The Writer's Life 3/18 - Adapting

Last night the Svengoolie program on MeTV, channel 33 on Cablevision in NYC, ran The Mad Magician (1954), starring Vincent Price, Eva Gabor, Mary Murphy and Patirck O'Neal. Originally shot in 3-D, it tried to recapture the box office results of the previous year's House of Wax. Although it has good moments, it has too many lapses in logic for my taste. In researching it at IMDb, I discovered another of Hollywood's unsung stalwarts, director John Brahm. Born in Hamburg in 1893, he fled Nazi tyranny in 1934, going at first to England, then to the USA in 1937, where he immediately found work. In 1952 he crossed over to TV almost exclusively. He has 75 titles listed under his name, but that doesn't reflect his prolific output, as multiple stints at the helm of a program show as only one at that valuable website. I counted 147 additional credits, including 16 of Medic, 23 of The Schlitz Playhouse, 15 combined of Hitchcock in both the half hour and hour incarnations, 12 of Thriller, 15 of Naked City, 12 of The Twilight Zone, 14 total of The Man from Uncle and its offshoot The Girl from Uncle. The highlight of his career was The Lodger (1944), a stylish thriller based on Jack the Ripper starring Merle Oberon, George Sanders and Laird Creger. He passed away in 1982. Well done, sir. Here's a pic:

The Jets have made a smart move by trading up to the number three position in the draft, which guarantees that at least one of the four highly rated QB's will be available. Now the tricky part - picking the right one. I'd select Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma. The knock on him is that he is only six-feet tall and a prima donna. My second choice would be Josh Allen of Wyoming, who has the strongest arm; third Sam Darnold of USC; fourth Josh Rosen of UCLA. The latter three all had disappointing seasons, while Mayfield was awarded the Heisman Trophy for his stellar play.

When I rolled up to my Sunday nook in Park Slope, a dumpster was in place. If I set the shop up in its usual proportions, it would have blocked too much of the sidewalk, and I don't want to give anyone an excuse to lodge a complaint. I was about to drive away and head to Bay Parkway, where I'd worked five straight days, when it occurred to me to use the dumpster as part of the display, although it might turn off fuss-budgets. Here's what that part looked like:

My thanks to the gentleman who bought a huge hardcover version of one of the Harry Potter series, and to the other who showed just before closing time and purchased a large compilation of African-American lit, and four books on nutrition, including The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin. The first sentence of the book's blurb at Amazon reads: "Are you looking for a health plan that is biblically based and scientifically proven?"

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