They Got Kowalski!

Years ago I was playing army with my cousin. We were fighting in a jungle of a Pacific Island in my backyard. We had been overrun by Japanese soldiers. I thought we were all going to come out alive when I heard Eric cry out.
 
"SARGE- THEY GOT ME!" Keeping my head down, I made my way over to where he had fallen. Eric looked up with his 13 year old round face distorted with agony. It was quite a death scene. Like always, whenever Eric died, he'd go into one of those patriotic, American pie speeches with a "tell my girl I love her" toward the end.

I stood up, pulled out my 45 cap pistol and put a period halfway through his sentence.

Big Ben

I read in the local obits that Ben Pillitary recently passed away.  It brought back a memory from Junior High School.  It was the early to mid seventies.  I don't remember what grade - perhaps 9th.  I remember sitting in Ms. Trussel's class.  I had a desk near the chalk board along the right wall of the room. I was leaning up against the chalkboard daydreaming.  I had no idea what the lesson was that day.  I was in another world.

I remember her calling out my name in a stern voice.  I guess I snapped-to the second time around. She was telling me to quit talking.  I told her politely that I wasn't talking.  She was convinced that I had been the one and insisted that I did.  I told her a second time that I wasn't talking.  No one around me was taking credit for the chatter and I had no defense.  Ms. Trussel, who was usually a very nice lady, got angry and said that I was lying.  I remained calm (but nervous) and replied that I wasn't lying.

"Yes you are David.  Come up here."

"I don't lie ma'am." I said as I stood up and approached her desk.

"Just be quiet and bend over my desk." she ordered.

All I could do at that moment was comply.  I leaned over her desk with the back of my blue jeans facing the class.  She took the wood paddle from her desk.  It was a paddle made by Mr. Bynum - the shop class instructor.  I believe he made the paddles for all teachers of General Forrest. It had holes drilled into it to assure a nice sting at impact.  Mr. Trussel gave me three solid whacks.

The bell started ringing as I straightened myself up.  I wasn't hurt as much by the sting as much as I was hurt by her not believing that I didn't lie to her.  I would've admitted to her that I was talking if I had actually been talking.  I felt unjustly accused and sentenced for something I knew I didn't do ~ and then called a liar to boot.

My classmates were still evacuating the room, headed to their next class. Another teacher walked into the room as the bell rang and started talking to Ms. Trussel.  Ms. Trussel started talking to her associate with her back turned to me.  I also saw that she had already placed the paddle back down on her desk.  I looked at the paddle and then at her prominent posterior.  Then without giving it much thought or of the consequences that would follow...I picked up her paddle gave her three solid wacks.

I placed the paddle on her desk and took off like Lee Harvey Oswald.  I briskly moved down the hall to my locker and then to my science class.  I chuckled at first, as I briskly moved down the hall.  The smile faded as the adrenaline rush ebbed and I started to think about what I had just done.  I began to sit there with an impending dread.  I sat waiting at my desk as student trickled in - eyes fixed at the loudspeaker over Ms. Cole's desk.

I knew that I was soon going to face the justice of Mr. Ben Pillitary.  Ms. Cole entered the room about the time my name blared over the intercom system.  My heart started pounding as I walked out of the classroom.  The pounding  seemed to get louder as I walked down the long dark hall to Mr. Pillitary's office.

I was nervous as hell.  I knocked on the door and I heard him firmly say "Come in."

Mr. Pillitary was sitting behind his desk giving me direct eye contact as I walked to the door and toward his desk.  Ms. Trussel stood behind Ben with her arms crossed and daggers coming out of her eyes.  I was scared and simply couldn't bear approaching the desk too close.  I could feel a lot of heat coming my way.  A reckoning was inevitable.

Ben wanted to know what happened. "Why did you HIT your teacher!"

"Well, I didn't 'hit' Mrs. Trussel.  I 'spanked' her."  I didn't say it sarcastically or in anger.  I was too scared to be angry.  I knew I was guilty.

He said, "NO. You HIT your teacher" 

"Yes sir." I replied.

"Why did you hit her?"

I told him the story.  I knew I was being honest about not lying to her and I knew that I deserved whatever punishment he had in store for me.

Ms. Trussel remained ensconced behind Mr. Pillitary - daggers still flying.

After I told my story he just looked at me for a minute in silence.  He was weighing the situation I suppose.  I didn't think there was anything at the moment to weigh.  I was waiting for him to pick up his paddle and tell me to bend over his desk.

