#john Reynolds Gardiner
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Kate DiCamillo and Lois Lowrey were really carrying the 3rd grade reading curriculum
#book#books#reading#elementary#elementary school#stonefox#the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane#the tiger rising#the land of stories#the giver#Fortunes Magic Farm#gregor the overlander#because of winn-dixie#number the stars#charlottes web#janitors#the wild robot#john Reynolds Gardiner#kate dicamillo#lois lowry#Chris colfer#suzanne collins#Suzanne selfors#eb white#Tyler Whiteside#Peter brown#my polls#polls#tumblr polls
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Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner, illustrated by Marcia Sewall, 1980
A childhood book of mine
#my library#Stone Fox#John Reynolds Gardiner#Marcia Sewall#1980#1980s#dog book#mushing book#kids book#theres a couple more editions/covers at the thrift store rn and i WANNEM#gonna nab em just forgot i dont have work today and not making a trip out in the heat just for books rn lol#so tues i shall bring a bag and yoink them#along with several other books ive been eyeing there over the week lol#anyways
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New book review!
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
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I'm always torn between "am I just defensive over my fave or do they truly Not Get It" when people dismiss Mrs Reynolds's testimony.
I saw a take recently that was like, eh, so he's nice to a handful of people, that makes him marginally less of an asshole in a perfectly common way—and it's like, uh, no, the servants and tenants and family of someone with that much power = a lot of people, actually, any or all of whom could be screwed over by his whims at any moment and never have been.
And the idea that rich, powerful landowners commonly conducted themselves with generosity and concern towards their servants and tenants is absurd. Of course they didn't! Darcy is really the only one of the love interests in Austen's novels with that kind of power, and one of the only characters of that stature to be treated favorably at all, and he only gets away with it because he's Not Like The Other Ones. Even Wickham says:
"It has often led him [Darcy] to be liberal and generous, to give his money freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor."
Wickham is covering his ass in case Darcy's sterling reputation catches up with him, obviously, but there is a reason that Darcy's reputation is so exceptional. There's a reason Elizabeth is surprised even by something so small as him keeping on a housekeeper who is elderly and not particularly "fine" in appearance.
On top of that, the idea that being dismissive towards strangers but a loving and scrupulous guardian to his dependent sister in particular = an everyday occurrence? Yeah, no. The trope of young women who are exploited, disregarded, or otherwise screwed over by their brothers was really common and reflected an all-too-frequent reality (as discussed by Wollstonecraft!). The reason that well-off male characters' treatment of their siblings and especially their sisters could function so easily as a metric of inner character is because it was so often not the reality.
Men in that rough position were supposed to look after the welfare and interests of dependent sisters, esp orphaned ones—but few could actually make them do it and typically they gained little if anything from doing so. Mrs Reynolds's assertion that Darcy would do anything for Georgiana and his marked affection for her and willingness to defend her, even to older relatives when Georgiana isn't there, forms a contrast not just to the likes of John Dashwood but ... like, honestly, to Edward Austen-Knight as well.
It's not that nobody was ever more like Darcy in this respect, but it was frankly not all that common, and the novel emphatically treats his scrupulous, affectionate care for Georgiana as exceptional and part of his shining reputation.
With regard to his other family members—we don't meet many of them, but Colonel Fitzwilliam's surprise at and mockery of Darcy's current behavior leads Charlotte to conclude that it "proved he[Darcy] was generally different, which her own knowledge of him could not have told her."
This of course foreshadows Darcy proving to be "different" when encountered later. It's not that Darcy's behavior is radically transformed from what's normal for him, but that it's radically transformed from what's normal for him with people outside his (large) circle of family, friends, and dependents. And Austen takes pains to show that he largely reverts back to "old" Darcy when he's uncomfortable. The point of this isn't that his change isn't real, but that it's not some unrealistic total transformation.
