Althouse: At the Friday Night Café...

January 21, 2022

At the Friday Night Café...

... you can write about anything you want.

69 comments:

farmgirl said...: https://twitter.com/EWTN/status/1484653793170100228?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

This is the March for Life 2022; 1/21/22, 6:19 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Legal Insurrection: "California Law Would Allow Kids 12 and Up to Get Vaccines Without Parents Permission"

Link to Story; 1/21/22, 6:22 PM
Big Mike said...: I was out on the deck at sunset bringing in the bird feeders, and the sky was the most vivid red I have seen in years. (There’s nothing like having had a black bear on one’s deck to remind one how close one lives to the Washington National Forest); 1/21/22, 6:26 PM
Bender said...: So, those idiot fraudsters, the "Patriot Front," tried to hijack the March for Life today.; 1/21/22, 6:28 PM
Guimo said...: Shoal Water (Eulogy to a Deceased Wife)

On a sandbar, hard aground,
Help is nowhere to be found.
The next high tide is hours away.
The setting sun will end the day.
Above, a single sea gull flies,
You breathe your last and close your eyes.
Beyond the bare and windswept grave
Lies deep water with sparkling waves.
On your still warm lips, I plant a kiss.
We’ll sail there soon. I promise you this.

© 2020 W. Newton Jackson, III; 1/21/22, 6:29 PM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: The NYT is waging a war on women. It's eliminated women and uses "menstruator" as its noun. Next thing they'll do is say a pretend-woman is superior to a woman and all awards and jobs should be handed out to the pretend-women.; 1/21/22, 6:37 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: You can write anything you want, at Althouse's Night Cafe
You can write anything you want, at Althouse's Night Cafe
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can write anything you want, at Althouse's Night Cafe

--From Althouse's Night Cafe Masacree In 3 Part Harmony And
The 27 8 x 10 Color Glossies With The Circles And
The Arrows And A Paragraph On The Back Of Each One; 1/21/22, 6:41 PM
Whiskeybum said...: I was in Madison today… drove over from Milwaukee with some colleagues to visit the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. Looking at the map location on my phone, I saw that I was just a hop, skip and a jump from the legendary Picnic Point of Althouse sunrise fame. I was sorely tempted to just hike over there and take in the view for myself, but meeting agendas and schedules prevented that from being a possibility. I’m sure I’ll get over there one of these days (hopefully during a bit warmer weather than we’ve experienced around here lately), but until then I still have the advantage of vicariously viewing the Lake Mendota shoreline from here at my screen.; 1/21/22, 6:50 PM
YoungHegelian said...: In what I consider an unbelievable act of political arrogance, the public school systems of Fairfax & Stafford counties in Virginia have decided to disobey the new governor's executive order on masking and will force students to wear masks on pain of suspension. Here's a link.

By what authority does a county school system decide to override a governor's executive order? It seems to me that the administrators & teachers in question are setting themselves for termination & law suits. Legally speaking, can it be otherwise?; 1/21/22, 6:50 PM
Bender said...: Not so easy today.

Wordle 216 5/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩; 1/21/22, 6:51 PM
rcocean said...: I wished I'd read the NYT's article before I commented. For some reason, I was able to access it and the NYT's article is more about a beloved Brooklyn movie theater closing, then "Black Theater Behavior".; 1/21/22, 7:11 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: For Clyde,

Thanks for the Shannon McNally recommendation. I disagree with Critter. I think Shannon does an amazing job on the covers. I would normally be hesitant to listen to someone cover one my heroes from my musical formative years, but Shannon made it her own, she did not simply copy Waylon, it is amazingly good. I miss this kind of country. I am slowly working my way through her recordings. I am very please. My favorite from the Waylon Sessions has to be You Asked Me To. Another fine song I found: Bohemian Wedding Prayer Song (Original work?)

Anyway, lots of songs found to add to my outlaw country playlist.; 1/21/22, 7:19 PM
Howard said...: A regular Jane Goodall observing the species in the wild.

https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/making-love-in-the-land-of-oil-rigs/amp

Making Love in the Land of Oil Rigs
In Tabitha Lasley’s memoir, a study of the insular world of offshore oil rigs becomes an exhibit of the power dynamics between the men who work on them and the women they love on land.
Amber Medland January 19, 2022; 1/21/22, 7:20 PM
Mason G said...: "It seems to me that the administrators & teachers in question are setting themselves for termination & law suits."

