Writing As I Speak - A Contrast

The one thing of which I have never been accused  is the title of this post; "Writing As I Speak." I don't. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, "You couldn't handle it!" The truth is, at times, neither can I! Let's just say that it's all a matter of taste. I read some blogs that are laced with profanity; veritable lessons in the use of certain words as verbs, adverbs, nouns and adjectives; sometimes all at once! Again, it doesn't make the writing; or the writer; less valid, it's just not my style. However...

Speaking with me in person can be quite an experience to someone not at ease with the use of profanity as normal grammar. But, I come by it in an honest, or as near an honest, way as possible. My Dad taught me to curse when I was about 3. It was a wonderfully glorious word; actually a compound word; having both a maternal component; making it a noun; along with an action part; making it a verb. So, it was, I suppose, a noun-verb.

The occasion of this lesson in the art of compounding different words lay in the fact that the guy who had just cut us off probably did do that with his mother when he got home. Nevertheless, with me being only three years old, the remark was probably one that my Dad should have avoided making in my presence. And, for good reason...

My immediate reaction was to ape the word in my high pitched little kid voice, which prompted my Dad to say, "Don't say that word in front of your mother." He said it with an earnest quality, one with which I was unaccustomed, and seizing upon the fear that I perceived in his tone; children are very attuned to parental fear and unafraid to employ it as a weapon; I promptly burst into the kitchen when we arrived home and denounced my mother as a fornicator of her own mother, which quite frankly shocked the hell out of her! Not to mention my Dad, who; employing the age old tactic of turning the table; said, "We don't use words like that! Go to your room!" Never much of a pushover; even at that age I knew something was amiss; I replied, "But you use that word all the time!" Stretching the truth, even when so young, was not beyond my capabilities. However, I was still banished to my room.

Over the years, growing up in Brooklyn, I was able to refine my verbal skills, and still later, 8 years at sea travelling the world, I honed my abilities in this regard; to the point that I was able to curse in about 10 languages at one point, including Greek and Arabic!

I make a really concerted effort to control my tongue when children are present, not wanting to contribute to their moral demise, and thus creating another me. But, in conversation with most adults I'm afraid that I sometimes slip back to my days at sea and "cuss like a sailor." I make no apology, for I believe, as Clarence Darrow did, that "There are too damn few words as it is, and I think we should use all of them."

So, if you meet me on the street, don't be surprised, or offended, if I speak differently than I write. When all is said and done, "It's Only me."

The photo above was taken at the “old Mill” at Avenue U in Brooklyn on Easter Sunday 1957. This was just around the time I learned to curse.

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Yankee Doodle Dandy - Happy 4th of July!

Notice how he doesn't even look down at his feet. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

"Yankee Doodle Dandy" - James Cagney (1942)

In this finale from the film “Yankee Doodle Dandy” about the life of the legendary song and dance man George M. Cohan, James Cagney kicks out all the stops in his exuberant performance of the title song. Towards the end he even teams up with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney to bring new life to a very old song.

The movie is mainly the story of the Cohan’s family vaudeville act, “The Four Cohan’s”, and their precocious child George, who is very much full of himself. He has no doubts that he was born to do something big. And he did. As a triple threat entertainer; one who could compose, sing and dance; he had few contemporary rivals. The film chronicles his life as a child star and then his triumphant return to the stage, culminating in his receiving a Presidential medal for his achievements and patriotism. That medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, which was awarded in 1936, is a civilian award and was presented to him by FDR for his song “Over There” which was written for the First World War.

James Cagney was one of the most versatile performers to ever work in the film industry. From his early roles as a gangster in films such as “Angels with Dirty Faces”, Mr. Cagney went on to more dramatic work, as in the film “The Seven Foys”, also a true story of vaudeville. And, after shooting it out in gangster films, dancing up the walls in this film; a feat which Gene Kelly would later replicate in his films; he went on to produce some of the most underrated films of his career using his own money. A good example of that would be William Saroyan’s “The Time of Your Life” in 1948. After proving to himself that he could do it all, he made one last gangster film, “White Heat”, in 1949.

If you have any doubts about Mr. Cagney’s enormous talents then just hit You Tube and watch the stairway scene from the “Yankee Doodle Dandy” film. In it he has just received his medal from the President and then dances down a stairway without looking at anything but the audience and holding onto nothing but his dignity. This is a perfect film to watch if you really want to be in the mood for the 4^th of July. Here is the link to that little dance down the stairway;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LwCXLx0SyM

"Brooklyn" with James Cagney from "The West Point Story"

This is a scene from the 1950 film "The West Point Story" with James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Doris Day. At 2 minutes 26 seconds in this clip, Cagney sings about walking down Kings Highway. The movie is a bit dated, but still captures the spirit of the city. And Mr. Cagney's tribute to B,K,L,Y,N really does make me want to go back and walk down Kings Highway again.

The plot involves Broadway director Bix Bixby, played by James Cagney, who is down on his luck due to a gambling problem. He is persuaded to go to West Point military academy with Eve, his secretary and sometimes lover, to help put on a show. A cute story with plenty of singing and dancing, this one was a surprise for me, as I had not seen it before. But of course the best part was this when Cagney is lined up with the other cadets, still in civilian clothes, and tells them about Brooklyn.

"The Seven Foys" with Bob Hope and James Cagney

This is a dance routine performed by James Cagney and Bob Hope in the 1955 film "The Seven Little Foys". The Foys were a vaudeville act comprised of seven children, hence the name of the act "The Seven Foys". The children were all the off spring of Eddie Foy, a vaudeville entertainer who was noted for his generosity in dealing with other entertainers, whether it was money, a place to stay, or just someone to talk to. Eddie Foy had always been a solo act, until the day of the fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago,on December 30, 1903, which almost cost him his life.