The way he treats Elizabeth and the Gardiners isn't alien to his previous characterization. There were always people (whether Fitzwilliam, Mrs Reynolds, whomever) he treated like that. The change is extending that "generally different" conduct to people of much less consequence than himself, but not so much less that he has any particular obligation towards them. He's able to clearly and immediately recognize the Gardiners' virtues, to go investigating a random plant with Mr Gardiner, to form a rapport that will become genuine love for them over the course of his relationship and marriage to Elizabeth.
And a man like Darcy not only marrying a woman with relations in trade, but loving those relations and bringing them to his home as honored guests, is again, not common. Some historians have argued that his choices would be wildly unlikely IRL.
So yeah, no, Darcy isn't just decent towards a few people in a common way, nor nice to the people in his life that anyone in his situation would be, nor is his grand change unprecedented for him and uncomplicated by external factors or only to be expected. In the social world he was created in, he would be an extraordinary person.
#it's funny bc i was just arguing against over-historicization of texts with my advisors#but that isn't the same as total anti-historicization or some bizarro world version where context is reversed#'the text should have priority over theoretical contextualization' sure okay#'we don't need no stinking context only my gut feelings divorced from any kind of reality' ummmm. no.#anyway it's like 5 am and i somehow blasted through this without even getting to lydia but also that is very exceptional#on multiple levels#anghraine rants#austen blogging#austen fanwank#lady anne blogging#fitzwilliam darcy#anghraine's meta#long post
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So, there's this famous quote (and source of many memes) from Northanger Abbey, where Henry Tilney says:
“and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything. Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word.” (chapter 14)
Indeed, Jane doesn't seem to like the word that much, at least in this novel: of the 14 times it is used, 3 happen before this exchange, 10 during it, and then one last time in chapter 29.
It appears
7 times in Pride and Prejudice (used mainly by Lydia, but also by Mrs Bennet, Mrs Gardiner and Lady Catherine);
12 in Sense and Sensibility (by sir John, Marianne, Edward, Mrs Palmer, and Mrs Jennings most of all);
17 in Emma (by Harriet, Mr Woodhouse, Emma, Miss Bates, Mrs Elton, and Mr Weston);
15 in Mansfield Park (by Mrs Grant, Mrs Norris, Mary, Tom, Mr Crawford, Maria, and Edmund);
12 in Persuasion (by Elizabeth, Wentworth, Admiral Croft, Mr Elliot, Mary
But of those, none are used by the narrator in NA; 2 in P&P; 3 in S&S; 5 in Emma; 4 in MP; and 6 in Persuasion (and I'm including all indirect speech). Very nice.
But you know what generic, vague descriptor our beloved Jane loved? fine.
NA: 33 times (18 from dialogue: used my Mrs Thorpe, Mr Allen, Mrs Allen, John Thorpe, Catherine, a miss Thorpe, Isabella, Tilney, and Mrs Morland.)
P&P: 40 times (21 in dialogue: used by Mrs Bennet, Charlotte, Lizzy, Darcy, Caroline, Mrs Gardiner, Mrs Reynolds, and Mr Bennet)
S&S: 29 times (17 in dialogue: used by Willoughby, Marianne, Edward most of all, Mrs Palmer, Anne Steele, and Mrs Jennings)
Emma: 48 times (33 in dialogue: used by Harriet, Mr Woodhouse, Mr Knightley, Emma, Miss Bates, Jane Fairfax, Mr Weston, Frank, Mrs Cole, Mrs Elton)
MP: 67 times (38 in dialogue: used by Mr Rushworth, Lady Bertram, Edmund, Mrs Norris, Fanny, Mrs Grant, Dr Grant, Mr Crawford, William, Mrs Price, Mr Price, and Mary)
Persuasion: 35 times (17 in dialogue: by Mrs Musgrove, Mrs Croft, Charles Musgrove, Sir Walter, Admiral Croft, Captain Wentworth, lady Dalrymple, Harriet Smith).
Not only is fine used much, much more than nice, but nice is most often used by silly or unrefined characters, whereas fine sees more representation of all sorts of characters, and it is used by the narrator specifically, much, much more, not only to describe weather, but to describe people, places, clothes, and so on and so forth.
So, dear Jane, I think we need to talk...