Would that be a bad thing?; 1/21/22, 7:21 PM
Jaq said...: I gave up on today’s word. It was sucking up even more time than I can waste, and when I saw it, it was D’oh!; 1/21/22, 7:24 PM
Bender said...: By what authority does a county school system decide to override a governor's executive order?

The Deep State runs deep. That there should be these county officials in rebellion should surprise no one.; 1/21/22, 7:30 PM
David Begley said...: Hit piece in The New Yorker about my Creighton Law classmate Ginni Lamp Thomas by the detestable Jane Mayer.

Mayer claims that Anita Hill was credible. LOL.

Mayer repeats a rumor that Ginni flunked the Bar exam. News to me. But we know for a fact that both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris flunked the Bar exam.,

The high tech lynching of Clarence Thomas was why I switched parties. For that, I have Joe Biden to thank. He was the committee chairman for the hearings.; 1/21/22, 7:32 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "By what authority does a county school system decide to override a governor's executive order? It seems to me that the administrators & teachers in question are setting themselves for termination & law suits. Legally speaking, can it be otherwise?"

I don't know. I think what has to happen is that the parents in these districts sue the county and city officials personally- don't sue the county, don't sue the schools- sue the officials ordering the masks.; 1/21/22, 7:41 PM
Bender said...: Is that MARCIA BRADY on this first season episode of I Dream of Jeannie???

It is!

After Bill Mumy the other day, can Ronny Howard and Jodie Foster be far behind? Or maybe Beaver Cleaver?; 1/21/22, 7:42 PM
William said...: I wonder where my last comments went.; 1/21/22, 7:51 PM
rehajm said...: Wordle 216 3/6

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My ‘usual’. Good word, though…; 1/21/22, 8:06 PM
madAsHell said...: The high tech lynching of Clarence Thomas was why I switched parties.

I never would have guessed......; 1/21/22, 8:18 PM
Howard said...: Your kids are stressed out by masks because you so called adults are so mo fo hairball verklempting kvetching to the point of retching. You are making a tough situation worst fore childrens. That makes you the real child abusers. It's a bit of kit and a slight pain. Grow the fuck up and worry about something real, like juniors lack of cardiovascular fitness low T high E. Snowflakes gonna snowflake.; 1/21/22, 8:19 PM
rcocean said...: "By what authority does a county school system decide to override a governor's executive order? It seems to me that the administrators & teachers in question are setting themselves for termination & law suits. Legally speaking, can it be otherwise?"

That's the difference between Republicans/Conservatives and Liberals/Democrats. The Liberals feel ZERO obligation to obey the law if it conflicts with their ideaology. Or the interests of the D party.

"So, Sue me" is their motto. And since the Left often controlls the Courts, they will win. Mariposa County told the State Senate of Arizona to go fuck themselves, and broke the law in numerous ways. The Arizona AG has yet to charge them with anything. Had the positions been reversed, the imaginary Tumpist Mariposa officals would have been in jail 6 months ago.

When Biden issues an executive order, the red States rarely fight back, and the Federal courts rarely issue injuction. when Trump issued an executive order, the blue states told him to go to hell, and the Federal judges issues a blizzard of injuctions.; 1/21/22, 8:20 PM
Howard said...: John Henry is looking good:

Netflix – Shares of the streaming giant tanked 21.7%, on pace for their worst day since July 2012. The steep sell-off came after Netflix admitted that streaming competition was eating into its own growth in its fourth-quarter earnings release Thursday. Other media companies with streaming services also saw shares fall after Netflix issued lower-than-expected subscriber guidance. Disney shares fell 5.6%, while ViacomCBS dropped about 6%, and Discovery lost roughly 4%.; 1/21/22, 8:21 PM
Narr said...: I've left the Wordle field to my wife, who likes staring at the screen more than I do, and usually gets there in four or five. I lack the patience, as well as the mental acuity I once had.; 1/21/22, 8:37 PM
Michael K said...: Grow the fuck up and worry about something real, like juniors lack of cardiovascular fitness low T high E. Snowflakes gonna snowflake.

How about myocarditis in vaccinated teenagers ? Jerk.; 1/21/22, 8:41 PM
Big Mike said...: @YoungHegelian, add Frederick County to your list at 6:50.; 1/21/22, 9:01 PM
Achilles said...: Howard said...

