The Writer's Life 8/27 - Blasts from the Present & Past

As expected, the Philadelphia Phillies are suffering through a horrible season. They are 30 games out of first and may lose 100 games. But there's hope for the future in the form of OF Rhys Hoskins, 24, who has become the first player in MLB history to hit 10 home runs in the first 20 games of his career. He didn't get his first hit until his third game, and first homer until his fourth! He is on fire. Kudos, young man.

I'm not religious, but a quote from Franco Zefferelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1977) has frequently come to mind lately regarding the frenzy to topple statues. When the mob accosts the adulteress and a leader asks Jesus what should be done with her, he says: "He among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone." The actual quote from the King James Bible is clumsy: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Who the heck among the human race, especially those who have wielded power, would stand the litmus test demanded by the left? Many of their own icons, including FDR and Margaret Sanger, would not pass.

Last night on its Svengoolie program, MeTV ran Murders of the Rue Morgue (1932), starring Bela Lugosi. Running only 61 minutes, it was typical of early talkies in that the actors employed emotive techniques from the silent era. In researching the film at IMDb, I was surprised at yet another name that had previously escaped my attention - director Robert Florey, who was born in Paris in 1900 and made his first appearance on the silver screen in 1916 in a French production. He emigrated to America in the early '20's and learned the film business from the bottom up. He has six titles as an actor listed under his name, 15 as a writer, and 113 as a director, mostly of B movies before he segued into TV in the early 1950's. He did 36 episodes of The Loretta Young Show, 38 of Four Star Playhouse, 32 of Schlitz Playhouse, and multiple and one-shot stints at the helm of popular fare of the era, including The Untouchables and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He passed away in 1979 at 78. Kudos, sir. Here's a picture of him:

And here's a still from The Fever episode of The Twilight Zone, which Florey directed. It starred the great character actor Everett Sloane and first aired in 1960:

My thanks to the elderly woman who made a four-for-two swap of books in Russian, and to Kimberly, who purchased The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second part of Stieg Larsson's millennium trilogy. An Italian American who looked to be in her 20's, Kimberly has been posting her poetry on Instagram and getting good feedback. She may want to do a book. I told her about Create Space, where she would be able to get it into print for free. Best of luck, young lady.

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