Hometown Skiffle (1928)

We're all familar with the 1956 recording of "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie Donnegan and how that became the hit record which launched a thousand bands in Britain, and even crossed the Atlantic Ocean to become a legendary recording. I have the 45 RPM, though I doubt it is still playable. I picked it up in the "oldies" rack at Crawfords on Kings Highway in the late 1960's.

But the history of that song goes way back before Lonnie Donnegan recorded it. Donnegan, who was really named Tony, was a guitar/banjo player with Chris Barber's Jazz Band. Chris Barber was a trombonist who originally played with Ken Coyler's band. Coyler's name comes up frequently when reading about all the later British bands and the influence of skiffle on what became known as  the "British sound".

Tony Donnegan changed his name to Lonnie in honor of Lonnie Johnson, one of his jazz heroes. But the history of "Rock Island Line" really goes back to a 1928 American 78 RPM recording called "Hometown Skiffle" featuring Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Will Ezell, Charlie Spand, The Hokum Boys and Papa Charles Jackson. You can find out more about each of these guys on Wikipedia.

The record was a two sided affair, so you had to turn it over to hear the whole song. It was recorded on Paramount Records and labeled as a "Race Recording". In essence, this record spawned a movement in Britain 30 years later which influenced the late 1950's sound and set the whole world rocking.

Here is another link to the original release.   

https://youtu.be/5XwzQhf801U?si=XJYgAcwBB8b21c0l

"Furious Hours" by Casey Cep (2019)

"Furious Hours" by Casey Cep is actually 3 books in one. The first is the true story of Reverend Willie Maxwell, a rural preacher accused of murdering his first 2 wives, and a nephew and a niece, over a period of 7 years beginning in 1971. He had taken out multiple insurance policies on all of them, without their knowledge, and collected on them all. But he was never convicted. The killings only came to an end when the Reverend was shot at point blank range, in front of 300 mourners at the funeral of his last victim; his niece. There was no question of his guilt. He even confessed to it. Twice. 

Some claim the Reverand was a Voo Doo Practitioner, others just wrote him off as a homicidal maniac, but try as the State of Alabama might, he was never convicted. It went so far that the entire town was living in fear of who the next victim would be. 

Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird", only enters the story halfway through the book. She had come from New York City to gather material for a book about the Reverend's crimes and his subsequent murder. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. It would consume 10 years of her life, and produce nothing. So this portion of the book is about the book which never was. 

The third part of the book is even more compelling. It delves into her collaboration with Truman Capote and the writing of "In Cold Blood", which was begun in 1959 and took 7 years to finish as the appeals of conviction wound on and on. During this time Harper Lee had finished her masterpiece, won a Pulitzer Prize, sold the film rights and became an elusive, and troubled celebrity. Because of this, her childhood friend, Capote, drifted away from her. Part of this was a difference in lifestyle, part was jealousy. 

You don't want to overlook this book. So much information is imparted within its pages. It really is a well written work, and a tribute to the author Casey Cep, who ultimately wrote the book which Harper Lee could not. That, in itself, is reason enough to read it.

Three things in this book really stand out. First, "Tell a Watchman", Ms. Lee's long awaited second book was really funished before "Mockingbird". It wasn't released for decades because it was written from a critical perspective of her home town. It is the story of a grown woman who leaves Alabama and returns home to find out her father and Uncle, portrayed with such nobility in "Mockingbird", have become members of the White Citizen's Council, which called for "gradualism" in the area of Civil Rights. It wasn't until 2 of her friends gave her a Christmas present of about $10,000 that she was able to quit her job selling tickets for a major airline that she was able to take a full year off work to concentrate solely on writing "Mockingbird."

By the time "Watchman" was published, the public, including me, was in no mood to hear anything negative concerning the nobility of her father and all the other characters in "Mockingbird." No one likes to see their heroes fall from grace.

One of the best revelations in this book is that Boo Radley was based on a real person from her childhood. The son of a local judge had been involved in a crime with another teenager, and both were sentenced to serve time. But the Judge's son was released to his father's custody and kept locked in the house for many years, peering out from the shutters by day, and roaming the small town streets at night. So vividly was his character portrayed that his older sister attempted a lawsuit against both the author and her publisher. 