Your kids are stressed out by masks because you so called adults are so mo fo hairball verklempting kvetching to the point of retching. You are making a tough situation worst fore childrens. That makes you the real child abusers. It's a bit of kit and a slight pain. Grow the fuck up and worry about something real, like juniors lack of cardiovascular fitness low T high E. Snowflakes gonna snowflake.

Poor Howard. It is really hard for Biden supporters right now.

They look so stupid and all the stupid shit they have been peddling for the aristocracy is falling apart.

I would feel bad for you except for the fact that humiliation is probably the best teacher.

You look like an idiot now. But you will be stronger for it in the end.; 1/21/22, 9:09 PM
Ceciliahere said...: Wordle was very easy for me today. Got it on second try. So many pricks around today…easy peasy.; 1/21/22, 9:20 PM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: Wordle is losing its charm ... for the moment at least.

Start with AROSE, then usually go with LINTY. Many days, I can guess it on the third, but if not, always on the fourth or fifth. And after the second guess, it is mostly a matter of going through the possible permutations to see what might fit, which is not usually all that exciting.; 1/21/22, 9:24 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Creepy Facebook ads while catching up on an old series on NBC.com streaming. Nice, calm, 2-year veteran employee reassuring us that Facebook is thinking really, really hard about deciding what content to keep and what to delete. Oh, if only government would come to our rescue and codify a few guidelines for us we'd be golden. I didn't buy it. Here's an article from May 2021 with the New Republic's take on what it's really about:

Big Tech Wants to Write the New Rules on Internet Regulation

"On a strategic level, it makes sense. Rather than antagonize a Democratic administration that has made overtures to more intensive regulation, antitrust investigations, and possible breakups, tech companies are pouring money into lobbying firms and offering calculated entreaties in the form of humble public statements and op-eds by company leaders: Let us work with you, they say. We want to collaborate—on undoing the harms that this most powerful and unequal of American industries has created.

...

Clegg’s is the latest request from Silicon Valley for the government to please—oh please—do something about tech’s overwhelming power. (Daily ads on podcasts like The Wall Street Journal’s morning news roundup also remind listeners that Facebook absolutely wants to be regulated.) “This is a pivotal moment for ‘techno-democracies’ like the US to regulate the internet in a way that preserves the values at the heart of the open and global internet,” tweeted Clegg, borrowing a term that President Joe Biden has used to describe the United States and other info-economy-dependent allies. In his op-ed, Clegg brushed off calls for breaking up tech companies—perhaps the most forthright and bluntly effective way of tamping down the industry’s power—and asked instead for regulations that might preserve the lucrative status quo."; 1/21/22, 9:25 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Enjoy a Friday LinkSwarm.; 1/21/22, 9:49 PM
Earth2PowerGirl said...: It's been three years since a lot of the loudest parts of the media, entertainers, bloggers, and Twitter decided to publicly destroy a teenage male who'd been accosted by a native American activist. Not many have apologized. Many doubled down. Few paid any real price other than out of a slush fund with no lasting pain.

A CNN lead said the kid had a "punchable face." He's still working.

Meanwhile, the people who actually were being anti-Semitic that day were completely ignored. Members of their group tried to commit a mass Jewish slaughter in Jersey City a year later. That was also ignored. The fact that people ignored it was ignored.

If you publicly went after Nick Sandmann three years ago, made no apologies, and paid no price: thanks for showing us who you really are.; 1/21/22, 10:27 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Not so easy today.

Wordle 216 5/6'

I got it in 3 : ); 1/21/22, 10:29 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Start with AROSE'

Since everyone seems to start with 'arose,' I refuse to play that game.

I pick a random word with two vowels and let the chips fall...; 1/21/22, 10:31 PM
walter said...: Is wordle the new sudoko?
Don't care.; 1/21/22, 10:56 PM
Bender said...: Grrr

Wordle 217 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩; 1/21/22, 11:10 PM
Bender said...: Some of these plot devices clearly weren't working and needed to be dropped or reduced. Already they have cut back on Jeannie having to turn into smoke to move around.

