― Frank Capra
Woman with a Red Zinnia
1891
oil on canvas: 29 x 23 inches
Remi Listening to the Sea
1955
Screenplay by Jules Furthman (adapted by)
Based on “Amy Jolly”, 1927 novel by Benno Vigny
—Fred Zinnemann
Elephant & Castle Underground
1940
Niagara Falls at sunrise, July 2021
The Homecoming, 1945
—Billy Wilder
Cuckmere River (Río Cuckmere)
1963
by Lewis Carroll
6/7/15
Young Israel of Century City
Photo by: Steve Cohn
www.stevecohnphotography.com
My younger son is convinced the fix is in for Newsom. I listened to Larry for many years when I still lived in CA. I wish him well.
My favorite Billy Wilder movie was “One, Two, Three.” It’s a bit dated now but was funny.
Anita Ekberg looks like the Vita was not very dolce that day.
I like other Mary Cassatt paintings better but I am no critic.
Sent by ballot in a couple of weeks ago. I hope Elder wins. California does surprise the nation occasionally, and I hope this is another time. If people vote Newsome back in California will sink even more. Which sooner or later will effect a change, but will it be too late? The thought occurred to me the other day that with 24% of the registered voters Republicans, millions of them have already moved out.
What did Wilder mean by MM being “mean”? Self-centered (late on set all the time), drug-addled (kept forgetting her lines), but mean? I never heard that before but then he knew her. BTW did you know that the owner of the empty crypt next to MM and Hugh Hefner is for sale at $2 million? As he said “Location, location, location”.
But would anyone care?
“Dialogue is a necessary evil.”
What did Fred mean by that? I think early directors made an art form of conveying communication during the silent era. It would be interesting as a study to see exactly how acting and directing was during the silent era. Not all made the transition. So maybe I would disagree with Fred.
Zinnemann was not an early director. Just another ‘genius’ pontificating for publication.
I’ve always Rockwell’s cornball Americana. Sadly, I feel as though its animating spirit no longer exists.
Re. the MM watch, when the hand hits 60, does it continue its clockwise motion to zero, or does it go backward?
Forgot to mention, hope Elder wins, but it’s a long shot.
Kishke:
The hand springs backwards to zero. It’s really neat!
Cool
I have always thought of Bill Wilder as an againster; against everything that made him successful in America, including the people and culture. A nasty man with a wicked and amusing sense of humor, beginning with t The Major and the Minor, in which the heroine is an obvious prostitute, and all the men fools; followed by The Lost Weekend, celebrating the life of a gay alcoholic; or A Foreign Affair, in which every principal is a provincial or corrupt user; all this culminates in The Apartment, no more need be said. A final thought on Billy, he prepared Five Graves to Cairo, The Major and the Minor, The Lost Weekend, Sabrina and Love in the Afternoon for Cary Grant, but he did not get that great actor.
Add One, Two Three, and Kiss Me Stupid and continuing attacks on the society that allowed him to be rich and famous for being hostile to all their values and never once treating our culture with affection and respect.
I do believe this is the first time I have ever seen a picture of you and Karen, Robert (in the present day, I mean). You are a lovely couple. Sadly, I don’t think Larry Elder is going to win; being the cynic I am, I think the steal for Newsom is in the bag. I will be happy to be wrong, of course.
I knew Carroll took pictures of the adult Alice, though I’ve never seen this one before. There is a book, “In the Shadow of the Dreamchild,” which posits that the family broke off all contact with Carroll not because of the photographs he was taking of a young Alice, but because he was attempting an affair with her mother. It’s a convoluted theory and I don’t believe it, myself, but there it is.
I don’t know what to make of that Wilder quote. Certainly he had a better opportunity than most to study MM up close and personal, but “mean” is a descriptor I don’t know I’ve ever seen attached to her. Lonely, confused, addicted and exploited, certainly, but “mean?”
That photograph of Niagara is stunning.
And with regards to “The Homecoming,” I can’t remember whether that is one of Rockwell’s “Willie Gillis” series he did for the “Post” during the war. I do remember reading that when Rockwell was at a village dance and first caught sight of the fellow he used as the model for Gillis, he stared at him for so long that (the man later informed him) had Rockwell not explained who he was, the fellow was about to punch him in the nose!
Thank you for the Rosh Hashanah wishes, Robert. And may you and all those you love be inscribed in the Book of Life for another year.
Christopher:
The Dems will cheat. No question. But I’m hoping that somehow Larry will pull it off. Newsom has turned California into hell on earth. That’s what happens in a one-party state run by lunatics.
Oh my! Miss Charlotte looks so serious! How old is she now?
I am interested in your choice of Hollywood directors and writers — Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, and Frank Capra. They are names I have heard, but didn’t really know much about. I’ve spent the past hour and a half reading about them! I like Wilder’s epitaph, I am a writer, but then nobody’s perfect.
I’m not sure about the Mary Cassatt painting. The woman looks very man-ish to me. The boy in Edouard Boubat’s photo, however, has a look of happiness on his face.
The watch is cute. Not $15,000 cute, but still cute
The Peugeot is cool, but French sports car weren’t as cool as British sports cars.
My focus on the Norman Rockwell painting, The Homecoming, is the young lady at far left awaiting the return of her love.
L’Shana Tovah tikatevu, Robert.
PJ:
Charlotte is a year old.
Yes, the girlfriend hiding at the far left is just wonderful.