The Outer Limits - The Architects of Fear (1963)

Protesting the methods of the House Un-American Activities

From bottom to top: Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Coute, Geraldine Brooks, Paul Henreid, Evelyn Keyco, Sterling Hayden, Danny Kaye, Marsha Hunt, Gene Kelly, June Havoc, Jane Wyatt and John Huston, among others

Coming to Martha’s Vineyard this summer to play in a nice place with some nice songwriters for a good cause.

The songwriters are all going to play "in the round", meaning we'll sit in a circle on the stage and take turns playing songs for one another and the audience, and ALL the money goes to benefit for affordable housing for the Martha's Vineyard's elderly and disabled

The tickets are $25-300 and here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/songwriters-for-island-elder-housing-tickets-893692156297?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you've never heard Willy Mason play...he's phenomenal.

Here's one of his tracks, Oxygen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvZIiiIMwbg

Protesting the methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Hollywood stars arrive at LaGuardia Field from Washington, October 29, 1947. Among those disembarking are Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Conte, Geraldine Brooks, Paul Henreid, Evelyn Keyes, Sterling Hayden, and Danny Kaye.

Photo: Art Edger for the NY Daily News via Getty Images

Edmond O'Brien and Geraldine Brooks for Michael Gordon‘s AN ACT OF MURDER (1948)

Book Notes: Little Women

I’m sure I’m not alone in having a long-standing relationship with Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. My first introduction to the March sisters was the 1933 film starring Katherine Hepburn as feisty Jo, a VHS borrowed from the library as many times as I was allowed. Then I was given a lovely hardcover illustrated edition that I read to pieces. After that I sought out all the other Louisa May Alcott books I could find, scouring the shelves of the library and the corners of used bookstores. I followed the continuing story of the March sisters through Little Men and Jo's Boys. And soon became as enamored with Alcott's many other charming family stories laced through with morality, like Eight Cousins, Jack and Jill, and A Garland for Girls.

Of course, I loved the 1994 Little Women film with Winona Ryder. When I went to college across the country, I left my hardcover Little Women behind and purchased a paperback to take with me, for comfort reading in the midst of all my coursework. While on the East Coast, I visited Orchard House in Concord, and wandered around the rooms, picturing Louisa and her sisters (and the fictional Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy) within its walls. I continued to look for more obscure Alcott titles any time I browsed a used bookstore. And in the years since, I kept turning to Little Women, for the coziness of family togetherness despite hardship, the dreams of the girls as they grow into women, the trials of domestic life, and the silver linings in the midst of adversity. I may have put the March family on a bit of a pedestal. 

They say a marker of growth can be reading a beloved book as you age and seeing how it changes with you. As the years keep going by, I've grown to see the complexities of Little Women, and of the life of Louisa May Alcott herself. Some of that is certainly due to novelists who took on Little Women, or the Alcott family, bringing a fresh viewpoint to the familiar story. Books like March by Geraldine Brooks, The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper, and So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow. Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaption added to the mix, and now, over 30 years after my first encounter with Little Women, I love it still, but with a love that is more expansive and accepting of the humanity of the characters and the author. 

Island Books has a table filled with all things Louisa May Alcott in celebration of the Mercer Island High School Drama’s production of Little Women, adapted by Thomas Hischak. Check out this link for times and tickets!

— Lori

Book review: Horse by Geraldine Brooks

I thought this one was good on the whole. It is about the racehorse Lexington, who won 6 of 7 races and became the leading US sire for 16 years, and his groom Jarret. The book’s chapters change point of view frequently to include both major and minor characters, and the time also changes, spanning from 1850 when the horse was born to the present. There are some additional characters of both major and minor importance without chapters devoted to them. The book is extremely well researched, and in the afterward Brooks explains which people and events were fictionalized and which were real. She also has a vast vocabulary, and I learned many news words. My main criticism is that the relationship between Jess and Theo felt contrived at times in regards to racial issues and some other things. The characters of Theo and Jarret are also practically perfect, to the point where Theo is martyred at the end. Again, it just felt contrived at times. 

The characters who have their own chapters are as follows: 

Theo - a well educated and polite PHD student who lives in Washington D.C. in the present day. He is the son of 2 diplomats and has an international background. He helps a widowed woman across the street from him, even though she has been racist towards him. She begrudgingly says he can take whatever he wants from a pile of junk she has at the curb. While initially disinterested, he caught sight of an old painting of a horse and decided to take it. 

Jarret - Jarret is the son of a Harry Lewis, a thoroughbred training prodigy. Harry Lewis was enslaved, but was allowed to buy himself freedom. Jarret is still enslaved, but Harry convinced his employer Dr. Warfield to buy him so they could be together. Harry had the idea to breed Warfield’s mare Alice Carneal to the leading sire Boston, who later died that year. Thus, Lexington was born, although he was originally named Darley. Warfield gave the horse to Harry as part of his wages, and Jarret and him were together from the time the colt was born. Jarret was Lexington's groom, and he was sold with Lexington twice. 

