Small House of Everything
Sunday, May 14, 2017
MOTHERS -- THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
My mother and Kitty's mother, although completely different personalities, were similar in many ways. Both grew up under tragic circumstances and coped the best that they could. As adults, they were flawed but both had their goodness shining through.
Kitty's goodness needs no explanation. She disagrees with me but, IMHO, she is the perfect wife, mother, and person.
Our two daughters are both excellent mothers and our grandkids are better than any other grandchildren ever. You may disagree with this superlative but you would be wrong.
Today is the day we celebrate mothers although the most grateful of us celebrate them every day.
Here's to the mothers in your life. You are lucky to have them.
Mothers can come in all shapes and conditions -- some good, some bad, some ugly, so here's a few light-hearted salutes.
The good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPhSrFkE53o
The bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvYM0L_0huQ
And the ugly:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/327073991659049003/
Saturday, May 13, 2017
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: INKA DINKA DOO
From the 1934 motion picture Joe Palooka, here's Jimmy Durante.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtlXqec5N2M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtlXqec5N2M
JOE PALOOKA #30 (MARCH 1949)
Cartoonist Ham Fisher created the immortal Joe Palooka (then called Joe the Dumbbell) in 1920 [Some sources say 1921] but was unable to get anyone interested in the character. It took a decade to get the McNaught Syndicate to carry the strip beginning on April 19, 1930. It son became a major hit, In 1948 it was one of the five most popular newspaper strips.
Joe was a good-natured, clean cut galoot. He had a strong moral code and really did not like to fight, making him a natural for comicbookdom's heavyweight champion. Joe's looks changed as often as the real-life heavyweight championship did -- Fisher would use the features of whoever was the champion at the time for his character, a tradition that hit a brick wall when Joe Louis became champ. From that point on, Joe Palooka remained a blond, strong-jawed character with a massive upper body.
Regular characters in the comic strip included Joe's manager Knobby Walsh, his girlfriend Ann Howe (shortly after this issue appeared, Joe and Ann were married in a highly publicized comic strip wedding), the massive blacksmith Humphrey Pennyweather, Joe's black valet/future sparring partner Smokey ( stereotype of the times), and Joe's World War II buddy Jerry Leemy. (Despite having the honored and dignified name of Jerry, this character was portrayed as a dumb and over-confident comic foil.)
Joe Palooka spawned a short-lived radio series, twelve feature length films, nine film shorts, a television series, and a slew of comic books and merchandising items. Near to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania -- Ham Fisher's hometown -- is Joe Palooka Mountain, named in 1980 after the creation of a local boy who made good.
Fisher, who had a troubled life, committing suicide in 1955. Nearly thirty years later, Joe Palooka, the comic strip was cancelled on November 14, 1984, after its circulation dropped to 182 papers (at one time, the strip appeared in 790 papers worldwide). Fisher's character live on, though, as a symbol of the American character.
The Harvey Comics Joe Palooka would run a continuous story (of sorts) from issue to issue, with the concluding pages of the main story setting up the first pages of the story in the next issue.
In this issue, Knobby has been framed for murder and is on the run from a night club racketeer and his hoodlums. As this is resolved, Joe goes searching for Ann, who is missing. To be continued in the next issue.
This issues also has a number of sports fillers.
Enjoy.
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=68191&b=i
Friday, May 12, 2017
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: YOU'VE GOT YOUR TROUBLES
The Fortunes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA_TyOUy8Ys
FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE TIME TUNNEL
The Time Tunnel by Murray Leinster (1967)
First, let me explain what this book is not. It is not Leinster's 1964 novel Time Tunnel. Nor is it the 1956 novel Tunnel Through Time, published as by Lester del Rey but written by Paul W. Fairman from an outline by del Rey -- Donald H. Tuck's The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy mistakenly credited that book to Leinster.
What this book is is the first (of two) tie-in novels Leinster wrote based on the Irwin Allen 1966-7 television series The Time Tunnel. Leinster was the major pen name of Will F. Jenkins, who had a long career in both the pulps and the slicks. Although Leinster was dubbed "The Dean of Science Fiction," he was equally comfortable in a number of genres -- science fiction, mystery, western, adventure, historical, and love. Leinster seldom wrote tie-in novels. Previous to this novel, he had written only one tie-in novel, Dallas, based on the 1950 Gary Cooper/Ruth Roman western. Leinster also published the 1960 "novel" Men Into Space, which was actually a collection of short stories based on the 1959 William Lundigan television series. Leinster followed The Time Tunnel with a sequel Timeslip! (also 1967); he followed these up with a three-book series (1968-1960) based on another Irwin Allen show, Land of the Giants (1968-1970)
Full disclosure: My personal opinion of Irwin Allen as a television producer is pretty low. I am not a fan of The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, or Lost in Space. Allen's television credits belong in the same moldy box as Aaron Spelling's; both made a lot of money on lousy shows.