The third part of the book concerns the unfinished book about the Reverend Willie Maxwell. This is an extraordinary work by Ms. Cep, who not only gives us that book, but incorporates a fresh look at Harper Lee and the demons which truncated her literary career. 

The subtitle conveys the book accurately. Harper Lee's books were all concerned with trials. After all, she was the daughter of an attorney, and she herself left law school only 6 months shy of her degree. First there is the trial in "Mockingbird", followed by her essential collaboration with Truman Caplte on "In Cold Blood", and lastly the unfinished story of the trial of the nephew who shot and killed Reverend Maxwell.

A compelling read, this review hardly does the book justice. Therefore, it is a book which must be read to be truly appreciated.

"The Secret Place" - David MacCallum (1957)

This is an excellent film which works well as a simple crime drama, unless you look beneath the surface. Then it becomes so much more.

Melinda, a 20 something year old newsstand operator who is engaged to a shady petty criminal, finally realises she has lost the true friendship of 14 year old Freddie; who is really a man at heart; and traded it for the false love of her fiancee, Gerry; a wannabe gangster who is really just a little boy playing at being a man.

A tightly woven script, excellently directed, this film is a great example of British cinema in the post war era. At the time, theaters in Britain were required to show a film made there for every American movie shown. This was done in an effort to revitalize their domestic film industry. David Lean, Richard Attenborough and Alec Guiness, and many others, all got their start as a result in this era. 

Conversely, it also provided for many American actors and directors to make films in Britain. 

This was only David MacCallum's third film, but he plays an important supporting role to Melinda, who is his sister. His performance as a confused and desperate young man is a very different role for him, and he carries his part off well.

"Sons and Lovers" - (1960) Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller, Dean Stockwell

 

Use this link. https://youtu.be/qVtPAVtucjY?si=ZwAwNceh19ZGKa3Q

Written in 1912 by D.H. Lawrence,  "Sons and Lovers" was controversial when first published. It explores the conflict which exists between the relationships of mothers and sons. One clings, while the other seeks a new love of its own.

I remember vaguely the controversy the film elicited when it was released in 1960. I recall discussions between my parents and their friends about it, though I had no idea what they were talking about. As a teenager I tried to read it, but I was too young to really understand the book to its full extent.

The film has never been remade. I don't think it ever will be. It could never, in my mind, equal the stark reality created here. And though our views of morality and desire have changed drastically in the 65 years since its release, there are still some truths which are eternal. The film is as relevant now as it was then.

Trevor Howard and Dean Stockwell are riveting in their performances as father and son, and both are equalled by their counterparts, Wendy Hiller as the mother, and Mary Ure, as the married woman with whom Dean Stockwell has an affair, and Heather Sears as the girl he once loved.

April Fool - "The Hangover" (Painting by Peter Baumgartner)

He'd been the life of the party,
everyone had said he was cool.
But when the party came to an end;
he was only an April Fool......

"The Hangover"
Painting by by Peter Baumgartner

Verse by me. 

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - An Eternal Gift

 I just finished re-readin "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" for, well, I really can't hazard a quess as to what number of times. Safe to say, probably the hundreth. And, what have I gotten out it? Quite a bit, actually.

The beauty of it is that none of the following can be found in the book. They are merely referred to. Yet the characters are so firmly etched in your heart, that you want to know them on a deeper level. And, knowing what they are referring to is an  obvious way of doing that. 

I was ahead of the curve on "The Little Flower" because of my Grandmother. She'd already told me the stories of the Saints.

"Annie Laurie" was easy because I'd heard it somewhere before. It's a Scottish song, based on a poem by William Douglas, about his romance with Annie Laurie, with the tune added and words modified by Lady John Douglas Scott in 1834/5. I like to think it was a romantic collaboration. 

And during my early teens I had to look up the two verses by Shakespeare shown below. Although I didn't understand them as fully then, as I do now at the age of 70. 

At any rate; know your Bible, know your Darwin, Melville, Dickens, Poe, Hugo, Twain and Dostoyevsky, just to name a few of my favorite authors. But don't ever discount Betty Smith and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." It was a gateway to greater literaure in my life. 