The other is the "whoever controls the bottle controls me" thing. Twice now the bottle has been taken my someone else. Both times it was already tiresome. And also a continuity error from the pilot since Tony had already set Jeannie free.; 1/21/22, 11:53 PM
Rt41Rebel said...: Gutfeld spoke truth today about Psaki. If I'm being honest, she has a lot of whatever it is that Trump has, the only difference is that she is working for evil people. I wouldn't marry her, but if I'm being honest, I definitely would have a few margaritas with her and see where it went.

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/greg-gutfeld-jokingly-lauds-jen-psaki-for-resorting-to-violence-and-booze/; 1/22/22, 12:18 AM
StephenFearby said...: RealClearhistory.com yesterday linked to this fascinating article:

Guillotine Made Killing Cleaner But Took a Toll. Edward Wright, The Paris Review

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/06/the-bloody-family-history-of-the-guillotine/

Some excerpts:

"...Despite his protestations of self-defense, Jean was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be broken on the wheel. That punishment, in which the condemned was strapped faceup upon a large wheel and then had their bones broken, had been a common means of torture, execution, and humiliation throughout Europe for centuries.

Some believe it was a thoroughly French invention, pioneered as early as the sixth century. If so, more than a thousand years of history came to an unexpected end the day that Jean approached his agonizing fate in Versailles. In the weeks after sentencing, Jean’s fate became a cause célèbre. Here, many felt, was a young man being punished not for an act of violence but for his political beliefs.

As Jean made his way to the scaffold on the day of his execution, dozens of locals charged forward, seized him, and carried him to safety. The authorities were stunned, and the strength of public opinion moved King Louis XVI to issue Jean a royal pardon."

"...The man charged with operating Paris’s guillotine throughout the turbulent 1790s was the same man who had been poised to execute Jean Louschart before the mob intervened. His name was Charles-Henri Sanson, chief executioner to both Louis XVI and the republican regime that swept the ancien régime aside.

Though at the start of the Revolution he was as reviled and tainted as any executioner of his time, he ended his life as “The Great Sanson,” a hero to the French people. He was perceived across the continent as the last bastion of moral integrity in France."

"...All we know of Sanson suggests he was an eloquent and thoughtful man. Erudite, well-read, and multilingual, he took his duties as a public official with the utmost seriousness. He may have felt, as his grandson would later claim, constrained and frustrated by the family business, eager to attain higher office but prohibited by the taint of the hangman’s noose."; 1/22/22, 12:54 AM
gadfly said...: Bender said...
So, those idiot fraudsters, the "Patriot Front," tried to hijack the March for Life today.

The very same White Nationalist group that broke away from the "Vanguard America" White Nationalist group after the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally? These extreme right militants are not patriots nor are they friends of Pro-Life conservatives.; 1/22/22, 1:23 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Only the censored knows what it’s like to be censored.; 1/22/22, 2:32 AM
farmgirl said...: Since I call sudoku = Saduko … which spellcheck called Saluki- I can’t very well try wordle and have no idea where to find it. I lol at myself.
The thermometer is reading -27F and I’m headed out.

William- idk where your comment went- I lost one, too. I thought, although not exactly on topic, that it was relevant in the vein of the thread. About Biden’s speech… but, I tend to focus on reaction, feelings and I confess not much knowledge- as I didn’t listen. Enjoy the weekend!!; 1/22/22, 4:19 AM
gilbar said...: we were talking awhile back,
about 'movie characters that are supposed to be ravishing but are played by dogs'...

This morning, i was re-watching "The Maltese Falcon" and was (Again!) struck by What a dog Mary Astor was. She's supposed to be SO SMOKIN' HOT, that hard boiled Sam Spade is smitten by her (as was his partner). Before we even meet Mary Astor, the secretary describes her as "a knockout!" Then in comes Mary Astor.
Apparently, Mary was shacking up with a studio exec, or such; and That's why she got the role.

So, of any of you that remember the movie; did ANY of you think that Mary Astor was even Average, let alone "a knockout"? She always seemed to me to be an old hag
Certainly, no Veronica Lake; 1/22/22, 5:49 AM
rehajm said...: SPOILER: Today Wordle gives a shout out to an Althouse regular…; 1/22/22, 6:27 AM
dreams said...: Your tax dollars at work.

"Two trains that Wisconsin purchased for a failed high-speed rail project were sold to Nigeria on Tuesday.

The governor of the West African country's Lagos State visited Milwaukee this week to buy the trains, which had sat unused since 2012. Nigeria plans to use the trains for a metro system under construction.