At about 3:15 PM, during a matinee performance, an arc light set fire to one of the curtains, engulfing the entire stage in flames and igniting the theater as well. With panic raging all about him, Eddie Foy took the stage, attempting to calm the audience, even as pieces of burning scenery were falling all about him. In spite of these efforts by Mr. Foy, over 600 people perished in the fire. This episode is recreated in the 1955 film, which stars Bob Hope as Eddie Foy.

Eddie Foy had started out as a solo act, vowing never to "double", or become part of an "act". Boy was he wrong in his assumption. He hadn't counted on falling in love with Italian ballerina Madeleine Morando. In a short time they were married and found themselves surrounded with 7 children. After the death of Madeleine, Eddie came to realize that he had been a lousy father to his children. So, naturally, he decided to make them a part of the act. Later on, they would become the act.

When the movie of Eddie Foy's life was made, actors actually fought to be in the film, and some even worked for free. The dance routine above is of Bob Hope, as Eddie Foy, competing with fellow vaudevillian and song writer George M. Cohan, reprised by James Cagney from his earlier role in "Yankee Doodle Dandy", in a tap dance routine at the Friars Club.

For more about Eddie Foy and his family, Wikipedia, as usual, is a valuable resource. Read more about him and his children here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Foy,_Sr.

"Angels With Dirty Faces" with James Cagney, Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart

This is one of the all time great gangster films. The incredible screen chemistry of James Cagney and Pat O'Brien (two very close friends in real life) along with the rough edged performance of Humphrey Bogart, make this film worth watching time and again. And there is always something new to be noticed with each viewing.

Briefly, the story concerns 2 young boys in the slums of New York during the 1920's. They go to church together, even sing in the choir. But outside of church they are caught up in the petty thefts that are necessary to survive. When Rocky Sullivan (played by Cagney) and the future Father Connolly (played by O'Brien) are caught breaking into a freight car to steal a load of fountain pens, Rocky goes to Juvenile Hall, while the future priest manages to escape. This single event sets the stage for both of their futures.

Rocky goes to reform school, where he gets a real "education" in the ways of crime. His pal goes on to become a Priest, serving in the parish where they both grew up. Rocky, has, by this time, embarked upon a life of crime that has him in and out of prison. He becomes a "name" in the daily papers. The neighborhood kids, where Rocky and Father Connolly grew up, see him as the guy who "made it big." This makes Father Connolly's job, trying to teach the kids moral values, that much harder to accomplish.

When Rocky returns to the neighborhood to live, he repeatedly offers the greeting "Whaddaya hear, whaddaya say?" to Father Connolly. In real life Cagney picked this phrase up from a bookie who hung around 1st Avenue when he was growing up.

The kids, Leo Gorcey and the rest of the "Bowery Boys", aka "The Dead End Kids", now give up on the church, turning instead to the pool room for their education. Their new found freind, Rocky, has stolen Father Connolly's "flock." Father Connolly asks Rocky to stop inspiring the boys, and finally lets him know that freindship is no longer a barrier in his quest to clean up the crime and corruption that plagues the city. Rocky agrees, thinking that "nothing will ever come of it."

Knowing that Father Connolly has been trying to build a gym for the boys, Rocky donates $10,000 anonymously to the fund, only to have Father Connolly return it as being unworthy. Interestingly, this $10,000 represents one tenth of the $100,000 which Rocky has extorted from Bogart. In other words, he was tithing 10% of his take to the church.

When the crime commission, at the direction of his pal Father Connolly, indicts Rocky, a contract is issued on the life of Father Connolly. But loyalty between friends runs deep, and Cagney cancels the contract in a very permanent way. Wanted now for murder, he is a fugitive caught in a web of his own design.

The warehouse scene, where Rocky is finally apprehended, is a movie legend of sorts. When the police are firing those Thompson machine guns at the window where "Rocky" is standing, the bullets are real. You can actually see the shattered glass shards on Cagney's hat and shoulders. According to Cagney, the shots were so close that this was the last time he would consent to live fire sequences in any of his films.

Rocky is captured, tried and sentenced to death in the electric chair. This leads to one of the all time greatest of movie endings. Father Connolly comes to see Rocky just before the execution, asking him to fake cowardice on the way to the chair. Only in this way can he make the boys understand the false bravado of criminals and that crime never really pays. Cagney is incredulous at this request and refuses his old friend, stating, "You're asking me to give up the last thing I got left!"

When the Warden comes with the guards to escort Rocky to the death chamber, Father Connolly walks alongside of him and pleads one last time for Rocky to "turn yellow." Rocky still refuses and stoically enters the last room he will ever see in this world. This is the payoff scene. Silhouetted against the wall, the viewer sees Rocky grasping at the radiator, the legs of the guards, in short, at anything that he can, while screaming "Please, I don't want to die!" Sobbing and struggling he is strapped into the electric chair. The switch is closed and the lights dim. Rocky is dead.

Father Connolly returns to the neighborhood, where he finds the boys in the cellar which they use as a clubhouse. They are reading the newspaper account of Rocky's death and refuse to believe that he died "yellow." Father Connolly, although doubting that Rocky had really turned "yellow" at the last minute, tells the boys it's true. He then asks them to come with him to the church and "say a prayer for a boy that couldn't run as fast as I could." The movie closes leaving the viewer to decide whether Rocky was faking his cowardice as a favor for Father Connolly, or if he really did turn "yellow."

This film was nominated for 3 Oscars and garnered Cagney the New York Film Critics Award as Best Actor for 1938. Seventy two years after the fact, this film remains relevant and inspiring. The clothes are different, and the cars are old, but the social problems outlined in the film are still with us. And that's what makes this film so worth watching.