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Nobody asked but here’s a list of Actors I like for (almost) every character (and by almost every character I mean only the ones I care about)
Mr Mistoffelees
Jacob Brent
Harry Francis
Timothy Scott
Guy Paul De St Germain
Gen Horiuchi
Fergus Logan
Ryan Patrick Farrell
Rum Tum Tugger
John Partridge
Spencer Dean
Terrence Mann
Frank Mastrocola
Tyler Hanes
Jason Gardiner
Todrick Hall
David Schoonover
Grizabella
Betty Buckley
Elaine Paige
Kim Kriswell
Mamie Parris
Angie Smith
Munkustrap
Michael Gruber
Steven Barton
Andy Huntington Jones
Bryan Batt
Ben Reynolds
Victoria
Phyllida Crowley Smith
Georgina Pazcoguin
Caitlin Bond
Cynthia Onrubia
Mungojerrie
Drew Varley
Ray Roderick
Rumpelteazer
Jo Gibb
Kristi Lynes
Bombalurina
Rosemarie Ford
Marlene Danielle
Geraldine Gardner
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Mid-Year Book Freakout 2023
1. Best book you've read so far this year
Well, I reread Spinning Silver/Naomi Novik again… But besides rereads I really loved two non-fiction books: Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood/Nathan Hale. It’s a graphic novel with the characters being represented as animals, so I was really nervous at first that it would make light of something tragic but it didn’t at all, and I think the illustrations emphasized the horrificness while still being appropriate for its intended audience (4th graders). (It also finally convinced me to pick up Maus.)
The other was The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos/Judy Batalion, which was an extensive following of a number of women resistance fighters in the ghettos, which is a subject that I hardly know about.
2. Best sequel you've read so far this year
It absolutely has to be Ribsy/Beverly Cleary, the last in the Henry Huggins series. I was nervous because it follows Ribsy the dog rather than Henry the human, but it was great. I liked the look at all the different families (except one) and Ribsy’s perspective. It nearly made me cry even/exactly when the good things were happening.
Also, special mention to The Chalet School in Exile/Elinor M. Brent-Dyer for acknowledging the murder of Jews by regular citizens back in the first year of WW2 when that’s something plenty of people refuse to admit to this day. (Though maybe it was easier then when it was an enemy country.)
3. New release you haven't read yet
All of them lol. I’ll choose six notables (one for each month):
The Dos and Donuts of Love/Adiba Jaigirdar--I loved Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating so much! I’m so excited about this I’m nervous
The Luis Ortega Survival Club/Sonora Reyes--I love a story about messed up experiences in high school
The Home for Wayward Girls/Marcia Bradley--See above
The Mimicking of Known Successes/Malka Ann Older--I heard it described as a Sherlock Holmes type mystery in space, and I’ve really wanted to read something by this author for a long time but this was the first book that really caught my eye
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride/Roshani Chokshi--It is my favorite sub-genre (fairy tale retelling) of a fairy tale that I find really interesting (Bluebeard) by an author I already know I enjoy
Sorry, Bro/Taleen Voskuni--Jews often feel that they have a lot of common with Armenians (for good reasons) so I’m really interested to read this story of someone claiming both her culture and her sexuality (even my mom was interested and she tries to not be homophobic but she winces at bi characters)
4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year
Delicate Condition/Danielle Valentine. This absolutely sounds like a book that is going to make me cry.
5. Biggest disappointment
Catherine, Called Birdy/Karen Cushman. This seemed like a book that would be right up my alley--historical, mg, epistolary, rebellious and funny main girl character--but it just fell flat for me in so many ways.
6. Biggest surprise
Leave It to Beaver/Beverly Cleary surprised me by actually being pretty good, which you don’t usually expect for a novelization of a tv show. It wasn’t her best work, but I do want to read the rest of the series.
And, then, one I saved for here, Top Secret/John Reynolds Gardiner. This was recommended me as a funny, gross book and it was that (admittedly, a bit light on the grossness but what was there was good), but it also very much talked about repressing creativity for bad reasons and I loved that.
7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)
A.J. Sass. I read Ellen Outside the Lines in one night and immediately put two more of their books on my tbr.