Thomas J Scott - a famous painter of thoroughbreds who included accurate depictions of Jarret with Lexington in some of the paintings he did of the stallion. He knew Jarret and the horse from the beginning, and they crossed paths again over the years. Scott is the artist of the horse painting Theo found, which turned out to be of Lexington. Theo takes an interest in his works because his thesis is about cases where African Americans actually were depicted accurately in the works of that time.

Jess - An Australian who moves to America to work at the Smithsonian, Jess is obsessed with bones. Her job is to clean and set various animal skeletons for the museum in the osteology prep lab she manages. She is asked to locate the skeleton of a horse that has been forgotten about and moved to the attic. The horse turns out to be Lexington. She eventually crosses paths with Theo, and the two date after a rocky start where she thought he might be trying to steal her bike, which was actually his and turned out to be identical to hers.

Mary Bar Clay - she is one of the granddaughters of Elisha Warfield who lives on his farm. Her father is Cassius Clay, an American politician and abolitionist. She is a great rider and wants to be friends with Jarret, often putting him in dangerous situations as a result. 

Martha Jackson - a high end art dealer in Jackson Pollack’s circle who rose to prominence in the 1950s. One of Scott’s paintings of Lexington came into her possession, and it was the only non-contemporary work she owned. 

Johnny Tiger (1966), an atmospheric curio featuring a cast of white actors playing modern Native American characters.

Character Actress

Geraldine Brooks (born Geraldine Stroock; October 29, 1925 – June 19, 1977) Actress whose three-decade career on stage as well as in films and on television was noted with nominations for an Emmy in 1962 and a Tony in 1970.

She appeared in many of the anthology series popular early in the 1950′s, such as Orient Express, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Appointment with Adventure (two episodes), Lux Video Theatre, and Studio One.

Brooks guest starred on Richard Diamond, Private Detective, and The Fugitive, both starring David Janssen. Her other credits included Johnny Staccato, Have Gun - Will Travel, Adventures in Paradise, Perry Mason, Ironside, The Defenders, Dr. Kildare, Stoney Burke, Mr. Novak, Ben Casey, Get Smart, Gunsmoke (in the 1966 episode “Killer at Large”), The Outer Limits, Combat! (in the episode "The Walking Wounded"), Bonanza, It Takes A Thief, Daniel Boone and Kung Fu (in the episode "Nine Lives"). She played the role of Arden Dellacorte in 1971 on the CBS daytime soap opera Love of Life and starred as the overweight owner of a delicatessen opposite James Coco in the short-lived 1976 situation comedy The Dumplings, her final role. Geraldine Brooks also appeared in Barnaby Jones, playing a character named Janet Enright in the 1973 episode "The Murdering Class".

She was nominated for the 1962 Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an actor in a Leading Role for her appearance in the episode, "Call Back Yesterday", with fellow guest costar David Hedison in the drama series Bus Stop.  (Wikipedia)

The Reckless Moment (1949) Max Ophüls

September 16th 2022

Rainy day after work reading.

JOMP Book Photo Challenge

June 2nd: Currently Reading

Only…11 days into the month, here’s my May wrap-up! The month was busy, full of summer heat and basketball games, protest and lake visits and lilac…but I found time to read in the midst of it all.

Highlights included the historical fiction landscapes of Horse by Geraldine Brooks, reflections on writing by Elena Ferrante, a vivid memoir by Erika L. Sánchez, and the gorgeous new poetry of The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón. 

I also dove into Western African literature for an upcoming Book Riot list, loving books by authors such as Mariama Bâ, Fatou Diome, Mbarek Ould Beyrouk, and more.

al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1184

first posted in facebook april 24, 2023

mike gruber -- "untitled" [i.e., logan airport?] (no date)

"the joy of navigating logan airport" ... mike gruber

"i'm gonna tell you a story i'm wanna tell you about my town i'm gonna tell you a big fat story, baby ah, it's all about my town" ... ed cobb

"michael gruber enjoys distorting architectural compositions" ... western avenue studio blog

"i took the T from logan airport to harvard square. i hate driving in boston. it’s the traffic that drives me spare, and the absolutely terrible manners of the motorists. other new englanders refer to massachusetts drivers as 'massholes'" ... geraldine brooks

"awwww, boston you're my home" ... ed cobb

"well, i waited for you inside of the frozen traffic when you knew i had some other place to be" ... bob dylan

"boston massachusetts enjoys distorting time and space and traffic ... especially when you have some other place to be" ... al janik