Reviews of books that have held my interest. And things that happen along the way.
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Have you hugged a Librarian today?
My Great, Great Grandmother on my Dad's paternal side had a sweet shop. I believe it was in Rhye, North Wales. As part of he trade she wore a conical black hat, similar to the popular depiction of a pointed Witches hat, but flat at the top. You can see an image of this in the 1948 film "How Green Was My Valley".
These hats, the pointed ones, had been worn for centuries by women who sold ale in busy market places so they could be seen more easily. They were known as "alewives." They brewed their ale in large black cauldrons and kept a broom, made of sticks, outside the door of their shops. It was, for reasons unknown to me, a sign of their trade. The black cats were kept to help ward off the mice who ate the grain meant for the ale.
As the ale business became more centralized in the 1600's, the larger companies, owned by men, tried to run off their independent, smaller competitors by spreading rumors of witchcraft. At the time sorcery, or witchcraft, was punishable by banishment and even death. Many of these women, particularly in Wales, went into the sweets business. The tools of the trade were similar. The black cauldron now held sugar and water for making rock candy, which made the black cat still indispensable for warding off the mice.
By the late 19th century the look of the Aleswife and Sweet Seller had been altered for good. Thanks to novels and then film, the history of their trade had been completely co-opted.
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away". This phrase from Thoreau accurately describes Physician Dr. Samuel Abelman of Brooklyn in the film "The Last Angry Man." It is, in fact, the central theme of this extraordinary film.
Dr. Abelman is the polar opposite of his friend and colleague Dr. Vogel, who writes on Dr. Abelman's Death Certificate under "Cause of Death: Coronary Occlusion/ Fighting Other People's Battles." A truly remarkable film and Paul Muni's last.
I am not just recommending this film. I am pontificating upon it's message, as I see it.
Father John Fulton is a Jesuit instructor in a seminary school, who feels he has lost his faith and desire to continue in his role. A talk with his friend Father Marc Arnoux, played by Charles Boyer, is of no help.
The Head of the Order wants to throw him out. But an issue of theology arises which can make or break the whole outcome. Father Arnoux is supportive of his decision, but also sensitive to the needs of the Rectory. He is marvelous in this role.
The issue is finally decided by H. B. Warner as Fr. Jose Sierr, who has been in a coma for three years. He is expected to die soon and his body is completely atrophied from being bed bound for so long. It would take years of physical therapy to get him to even sit up in bed, let alone walk again. In short, it would take a Miracle.
On the eve of the young Priest's departure the other Priests and the Monsignor, played by William Demarest, are all gathered for dinner in the ground floor dining hall. Father Sierr is upstairs in bed. He cannot possibly know of the situation concerning Father Fulton leaving the Order.
Suddenly, alone, he awakens from his coma and miraculously rises from his bed as if he has just taken a nap. He is crying. From his bed chamber he goes to the stairway and comes down the stairs to the dining hall.
All of the Priests, the reigning Monsignor and even the secular Doctor are astonished to see him. They rush to his side, but he doesn't need their help. They ask why him why he is crying. He, in turn, completely and rationally explains what he cannot possibly know.
If the Brother is leaving he is breaking God's will, but it is God who has also implanted Self will within each of us. The dilemma, as he sees it is this;
If God saw fit to lead the young Priest to the Jesuits, he must stay. But if God also gave him Self will, then he must be allowed to leave. The others argue that God surrounded the Brother with a mission in life to serve a higher cause than his own.
The older, formerly comatose Father Sierr reasons back that God has also now called upon Father Fulton to honor his Self will, and he must be permitted to leave in order to follow that call.
When asked why he weeps he replies that he is weeping because they are losing a brother who can help them all in fulfilling God's will. But at the same time, Father Fulton may have now been called upon to answer another, even higher calling. Who is to say what is right or wrong? Who is qualified to speak for God?
And that is the message of this film, as I see it. There are other subplots going on as the town becomes a magnet for hucksters and lost souls. There is even the question of arguing for recognition of Father Sierr's recovery as a genuine Miracle, to be recognized by the Vatican. But to me that is all just stuff and nonesense.
This film is not for everyone, but the message is. I hope that others will find it as meaningful as I have.
This was my first time seeing this film. I had never heard of it before today. It was posted on You Tube 5 days ago. Kirk Douglas plays Hans Müller, a displaced German freed from the Concentration Camps. It is 1949 and he arrives in the newly formed State of Israel.
Before the war he was a famous juggler and ventriloquist in Germany. He thought his fame would shield him from the Nuremberg Laws and all that followed. So he stayed. And paid the price.