8. Newest fictional crush/newest favorite character
Just the one? Well, Ead Duryan from Priory of the Orange Tree/Samantha Shannon is exactly the type of character I love; but have you read about the angel/Uriel Shtetler from When the Angels Left the Old Country?! It thinks in such an interesting way about things and so it changes in a very odd way. (Also, it becoming more ‘human’ doesn’t make it stop using it/its pronouns!)
9. Book that made you cry
Ribsy, I’ve mentioned, but I don’t think any other book made me cry.
10. Book that made you happy
I reread The Girl With the Silver Eyes/Willo Davis Roberts to see if it still held up after over a decade since I first read it and it absolutely did. It acknowledges that grown-ups can make mistakes while trying to help children and that children have the right to defend themselves from that as well as actually evil adults. Also, read this fanfiction of Katie as an adult.
Riding Lessons/Jane Smiley also made me happy because it didn’t attempt to pathologise a kid whom I think would be pathologised today.
Tagging @ninja-muse @bookcub @opalescentswan @books-are-portals and @gigilberry (Only if you want to, obviously.)
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The UK's National Archives outlines varying Packards
As we have noted on this blog before, the Packard family is firmly established in England. The 24 results on the UK National Archives website shows the roots of such Packards undeniably. They are organized here by century, to help with navigability
14th century
"Gilbert Kelatoun of Chassefeld [Charsfield and]...John Gardiner of Cretyngham [Cretingham to] Robert Packard of Bourgh [Burgh] (1) to (2), all his lands and tenements in towns of Chassefeld and Hoo; to hold of chief lords of fee for accustomed services. Warranty clause. Witnesses: William Crispyng', Henry Brygge, Arnald dil Medewee, Gilbert Palmere, John Burrich and others. Given at Chassefeld, Tuesday after feast of St Edmund the King, 41 Edw. III" on 23 Nov 1367
"Sale by Edmund, rector of the church of Peltyngdon, Adam Waryn of Colchester, John de Ocham, priest, and John Packarde of Colchester, to Richard Packard of Colchester and Margaret his wife, of a messuage, land and rent in Peltyngdon: [Essex.]" in 1369 (using this site to help with dating)
"Grant by Margaret, late the wife of Richard Packarde of Colchester, to Sir Ralph Waryn, priest, Sirs John Perys and John de Ocham, chaplains, of a tenement called 'le Newhalle' in Peldone, with rent and lands, &c. thereto belonging" on June 14, 1375 (using this site to help with dating)
"Grant by Ralph Waryn, John Perys and John de Ocham, of Colchester, chaplains, to Margaret Packarde of the same, of a tenement called 'le Newhalle' in Peldon, with lands and rent, &c. thereto belonging, which they had of the feoffment of the said Margaret, with remainders to Edmund de la Mare of Bradewelle and his heirs, and to the said Margaret and her heirs: [Essex.]" in 1375 (using this site to help with dating)
15th century
"Grant by Richard Armeiard of Otley [Suffolk], to John Armeiard of Otley his son, John Packard of Woodbridge [Suffolk], clerk, John Morys, and John Gosseuold of Otley son of John Gosseuold senior, and their heirs and assigns, of the lands and tenements called 'Prattes' in Otley and Clopton [Suffolk], which with other lands in Otley, Clopton, Cretingham [Suffolk], and elsewhere in Suffolk were granted to Richard by charter of the above John Morys, James Wodeward, William Louth, the above John Gosseuold, and Robert Broke. Richard also appoints Thomas Godewyn of Otley, and Thomas Armeiard of the same, his attorneys to deliver seisin. Dated at Clopton, with seal attached. Witnesses: Richard Ovy, John Tolly, William Morys, Reynold Fosdyke, Thomas Edgoor and many others" on 26 May 1481
16th century
In 23 May 1539 are listed include "Thomas Packard of Earl Stonham...[and] Richard Packarde"
A 1550/51 grant lists a "Thomas Packard" and "Geoffrey Packerd."