Wisconsin originally purchased the trains in 2009 from Spanish manufacturer Talgo as part of a plan to construct a high-speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison. Months later, the Obama administration granted Wisconsin $810 million to pay for the rail line."

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/trains-built-for-doomed-wisconsin-rail-project-sold-to-nigeria/; 1/22/22, 6:36 AM
dreams said...: Your tax dollars at work.

"Two trains that Wisconsin purchased for a failed high-speed rail project were sold to Nigeria on Tuesday.

The governor of the West African country's Lagos State visited Milwaukee this week to buy the trains, which had sat unused since 2012. Nigeria plans to use the trains for a metro system under construction.

Wisconsin originally purchased the trains in 2009 from Spanish manufacturer Talgo as part of a plan to construct a high-speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison. Months later, the Obama administration granted Wisconsin $810 million to pay for the rail line."

https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/trains-built-for-doomed-wisconsin-rail-project-sold-to-nigeria/; 1/22/22, 6:37 AM
Jefferson's Revenge said...: Gilbar. Totally agree about Veronica Lake. Very unappreciated. I saw her in Preston Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels and she was very attractive in a modern way without all the makeup and hairstyles from that era. She was also quite funny, which I think is very hard to do for an attractive woman. I never understood the perceived beauty of Mary Astor, Bette Davis, Garbo or the others.; 1/22/22, 7:14 AM
wendybar said...: farmgirl said: "This is the March for Life 2022"

You wouldn't know it because the propaganda media doesn't EVER report on it, and how many people show up for it year and year...mostly YOUNG people. If the Propagandists don't report it, it never happened...right?? It's a shame more people don't even KNOW about it.; 1/22/22, 8:23 AM
wendybar said...: I had the last 4 letters of Wordle yesterday in the correct spot on the second try, but since I picked the correct first letter last (there were many words you could make out of the last 4 letters) I got it in 4.; 1/22/22, 8:25 AM
Bender said...: These extreme right militants are not patriots nor are they friends of Pro-Life conservatives.

Nor are they from the right.

I'll grant that there might be a couple of idiots who consider themselves to be right, but by and large they are a left false flag operation intended to make the enemy look bad. They are a leftist's cartoonish caricature of what they think those on the right are like.; 1/22/22, 8:47 AM
Big Mike said...: Wisconsin originally purchased the trains in 2009 from Spanish manufacturer Talgo as part of a plan to construct a high-speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison.

They bought the train cars before they laid any track? Sounds like Wisconsin all right.; 1/22/22, 8:51 AM
tcrosse said...: I came late to Wordle, but there's a Wordle archive online which allows one to catch up:
Wordle Archive
After frittering away an hour or so, I think one wordle a day is enough.; 1/22/22, 8:57 AM
Fandor said...: Dear Gilbar and Jefferson's Revenge...respectively. you are both so wrong. Mary Astor was beautiful. So beautiful she caught the eye of John Barrymore (before he became a drunken caricature of himself) and George Kaufman at the height of his play writing fame. Two men who could have had their way with any of the show biz beauties of their day in the 20s and 30s. I believe the women's fashion and hairstyle of 1940 was the biggest turn off for you in the Maltese Falcon. What was in Vogue before WW2 tended to give women a matronly, middle aged look. Looking past the costume and hair there is a very aristocratic beauty that would dazzle any fellow of the finer attributes of an attractive woman. Not a flapper, in the era she came of age, but more of the high brow sophisticate one might meet at a cocktail party and be enchanted by. The kind of uptown babe you'd want to seduce, or be seduced by. As for Veronica Lake, oh yes, she was a honey. Totally different in style and dress (the era had moved on to obvious couture to emphasize a woman's curves. For Veronica, the peek a boo hair was the gimmick. She had a nice figure to. Acting was so so. The female version of Alan Ladd. Lots of screen presence and basic acting skills, enough to get by. For both, Lake and Ladd, they proved to be wonderful actors when the vehicles were right. Sullivan's Travels, I Married A Witch, The Blue Dahlia (both Lake & Ladd) and Shane, which was Alan's greatest role, Oscar caliber. Veronica was also a licensed pilot and flew cross country, alone, more than once. She left Hollywood at the height of her fame. Unfortunately, she became an alcoholic for whatever her reasons were. However, she was still active as an actress on the stage and television. She did a road show as Peter Pan. There is a wonderful interview with Veronica on the Dick Cavett Show. She appeared with the snarky talk show host a year before her death. She looked well, not glamorous, but her witty conversation was most alluring. GARBO was THE FACE, and a beautiful one. Look again. She had one of those awkward Nordic bodies, not unlike Ingrid Bergman, another beauty. Fashion designers, like Irene and Edith Head, compensated for the less than perfect figures they possessed and served up glamorous sexy packages to delight our eyes. And Bette Davis...nope. An actress, yes. A pinup babe, no. No sophisticate either. She was just eat the scenery actress who took no prisoners. And remember, Bogart's Sam Spade told Mary Astor as the cops lead her away, he wait for her to return after she did her time in the slammer. Coming from Bogie, that's saying something.; 1/22/22, 8:57 AM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: dreams said: "Wisconsin ... purchased the trains ... as part of a plan to construct a high-speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison."