Now, in Israel, and in a Camp for newly arrived Refugees, he initially mistakes a woman for his deceased wife. He doesn't adjust well to the camp, or the attempts to assimilate him into society. He flees the camp and sets off to see the outside.
What happens next is the story of a man who has been traumatized and now becomes hunted in a new land where he is supposed to be accepted. It is a gripping film. And Kirk Douglas is perfect in his role, along with all the rest of the cast. I highly recommend this film.
This is a remarkable book about two remarkable men. Born within 2 years of one another, Booker, born a slave; and his birthdatdate has never really been established; while Teddy was born a child of great privilege in 1858. But from that point onward both were on parallel courses and each would have an impact on the nation as a whole, as well as upon their individual races, and one another.
Booker is most remembered for founding Tuskegee Institute, while Teddy is remembered for his charge up San Juan Hill. But these are both narrow views of each of their lives. They were friends and colleagues who both worked to bring the nation forward in an attempt to bridge the gap between their races. And both were battling their own races in their attempts to do that. (Booker was the first African-American to have dinner with the President and his family in the Executive Mansion, as it was called back then. The reaction, from both sides, was enormous. And controversial.)
The author alternates the story, with a chapter about one following a chapter on what the other was doing during the same period. As the book progresses that story becomes one.
You will find this an informative and well paced read. And several popular images of both men will be shown to be surprisingly different than what we have previously been taught.
This is an outstanding book about the Liberty ships which were so important to winning the Second World War. This will become known as the definitive book on the subject. A cast of real life characters you'll never forget.
Henry Kaiser was a key player in taking the simple design plan proferred by the British government and turning it into reality. Britain was losing more ships to the U-boats than she could build and turned to America to deliver 60 ships in 1941/42. Kaiser, known for such projects as 200 miles of highway in Cuba during the 1920's, and 3 major dams in the U.S. during the 1930's, delivered 200. By the 3rd year his partnership with Todd Shipyards and others on both our East and West Coasts, he was delivering 200 and finally a ship every 7 days.
Working with President Roosevelt, Admiral Land and a host of others, they first had to build the shipyards to handle the job. He brought every project in under budget and ahead of schedule. He built cities to accommodate the workers, transforming the land in order to help win the war.
Best anecdote in the book is when his mother asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He was 8 years old at the time and said he wanted a baby sister. It was already Thanksgiving and his mother told him there wasn't enough time between then and the holiday to do that. He told her that his dad always said, "You can do anything if you put enough men on the job...." And that is how he and others, too numerous to mention here, approached the task of building these ships which President Roosevelt called "the ugly ducklings."
Two of these Liberty ships are still around and operational, including the S.S. John Brown, ported in Baltimore. My Dad went to Maritime High School aboard her when she was berthed in Manhattan just after the war.
A fascinating story of resolve and determination, this book will keep you turning the pages, racing with the same rapidity as the men and women who built these ships.
Here's a gem of a film which has great application to the ongoing debate about vaccinations. In this case the disease is Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which is spread by tics. Until the 1920's the disease killed about 10% of those infected. After the vaccine was discovered that rate was pretty much cut in half. With the advent of anti biotics the vaccine is no longer necessary, and is treated with Doyxcelin, or other forms of the Tetracycline family. If caught in time the rate of mortality is the same as using the vaccine.
This is a fictional story, but it carries quite a wallop. Natalie Wood plays a little girl who lives with her Great Grandfather, played by H.B. Warner, a preacher who lives a long way from any town. When he dies she travels by foot to the nearest town all alone. Halfway there she witnesses a plane crash. Alone in the woods, surrounded by coyotes and mountain lions, she encounters a seemingly stray dog, who is burned. They quickly become close and continue on the journey together.
While sleeping by the side of the road she is found by a doctor from the town where she is headed. Doctor Steve, played by Dean Jagger, takes her to the town and the Sheriff, whom her Great Grandfather always told her to see if/when he should pass away.
Doctor Steve, who has been working with tics in order to find a cure for Spotted Fever, is about to leave for San Francisco where he hopes to find work conducting research for a cure. The town he comes from doesn't even have a hospital. And the people there are not interested in trying the vaccine he has not yet perfected. That all changes when one of the children in the town dies from the disease.
The little girl has a secret. The dog, whom she calls Hollingsworth, actually comes from the plane she watched crash. And that dog is immune to the Fever. For how all this plays out you will have to watch the film. Beautifully written, acted and directed, this film, which also stars Walter Brennan and even Margaret Hamilton as the lovable town spinster, will capture your heart.