He surprised me.

He swiveled his chair around and looked back to my angered teacher, "Mrs. Trussel, I've never known David to be dishonest.  I've never known him to be trouble maker.  I believe that he was trying to tell you the truth."
Ms. Trussel fixed glare on me turned to Mr. Pillitary in disbelief.  The Assistant Principal took the student's side.  I was still nervous and awaiting the paddle for 'hitting' my teacher.  Good old Mr. Ben Pillitary.  He told me to go back to class and don't ever do anything like that again.

I told Ms. Trussel that I was sorry but she remained silent.  Perhaps she was in shock.  I was also shocked. I apologized to Mr. Pillitary too.  I walked out the door and felt my legs shaking as I closed the door behind me and walk back down that long hall.  I was still shaking as I sat down at my desk.

I really deserved punishment that day - but I was given a reprieve.  The incident showed me that Ben was a good guy who could get to the bottom of the matter without necessarily using a paddle.

I have a great deal of respect for that man.

Thank you Ben. God speed.

remember us

Two of my uncles served in the United States Navy during World War II - Patillo Ainsworth Finlayson and James Murdoch Finlayson. They survived the war and lived to be old bachelors.  Murdoch passed away in June of 2008 and Pat died April 2011.

It was a few years after Murdoch's death, while visiting in Columbia, Uncle Pat told me something before we retired for the evening.  I was headed to his guest room when he said that he deeply appreciated my journaling/blogging about his and Murdoch's wartime experiences.  He said something to the affect that having never married, having never had children, that he did not want to be forgotten.  Pat told me that it meant a great deal that their service be documented and not forgotten.

The next day my brother and I took Aunt Jennie Llew and Uncle Pat to The Lizard's Thicket - their favorite place to eat.  Pat was the first at the table and I sat across from him.  I don't know where Brook and Jennie Llew were at the moment - but Pat and I were at the table for a few minutes a lone.

Pat put down his menu and told me something that had recently happened while in the sitting area at Still Hopes Retirement Community.  He told me that a group of high school students were visiting the community ~ mingling with the old residents.  Pat said that a young man approached him and asked if he had served in the military.  Pat told the boy that he served during World War II in the United States Navy.  I don't know if Pat told him that he was part of the Amphibious Landing Force with three campaigns under his belt that included the Normandy Invasion.

Pat's eyes began to well.  I leaned forward to hear what he was saying through the noise of the restaurant clatter and chatter.

He said, this young man then reached out his hand to shake his hand and said "Thank you for your service sire."  At first I didn't understand why he seemed so emotional about the incident encounter.  I kept eye contact with Uncle Pat.  He paused and then raised his hands from the table and said, "I didn't respond.  He caught me by surprise...no one had ever thanked me for that."  He was taken off guard a boys gratitude and couldn't respond. The moment left him speechless.

Then a small wave hit me from his side of table.  I felt a little pang guilt for having never personally thanked him before that moment.  The dear old veteran lived into 90's with only a young stranger to thank him for his sacrifice.

My eyes welled too upon my realization of the impact it had had on him. The conversation changed as the rest of the party seated themselves around the table.  Pat's head ducked behind his menu and I followed suit.

My eyes well up each veterans day since.  My eyes well as I write this memory.  Pat said he didn't want to be forgotten.  He didn't want Murdoch to be forgotten - their service.  It meant something to him that we remember, to not be forgotten.

There are men and women around us who have served.  I believe each and every veteran needs to hear it from our own lips, whether we be family, friends or the stranger.

Thank you!

America's Sweetheart

My streaming device broke a week ago, so I've been watching DVDs I have around the house.  Gina came home this chilly wet night, slipped under a blanket on the sofa.  "You got anything good to watch?" she asked.  I pulled out Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) starring Shirley Temple. Katie came home from school and sat down for the last half of the show.

It had been a very long time since I watched a Shirley Temple movie. They are all simple, predictable plots ~ but I have always found them enjoyable to watch. Sitting there watching tonight, my thoughts went to my mother and how she loved Shirley Temple throughout her life.
I remember my parents having an LP around the house of Shirley Temple songs recorded from her films.  There was a time I knew every song and lyric on that album.  From time to time, you might hear me humming or singing one of those old tunes.
 