Prof A should be all over this.

Was there a dire need for a high-speed train between Milwaukee and Madison? The two cities are 80 miles apart. Is this some highly-traveled corridor like the NY to DC corridor? Are residents clamoring for relief from the drudgery of driving a little more than an hour between the two cities? Would a high-speed train even have enough distance to reach top speed? Clearly, there couldn't be any intermediate stops if it did, so how would the poor people of Oconomowoc survive without access to high-speed rail?

Perhaps this was just the first step in a larger plan to link Milwaukee with vital cities west of Madison like ... well ... Eu Claire ... and after decades of immense effort, possibly even Minneapolis. I know my travel plans have often been hampered by the lack of high-speed rail between Milwaukee and Minneapolis.; 1/22/22, 9:00 AM
Jefferson's Revenge said...: Fanbar. Many thanks for the background info on VL. I would love to have been in a small airport when she landed on a solo journey to fuel up. Must have made the fuel guy’s day. I do think part of my dislike of the more classic beauties back then comes my from lack of appreciation of the hairstyles, makeup - eyebrows especially and clothing. Because of that I have a hard time projecting them as real people.

I appreciate your insight. As they say, that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla. Tastes vary. Thanks again.; 1/22/22, 9:08 AM
rehajm said...: Prof A should be all over this

…the decisive word here being should…; 1/22/22, 9:20 AM
Fandor said...: Jefferson's Revenge...Thank you you for your kind words. To paraphrase, one man's ideal is another man's maiden aunt. My name is Fandor. Fanbar is my second cousin.; 1/22/22, 9:24 AM
rcocean said...: "This morning, i was re-watching "The Maltese Falcon" and was (Again!) struck by What a dog Mary Astor was. She's supposed to be SO SMOKIN' HOT, that hard boiled Sam Spade is smitten by her"

Actually, he's not "Smitten with her". He goes to bed with her, and sends her up the river at the end. Mary Astor wasn't Lana Turner, but she was very good looking. You want bad casting, look at John Garfield in Postman rings twice. Why the hell would Lana Turner be interested in that that little squirt? They needed Robert Mitchum.; 1/22/22, 10:49 AM
rcocean said...: Audrey Hepburn falling for 100 year old Bogart in "Sabrina" is another casting misfire.; 1/22/22, 10:51 AM
gilbar said...: Fandor, i wondered how Mary would have looked without the frumpy hair...
Also (i checked) she was 35 years old when they made The Maltese Falcon; which was old back then
She may have been pretty at 20, i don't know ... Pretty enough to score rich men
Also, she apparently started in Silent Films; which i think ruins an actor

I still think that they could have cast a more looking looker for the Falcon
I'm (as i type) getting the bad taste out of my mouth by watching
This Gun For Hire
which i think is THE BEST detective movie...EVER; and not JUST because of 20 year old Veronica Lake

If any of you haven't seen it; you should!
Robert Preston (the Music Man!) as the hardboiled detective
Veronica Lake as his fiancee (AND doing her own magic show!!!)
Introducing Alan Ladd as Ravin; the heartless, soulless Paid KILLER!!!