On a Feb 1, 1577 grant is listed "Thomas Packarde, late of Stonham, yeoman" not surprisingly.
Death of Joan Packard, widow of Earl of Stonham, in 1591
Inventory of Aaron Packard of Stonham in 1592
17th century
"Short title: Maddock v Grundie. Plaintiffs: Richard Maddock and John Lawes. Defendants: John Grundie and Jeffery Packard" from 1603-1625
Indenture in 2 May 1616 lists Thomas Packard
Packard v Wells case from 1625-1660
" Elizabeth Packard d/o Nicholas Packard apprenticed to Nicholas Carter of Buxhall, carpenter" on 29 Oct 1641
Account of John Packard, a churchwarden, in 1642
"John Duncon of Mendlesham, tanner, and Robert Duncon of Mendlesham, tanner, to Edmund Sheppard of Mendlesham, gent., Thomas Butts of Mendlesham, gent., Robert Ridnall of Mendlesham, gent., Henry Denny of Mendlesham, gent., Samuel Damont of Mendlesham, yeoman, and John Packard, yeoman; one tenement wherein one Anne Sanders alias Hewe now or lately dwelt, with half of chimney, one pair of stairs and one door or entry, one vance roof, one yard with a pond and orchard, now or late parcel of the premises called the Leyards" on 16 Oct 1659
Packard v Manthorpe case from 1643-1714 and in 1667
" Nicholas Packard apprenticed to Robert Wesson of Nedenham (Needham Market?) Woollen weaver, and Robert Wesson, his son" on 25 May 1645
"Manor of Farthings, messuage called Radlyes or Raydells with 5½a in Hulthorpe St. abutting Tungate Lane to west...3½a parcel of tenement Packards; 2½a of same tenement abutting Tungate Lane to east, conveyed by Robert Salter to John Feldegate" in 1660
Will of Robert Packard, Mariner of Whitechapel, Middlesex on 12 Feb 1666
Packard v. Clarke case from 1670
"Edward Clarke admitted on death of his father Edward Clarke (to whom property was mortgaged for £237 10s. by Edward Packard and wife Elizabeth), to 16 pieces of land (11a.; boundaries specified) in Southfield in Kessingland" on 24 Sept 1675
Other
"Roll of account of receipts and expenses of Garin de Glapion, seneschal of Normandy Fragment Most of the rest of the account is in E 101/349/1A, printed in S R Packard, Miscellaneous Records of the Norman Exchequer, 1199-1204, Smith College Studies in History, vol XII, nos 1-4 (1926-1927), pp 9-11 (rot 1)" (1200-1201) as noted here. However, S.R. Packard was a 20th century medieval historian
More will be added in future posts as needed.
Note: This was originally posted on May 5, 2018 on the main Packed with Packards WordPress blog (it can also be found on the Wayback Machine here). My research is still ongoing, so some conclusions in this piece may change in the future.
© 2018-2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
#packards#england#uk national archives#lineage#family history#genealogy#genealogy research#17th century#16th century
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15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner.
Thank you for a your question.
-Kagami
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Macbeth Witches’ Speech Tag Game
(Bookoween: Toil and Trouble)
Tagged by @readingbooksinisrael. Thank you! This is clever!
1. “Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.” Recommend a book with a cat in it
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold has an entire litter of kittens in it, and they very delightfully add to the general chaos.
2. “Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.” What is the next book you plan to read?
I don’t know what I’m going to read after Hench, my commuting book, but once I’m done The Changeling, my home book is going to be The Complete Nonsense of Edmund Lear.
3. “Round about the cauldron go” Recommend a book it took you a long time to read
Heart of Europe by Peter Wilson took me nearly three months, because I had to keep putting it down to read other things and give my brain a break. Book is fantastic and hugely informative, but also dense.
4. “Eye of newt and toe of frog” Recommend a book from your childhood OR recommend a gross book
Can I recommend Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner, which is both? It’s weird in the way only older middle grade can be, about a kid who’s desperate to win the science fair, tries to come up with a way to get humans to photosynthesize, and turns himself into a plant in the process—largely by chugging liver smoothies.