I remember Sunday afternoons after church, the family watched Shirley Temple Theater on public television. I don't know how many times I've watched her movies, mostly during my childhood.  I never grew out of enjoying her, as silly as those films can be.  I know she'll always come out on top ~ but I'm rooting for her until the credits roll.

Shirley's movies seem to travel well through time, with the ability to entertain folks young and old from generation to generation.  Katie remarked, "I never saw that one." 

Well, she made a bunch of them.

still creepy after all these years

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) still holds up after all these years.  I was just a lad, too young to pick up on the underlying political connotations that people drew from the film.  McCarthyism and Communism was an issue for grown-ups.  I saw it only as a great scare-the-pants-off thriller.  Still, if you want to have an understanding of the concerns and paranoia that obsessed post WWII America ~ you might want to watch this flick. 

Even so, I still enjoy the movie on the surface, as a well executed thriller.  The movie was a low budget film that starts out in a very believable world then quickly propels the protagonist (and the audience) into a high speed roller-coaster ride.

The imagery is stunning.  The props/effects are not elaborate but adequate. Now over a half a century old, the movie still holds together and still thrills.

There have been three adaptations of this film, all of them with larger budgets and more elaborate special effects, but are mere soulless replicas of the original film.

"People began to read meanings into pictures that were never intended. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an example of that. I remember reading a magazine article arguing that the picture was intended as an allegory about the communist infiltration of America. From personal knowledge, neither Walter Wanger nor Don Siegel, who directed it, nor Dan Mainwaring, who wrote the script nor original author Jack Finney, nor myself saw it as anything other than a thriller, pure and simple."
~Walter Mirish

Paradise Cove

The Beach Boy's 'Surfn' Safari' album cover photo was taken on Paradise Cove at Malibu Beach.  Ten years after this photo was taken, James Garner's P.I. character Jim Rockford strolled up and down this very spot in Rockford Files.  Rockford's trailer was situated in the parking of the Sand Castle Restaurant.  The restaurant is still there where Rockford used to frequent ~ only under different management as Paradise Cove Beach Cafe.

There have been many television shows and movies filmed at this very location down through the years. The earliest production I found was 'Belles On Their Toes', a 1952 sequel to the original 'Cheaper By The Dozen'. The sixties rolled around and the Cove became the production locations for a tidal wave of beach films that include Beach Blanket Bingo, Gidget, and Sea Hunt. The area is still often used as a production site for commercials, television and movies. It's peculiar that there's a trailer park amid all the multi-million dollar homes. I guess if I ever head that way, I'll be keeping my eye out for a '74 Sierra Gold Firebird parked outside one of those trailers on the beach.


 

Hey Vern, knowwhatimean?

Jim Varney's Ernest character is one of the great comic characters, but the movies were of the poorly scripted B movie variety.  Ernest was in a series of movies and had his own television specials as well as a children's television show called 'Hey Vern, it's Ernest'.  But all those productions were subpar.  Ernest deserved better. 

We all first met Ernest in a series of hilarious regional commercials in the early eighties.  I always looked forward to what Ernest was selling in Vern's window next.  It's a shame they couldn't take Varney's character in better vehicles.

I put the Ernest P. Worrell character on the same level as Don Knott's Barney Fife.  Both Varney and Knott's had their character down, and comedic timing down pat.  Knott's had Mayberry, and I wish that Varney had found his Mayberry.  For me, Don Knott's never had a good vehicle after Mayberry.  Jim Varney, I feel, never saw his full potential before he died.

Garrison's Gorillas

ABC replaced Combat! with another WWII action series called Garrison's Gorillas.  The pilot was originally shot as the last episode of Combat!.  Of course the Combat! cast were not told that they were being relieved of command during the production of the spin-off.  The pilot never aired as the last combat episode.  The parts with Rick Jason (Lt. Hanley) were edited out and the show was aired as Episode 1 called 'The Big Con'.

Somewhere along the way the network had decided they didn't want two wartime shows on the air simultaneously. I am pretty sure they knew what they were doing all along.  Garrison's Gorillas was going to be cheaper to produce because the network didn't have to pay the actors of the greatly successful Combat! the money they were demanding - at least that was the scuttlebutt.  Another reason for ABC to move away from the idea of having two WWII series is because of sentiments regarding the ongoing Vietnam War.

