant with a razor blade in his shoe.

Suckling is considered a Cavalier Poet.  Some of his works are dismissive of women ("There never yet was woman made,/Nor shall, but to be curst;/And O. that I, fond I, should first,/Of any lover,/this truth at my own charge to other fools discover.").  His most well-known poem is "A Ballad upon a Wedding":

I tell thee, Dick, where I have been,

Where I the rarest things have seen,

O, things without compare!

Such sights again cannot be found

In any place on English ground,

Be it at wake or fair.

At Charing Cross, hard by the way

Where we. thou know'st, do sell out hay,

There is a house with stairs,

And there I did see coming down

Such folks as are not in our town,

Forty, at least, in pairs.

Amongst the rest, one pest'lent fine

(His beard no bigger, though, than thine)

Walked on before the rest

Our landlord looks like nothing to him,

The King (God bless him!) 'twould undo him,

Should he go still so dressed.

At course-a-park, without all doubt,

He should have first been taken out

By all the maids i' th' town:

Though lusty Roger there had been,

Or little George upon the Green,

Or Vincent of the Crown.

But wot you what?  the youth was going

To make an end of all his wooing,

The Parson for him stayed.

Yet, by his leave, for all his hast,

He did not so much wish all past,

Perchance, as did the maid.

The Maid (and thereby hangs a tale),

For such a maid no Whitsun-ale

Could ever yet produce.

No grape that's kindly ripe could be

So round, so plump, so soft, as she,

Nor half so full of juice!

Her finger was so small the ring

Would not stay on, which they did bring;

It was too wide a peck:

And truth to say (for out it must),

It looked like a great collar (just)

About out young colt's neck.

Her feet beneath her petticoat,

Like little mice, stole in and out,

As if they feared the light.

But oh!  she dances such a way.

No sun upon an Easter Day

Is half so fine a sight!

He would have kissed her once or twice,

But she would not, she was so nice,

She would not do 't in sight.

And then she looked as who should say

"I will do what I list today

And you shall do 't at night."

Her cheeks so rare a white was on

No daisy makes comparison,

(Who seeks them is undone),

For streaks of red were mingled there,

Such as are on a Catherine pear,

(The side that's next the sun).

Her lips were red, and one was thin

compared to that was next her chin, --

(Some bee had stung it newly);

But, Dick, her eyes so guard her face,

I durst no more upon them gaze

Than on the sun in July.

Her mouth so small, when she does speak

Thou'dst swear her teeth her words did break,

That they might passage get.

But she so handled still the matter,

They came as good as ours, or better,

And are not spent a whit.

If wishing could be any sin,

The Parson himself had guilty been,

(She looked that day so purely),

And, did our youth so oft the feat

At night, as some did in conceit,

It would have spoiled him surely.

Just in the nick, the cook knocked thrice,

And all the waiters in a trice

His summons did obey.

Each servingman, with dish in hand,

Marched boldly up, like our trained band,

Presented, and away.

When all the meat was on the table,

What man of knife or teeth was able

To stay to be entreated?

And this the very reason was,

Before the parson could say grace,

The company was seated.

The business of the kitchen's great,

For it is fit that man should eat,

Nor was it there denied.

Passion o' me, how I run on!

There's that that would be thought upon,

I trow, beside the bride.

Now hats fly off, and youths carouse,

Healths first go round, and the the house

The bride's came thick and thick;

And when 'twas named another's health, 

Perhaps he made it hers by stealth,

And who could help it, Dick?

O' th' sudden, up they rise and dance;

Then sit again and sigh and glance;

Then dance again and kiss.

Thus several ways the time did pass,

Whilst every woman wished her place,

And every man wished his!

By this time all were stolen inside

To counsel and undress the bride,

But that he must not know;

And yet 'twas thought he guessed her mind,

And did not mean to stay behind

Above an hour or so.

When in he came, Dick, there she lay

like new-fallen snow melting away,

('Twas time, I trow, to part)

Kisses were now the only stay,

Which soon she gave, as one would say,

"God-be-with-ye, with all my heart."

But, just as Heavens would have, to cross it,

In came the bridesmaids with the possit:

The bridegroom ate in spite.

For, had he left the women to 't,

It would have cost tow hours to do 't,

Which were too much that night.

At length the candle's out, and now

All that they had not done they do;

What that is, who can tell?

I believe it was no more

Than thou and I have done before

With Bridget and with Nell.

Dad Joke:  The person who handled customer transactions at the Chocolate Bank quit his jub.  He was replaced with a Nutella.

Ku Klux Klan:  The Invisible Empire:  A CBS Reports television documentary from 1965.

https://archive.org/details/kukluxklantheinvisibleempire_201505

Some Music:  Among the many musical greats born on this date are:

