Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/2 - Brooklynites

RIP lyricist Hal David, 91, a Brooklyn guy. He had an incredible career, working with many composers, chiefly Burt Bacharach. Here is a song list of his work just with the latter. Most were recorded by Dionne Warwick in the ‘60’s & ‘70’s. In fact, some of them were hits for more than one artist.
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
"This Guy's in Love with You"
"I'll Never Fall in Love Again"
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose"
"Don't Make Me Over"
"(They Long to Be) Close to You"
"Walk On By"
"What the World Needs Now Is Love"
"I Say a Little Prayer"
"The Story of My Life"
"Magic Moments"
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me"
"One Less Bell to Answer"
"Anyone Who Had a Heart"
"What's New Pussycat?"
"Alfie"
Great work, sir. Thank you.

As big a fan of movies as I am, I somehow had never gotten around to watching I Want to Live (1958), which features the performance that won an Oscar, on her fifth nomination, for Susan Hayward. It ran last night on PBS in NYC. Born Edythe Marrener in Flatbush, she was one of Hollywood’s great beauties and had the talent to match. Curiously, she is not mentioned among the all-time greats. I Want to Live is a portrait of a lost soul, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks found guilty of the murder of a 61 year old woman. Directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story {1961}), the film is uncompromising in its portrayal of this “tough cookie,” as one officer describes her. The screenplay suggests the murder was perpetrated by her or one of her three male accomplices, although evidence was overwhelming. Reporter Gene Blake called the film "... propaganda for the abolition of the death penalty." Shot in glorious black and white, it reminds me in style of The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and The Sweet Smell of Success (1957). All had a jazz feel to them, in an era when Hollywood wasn‘t afraid to make serious films. The last 20 minutes of I Want to Live, leading up to the execution, is riveting. The cast is rife with stalwarts familiar to movie and TV buffs: Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel, Joe DeSantis, Stafford Repp, Peter Breck, Jack Weston, John Marley. Tragically, Hayward died at 57 from cancer. She chain-smoked throughout I Want to Live. I rate the film four stars out of five. It is rated 7.5 at IMDb. Facts also culled from Wiki.

My thanks to Bad News Billy, who bought books for the second day in a row, despite being in arrears to his landlord. Brooklynites are a unique lot.
Visit Vic’s sites:
Vic’s Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic’s Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic’s Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic’s 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic’s 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic’s Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3