That being said, Leinster's novel is not Allen's television show! The basic premise is the same. A costly and secret scientific project in time travel is threatened with closure by an influential senator who believes the whole project is hogwash. Two men, Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, are sent back in time where they encounter various historic events and people.
The television show has the two first landing on the Titanic. Leinster ditched that somewhat time-worn scenario, instead having his heroes landing in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, just before its devastating flood. Ignoring advice from his superiors, Tony tries to warn the populace of the impending danger -- to no avail. He and Doug do manage to save an eight-year-old girl, though, and she turns out to be a direct ancestor of the senator trying to close the project.
This gives them a circular conundrum. Were the two destined to go back in time to save the girl? Are all their actions in the past preordained? If they had not gone back in time would history have changed? Those questions are still with them as their 20th century colleagues try to bring them back. Something goes wrong and they find themselves in 1874 Kansas, just outside the trading post of Adobe Wells, where the Indian chief Quanah Parker is about to lead over a thousand warriors to destroy the post and kill everyone there.
Leinster mined a lot of historical detail to make both scenarios as realistic as possible. The book reads well and is as mature as the television show is juvenile. An exciting tale that is much better than its origins and the book cover would make one think.
First, let me explain what this book is not. It is not Leinster's 1964 novel Time Tunnel. Nor is it the 1956 novel Tunnel Through Time, published as by Lester del Rey but written by Paul W. Fairman from an outline by del Rey -- Donald H. Tuck's The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy mistakenly credited that book to Leinster.
What this book is is the first (of two) tie-in novels Leinster wrote based on the Irwin Allen 1966-7 television series The Time Tunnel. Leinster was the major pen name of Will F. Jenkins, who had a long career in both the pulps and the slicks. Although Leinster was dubbed "The Dean of Science Fiction," he was equally comfortable in a number of genres -- science fiction, mystery, western, adventure, historical, and love. Leinster seldom wrote tie-in novels. Previous to this novel, he had written only one tie-in novel, Dallas, based on the 1950 Gary Cooper/Ruth Roman western. Leinster also published the 1960 "novel" Men Into Space, which was actually a collection of short stories based on the 1959 William Lundigan television series. Leinster followed The Time Tunnel with a sequel Timeslip! (also 1967); he followed these up with a three-book series (1968-1960) based on another Irwin Allen show, Land of the Giants (1968-1970)
Full disclosure: My personal opinion of Irwin Allen as a television producer is pretty low. I am not a fan of The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, or Lost in Space. Allen's television credits belong in the same moldy box as Aaron Spelling's; both made a lot of money on lousy shows.
That being said, Leinster's novel is not Allen's television show! The basic premise is the same. A costly and secret scientific project in time travel is threatened with closure by an influential senator who believes the whole project is hogwash. Two men, Tony Newman and Doug Phillips, are sent back in time where they encounter various historic events and people.
The television show has the two first landing on the Titanic. Leinster ditched that somewhat time-worn scenario, instead having his heroes landing in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, just before its devastating flood. Ignoring advice from his superiors, Tony tries to warn the populace of the impending danger -- to no avail. He and Doug do manage to save an eight-year-old girl, though, and she turns out to be a direct ancestor of the senator trying to close the project.
This gives them a circular conundrum. Were the two destined to go back in time to save the girl? Are all their actions in the past preordained? If they had not gone back in time would history have changed? Those questions are still with them as their 20th century colleagues try to bring them back. Something goes wrong and they find themselves in 1874 Kansas, just outside the trading post of Adobe Wells, where the Indian chief Quanah Parker is about to lead over a thousand warriors to destroy the post and kill everyone there.
Leinster mined a lot of historical detail to make both scenarios as realistic as possible. The book reads well and is as mature as the television show is juvenile. An exciting tale that is much better than its origins and the book cover would make one think.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: WALTZ FOR DEBBY
Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans performing Evans' classic jazz standard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJqkN1w0fFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJqkN1w0fFg
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