• Adelina Patti (1843-1919), Italian opera singer, considered to be one of the most famous sopranos in history.  Here's a restored copy of Patti singing "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0_D65bedTc
• Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), actor, comedian, singer, and one of my wife's favorites (because he reminded her of her grandfather).  One of his signature songs was "Inka Dinka Doo," and here's an absolutely joyous rendition:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV7XIw-eNUg
• Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German playwright and poet; his collaborations with Kurt Weill and others included The Threepenny Opera, which included this classic song, sung by Lotte Lenya:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPG9GcykPIY  Cleaned up somewhat, it became a hit for Bobby Darin:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=557lFG-qq5g
• Chick Webb (1905-1939), American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader.  Here's "Stompin' at the Savoy":     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgX5_waK--w
• Jean Coulthard (1908-2000), prominent 2oth century Canadian composer.  Here's her "Canadian Mosaics/Introduction and Three Folk songs":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3YkP4WGoqA
• Larry Adler (1914-2001), American harmonica player and composer; during his later career, he collaborated with Elton John, Sting, and Kate Bush.  Here he is with Yitzak Perlman, performing Gershwin's "Summertime":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrdauSqH_EI
• Leontyne Price (b. 1927), American spinto soprano.  Here's her absolutely glorious take on "Summertime":      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7crcoAkVg0
• Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004), celebrated American film and television composer.  I was tempted to post his theme music for The Man from U.N.C.L.E, because I'm such a fan of that cheesy television show, but am opting instead to post his Academy Award-winning "Ave Satani" from the 1976 film The Omen:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN14vgOZPmU
• Faramarz Payvar (1933-2009), Iranian composer and santur (or santour) player, who was playing the santur before it was considered cool.  In large part because of Payvar, the santur is now considered an important solo instrument in Persian classical music.  Here's the "Zarb Solo" from Payvar and ensemble:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q89MYFjPog
• Theodore Antoniou (1935-2018), Greek composer and conductor.  Here's his powerful and dramatic "Symphony No. 1" with the Symphony Orchestra of Belgarian Radio:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qljqm4F5QOs
• Barbara Maier Gusten (1935-2022), beloved Broadway vocal coach whose students included Deborah Harry, Taylor Mac, Justin Vivian Bond, Diamanda Galas, and Kathleen Hanna.  she was killed at age 87 when she was pushed to the ground by a woman outside her apartment, and died five days later.  A week after her death, a 26-year-old woman turned herself in; the woman was eventually charged with manslaughter (although prosecutors had considered upgrading the charge to murder) and was sentenced to eight years in prison; a judge then extended the sentence by six months, saying he was not convinced the woman had taken responsibility for her actions.  I don't have a recording of her singing, but here's an interview with her, introducing two of her students:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKkMwOnv7Ho
• Roberta Flack (b. 1937), a legend.  Here's "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8_fLu2yrP4
• Kenny Rankin (1940-2009), American folk-rock singer/songwriter.  Here's "Peaceful":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av21FvTeScE
• Peter Allen (1944-1992), flamboyant Australian singer/songwriter and entertainer (and Liza Minelli's first husband).  Here's "Arthur's Theme" (written with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross), performed with Christopher Cross:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYpCxRVEwME
• Nigel Olssen (b. 1949), session musician and lifelong member of the Elton John Band.  Here's "a Little Bit of Soap":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjIJZhF-Bu0
• Cliff Burton (1962-1986), Metallica bassist from 1982 until his death.  Here's Metallica's "Orion," in which Burton's bass is really, really loud:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HeV6uN5f5o
• Lorena Rojas (1971-2015), Mexican telenovela actress and singer.  She died six days after her 44th birthday from breast cancer which had metastasized throughout her body.  (**sigh**)  Here's "Sin Ti No Si":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8hQAqp-dY
• Ivri Lider (b. 1974), Openly gay Israeli pop singer.  Here's "Song to a Siren":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iVerkWDXqM
• Don Omar (b. 1978), Puerto Rican rapper, known as the "King of Reggaeton."  Here's "Pobre Diabla":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iVerkWDXqM
• Vic Fuentes (b. 1983), co-founder and lead vocalist of Pierce the Veil.  Here he is featured on "Somebody That I Used to Know" from Mayday Parade:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZRuPe97GzY
• Choi Soo-Young (b. 1990), South Korean singer, member of the girl group Girls' Generation, and actress.  Here's "Winter Breath":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1v-n0r1d9U
• Haruka Nakagawa (b. 1992), Japanese media personality and former member of Japanese idol groups AKB48 and Watarirouka Hashinritai and the Indonesian group JKT48.  Here she is with JKT48 and "Winter Story":    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhLL2-04WA8
• Son Na-eum (b. 1994), South Korean actress and singer, a member of popular girl group Apink until 2022.  As a popular idol, the products that she advertised began to sell out in record time, giving her the nickname "Sold-Out Girl."  Here's a video covering come of her highlights with Apink:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTA_ofXNV7w
• And we close with another South Korean singer/birthday girl -- Kang Seul-gi (b. 1994), a member of the South Korean girl group Red Velvet and the supergroup Got the Beat.  Here she is with red Velvet, performing "Anywhere But Home":   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2mFlOenmss

Best birthday wishes to this broad spectrum of musical talent.

I Can't Even...:  No Florida Man section this time around, because I can't even...

Casey DeSantis, the wife of current governor Ron DeSantis is considering running for her husband's term-limited seat in 2026.  Among many possible Republican contenders for the position, she seems the best-poised to run for the position, with some 38% of Republicans thinking it is a good idea -- admittedly a very low bar: 10% of Republicans want Matt Gaetz to run for the position.  Gaetz, meanwhile, is smugly toying about running, saying he is a "'Florida Man, after all."  He certainly is, and I can't even...

Today's Poem:

The Timeless Love

There once were lovers, aged and wise, 

Who saw the world through joyful eyes'

"Though our hair turns to gray.

Our love will not sway.

It's forever young," they surmise.

-- anon.

And a Happy Valentine's Day!