Garrison's Gorilla's was nothing like Combat!, it was meant to be a television version of the hit movie The Dirty Dozen.  The producers even secured Telly Savalas to portray the same type of demented character in the pilot that he did in The Dirty Dozen.  Not only did Garrison's Gorillas mimic The Dirty Dozen, but there was a Mission Impossible flavor to the show.  The show had a good cast, and well written, just not that original.  The sets were the same as Combat!, and the sounds were Combat!'s. To me, the show wasn't able to grow out of the shadow of it's predecessor.  Combat! would always be the better, the more original, the more authentic series. Garrison's Gorilla's ran only 26 episodes - almost a full season.  ABC replaced it with The Mod Squad.  As a kid, I didn't give the show much of a chance because it replaced Combat!  Tonight I watched the pilot of Garrison's Gorillas on YouTube.  I enjoyed the show, but it wasn't...well...you know.

on an unclear day I could see forever

The Etowah Theater is located in Attalla, AL.  I don't recall much about it other than mother loading us in the station wagon to go see The Sound of Music there.  I was very impressed by the movie.  At the time, this theater was a second run theater, but in 1965, the owners managed to outbid the first run theater's in Gadsden for exclusive rights for this cinematic blockbuster.  It was this theater's most successful showing.

I was seven years old in 1965.  I remember seeing the movie, but not much about the theater itself.  I had never been in there before or ever since.  I do remember how colorful and the brilliance of those grand hills and songs.  I also remember the contrast of stepping from such a brilliant and grand cinematic experience into a most un-brilliant and un-grand overcast day.  Before heading home, mother pulled the pale blue Galaxy into the Attalla Piggly Wiggly and left us kids in the car as she picked up a few items.  The songs still reverberated in my head as the sky darken a little more.  A brief shower arrived at the parking lot as I gazed through the glass.  The rain tapped on the hood, beaded and streamed down the window.  There we were, having left a world of living color into a muggy black and white day.

It was the first time in my life that I experienced that contrast from cinema to reality.  It was a very stark moment for me, stepping down from the lush mountains of Switzerland, onto 5th Street of Attalla Alabama.

The skies did brighten up after we drove up the mountain to our home on Scenic Hwy.  We had our own lively hills at the Finlayson house.  The dark clouds were no more and I remember climbing the hill in our backyard and personally recreated Julie Andrews twirling and singing 'The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music'.  Those nine words were all the lyrics I knew of the song, so I just kept twirling and singing what I knew over and over again until I got dizzy doing it, and the afterglow of it gone.

...don't tell anyone I told you this.

Welcome to Paradise

Randy Stonehill gets down to Millbrook, AL on April Fools 2016.
Last stop and almost home.

I'll write about Jesus Music from time to time here at Boomerville because I was part of the Jesus Movement.  I wasn't much into the stuff a lot of my classmates were into back then.  I didn't go to the ball games, the proms, whatever.  I merely showed up, payed my dues in class and dusted my feet off of it all when the school bell rang. My joy was hanging out with other young Christians like myself at Christian Brothers Coffeehouse.  I loved the gatherings, the prayer meetings, the small and large concerts.  I'd roadie for my brother, for my friends as they'd go places to sing.  I was messing with his guitar on the side, trying to learn to play so I could write songs and sing and go too.  It's what I was all about.

I purchased a cassette player for my ride back in '76.  I had three Jesus Music tapes that I wore out. Randy Stonehill's 'Welcome to Paradise' was among those three cassettes.  Christian Brother's Association hosted concerts, festivals, and provided sound for other concerts and festivals.  I got to see almost everyone LIVE back then, but never Stonehill...until last Friday evening.

My old friend Jack Jackson had posted on facebook that he was having Randy Stonehill play at Grace Community Church down in Millbrook, AL.  Like I said, I had never got the opportunity to hear Randy perform.  On top of that, I had not seen my friend Jack in decades.  My oldest daughter Katie had to stay back and study, but my youngest, Kelsey, was free and willing to go.  Gina, Kelsey and I drove down and walked in after Randy had taken the mic. 

It was a fun concert.  Millbrook was his last gig before he and his wife Leslie head back in South Carolina.  Stonehill looked a little tired.  He admitted right off the bat that he was a bit punchy, but what a show! He played a lot of familiar songs in the first set and then returned with songs from his new CD.  It wasn't a large audience, but Randy gave it his all.  I enjoyed the songs, his energy and his spirit.  I think though, the best thing about the guy, is he took time after the concert to talk to anyone who wanted to talk to him, a very pleasant and approachable fellow.