............

In the Catholic Church, "The Little Flower" is Saint Therese of Lisieux, a Discalced  (Catholic friars or nuns who go barefoot or wear only sandals) Carmelite nun known for her simple message of holiness through everyday actions and her "Little Way" of spiritual childhood.

Marie Francoise-Therese Martin, known as Therese of the Child Jesus,  lived from 1873 to 1897.  Her life was short, but her impact enormous. Her Nickname is "The Little Flower".

Her spiritual teaching, known as "The Little Way," emphasizes that anyone can achieve holiness by performing ordinary actions with great love and trust in God, even in the smallest ways. Deed over Doctrine.

Her autobiography, "The Story of a Soul," is a testament to her simple yet profound spirituality.
Canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925, her feast day is celebrated on October 1st. She is the patron saint of missions, florists, the sick, and those who are homeless.

............

Annie Laurie
William Douglas | Lady John Scott

Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gied me her promise true
Gied me her promise true
Which ne’er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee

Her brow is like the snowdrift
Her neck it’s like the swan
Her face it is the fairest
That e’er the sun shone on
That e’er the sun shone on
And dark blue is her e’e
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee

Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gied me her promise true
Gied me her promise true
Which ne’er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee

Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa’ of her fairy feet
And like wind in summer sighing
Her voice is low and sweet
Her voice is low and sweet
She’s a’ the world to me
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee

Maxwellton braes are bonnie
Where early fa’s the dew
And it’s there that Annie Laurie
Gied me her promise true
Gied me her promise true
Which ne’er forgot will be
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I’d lay me doon and dee
............

Macbeth

She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

William Shakespeare
............

The Merchant of Venice (Portia's soliloquy.)

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

William Shakespeare

Joe Barnes - Foreman for Life

I had worked at DeSantis Coatings in Willoughby, Ohio, making traffic paint under the supervision of the factory’s “Foreman for Life”, Joe Barnes. No kidding, that was his actual title- Foreman for Life. I was very curious about this position and especially the title. So one day I saw Joe Barnes at the pump station as he was bottling up some tuelol (the active ingredient in airplane glue) for a 3 day weekend. Tuelol is addictive and Joe had the “monkey on his back” when it came to inhaling the stuff.

Joe was a friendly sort and always telling stories. He was the most senior of employees- he had been on the job for about 18 years and as I said, he was “Foreman for Life.” This particular day he was jabbering away when he asked me , “Do you know how I got be Foreman for Life?” I replied , “No, but I am curious about it.” And that was all it took for him to recount the following;

“Well, you see, it was a Friday and Old Man DeSantis (the founder/owner of DeSantis Coatings) was drawing off some thinner to do some painting at home over the weekend. Stupid bastard owns the factory but he don’t know one damn thing about making paint. So he’s over here at the pumps and he’s got a metal bucket and holding it under the spigot- presses the pump button without grounding and zap- a spark ignites the bucket which spooks the old man and he falls with the pump running and now he’s soaked with thinner and on fire and he’s really burning. Now I hated Old Man DeSantis and so I looked around and I realized we were alone. So I go over to him and getting as close as I can I kick him in the ribs- hard. And he rolls over on his side. So I kick him again and he rolls some more. By now I’m really into it so I keep kicking and kicking and he keeps rolling and rolling. Just then his son, Vince Jr comes in looking for his old man and sees me kicking him. So I figure- well I’m done here and so I give him a couple of more kicks for the hell of it and he rolls some more and now the fire’s out. Vince Jr is hailing me as a quick thinking hero for saving his dad’s life and they give me a raise and make me Foreman for Life. And that was about 15 years ago.” 

( Note: The patch at the top is actually from my work shirt at the factory. The map below shows Timberlake, a village of 300 people, where I lived in late 1973. You can just about see the lake in the upper left corner. I lived in the last house right on Lake Erie. Follow the blue line Southeast and that is where Willoughby Coatings was. Still is but someone bought the business out. I used to ride my bicycle to work until it got too cold and then I bought my first car, a 1964 Ford Galaxy 500 with dual exhaust.)