Heartless, and Soulless... Until Veronica (AND UNCLE SAM!) make him realize, that
even Heartless Soulless Killers... Are STILL AMERICANS!!!!
Remember Pearl Harbor!!! Buy War Bonds!!!!; 1/22/22, 11:00 AM
gilbar said...: Sorry i mistyped, should be
Introducing Alan Ladd as Raven; the heartless, soulless Paid KILLER!!!

i just NOW realized that both movies feature birds : ); 1/22/22, 11:09 AM
Lurker21 said...: Tony Fauci makes me think of that song I've been hearing lately:

Who brought the science? I brought the science
Who made the science? I made the science
Who got the science? I got the science
What's in the science? I am the science
Who brought the science? I brought the science
Who made the science? I made the science
Who got the science? I got the science
What's in the science? I-I-I am the science; 1/22/22, 11:24 AM
Fandor said...: Dear rcocean, Respectfully, I do not hold with your view of Garfield and Bogart in The Postman Always Rings Twice and Sabrina. In regards to Bogart, his character, as written by Billy Wilder, was suppose to be that of a mature older brother in both experience and looks. Wilder wanted Cary Grant for the role. Grant wasn't interested. Academy Award winning Bogart got the role by default. Errol Flynn might have been a better choice over Bogey, but at that time he was in Europe or Jamaica, on the run from his ex-wives and the IRS. Bogart wanted Lauren Bacall for the role of Sabrina.
Billy wasn't having it. The value for box office was three Academy Award winners, Hepburn, Holden and Bogart and Bacall would never have had the appeal of a winsome Audrey. Bogart, out of his typical character of cynical tough guy, was transformed into a stuffy corporate heir and a repressed romantic. The face and the demeanor of Bogart hid that well as compared to Bill Holden's devil may care, swashbuckling attitude toward life and the family business. Bogart did not get on well with Hepburn or Holden behind the scenes, but Wilder used that tension to coax brilliant performances from all. This is Bogart's best work in a romantic comedy.
As for John Garfield, you are woefully wrong. Together with Lana Turner they had on screen chemistry. Both were known around Hollywood to having promiscuous habits. Before there was a Montgomery Clift, Brando or James Dean, John Garfield was the screens first rebel, spitting in everyone's eye. Actor Studio trained, he was a method actor before it was popular to be known as one, who could come across as tough, vulnerable and sexy to win the charms of every female he encountered. Watch him in BODY and SOUL with Lilli Palmer, HUMORESQUE loving and battling with Joan Crawford or being seduced and cooperating with Patricia Neal in BREAKING POINT.
True, John Garfield was not tall, but he was among the giants of the silver screen who is still remembered as one.; 1/22/22, 11:37 AM
Fandor said...: Dear gilbar, THIS GUN FOR HIRE, a Graham Green story is a classic. I like it, but I think John Huston's THE MALTESE FALCON is the best detective picture ever made.
You ask about Mary Astor and what she may have looked like without "frumpy hair".
Research and find pictures of Veronica Lake from the 50s and 60s. I think you'll find the self described "sex zombie" looking weather worn and frumpy herself.
Time is not kind to women or men, movie stars or alcoholics.
Max Factor was.; 1/22/22, 11:52 AM
gilbar said...: Fandor? what do you think of The Big Sleep?
My Only complaint is that it is NOWHERE near as good as the book. They have to gloss so much; 1/22/22, 12:22 PM
Fandor said...: gilbar, THE BIG SLEEP, another classic with Bogart and Bacall and Howard Hawks directing. Behind the scenes lots of problems, but that's inside baseball. The movie could have topped THE MALTESE FALCON, but the ever changing and unexplained disjointed parts hobbled it from achieving that distinction. Still, worth a viewing just to see all of those pros in a Warner Brothers picture from the golden era.
I like the Michael Winner/Robert Mitchum collaboration from the 70s. The same plot taken out of LA and transported to modern day England. Jimmy Stewart has a cameo as "the general". Richard Boone is cast as a sadistic, murdering villain. All in all a wild ride and not one everyone cared for when it hit the big screen. Time has turned it into a gem, never to be duplicated with the gravitas of that crew.; 1/22/22, 1:05 PM
Clyde said...: @ Wa St Blogger

I’m glad that you enjoyed that album. We have a group of people here with diverse musical tastes and not everyone will agree on what they like, and that’s okay. The videos for “Ain’t Living Long Like This” and “Black Rose” were a hoot; they should be viewed in that order since they are a two-part story.; 1/22/22, 4:59 PM