Jack asked us if we'd like to go out and eat afterwards.  We settled at Applebees in Prattville around midnight.  Stonehill was at the opposite end of the table still entertaining.  Jack and Debbie were on my end, so nice to just catch up on life after all these years.  Jack asked if we could hook up for breakfast before we left town.  So we continued out conversation the next day at Cracker Barrel for a couple more hours before parting. I had a great time.

This is the first activity outside of home since my hospital stay.  The trip wore me down, but I had the rest of the weekend to rest.  I don't regret it a bit.  The girls had fun too.

Randy is interested in coming back next year.  The talk at the table Friday night was a return visit for an 'all request concert'.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it down for that one too.

wood console to the vast wasteland

I had the task of clearing and cleaning my mother in-law's house after she passed away a few years ago.  One of the items I had taken away was Betty's old Curtis Mathis wood console television set.  I remember it being in use when Gina and I were dating.  When it broke, the television sat in the same corner of the den with another television sitting on it.  It was used in that capacity for almost a decade.  Eventually the old console was moved to her garage and sat there until she died. I offered on several occasions if she needed me to haul it off for her.  She always politely declined.

A wood television console is kind of like catching a mermaid, too much fish to kiss and too much woman to throw back in.  The wood console television was too much furniture for Betty to have hauled off as junk.  Even though the old wood grained units were crafted to look like furniture, they were still just too much electronics to re-purpose (though some have tried). Most of these units eventually were kicked to the curb.

the moon left before evening

All these years passed and I am still a little pissed at Keith.  He was so full of energy, spunk and awesome talent.  I still enjoy listening to him ~ enJOY watching him on old videos.  I guess he was just determined, kept accelerating, refused to grow beyond his youth.  All these years passed and I am still a little pissed at him.

Mad Max Returns

Max Rockatansky

My wife had zero interest in seeing Mad Max: Fury Road and so I ventured the late show last night.  I wasn't really sure if I was going to like the new Mad Max sans Mel, but once the movie started, I was taken into the familiar post apocalyptic world and took Tom Hardy in as Max withing the first few minutes of the picture.  The story is as good as the best of the original three, Road Warrior, the second one.

It doesn't take long before this savage road picture gets rolling.  The odd band of good guys are thrown together in a life and death struggle, the bad guys are just as evil as prior Road Warrior installments, and everyone is absolutely fearless.

George Miller could've taken the movie over the top, but thankfully he seemed to reign it in a little.  I'm glad he didn't try to take us beyond Thunder Dome.  This time he told us a good story - to the edge and back again.  It's a gritty, bazaar world - but nothing that seemed to reach further beyond the better of it's prequels. Fury Road runs through the same mad world.  It isn't a retelling of the Mad Max saga, it's merely a different gauntlet of fire and death.  I enjoyed the ride.

Nux

The Mad Max movies have always introduced unusual, likeable mad characters, and this one delivered as well. Nux, played my Nicholas Hoult is my favorite character to emerge from this movie. I won't spoil it for you, but this fanatical fellow was fun to watch - not quite knowing what to expect of him as the plot progressed. Good stuff.

Miller delivered the goods this time around and it was well worth the price of admission.

race and laughter

I watched a few of Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts on YouTube. I am surprised by all the racial jokes on the show.  They were all up there jabbing at each other mercilessly and without holding back. It was all taken in fun, Everyone up on the dias had a great time taking verbally abusing and insulting each other.  It made me think about how far we've come since those days. I don't mean far for the better. I mean everyone today is so sensitive and too easily offended. Too many people have become emotionally fragile thanks to the intolerance of Political Correctness. PC has pretty much ruined it for comedy. I happen to think there is more healing in laughter between the races.

We'll always have Paris.

Leonard Nimoy
March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015

Mission Impossible was produced by Desilu, the same production company that produced Star Trek.  If you watch Mission Impossible, you'll discover many Star Trek actors beamed down to guest star on the show.  Leonard Nimoy actually played a leading character, Paris, on Mission Impossible for seasons four and five.  I am just now getting around to watch these two seasons.  I just wasn't interested at the time.  To me it was odd seeing Spock playing in spy thrillers.  I wasn't used to seeing him without his Vulcan bowl-cut and his pointy ears.