5. “Make the gruel thick and slab” Recommend a book over 400 pages
Passage by Connie Willis, because I haven’t recommended any spooky/horror books in this yet and I feel I should fix that. It’s about a scientist trying to discover what causes near-death experiences, and when she can’t get reliable data, starts inducing them in herself. And every time she “dies” she winds up on the Titanic….
+
6. “Double, double toil and trouble/Fire burn and caludron bubble” Recommend any book you like
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë because Jane is an absolute (quiet) badass, it’s so much more than pop culture would have you believe, and it’s got some nice gothic spookiness to it too.
Tagging @bookcub @covermore @unquenchablereader @thepagemage @thelivebookproject and @sixofravens-reads
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I got tagged
Thanks for tagged me @a-students-lifebuoy
20 Book Challenge
If you are tagged, create a post with 20 of your favorite books and tag 10 others!
In no particular order (I literally went back to my reading journal/log to see what books I have read and picking the ones I think the best)
1. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
2. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
3. Magnus Chase Series by Rick Riordan
4. Alpha Force series By Chris Ryan
5. Agent 21 series by Chris Ryan
6. Street Soldier By Andy McNab
7. Alex Rider (damn my child hood) by Anthony Horowitz
8. Son of the Mob by Gordan Korman
9. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
10. Le Talisman de Nergal: L’Élu de Babylone by Hervé Gagnon
11. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
12. Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lisha McBride
13. Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
14. War Torn by Andy McNab
15. Rez Rebel by Melanie Florence
16. Dust by Arthur Slage
17. Camp X by Eric Walters
18. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
19. The Way of the Shadows by Brent Weeks
20. Legend by Marie Lu
tagging some people:
@readbythestarlight @life-on-the-geek-side @mywishingglass @alwaysabeautifullife @low-budget-mulan @shieldblacksailsonfrontier @ace-spacepup @archaeo-geek @megushie @dragonfireandruins
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children's short stories audiobooks : Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner | Kids
Listen to Stone Fox new releases children's short stories audiobooks on your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Get any BOOKS by John Reynolds Gardiner Kids FREE during your Free Trial
Written By: John Reynolds Gardiner
Narrated By: B.D. Wong
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date: February 2007
Duration: 0 hours 59 minutes
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What she says: I'm fine
What she means: Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner is so critically underrated, yet it deserves it for breaking my childhood self's heart. Putting a plot twist as sad as that one in a book aimed at children is why I have trust issues. What makes it even sadder is that the antagonist also had an equal reason for wanting to win as the protagonist and was not even a jerk about it. He even let the kid win when the plot twist occurred. I want to say I hope he wins the next year, but then if he buys the land won't the whole story be for nothing? Also what was with Willy's grandpa just leaving him to fend for himself because he gave up? While it's perfectly understandable that he would lose his will to live, he basically just would not get out of bed or respond when Willy asked him what was wrong. As his caretaker, it is his responsibility to care for Willy, not vice versa. Isn't that technically child neglect?
#stone fox#john Reynolds Gardiner#novel#meme#childhood ruined#childhood#children's book#novelette#remember#second grade#third grade#what she means#what she means meme
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HOLLYWOOD WITHOUT MAKE-UP
1963
Produced by Ken Murray
Music by George Stoll
Written by Royal Foster
Ken Murray (Himself, Host) is billed as “the man who makes movies of the people who make movies.” He was born Kenneth Abner Doncourt in 1903 to vaudevillian parents. Murray got his start in show business on the stage in 1920s as a stand-up comedian. He performed his comedy act on the vaudeville circuit. He found success as a stage performer after appearing in Earl Carroll's Vanities on Broadway in 1935. In the 1940s, Murray became famous for his Blackouts, a racy, stage variety show at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. The Blackouts played to standing-room-only audiences for 3,844 performances, ending in 1949. Later that year, the show moved to Broadway and closed after six weeks. He made his film debut in the 1929 romantic drama Half Marriage, followed by a role in Leathernecking in 1930. He was also the host of “The Ken Murray Show,” a weekly music and comedy show on CBS Television that ran from 1950 to 1953. The show was the first to win a Freedom Foundation Award. Over the course of his career, Murray filmed Hollywood celebrities using his 16mm home movie camera. He began filming the footage to send back home to his grandparents in lieu of writing letters. His grandmother saved the footage, which Murray later used in compilation films like Hollywood Without Make-Up. He died in 1988 at age 85.