Nimoy was first considered for Mission Impossible from it's inception, but Nimoy was garnering fame as Spock.  After his mission was over in deep space, he picked up the roll of a IMF agent, Paris, a master of disguise and impersonations.  Nimoy had initially signed a five year contract as Paris, but playing the master of disguise left him frustrated with a shallow role that kept him from developing his Paris character.  True, there wasn't much depth to Paris, but he always seemed to get the job done.  Nimoy begged out of his five year contract with hopes of finding more substantial rolls.

For the last month or two, I have Mission Impossible on My List on Netflix.  I've been catching up on these missed seasons.  I am enjoying watching Nimoy play outside of his Spock character.  After all these years, I guess I've gotten kind of tired of the old Vulcan, having lost the novelty of seeing him reappear time and time again on the television shows and in the movies.  It's quite refreshing to see Nimoy play someone else for a change. 

I was really attached to Spock as a child, but I find it refreshing to stumble across him in guest starring rolls in all the various shows throughout the 60's and 70's.

I just heard where Leonard Nimoy has passed away.  He has left us a body of work that will keep us entertained for years to come. He will be missed on this Earth, but we will continue to see him around.

the hard ride wasn't an easy ride

I watched The Hard Ride a long time ago.  I watched it again last night.  It was the opening title sequence that hooked me.  In the distance there are nineteen motorcycles coming toward you, side by side, chrome gleaming and the biker's silhouettes are clouded by the dust.  The soundtrack begins with a lone organ, soon followed by the lone voice of Bill Medley singing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'.  It really was a great opening for a low budget biker movie.

Sadly the rest of the soundtrack consisted of weak folk rock ballads.  It's a shame the movie didn't have the incredible sound-scape that EASY RIDER offered.  The movie had lots of panoramic biker on the open road footage, but the score brought the movie down to forgettable.   This had the potential for a great road picture, some good ideas, but falls flat.  It's clear to see that the director was going for EASY RIDER, and yet EASY RIDER had the killer soundtrack.  EASY RIDER to me isn't that great of a flick, the writing wasn't anything special, it was just a B movie that had great vibes and connected with the audience.  THE HARD RIDE lacked the great vibes and the connection.
 
This movie starred Robert Fuller of LARAMIE, WAGON TRAIN and EMERGENCY! fame.  In fact, it was Jack Webb who saw THE HARD RIDE and insisted that Fuller play Dr. Kelly Brackket in his medical drama.  Fuller didn't want to at first, cause he's a cowboy at heart and had hopes of staying in the saddle.  Webb insisted after Fuller's refusal, Webb reminding him that westerns weren't doing well at that time. Fuller eventually accepted the part and the show had a nice long successful run.

In THE HARD RIDE, Fuller plays a Marine (Phil) who returns the body of his buddy back to the States from Vietnam and finds his pal's old bike club. His friend had left him his prized souped-up chromed-out 'Baby' and from there attempts to understand the biker's life until the funeral for his friend. Phil runs into trouble with a bad-ass biker gang, who's leader wants Baby for himself, and Phil dead. That's the set-up.

This movie acquires it's 'R' rating with a couple of cheesy-cheap boob shots and poorly choreographed fight scenes. The story really isn't that bad, but the production brought the movie down to it's well deserved B-ness. There's plenty of clumsy romantic scenes as Fuller puts the moves on his dead buddy's girlfriend. It would've been better to have told a better love story, or just focus on the open road.

I have a question. Is this the first movie to interject Vietnam flashbacks?  The best flashback was Fuller carrying his buddy out of a  fire-fight, his friend crying out to him, Fuller looking down at him and then he's looking down while carrying the coffin.  It was a great transition at the first of the movie. This movie inspired the straight laced, straight shooter Jack Webb.  I am wondering if this is the movie that inspired countless Vietnam flashbacks in films that followed.

I don't really know if I'd recommend THE HARD RIDE, nor would I necessarily recommend its better, EASY RIDER.  They are both interesting B biker movie to behold.

Mr. Peepers, your mission if you should decide to accept it.

I'm in the process of revisiting the old television espionage thriller, Mission Impossible, that I used to love as a kid. Steven Hill played the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team leader Daniel Briggs before Peter Graves took over as Jim Phelps. We associate the show with Peter Graves character, but to me, Steven Hill was better suited for the roll. Steven left the show because he was an Orthodox Jew and he wouldn't let the production work schedule force him to work on the Jewish Sabbath. I can respect that.

One surprising actor to pop up in the show's original pilot is Wally Cox. I was surprised to see Cox in a mission impossible role as a team member.  Cox was a comedian who played off his frail looking physique.  Don't let him fool you though, Wally Cox was rather athletic fellow as well an Army veteran. He gained notoriety through his Mr. Peepers television show in the 1950's.  Who knew this guy could could pull of a roll as an IMF team member who specialized in cracking-safes.

It really surprises me that the series didn't hire on Wally for the duration. His presence seems so harmless and unassuming that he could've been a great infiltrator, assassin. Cox had become frustrated with his career, always typecast as the prim, polite bookworm. He said in real life, he was nothing like Mr. Peepers. If any role came close to his real life, it might very well have been that one episode he played Mission Impossible as Terry Targo. Heck, you could've made the entire show around this unassuming athletic fellow.

This blog will self-destruct in five seconds...

Marty and Claire

I've watched a lot of old classics in my time, but I have yet to see them all.  I've always enjoyed seeing Ernest Borgnine on film, Marty is the movie that garnered him the most attention, yet I hadn't seen it until tonight.  I noticed Netflix is streaming it, so I took the time to watch it.

I'm not much into romantic movies, but I do have some favorites.  Frank Capra's 'It Happened One Night' is at the top of my list.  I'm going to have to add Marty to that very short list.

Marty isn't a glamorous movie, this isn't Hollywood, it's a down to earth with characters that come through as believable. Today's romantic movies leave much to be desired, too much skin, always with the R rating.

To me, Marty really captures when two people find each other, those first moments when a guy and a gal are compelled by one another, when that connections made. It captures that fascination, that moment of realization that this person is 'the one'. Even though Marty was made before I was born, in another time and place, I can see a little bit of myself.  I was pleasantly reminded of those days when I first met the girl I married.  In a low key, quick pace, this movie connected with this viewer. Two thumbs up!

bookmobiles in the rearview

This morning on Facebook, I ran across an article my friend Derick Mitchell posted regarding the passing of bookmobiles.  He loves old vehicles and is also married to a librarian.  I imagine he's been in plenty of bookmobiles in his lifetime.

I only boarded the City of Gadsden's bookmobile only once in my life.  It was in the late 1960's and the children of R.A. Mitchell elementary were lined in single file for a walk-through of the unusual book filled bus parked in front of the school.  At the time, I had never heard of such a thing. Was it a car made out of books or a car you could somehow read.  Before leading the kids out, Mrs. Lane told us that the Bookmobile was a library on wheels.  My mind then went to a vehicle made out of brick and mortar.  I had no idea what we were about to behold when we all got outside and see for ourselves.

Our visit that day was "look but don't touch" visit, because we were not invited to actually check a book out.  They were merely showing off the spanking new vehicle as if it were a traveling museum of sorts.  Not being able to actually check out a book that day kind of lead me to believe that those books were not meant for us mountain kids. We after-all had a nicely stocked library at school and my family had lots of books lining our large bookcases at home.

There was a reason I wasn't too anxious to check out a bookmobile book when given the opportunity.  I don't recall the bookmobile dropping by often ~ how regular the visit and when. I wasn't sure when, how and if I would be able to return a book borrowed if the bookmobile failed to come my way again.  Would there be a penalty for a book I was unable to return?  Would the bookmobile come looking for me in the middle of the night?  Would an angry librarian wake me from my sleep, demand that I produce the un-returned book, a high fee or worse...face a penalty?  Would the last time my parents see me, was me crying-calling out to them from the back window of the bus as it drove out of site and to where?  I know I was a child with a vivid imagination, but I wasn't about to take any chances.

50's in the 70's

 

Gadsden High School Parade, Broad Street, 1974

During that time, we teens were experiencing a 50's revival of sorts. We had school Sock Hops, watched Happy Days on television and American Graffiti at the Drive-In. Sure American Graffiti was set in the early 60's, and all the cruising cars radios were tuned to music of the 50's. It was a great soundtrack and we borrowed it for a while in the 70's. We enjoyed listening to the classic rock'n and roll'n mixed in with the pop hits of our decade. We didn't mind the generational mix - able to dance to music from 50's through the 70's. I enjoyed the spirit of it, but for some reason never got around to watching Grease.
The photo above was shared by Bobby Bugg at his Facebook group Gadsden,AL: City of Champions.  I was in the graduating class of 1977 at Gadsden High's rival school Emma Sansom High School. Having not gone to Gadsden High, I don't know anyone in this shot.  It does however bring back memories of that time.