Features footage of: Eddie Albert, June Allyson, George K. Arthur, Mary Astor, Lew Ayres, Max Baer, Lucille Ball, Richard Barthelmess, Rex Bell, Edgar Bergen, Sally Blane, Humphrey Bogart, John Boles, Pat Boone, Eddie Borden, Hobart Bosworth, Clara Bow, William Boyd, Fanny Brice, Paul Brooks, Joe E. Brown, Johnny Mack Brown, Virginia Bruce, Polly Burson, Rory Calhoun, Leo Carrillo, Charles Chaplin, Lew Cody, William Collier Jr., Russ Columbo, Gary Cooper, Jackie Cooper, Jeanne Crain, Robert Cummings, Linda Darnell, Marion Davies, Joan Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Dolores del Rio, Cecil B. DeMille, Jack Dempsey, Walt Disney, Kirk Douglas, Marie Dressler, Irene Dunne, Josephine Dunn, Stuart Erwin, Ruth Etting, Douglas Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Charles Farrell, Todd Fisher, Errol Flynn, Joan Fontaine, Glenn Ford, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Reginald Gardiner, Cary Grant, Alan Hale, Oliver Hardy, William Randolph Hearst, Jean Hersholt, William Holden, Bob Hope, Hedda Hopper, Walter Huston, Sam Jaffe, Van Johnson, Buck Jones, Hope Lange, Charles Laughton, Stan Laurel, Gertrude Lawrence, Mervyn LeRoy, Charles Lindbergh, Carole Lombard, William Lundigan, Fred MacMurray, Jayne Mansfield, George Marshall, Herbert Marshall, Chico Marx, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Joel McCrea, Victor McLaglen, Adolphe Menjou, Mayo Methot, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Morgan, Wayne Morris, Jean Parker, Louella Parsons, Mary Pickford, Dick Powell, Tyrone Power, George Raft, Gregory Ratoff, Donna Reed, Debbie Reynolds, Buddy Rogers, Charles Ruggles, Albert Schweitzer, George Seaton, Norma Shearer, George Stevens, Lewis Stone, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Taylor, William T. Tilden, George Tobias, Spencer Tracy, Lupe Velez, Jimmy Walker, John Wayne, Johnny Weissmuller, Mae West, Claire Windsor, Robert Woolsey, Jane Wyman, and others.
The show is also available on DVD from Sprocket Flicks It has been aired on TV on Turner Classic Movies.
In 1963, when this documentary was released, Lucille Ball was starting her second season of “The Lucy Show” on CBS TV.
In June 1950, one year before “I Love Lucy” premiered, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were guests on “The Ken Murray Show” on CBS TV. Tap dancer Bunny Briggs and 'Little Rascal' Darla Hood were also guests.
In 1966, Lucy and Murray were both guests on “Bob Hope's Leading Ladies.” Murray played a television executive named Harvey Sarnoff. Lucy played herself. Sort of.
Lucy returned to Sun Valley to film an episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” using the same locations scene in this documentary.
Twenty minutes into the documentary, the location turns to Sun Valley, Idaho, where Hollywood stars went for winter sports. June Allyson, Errol Flynn, Martha O'Driscoll, Johnny Weissmuller, Wayne Morris, and Reggie Gardiner have a snowball fight while making a snowman.
Lounging at the Lodge are Rory Calhoun (center) and Lucille Ball. Sun Valley was one of the Arnaz's favorite vacation spots, accessible by train from Hollywood. Desilu would film “Lucy Goes To Sun Valley” (1958) there. Lucy's good friend Ann Sothern also loved Sun Valley, and is buried nearby.
Murray says that this is not the only home movies of Lucille Ball that he has. First is a quick clip of Lucy at Chatsworth Ranch with one of her cherished dogs. Lucy and Desi had three dogs at the time.
This leads to footage of Lucille Ball filming Fancy Pants in 1950 with director George Marshall and co-star Bob Hope. Murray also mentions that Lucy has done quite a few pictures with Hope, including Critic's Choice, which was released in 1963, the same year as this documentary. In 1969, when Lucy wanted to film episodes of “Here's Lucy” on location, including on the Colorado River, she hired Marshall, remembering his expertise with location filming in rough terrain.
Ball also poses with Marshall and her Fancy Pants stunt double, Polly Burson, although Murray does not specifically mention her name.
Ball is shown doing a stunt where she falls onto a break-away table, not once...
not twice...
but three times!
Murray: “Someone once said that Lucille Ball stands alone as the greatest comedienne of our time. That goes for sitting down, too!”
Lucy Without Make-Up: Literally!
A movie star, Lucille Ball was rarely scene without full make-up, but when a scene demanded she take a blast of water to the face, she removed her false eyelashes, as she did here in “Never Do Business With Friends” (ILL S2;E31) in 1953.
#Hollywood Without Make-Up#Ken Murray#Lucille Ball#George Marshall#Bob Hope#Fancy Pants#Rory Calhoun#Polly Burson#I Love Lucy#The Lucy Show#George Stoll#Royal Foster#1963#Sun Valley#Sprocket Films#DVD#TCM#documentary#The Ken Murray Show
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March 2023 Read This Month
Rereads
The BFG/Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake (mg fantasy)-When Sophie sees a giant she is very lucky it is the BFG--the Big Friendly Giant--and not any of the other giants, like the Fleshlumpeater, who see children as snacks. Together, they hatch a plan to save children from being eaten.
Emily’s Runaway Imagination/Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush (mg historical fiction)-There isn’t much to do in a little farming town in Oregon in the 1920s and so Emily’s imagination often runs away with her; but maybe some of her ideas aren’t so crazy, like getting a library.
Matilda/Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake (mg fantasy)-Matilda is a very smart little girl, but her parents hate her and deride her. When she goes to school the Headmistress acts exactly the same way. Then she discovers she can move things with her eyes. Can she use that to save herself and the other children in the school from the terrible Trunchbull?
5 stars
Top Secret/John Reynolds Gardiner, illustrated by Marc Simont (mg contemporary sci fi)-Allen is certain he wants to do a project on human photosynthesis for the upcoming science fair, but everyone except his grandfather forbids him to. He’ll have to prove he can do it--and if that involves calling up the President? Well, it involves calling up the President.
3.75 stars
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches/Sangu Mandanna (adult low fantasy)-As one of few witches, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of the residents of Nowhere House.
3.5 stars
The Priory of the Orange Tree/Samantha Shannon (The Roots of Chaos #1) (adult high fantasy)-The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but makes a choice that could see her life unravel.
Two Dog Biscuits/Beverly Cleary, illustrated by DyAnne DiSalvio-Ryan (Two Times the Fun #2) (realistic fiction picture book)-Jimmy and Janet get two dog biscuits from their neighbor. How will they ever choose which dog to give them to?
3 stars
Haunted Castle on Hallow’s Eve/Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca (Merlin Missions #2) (children’s fantasy)-On Halloween Night Jack and Annie receive another mission from Merlin: put order back to a castle, which the villagers say is filled with ghosts.
חבורת הרפאים/אביגדור שחן, מאוייר ע”י יואב בז’רנו (עלילות גבורה ומיסתורין #1) (ya Jewsish adventure and romance)-Avi is a refugee in a Jewish Romanian town after the Holocaust. He spends his days wandering around the streets when, all at once, he is invited to join two societies preparing for the aliya to Israel. One has the prettiest girl he’s ever talked to and the second is a secret society, preparing to steal back Jewish treasure from a church yard in the nearby Christian town.
2.5 stars
Cities of Wonder/ed. Damon Knight (adult sci fi collection)-A collection of stories ranging from the 20s to the 60s about sci fi cities.
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